Pegasus

I have been reading Robin McKinley for decades and loved her earlier books in particular. I love her writing and the way her descriptions are almost lyrical. This one single star is for the publisher. How the book gets published is not up to the author and I sincerely hope Ms McKinley put up a h... of a fight not to have her story mutilated like this without any regard to the reader or the story itself.The story is interesting although it takes ages to get going, there are literally hundreds of pages of not very interesting everyday stuff and lengthy description. All well if there is a tension building and the reader gets rewarded with a wonderfully tense climax and resolution. Here it just builds VERY slowly and then nothing. This isn't even a good cliffhanger, just a book that stops. I actually thought that mine was missing the chapters that would make this a complete book.This is not the first in a series. This is a greedy publisher who thinks that we don't notice when we are being cheated. I for one will not buy the next instalment because this kind of trickery puts me completely off a story - and unfortunately off an author. I will be very cautious which books by this author I will read in future.

I read a couple of Robin McKinley's books years ago (Blue Sword, Hero and the Crown) and loved them, so I had high expectations.... Should have read the other reviews first. There is some lovely, descriptive prose and a beautifully imagined world - sort of a cross between Pern and Middle-Earth, with a few original quirks. By a quarter of the way through, the scene is set, the characters are all clear and something must happen, right? It doesn't. Halfway through and a bit more scene is set, the characters have developed and surely there must be some action now? There isn't. At this point I was skimming rather than reading because I couldn't stay awake. There is no real plot and the ending is possibly the worst I've ever read. The book just stops in a clumsy, pointless fashion. It appears to set the scene for a sequel, but this book was so tediously boring that I can only recommend it for anyone suffering from insomnia. If there ever is a sequel, I won't be bothering to read it.

I feel absolutely terrible about only giving this book 3 stars. I really really do. Robin McKinley, the author, was wonderful to me as a child, responding to my letters kindly and being someone I in general looked up to for many years. Heck, I still do read her blog now and again and consider her one of my most beloved authors.This is a good story. It's written well. It's interesting and colorful and rich with strong women and character development. It's nothing less than what I'd expect from McKinley. So why only 3 stars? I...honestly...don't really know!I think one thing that put me off was that just when I got into a section of the book, the book 'jumped the time line' for lack of a better phrase. You'd be in the thick of something really juicy and interesting, and suddenly it's 3 years down the line and the main character has gone through so much without us having gone with her. It made me feel distant from her, and from the story at hand. Then, just when I'd finally pick up the thread and start to CARE again, it would happen again! I found it very frusterating and difficult to get past!I was also highly irritated to discover that this was one of a series, much like the others who have rated it. I understand, I think, why the publisher did this. It sells books NOW, which is important to making money which is important to having enough books sold to pay for the NEXT one. And if the story was going on, it needed to be cut up. Yet...couldn't you just have told me? I may still have read it. And instead, I kept going on and on and once I realized there was no way it could all come together, I really resented having felt tricked by it.The ending also...I just didn't get it. I reread it several times, and I got the impression from the writing that I should be gasping, with my hand to my mouth, horrified by the revelation, and yet...none of it seemed like a bit deal to me. None of it seemed relevant or shocking or like anything should have changed because of it. I just didn't get it. This was especially irritating when I had already started to get a bit bored with the whole story because of all the jumping around.So...3 stars. And maybe, just maybe this will go up once I have a chance to read the next one (which I DO still want to read, despite me bashing the story a bit) and see where everything is going. I've always been like this with McKinley's books...the first reading has me underwhelmed, but the second has me loving her style. I think perhaps that I just need to give this one a chance, and so I will.

I was looking forward to reading this book, I thought it both looked and sounded beautiful. Due to a lack of space on my book shelves I am trying to read more books on Kindle so I had to wait until this was released and it was worth the wait.The book centres around Princess Sylvi, the fourth child and only daughter of King Corone, Sylvi lives in a land where due to an age old alliance and treaty, the children of royalty and other aristocracy are bound to a pegasus on their twelfth birthday. Humans and pegasi live in different realms and speak in different languages and the bound pairs struggle to communicate with one another. On Sylvi's twelfth birthday she goes to her binding ceremony and meets her pegasus Ebon, Sylvi and Ebon can communicate directly which causes shock and unease to both their communities. Sylvi and Ebon must explore their relationship and discover exactly what it means for both them and the alliance.The beginning of the book was slow, there was lots of detail into the signing of the treaty and the alliance between the humans and pegasi, although this is important to the story it felt as though it hindered the start. The main story starts when Sylvi and Ebon meet but even then I found that the story did not trly grip me until they visit the home of the pegasi. Once in Rhiandomeer, the story fully captured me and I really didn't want to go to work. The ending is a cliffhanger and I can't wait for part 2.I liked the characters of the story, there are lots of minor characters who are not explored in depth, we really only truly see and understand the characters of Sylvi and Ebon although both their fathers and some family members have some nice if brief descriptions. Sylvi is not the usual heroine, although in some ways she is brave and a little feisty in others she is more interesting. Sylvi questions everything including herself and isn't entirely comfortable in her own skin. Ebon is beautiful, headstrong and bold but he also desires to be a sculptor which is a difficult role held in high esteem by the pegasi. Together Sylvi and Ebon make a good combination and I empathised with them as they tried t bridge the gap between their people.The descriptions of the pegasi and the land they live in are stunning and it is clear why Sylvi feels ungainly and awkward in comparison. I thoroughly enjoyed this book even after the slow start and look forward to finding out what will happen in the next book as the ending is truly awful in that no questions are answered, only raised and I almost wish I'd waited a bit longer so that I could read both books together.

This book introduces us to Princess Sylvi who, as a member of the royal family, will be linked with a pegasus on her twelfth birthday. This is part of an old alliance between the pegasi and humans. The humans defended the pegasi against various threats, such as Rocs, thereby gaining the country the pegasi used to rule and the pegasi live more remotely. The country has not been threatend by these creatures for years, but they seem to be returning. The link between humans and pegasi is hampered by their inability to understand one another and all communication is routed through mages who seem to have a malign kind of power and a strong political say.Sylvi is able to communicate with her pegasus and seeks to understand what is dividing the two races. She alienates one of the mages. Her father then engages this mage to find out more about Sylvi's unusual ability to communicate with her pegasus and this leads to the not unexpected "cliffhanger" at the end of the book.Unfortunately I did not find the characters terribly engaging. The mages, though looming threateningly in the background, did not seem to do a lot or be rounded charracters. Sylvi's family also do not make much of an impression. The pegasi are a bit more interesting but perhaps the cast of characters is too large do more than an outline sketch.Also as the book is an introduction and not an full story there is not actually a lot happening.It's ok but I had higher hopes.