Pegasus

Pegasus
Robin McKinley


On her twelfth birthday, Sylviianel, like all the members of the royal family, is to be bonded to a royal pegasus. Not that they'll be able to be close friends - communication between humans and pegasi is extremely difficult, and complex ideas require the aid of a magician Speaker. Except Sylvi and her pegasus, Ebon, can communicate directly: they can hear each other's thoughts. It's great for them, but some of the magicians are less than pleased with this development, and Sylvi and Ebon have to hide some of their capabilities, like flying together. Meanwhile, the pegasi's ancient enemies harry the human kingdom's borders, and the resistance of the magicians threatens the eight-hundred-year-old Alliance between pegasi and humans.


First let me say that I really like Robin McKinley. Her books are fairly similar in style, so if you like McKinley, you'll probably like this book, and if not, don't buy it. Pegasus certainly isn't McKinley's best work, but it's not a bad read. The relationship between pegasi and humans is different from the usual inter-species interaction, and McKinley does her usual excellent work making the world feel real. I liked Sylvi and Ebon, and the king and queen. The plot was a standard sort of "enemies from without and within" fare.


Pegasus was a decent book, but there wasn't really anything special about it. As I said, it was mostly your basic Robin McKinley story. There will be a sequel, but not a whole lot happened, plotwise, in this book. I did find the pegasi interesting, but mostly it was pretty average, neither spectacularly good nor terribly bad.


Characters: 3 cupcakes
Plot: 2 cupcakes
Style: 4 cupcakes
Overall: 3 cupcakes