Guardians of Ga'Hoole Collection - Legend of the Guardians product reviews

Soren is a young owlet born in an imaginary forest called Tyto. One evening, when he is three weeks old, he falls out of his nest. Because he couldn't fly at that point, he couldn't get himself back into the nest. He is snatched by a Boreal Owl named Grimble who takes him to St. Ageolis (St. Aggies for short). Soren makes various attempts to escape, only to get caught each time.

Because St. Aggies is deep in a stone canyon, the rain and wind can't reach it so there are no trees there for Soren and his young friend Gylfie to practise branching on. This makes it very difficult for Soren and Gylfie to learn to fly, though eventually they get to know Grimble and he gets them passes to the library and they practise flying from there.

I liked the part when Twilight, Soren, Digger and Gylfie travel to the Great GaHoole Tree and, for a bed for the day, they nest in an old owl nest in a pine tree. Then, for some bedding, they burp pine needles and use them as moss! Then Digger said that they should have a contest to see who could do the most disgusting, prettiest, loudest burps. I thought that was hilarious!

This book has adventure, excitement, compassion, all sorts. I loved it so much I'm reading it again!

I wasnt sure what to expect from reading this, it took me a bit to realise that this was actually three stories condensed, and that I would need to read twelve more to get the full tale, however with short chapters it should be fairly easy for younger readers to get through it also.
A classic tale of companionship and adventure with the whole good versus evil woven throughout, there is plenty of action for readers, however I also found that a-lot of old material was constantly re-written, which got a bit tedious.
I also found that whilst the details on owls seems top-notched, I kinda struggled to believe some of the ideas used in the book, but that's probably just me being picky...
over-all this was an okay book and I will more than likely read the sequels when I come across them so I can see how this all plays out.

This is a rollicking adventure tale one that I wish was around when I was a youngster, as this was the kind of book I could have really gotten into, but alas it came around 20 years too late - on second thoughts no it hasn't, and I can share the enjoyment of this book with my eldest son.

I personally would classify this book as a good alternative for kids to the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, as it has all the hallmarks of a good fantasy story, it has the hero going on a journey, he faces tests, it has the classic good versus evil, not to mention the obligatory twist at the end, but all this just makes it a good read.

I feel that using owls in this book instead of people is a brilliant move by the author and gives it a whole other dimension, it still has the cutesy talking animal feel to it while still having the deeper darker undertones that the more adult books of similar type tend to have. It also carries the moral message (now I don't actually know if there is one in there or not, but I certainly saw one myself) that no one species/race is more superior than any other very well indeed.

Another thing that I really loved about this book was the way all the characters were written. Each character was written with such great care, and the personalities were beautifully crafted in such a way so as to make you really connect and feel for each character. My favourite character had to be Soren - The young but brave hero of the tale, and i'm sure this character will become the favourite for most other readers as well.

Now neither myself nor my son have seen the movie that is based on these three books, but if it manages to capture the spirit and the excitement that exists in the book then I will be running out to get it on DVD.

Of course now that we've read the first 3 books in the series, it now means finding and purchasing the next 12 books that make up the Guardians of Ga'Hoole saga.