Review by Twizzington -- The Gryphon by Paula Grover
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Review by Twizzington -- The Gryphon by Paula Grover
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Gryphon" by Paula Grover.]
The Gryphon by Paula Grover is a light-hearted fantasy novel written in the perspective of a gryphon. The main character, Sunsky, is destined to be the next queen over the gryphonic peoples. Sunsky is uncertain that she lacks the qualities to become queen. During a flight in which she is pondering her future, she becomes distracted and a storm blows her off-course. The winds force her to crash land. She wakes up in the presence of a winged horse called Nightsky, a being her people consider an enemy. Unable to fly away, Sunsky must depend on the winged horse for food and water. Eventually, he gains her trust and she allows him to mate with her a few times. After Sunsky has healed and returns home, she discovers she is pregnant and that one of her children will be a hippogryph, the child of a gryphon and a winged horse. This is considered to be a major transgression in gryphonic society. To protect her hippogryph daughter, Sunsky rejects her role as the future queen and allows herself to be banished to the valley where the hippogryphs live. Seventeen years later, Sunsky’s half-sister Talona takes over the gryphonic throne and begins to reign in tyranny. Meanwhile, Sunsky’s daughter is kidnapped by the hopha, the humans who live on this world. Sunsky must work to join the forces of the outcasts of society (the hippogryphs, wingless kryphons and keythongs, winged horses, and hophas) and help them overcome their prejudices toward one another to attempt to retake her role as queen.
I was pleased with how the gryphons were represented in this book. Their basic qualities are familiar enough that they fit in easily with the other gryphons I have read about, but Grover has also added qualities to them that make them completely her own. For example, in this book, the gryphons are sexually dimorphic. Females are called gryphons and have the typical eagle talons in front, and the males are called opinici and have lion forelegs. They also have wingless counterparts called kryphons and keythongs that are lower class and work servants. Having these variants allowed Grover to create a society that felt unique. Even though we were only introduced to the basics of how this society worked, I could easily imagine what roles each of the groups had and how they helped society function. As a result, the world felt deep even though we only met a few central characters.
The spoken language in the first few chapters of the book are meant to be formal English, I think, but it sounds overly dramatic and adds a layer of humor to the book that is not intended to be there. For example, when Sunsky first meets the winged horse she proclaims, “Oh, dark and horrid cave bat!” However, this style of language did not persist past the first few chapters and so it did not affect my enjoyment of the book at all.
I found the book fast-paced and enjoyable to read. The sequence of events made sense and the action moved quickly. The writing style kept me engaged and I did not want to put the book down while reading. There were a few scenes I wish had more detail, such as when Sunsky meets Nightsky. She went from being frightened of him to accepting his presence and allowing him to mate with her in only six paragraphs. Because winged horses like Nightsky are the enemies of gryphons, this transition seemed rather sudden. Overall, however, I understood what was going on in the narrative and felt that new information was being provided at an acceptable pace.
I rate this book four out of four stars because the book was well-written and kept me engaged while reading. I only noticed one minor spelling error. Readers who enjoy reading about mythical creatures and fantasy stories would enjoy this book. Although it is aimed at young adults, older readers will probably enjoy it as well. Mating is a theme in this book, and while the author does not go into great detail about what happens during mating, I would recommend readers be mature enough to handle this information.
******
The Gryphon
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
The Gryphon by Paula Grover is a light-hearted fantasy novel written in the perspective of a gryphon. The main character, Sunsky, is destined to be the next queen over the gryphonic peoples. Sunsky is uncertain that she lacks the qualities to become queen. During a flight in which she is pondering her future, she becomes distracted and a storm blows her off-course. The winds force her to crash land. She wakes up in the presence of a winged horse called Nightsky, a being her people consider an enemy. Unable to fly away, Sunsky must depend on the winged horse for food and water. Eventually, he gains her trust and she allows him to mate with her a few times. After Sunsky has healed and returns home, she discovers she is pregnant and that one of her children will be a hippogryph, the child of a gryphon and a winged horse. This is considered to be a major transgression in gryphonic society. To protect her hippogryph daughter, Sunsky rejects her role as the future queen and allows herself to be banished to the valley where the hippogryphs live. Seventeen years later, Sunsky’s half-sister Talona takes over the gryphonic throne and begins to reign in tyranny. Meanwhile, Sunsky’s daughter is kidnapped by the hopha, the humans who live on this world. Sunsky must work to join the forces of the outcasts of society (the hippogryphs, wingless kryphons and keythongs, winged horses, and hophas) and help them overcome their prejudices toward one another to attempt to retake her role as queen.
I was pleased with how the gryphons were represented in this book. Their basic qualities are familiar enough that they fit in easily with the other gryphons I have read about, but Grover has also added qualities to them that make them completely her own. For example, in this book, the gryphons are sexually dimorphic. Females are called gryphons and have the typical eagle talons in front, and the males are called opinici and have lion forelegs. They also have wingless counterparts called kryphons and keythongs that are lower class and work servants. Having these variants allowed Grover to create a society that felt unique. Even though we were only introduced to the basics of how this society worked, I could easily imagine what roles each of the groups had and how they helped society function. As a result, the world felt deep even though we only met a few central characters.
The spoken language in the first few chapters of the book are meant to be formal English, I think, but it sounds overly dramatic and adds a layer of humor to the book that is not intended to be there. For example, when Sunsky first meets the winged horse she proclaims, “Oh, dark and horrid cave bat!” However, this style of language did not persist past the first few chapters and so it did not affect my enjoyment of the book at all.
I found the book fast-paced and enjoyable to read. The sequence of events made sense and the action moved quickly. The writing style kept me engaged and I did not want to put the book down while reading. There were a few scenes I wish had more detail, such as when Sunsky meets Nightsky. She went from being frightened of him to accepting his presence and allowing him to mate with her in only six paragraphs. Because winged horses like Nightsky are the enemies of gryphons, this transition seemed rather sudden. Overall, however, I understood what was going on in the narrative and felt that new information was being provided at an acceptable pace.
I rate this book four out of four stars because the book was well-written and kept me engaged while reading. I only noticed one minor spelling error. Readers who enjoy reading about mythical creatures and fantasy stories would enjoy this book. Although it is aimed at young adults, older readers will probably enjoy it as well. Mating is a theme in this book, and while the author does not go into great detail about what happens during mating, I would recommend readers be mature enough to handle this information.
******
The Gryphon
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Latest Review: The Date Farm by Jack Winnick
