Pegasus by Robin McKinley

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Page Count: 404

Rating: 3/5

(Description): Because of a thousand-year-old alliance between humans and pegasi, Princess Sylviianel is ceremonially bound to Ebon, her own pegasus, on her twelfth birthday. The two species coexist peacefully, despite the language barriers separating them. Humans and pegasi both rely on specially-trained Speaker magicians as the only means of real communication. But it’s different for Sylvi and Ebon. They can understand each other. They quickly grow close-so close that their bond becomes a threat to the status quo-and possibly to the future safety of their two nations.

(Review): Despite the slow beginning and the subtle-ness of the plot this turned out to be a wonderful read. At first I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish this 1) because the beginning was very slow and didn’t truly draw me in despite the interesting aspects and 2) a lot of the reviews were on the “this is horrible” side. But as I slowly moved forward I realized that I was actually gripped by the story. I love the idea of Pegasus and humans bonding and really enjoyed the bond that Sylvi and Ebon shared. I also enjoyed the differences in how they live and think, and how they perceive the opposite race. You can tell that a lot of thought went into this book, it’s evident in the language and the cultures. The book is beautiful. Now to get to the things I didn’t like. Toward the beginning the sentence structure really really bothered me, there seemed to be a lot of sentence fragments. I suppose I got use to it overtime or they were no longer there but it certainly didn’t help me trying to get into the book. I also really do not like how it end, when I say there is a cliff-hanger I mean it like a tv-show going to commercial during a pivotal point and never coming back on. It wasn’t typical in the sense where it concludes in someway but leads you to the next, this one simply abandons you. If a sequel never comes I’ll end up really bitter towards this book. I don’t know how I feel about how the plot unfolded, you get a sense of what may unfold but you aren’t quite sure which way the plot is truly going before you finally resign yourself to believing it’s just about a girl and her friendship with a Pegasus…and then boom actual plot.
Overall I enjoyed it, it’s not as terrible as others make it but it is a tough one to endure in the beginning. I don’t think I’d tell anyone to buy it but I’d say borrow it and give it a shot.