7th July 2011, Puffin
416 pages, Paperback
Review copy
Children's, fantasy, 12 years +
Life as a princess, magicians, mythical creatures, pegasi, life in the pegasi lands, bonds of friendship & bonds of other types, treachery, tragedy, bravery, heartache, daring escapades, flying, breaking social convention, lots of humour, a little bit of intense sadness
Summary from Puffin Books
On her twelfth birthday, Princess Sylviianel is ceremonially bound to her own Pegasus, Ebon.For a thousand years humans and pegasi have lived peacefully in the beautiful green country beyond the wild lands. They rely on human magicians and pegasi shamans as their only means of real communication - but not Sylvi and Ebon. Their friendship is like no other . . .
They can understand each other.
But as their bond grows more powerful, it becomes dangerous - could their friendship threaten to destroy the peace and safety of their two worlds?
Nayuleska's reasons for loving Princess Sylvi...she knows her duty, which supports her when she's got mixed emotions, she's got a magical unique bond with Ebon which is there for a reason and she experiences so many wonderful sights (plus she can fight which is a plus!)
Is there another character who deserves a mention? Ebon - the pegasus she gets bonded to - I want one! He's there for her as much as he can be, not always having the right answers, because sometimes there isn't an answer to her questions.
How evil/nasty is the enemy? There is an evil person in the court who appears in the first part of the book, disappears for a while then appears at the end to cause total mayhem. He is a nasty bit of work. Equally worrying are the creatures which terrorize the lands - these only really appear at the end, which seemed a bit weird, but knowing there's a sequel it makes a bit more sense why it was written like that.
Are there plenty of plot twists and surprises? Definitely lots of pleasant surprises as Sylvi grows up, so of the plot twists have me really intrigued with the next book - I didn't expect the end to happen, which might account why I was so annoyed with it that I chucked it on my bed in horror at having to wait for the next book.
One of my favourite parts was...virtually the whole book, because Sylvi is spunky, she and Ebon are pretty funny in their conversations, I love how her mother is a good fighter and happy to be one, and the end is pretty incredible and very moving.
I give this 8/10 - I found the beginning a little long winded for my liking, and it would have been good to have more of an inkling of the danger to come at the end a little earlier on in the story.
To find out more about Pegasus and robin, check out her website.
Suggested read
Definitely check out Spindle's End also by Robin, it's a sweet version of Sleeping Beauty
and another of her books is Beauty, a version of Beauty and the Beast.
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