Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Love that this flips some traditional fantasy elements on their heads, this is a book I wish I had read as a child.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one is tricky to review for me. Had I read it in 1968 when it first came out I probably would have sh*t my pants and lost my mind because it was so groundbreaking and fun. For better or worse I am a 27 year old reading it in 2025. I am happy to have read it because it is one of the first (and many feel the best) to do what it did, but honestly it just doesn't hold up as well as I was hoping. That being said, once my children are of age I will absolutely be reading this with them because it is such a great for what it is assuming you are the target audience which at this point I don't think I am anymore. I'm not rushing into the sequel but someday I will probably revisit it.
I tried to like this book but I found it profoundly sexist and boring.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Child death
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't really have an opinion about this book. It's not that I didn't like it but it's also no like I loved it either? Ya know?
This is from the 60s and it shows in the way the story is more being told to you over you experiencing many of the events first hand. This story really does give you the life of Sparrowhawk up to age 19 and feels more like a summary with some experts over the actual life story those 19 years would have felt like in any modern fantasy story. Neither method is better than the other necessarily but I'm certainly not used to this style of story telling either.
Ironically the story of me trying to read this book is more interesting than what I got out of the book itself. It all starts with the Ghibli movie (of course) and how the ideas in that movie seniorly interesting though the execution was lacking. So of course some basic research reveals it's actually based on this book series, of which Sparrow was honestly the one I was least interested in (even though it seems like he's the through line for all the books in the main series). So back in like 2019 I tried reading it on Kindle, it added up on my unread section ever since. But given how I'm trying to get some of my TBR off by using audiobooks this year I thought I'd give it a try using Libby. Only for the audiobook on Libby only be a 5 minute sample. Why that is, I don't know. And with so many other titles coming off hold at the same time a couple weeks ago by before I can try it on Spotify, where in the last 3 days I've finished the 7 hour story.
Inevitably, maybe it's just the fact that I didn't grow up with the story, for its age, or it's style -foot locker I enjoyed myself I'm not exactly the most enthused. I'm definitely going to try at least the first four books since I know that those are referenced in the movie, and I'll probably eventually finish the entire series, this is not necessarily the most interesting to start: it's not bad it's not great. It's average.
This is from the 60s and it shows in the way the story is more being told to you over you experiencing many of the events first hand. This story really does give you the life of Sparrowhawk up to age 19 and feels more like a summary with some experts over the actual life story those 19 years would have felt like in any modern fantasy story. Neither method is better than the other necessarily but I'm certainly not used to this style of story telling either.
Ironically the story of me trying to read this book is more interesting than what I got out of the book itself. It all starts with the Ghibli movie (of course) and how the ideas in that movie seniorly interesting though the execution was lacking. So of course some basic research reveals it's actually based on this book series, of which Sparrow was honestly the one I was least interested in (even though it seems like he's the through line for all the books in the main series). So back in like 2019 I tried reading it on Kindle, it added up on my unread section ever since. But given how I'm trying to get some of my TBR off by using audiobooks this year I thought I'd give it a try using Libby. Only for the audiobook on Libby only be a 5 minute sample. Why that is, I don't know. And with so many other titles coming off hold at the same time a couple weeks ago by before I can try it on Spotify, where in the last 3 days I've finished the 7 hour story.
Inevitably, maybe it's just the fact that I didn't grow up with the story, for its age, or it's style -foot locker I enjoyed myself I'm not exactly the most enthused. I'm definitely going to try at least the first four books since I know that those are referenced in the movie, and I'll probably eventually finish the entire series, this is not necessarily the most interesting to start: it's not bad it's not great. It's average.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes