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meribiaa's review against another edition
1.0
When I started this installment, it was such a relief to get away from Amberdrake and Skandranon that I happily plowed through the first few chapters.
Unfortunately, the rest of the read is fairly tedious, with the same cycle of hiking, making camp, making food, eating, talking/thinking about what had caused the crash, and seeing something move in the shadows. I generally like survival stories, but this was boring!
We don't get any real confrontation until the end of the book, and The romance subplot has one scene in the early part of the book and.... a footnote at the end? A major moment of the climax relies on
I feel sad. I know there are people that love these books and love the gryphons, but I'm just glad it's over and that I never have to go back.
Unfortunately, the rest of the read is fairly tedious, with the same cycle of hiking, making camp, making food, eating, talking/thinking about what had caused the crash, and seeing something move in the shadows. I generally like survival stories, but this was boring!
We don't get any real confrontation until the end of the book, and
Spoiler
in come Drake and Skan to save the day and have a beautiful family bonding moment!Spoiler
Tad carrying bows and arrows that neither he nor Blade can use! While he had been hiking with a bad wing! What!!!I feel sad. I know there are people that love these books and love the gryphons, but I'm just glad it's over and that I never have to go back.
judythereader's review
4.0
This one was more of a straightforward narrative than the other two Gryphon books, which I truly appreciated. I don't dislike the style of the first two. Truthfully, I find any book she writes a pleasure to read, but that vignette style leaves me feeling like I missed something.
kmj91's review
2.0
2 stars, an underwhelming end to an often lackluster trilogy
This book starts out with a strong idea: "how do the children of Skandranon and Amberdrake feel about having to live up to their famous parents' legacies?" Unfortunately, the children just aren't interesting enough as characters to anchor a whole book and the plot feels pretty trivial. Add in some pacing problems and the whole book feels like a short story that was mistaken stretched out to barely novel length. It has its moments but I wasn't really a fan overall.
This book starts out with a strong idea: "how do the children of Skandranon and Amberdrake feel about having to live up to their famous parents' legacies?" Unfortunately, the children just aren't interesting enough as characters to anchor a whole book and the plot feels pretty trivial. Add in some pacing problems and the whole book feels like a short story that was mistaken stretched out to barely novel length. It has its moments but I wasn't really a fan overall.
kedawen's review
3.0
Very different from the other two books. While I did like the change of setting and pace, sometimes this book did get a little bogged down in the details of the characters' adventure. It was interesting how these books were completely different than how I remembered them.
inferiorwit's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Medical content, Stalking, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content and Sexism
melanie_page's review
4.0
The Silver Gryphon is the last book in The Mage Wars trilogy. In The Black Gryphon we learn about a therapist/masseur human named Amberdrake and his best friend, a prideful war leader gryphon named Skandranon. The world crashes down around them in the Cataclysm, and the “good guys” are spread all over the globe to rebuild. In book two, The White Gryphon, ten years later Amberdrake and Skandranon are out-of-shape new parents working on building a city called White Gryphon, but they learn they have neighbors who technically own the land they’ve chosen as their new home.
In The Silver Gryphon, it’s been another dozen years and Amberdrake’s and Skandranon’s kids want away from their parents — as far as they can get. Tadrith, the young gryphon tired of being compared to his legendary father, and Silverblade, eager to avoid sharing her feelings with her therapist father, join the city’s military/police brigade called the silvers. Partners, Tadrith and Silverblade are assigned the post furthest from White Gryphon, one that they will maintain for six months in isolation.
A theme running through The Silver Gryphon is that of crafting an identity. Blade worries that her father has too much power as a man who knows everyone’s dreams, fears, and weaknesses. He could use confidential information he gains in his profession to his benefit himself. Afraid of her own feelings, and afraid people will want to overshare their feelings with her and burden her with the responsibility of keeping secret their messy emotions, Blade becomes a hardened warrior in direct contrast to her pacifist father in order to carve out a separate identity. Watching Tad, but mostly Blade, decide who they are as young adults in comparison to their parents was well-done at a good pace.
Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon do something unusual in this third installment: they limit the number of characters. The focus is truly on Tad and Blade, and by keeping down the number of characters and perspectives, the authors let us really get to know these personalities. As a result, I was able to more firmly understand Tad and Blade and see them as complete characters more so than I have in a long time in the Valdemar books. Tad’s playfulness and teasing juxtaposed Blade’s serious nature regarding military education and romantic relationships. Although trained combatants, when put in a hopeless situation, Tad and Blade could be vulnerable, scared, and miserable, but also resourceful and logical.
What’s scaring them? In order to get to the outpost, they will have to fly for days over a rainforest. Tad cannot carry the weight of their supplies and Blade, but with a basket that holds everything and hooks to a harness Tad wears, a mage can use magic to make the basket weigh nothing. The pair are given a device infused with magic that allows them to communicate with White Gryphon. In fact, now that the wild mage storms caused by the Cataclysm are over, the tribe’s youngsters are fairly dependent on magic, while the old generation remembers having to do without it. Strong foreshadowing tells readers that Tad and Blade will be left without magic, and Lackey and Dixon make good on their hinting when all magical devices Tad and Blade use go dead, causing an accident with no way to call for help.
In the middle of a rainforest, badly injured, lost, and in mortal danger, Tad and Blade get the vibe that something is watching and stalking them. Sitting in the dark in bug-filled make-shift shelters, the pair are terrified. The more I read, I realized I was getting scared too! What’s in the dark? Why do the canopy animals go silent? Are Tad or Blade going to die — starvation, infection, maybe overdosing on painkillers? Are Amberdrake and Skandranon going to realize their children are missing, form a search party, and die trying to find them in some blaze of glory? As Tad and Blade continued to limp through the jungle — a horribly awkward and unnatural way for a gryphon to travel! — I was getting panicked just by the environment:
*I would be remiss if I failed to note that this book, as are all books in The Mage Wars, is full of typos.
This book review was originally published at Grab the Lapels.
In The Silver Gryphon, it’s been another dozen years and Amberdrake’s and Skandranon’s kids want away from their parents — as far as they can get. Tadrith, the young gryphon tired of being compared to his legendary father, and Silverblade, eager to avoid sharing her feelings with her therapist father, join the city’s military/police brigade called the silvers. Partners, Tadrith and Silverblade are assigned the post furthest from White Gryphon, one that they will maintain for six months in isolation.
A theme running through The Silver Gryphon is that of crafting an identity. Blade worries that her father has too much power as a man who knows everyone’s dreams, fears, and weaknesses. He could use confidential information he gains in his profession to his benefit himself. Afraid of her own feelings, and afraid people will want to overshare their feelings with her and burden her with the responsibility of keeping secret their messy emotions, Blade becomes a hardened warrior in direct contrast to her pacifist father in order to carve out a separate identity. Watching Tad, but mostly Blade, decide who they are as young adults in comparison to their parents was well-done at a good pace.
Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon do something unusual in this third installment: they limit the number of characters. The focus is truly on Tad and Blade, and by keeping down the number of characters and perspectives, the authors let us really get to know these personalities. As a result, I was able to more firmly understand Tad and Blade and see them as complete characters more so than I have in a long time in the Valdemar books. Tad’s playfulness and teasing juxtaposed Blade’s serious nature regarding military education and romantic relationships. Although trained combatants, when put in a hopeless situation, Tad and Blade could be vulnerable, scared, and miserable, but also resourceful and logical.
What’s scaring them? In order to get to the outpost, they will have to fly for days over a rainforest. Tad cannot carry the weight of their supplies and Blade, but with a basket that holds everything and hooks to a harness Tad wears, a mage can use magic to make the basket weigh nothing. The pair are given a device infused with magic that allows them to communicate with White Gryphon. In fact, now that the wild mage storms caused by the Cataclysm are over, the tribe’s youngsters are fairly dependent on magic, while the old generation remembers having to do without it. Strong foreshadowing tells readers that Tad and Blade will be left without magic, and Lackey and Dixon make good on their hinting when all magical devices Tad and Blade use go dead, causing an accident with no way to call for help.
In the middle of a rainforest, badly injured, lost, and in mortal danger, Tad and Blade get the vibe that something is watching and stalking them. Sitting in the dark in bug-filled make-shift shelters, the pair are terrified. The more I read, I realized I was getting scared too! What’s in the dark? Why do the canopy animals go silent? Are Tad or Blade going to die — starvation, infection, maybe overdosing on painkillers? Are Amberdrake and Skandranon going to realize their children are missing, form a search party, and die trying to find them in some blaze of glory? As Tad and Blade continued to limp through the jungle — a horribly awkward and unnatural way for a gryphon to travel! — I was getting panicked just by the environment:
Sweat trickled steadily down the back of [Blade’s] neck , and her hair itched unbearably. For that matter, so did her feet, shins, armpits. . . any number of tiny forest insects were finding her tasty fare, and she was covered with itching, red welts.Thanks to such vivid descriptions, I thought The Silver Gryphon has a more appealing setting, one that affected me as I read. Caring about two characters and wondering how their fathers will react to young adult children who have vanished in a rainforest kept me emotionally invested, especially as I was scared each day when the torrential rains came pouring down and darkness descended. That doesn’t mean the days felt endless; I found the novel tightly plotted, moving along as needed and varying the days’ events enough that I sensed something building. A great addition to the #ReadingValdemar adventure.
*I would be remiss if I failed to note that this book, as are all books in The Mage Wars, is full of typos.
This book review was originally published at Grab the Lapels.
deliriousofi's review
1.0
Although I really liked the fist two books in the Mage Wars trilogy, this was quite disappointing. This story is not at all about the main characters you have come to expect from the first two books, but their troublesome offspring. It is a protracted romp through the woods, with the two main characters being hunted by some unknown force, which of course ends happily and victoriously. No political intrigue as in the first books, but mostly an "action" read. Lots of accidents, running, fighting and arguing. You do not need a whole lot of brain power to get the story, but a healthy imagination would help, since the whole thing is boring, cliché and predictable. The characters are flat and uninteresting, eliciting no emotional investment or response from the reader, and the whole book in general, felt like a badly written fan-fiction.
saphirablue's review
3.0
That has been a nice adventure book. :)
It's been nice to meet the next generation and the troubles they have to deal with (being compared to their parents all the time) and them having their own adventures.
I have to admit, that I like Tad a bit more than Skan. He just is a bit more likeable for me. *shrugs*
I really like Blade and her struggle not to be like her parents. It's a nice touch to show that not everybody is happy with having empathic abilities and is not comfortable with someone having these abilites. I also like how resourcefull she is when she and Tad are in the jungle.
Drake and Skan are as always, even though I not quite comfortable how they reacted to Judeth (especially Drake threatening her) and that they have been so blind regarding their own children. *sighs*
I love, love, love the illustrations of the characters. So much. ♥
Other than that, a quite enjoyable adventure read. :)
It's been nice to meet the next generation and the troubles they have to deal with (being compared to their parents all the time) and them having their own adventures.
I have to admit, that I like Tad a bit more than Skan. He just is a bit more likeable for me. *shrugs*
I really like Blade and her struggle not to be like her parents. It's a nice touch to show that not everybody is happy with having empathic abilities and is not comfortable with someone having these abilites. I also like how resourcefull she is when she and Tad are in the jungle.
Drake and Skan are as always, even though I not quite comfortable how they reacted to Judeth (especially Drake threatening her) and that they have been so blind regarding their own children. *sighs*
I love, love, love the illustrations of the characters. So much. ♥
Other than that, a quite enjoyable adventure read. :)
chemifox's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5