Pegasus

by Robin McKinley

Dedication: "To the Wonder-Mods*: Ajlr, B_twin, Black Bear, Gryphyn, Ithilien, Jodi, Maren and Southdowner, with love from a grateful hellgoddess.

*Does anyone recognise you without your capes?"

First paragraph: "Because she was a princess she had a pegasus. This had been a part of the treaty between the pegasi and the human invaders nearly a thousand years ago, shortly after humans had first struggled through the mountain passes beyond the wild lands and discovered a beautiful green country they knew immediately they wanted to live in."

Review: Princess Slyvi and her pegasus Ebon are changing history. Their bond is unlike anything her country has seen before. For so long there has been a language barrier that only Shamans and Magicians were able to close, and even then it was only slightly.

As soon as Slyvi realizes she can speak to her pegasus the kingdom becomes divided. Some believe there is a reason why they cannot, aren't, able to communicate clearly with pegasi and Slyvi and Ebon have to fight to keep stay together.

I have so many mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed it but the beginning was slow. We had to learn the history, the tales, the stories about how the humans met the pegasi and why the alliance between the two races was formed. To say the least, history is never really gripping. The same goes for this book. However, once things get going you become immersed in this world that Mckinley has created and it's beautiful and almost impossible to tear yourself away from.

A lot of times a character acts too much like a teenager. Always whining or complaining or just being annoying. In this case though, she acted like a princess and her occasional self-conscious thoughts or actions made her entertaining and yet she was still real. She still had simple twelve year old worries. As the book progressed she had more mature but still fifteen-year-old worries. McKinley wrote her characters well.

One of the things I had a problem with was keeping everyone straight. There were a lot of characters constantly coming and going and that made it hard to remember which ones were human and which ones were pegasi. This made the book a little confusing but I was still able to follow the story just fine. Occasionally, someone I thought was human would sweep their wings in a bowing fashion or something and I'd realize I'd gotten them confused with someone else (obviously).

So my only other complaint, and a huge one it is, is the ending. As in, there isn't one. I hate it when I read a book only to find out that there's another book, or in this case that the story hasn't even actually started yet. What the heck! It turns out Pegasus II is planned to be released in 2012. Yeah, you read that right. 2012! Gah. I really, really hate it when this happens. Kind of makes me mad I read the book at all but ... it was a good book other than that.

So, if you don't like waiting for books to come out, don't read this book ... yet; however, I'd definitely suggest reading it when the second book gets closer to being published.

Click here for Robin McKinley's website and more information about Pegasus and the other books she's written.