This book feels like a transitional period between the last book and the next one. Like, yes, things happened, but... I took three days between when I finished this and when I sat down to write my review, and aside from the climax itself, I have to reach to recall anything that went on in this one.

Speaking of the climax, why would you build up so much to Soren killing his own brother, only to chicken out at the last moment and have someone else do it for him? It would have been such a better character moment if Soren had delivered the final blow. And what is he so hung up about afterwards? Did he seriously think there could be a way of winning that didn't involve killing Kludd? He didn't even do the actual killing.

This book was a bit longer than the prior ones and enjoyed a extended story where quite a bit happened. It's pacing felt much better than some of the prior books. However, it was marred by a large helping of characters and locations that were briefly mentioned, insubstantial to the plot, and very difficult to remember. Worse, when I went to look up some of those strange characters in the back of the book, none of them were mentioned there. In addition, there were some strange elements that felt unrealistic and poorly described - especially the ice weapons that were apparently as strong as metal weapons because they were forged with "cold fire", and claws that held tiny embers that would light other owls on fire with their scratches. It's didn't feel logical, and it didn't seem like magic of some sort was being used. Lastly, there were several word choices throughout the book that I thought were strange given the audience these were supposedly written for. Are young readers really going to understand words like despotism, and do words like that really have a place when you're replacing typical words with things like Frink of Fronk?

Great book! I like how Soren had refused to help teach Skench, Ablah General of St Aggie's (also known as St Aegolus Academy for Orphaned Owls [I actualy have no idea on how to write the A-- name part of the place]),and her first lieutenant Spoorn how to fight with fire. I mean, why would he want to agree to help teach the very same owls who had him snatched as an owlet how to fight with fire?? I wouldn't want to either. I also like how the Chaw of Chaws went to the Northern Kingdoms to get allies to make sure the Tree can defeat the P.O. And how back at the Tree, Otulissa kept saying that she didn't have a crush on the Spotted Owl prince Cleve when she was seen by Gylfie flirting with Cleve, and looking at him all the time at the Glauxian Brothers Retreat.

This book is the last from Soren's POV, and it's certainly one hell of a finale. This book is a must read. So hurry up and give it a read!

tThe Burning is the sixth book of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. It was a good story with a plotline continuing from the previous books, and a great resolution when Soren's brother and archenemy is killed. There are a few references to burning throughout the book, but not nearly as strong a theme threaded through as there was in The Shattering.
tWe are introduced to the Northern Kingdoms for the first time in the series. We find that they speak different languages, have different weather, and practice different customs. The author makes the point that different kinds of people must come together in times of need to resist spreading evil.
tIn chapter five, we see Soren begin to doubt his worthiness for the mission that Ezylryb has assigned to him. As the story goes on, he is continually disappointed in what he is able to accomplish, though he is quick to take full responsibility for any failures. As you would expect, this great leader is truly his own worst critic. I think even in the end he fails to see how much the Guardians were able to accomplish because of his leadership. Although I must point out that a constant theme of this series is the lesser characters stepping up and doing great things. We see that in this book with Gylfie and Twilla in huge ways, and other characters to a lesser extent.
tThere is a discussion in the book about vanity. This hearkens back to the mirror lakes when the band was mesmerized by their own reflections and deceived. Gylfie mentioned that “she knew that vanity deceived, and was not a strength, but a weakness.” Having that previous experience helped her to succeed in her mission. I think of how often in our society people are mesmerized by their own looks, and fixated on how they are viewed. Later Gylfie refers to vanity as a “thief of flight.” The loss of flight, perhaps the most precious ability of an owl, makes the point of how destructive vanity can be.
tThere is a brief discussion of forgiveness between Gylfie and Twilla. Twilla had come to the point of forgiving her greatest enemy, Ifghar, and treating him extremely kindly. Only then could her soul heal. Even when she saw no change in Ifghar's heart, she valued the change in her own heart brought about by forgiveness. This is in sync with Soren and our great old war hero, Ezylryb, and a far cry from the hatred and revenge that consumes the heart of Ifghar, Nyra, and Kludd.
tIt is also notable that Soren is extremely affected by the death of his brother, Kludd, even as evil as he was. In the end there is some closure when his parents absolve Soren of any wrongdoing.
tThe Burning was a good book. It did not have the elements of a great novel that its predecessor had, but it did resolve the war with Metal Beak and the Pure Ones. It also set up the expectation of the next great villain. There's also an intriguing loose end with Ifghar. Lasky does a nice job of setting up the next book.

This book is about the world of owls, with two sides on opposite means. The Guardians of Ga'hoole are noble owls, who respect each different type of owl and learn great things at the Great Tree of Hoole. While on the other end of the line, are the bad owls, usually the ones that call themselves the Pure Ones, are evil and vile in every way, with different beliefs than other owls. The Pure Ones are group of owls who have "tyto" in their scientific name and are grouped together to rid the other kinds of owls in the owl kingdoms. They are ruled usually by a High Tyto and have different ranks.

My favorite part of the book is would be when the Guardians were outnumbered by the Pure Ones, but when the Pure Ones were about to go for the kill, reinforcements suddenly came for the Guardians from the north and then the Guardians suddenly began the counter attack so the Pure Ones retreated with heavy loses.

In this book of Guardians of Ga'hoole, the Guardians haved learned that St. Aggies (a group of mean owls who take young chicks and control them using the moon) have fallen to the Pure Ones and are using the flecks that they have to rule the owls of every kind. Flecks are a type of metal that can disrupt a owl's sense of direction. The Guardians than go to the Northern Kingdoms to recruit the owls there and learn how to use their own weapons, so that they can do an invasion against the Pure Ones and stop their use of their flecks.

I don't want to spoil the end of the story and I am sorry if I took to long. This book's genre is fantasy and the author style of writing is interesting because it uses words that are made up and also uses scientific words like tyto (maybe not in this book, but other books). I would recommend this book who like animals and also the spirit of adventure and action.

I felt that this lost the momentum that the first five books had built. I found my mind wandering often. This is a great series. This was just a hiccup and it could very well just have been me and my mood at the time of reading. I do want to continue with the series and hopefully it will pick up again for me.

This is the sixth book in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series, which I'm reading aloud to my younger daughter.

Things are gearing up for the big showdown between the Pure Ones and the Guardians. The Chaw of the Chaws are on a mission: Otulissa and Gylfie are to find the Glauxian Brothers' hideaway to learn more about war strategies and locate a second copy of the book on flecks that was destroyed by Dewlap, Martin and Ruby are to find a certain Kielian snake called Hoke of Hock, and the rest of them are to go to the Firth of Fangs to find Moss and implore his aid in joining forces with the Guardians to fight the Pure Ones.

I enjoyed the action in this one! We have already watched the 2010 film adaptation Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, which combines the first six books of the series. We did enjoy the movie, but it is different from the books.

We are continuing on with the seventh book in the series, The Hatchling.

This review was posted on my book blog:
https://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.com...

This one had me hooked far less than the previous book, sadly. Which it shouldn't be because this is the climax and end of Soren's story and the first arc, or at least it is implied to be (I haven't read past this book yet).

There's some good here, such as the world-building of the north, Dewlap thankfully not being a big player in this book (I hate that owl with a burning passion) and of course the final conflict with Soren and Kludd but the rest...I genuinely couldn't care less what was going on. Pirate shenanigans, learning how to fight with ice weapons... I was very bored throughout a lot of this book. Which, again, is supposed to be the climax of the arc. I was left disappointed, sad.

Also I personally think it should've been Soren who ended Kludd's life, not Twilight. Their sibling rivalry has been built up since book one and to have it resolved like this is a bit unsatisfying for the reader.

Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...

The Burning is the last of the six-book fleck/Pure Ones/St. Aggie’s arc before Lasky takes the series into a different direction. As a last book, it wraps everything up as it’s supposed to: there’s tension and uncertainty to ramp the tension up before the final battle, the villains are defeated, and great acts of bravery are performed by multiple characters.

Yet there is still much left to be desired with this “closing” of the first Soren arc (for he comes back later on in the series). The time jumps are bothersome, leaving great swathes of character’s actions to be explained in commentary or as an afterthought later on. This includes Gylfie and Otulissa leaving the Glauxian Brother’s Retreat, Soren’s insistence on not teaching the St. Aggie’s owls to fight, and Gylfie’s appeal to the Northern owls parliament. In fact, Gylfie’s entire courageous arc, where she escapes from pirates and brings an army to help out the Guardians at just the right moment, is entirely overshadowed by a brand-new viewpoint character, and her most amazing moment is never even seen, though we get some of its effect later on when she meets back up with Soren at the battle.

In addition to those odd jumps, Lasky decides to have the battle between Kludd and Soren end in a rather strange way, though at least that decision makes more sense than the random jumps in time. We get a fight between Soren and his brother, but the end result is strangely anticlimactic and unsatisfying. In fact, it seems to have been done purposefully to preserve Soren’s purity than for any other reason. Or perhaps it was to show how different Soren is from his brother—though that, of course, isn’t a necessary distinction to make since we already know that Soren is far and away the better owl.

Anyway, despite my grumblings, I still thought The Burning was a good end. It wraps up the Pure Ones arc very neatly, and it leaves room for some more growth to the series with the very brief reveal at the end with Nyra. The missteps and the strange choices are probably due to the fact that the last couple of books were published in the same year, so Lasky likely didn’t have a lot of time to really think about the choices she was making.

This was the last book where the series was honestly objectively good. Also it is deeply unsettling listening to them nowadays as a person who exists in the political climate of 2018.

I was going to rate this one higher, until we got to the big battle at the end. It was just too cheesy.