This book imitates human life and society , but with owls. It's very easy to visualize what is happening and comparing it to a human society. But still the characteristics of the owls are still there. I still think this series of books are geared to mid to late teenagers and older. Being a 51 year old owl fanatic, I do love these books.

A very different story. Not my usual type of book, but I started the series and I’m kinda committed now. Great book for owl lovers. Lots of research has gone into these books.

“I am a Guardian of Ga’Hoole. From this night on I dedicate my life to the protection of owlkind. I shall not swerve in my duty. I shall support my brother and sister Guardians in times of battle and in times of peace. I am the eyes in the night, the silence within the wind. I am the talons through the fire, the shield that guards the innocent. I shall seek to wear no crown, nor win any glory. And all these things I do swear upon my honor as a Guardian of Ga’Hoole until my days on this earth cease to be. This be my vow. This be my life. By Glaux, I do swear.”
[page 9, ebooks version]

This is the sixth book in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky.

Our oldest decided to read this series after reading several of the books in the associated Wolves of the Beyond series. This is a pretty long series, though, and I have to admit that she's lost interest in the story. She started reading this book, but when she became engrossed in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, she dropped this book cold. I went ahead and read it out of curiosity, but I have to admit, the other stories are more entertaining.

This is a dramatic tale and I'm a bit on the fence about the appropriateness of the themes compared to the target audience. There is a lot of mature content in these tales and while I'm sure our oldest can handle it, I think we should probably discuss these tales a bit more. This is exactly the reason why I read the books our girls read - I need to know that it's not just a highly recommended, popular series.

This book is an engaging, quick read with a very dramatic plot. Yet one more battle won, but I can tell that this book is just one more lead up to the final conclusion. With nine books remaining in the series, it feels like the saga will never end. I'm not sure if our oldest will ever pick up this series again. If she does, I'm game, but otherwise, I doubt I'll pursue the rest of the story on my own.

It was a wonderful book! It was filled with action and suspense! I think this is one of the best books I have ever read! I was a very good book!

The Burning is the climax of all the books that preceded it. Every plot arc- St. Aggies, the Pure Ones, the Northern Kingdoms- ties together in this thrilling and high stakes story. We see our protagonists go from children to fully-fledged Guardians, using their skills and learnings to face the conflict that has been looming over them for years. Given the sheer number of plot points in this story, I’m impressed that Kathryn managed to keep this book as short as it was. For that reason it may have felt a little fast-paced at times, though I think that aided the atmosphere. Definitely one of the strongest books in the series with some awesome new worldbuilding!

This book, sequel to The Shattering by Kathryn Lasky, is a definite page-turner. After witnissing what the powerful flecks can do to owls, and hereing news that the Pure Ones, a group ow owls who believe that Barn Owls are the best type of owl, have taken over Saint Aggies, where the largest known supply of flecks is stored, the Guardians know that the Pure Ones must be stopped. But how? Otulissa, one of the Guardians, has the solution: invasion. Invasion of Saint Aggies canyons. But can they win? Not without the help of the troops from the Northern Kingdoms. So Soren and the Chaw of Chaws are dispatched to the Northern Kindoms to see if they can raise troops from the Northern Kingdoms to help them. But will they? And even if they can, will they be too late to stop them?

Okay, I'm not reading any more of this series. Sentences like "they were one of the greatest threats to owlkind" just don't hit the same when you're reading it yourself compared to when it's being read seriously to you.

I like the premise, and the first book was great, but the more books you read the more flaws you see in the universe. It's really weird reading fiction aimed at children from an adult perspective because with plots like owls kidnapping children, or course that is horrifying but what is more horrifying to me is that their is no workable justice system in this world to stop these adults. Yes, the Guardians exist to rescue the children, but they do nothing to stop the abuse in the first place? This is one of the reasons why His Dark Materials is so good, because it takes the horrors kidnapping very seriously and addresses the root of the problem. Fantasy which attracts adults as well as children has thought-through consequences.

This series also has a strange mix of a systematic class system of implied racism, with the owls the unquestioned rulers of the owl universe and nest-maid snakes only want to serve them, and yet the 'evil' bad guys are those who've taken racial purity too far? Kind of like in Harry Potter how the 'good' wizards fight racial purity but also systemically oppress house elves? Kind of like how historically men fight men and their good wives demurely keep house for them?

Systems of power are so interesting, and it's so interesting how the stories we read hold so much unconscious bias in their implied values which we, especially as children, do not question.

I love how much this author applied her research though. Whilst I'll forever be a Warriors girl, the owl and weather research in this series was amazing, and the post-human world-building was intriguing, and the impact of religion and pedagogy. Respect!

Excellent! In my opinion, this was one of the best in the series so far. My son and I really enjoyed the new owls that we met. The battle scene at the end was exciting, and I think the Kludd issue was handled in a very kid appropriate manner. However, the book does have some very intense spots, so I'm glad that my 5yo agreed to stop listening to the story half way through.... as it was I had to stop reading a couple of times and hand the book to my eldest so that he could read some passages to himself. So all in all,a great book, but unfortunately the bar is set very high for the next book. Fingers crossed!

This one just did not feel the same to me as the previous five have. Although it does set up well into the next book by hinting at the soon to hatch egg right before Soren and Kludd's battle to the death.

Soren, Gylfie, Twightlight, Digger, Ruby, Otulissa, and Martin go to the Northern Kingdoms ... but not all of them come back! Where is Gylfie! The Kraals (pirates) got her! About 2 months later The War begins. Fire, lots and lots of fire ... Metal Beak is dead!!! Gylfie is back! The egg hached. This book was so well written. It builds suspense, and is really exciting!

These are kids' books, of course, so there's a certain amount of corniness and convenient plot fixes... But I still enjoy reading them -- they're adorable! The owls journey to the North, encountering owl pirates, monks, and polar bears, learning from Nordic warriors that speak "Krakish" to wield ice weapons. I enjoy Lasky's mixture of creativity and natural history, which while entertaining children, also teaches them a decent amount of zoology. And of course, you can read these in an evening; they're a fun break if you've just read something heavy.