We need more characters like Theo in this series!

Warning: This book has many dealings with "hagsfiends," spirits from owl h**l that can both possess living owls and attack them.

This ninth book of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series is a Legends book: The tale of Grank, the first blacksmith, and the hatching of Hoole.

The tale is easy to follow, but simply not engaging for me. I was neither excited nor curious about what was to come. It was vaguely interesting, but not enough so.

It's written toward children, which the style shows, but the hagsfiends part makes me rethink its appropriateness for children. Parents should give permission for anyone under 11 to read this book.

my son and I enjoy this series together.

A great continuance of the story. Excellent narration.

I really liked this book but it was really confusing until my mom explained to me that this book was going back of time. I think that this book should have been the first one because it was the beginning of something new and exciting. I think that 6 graders would like this book because it would be a very good book and then they could understand the book better.

It was interesting to learn about who the first Collier was

Not bad but it didn't really include a lot of stuff about Hoole. This one was probably my least favorite one out of the 3 legends (This is the first one). Anyways, this one was not bad overall.

I loved this series. The uniqueness of a civilization of owls grabbed me. The ideas of how that would play out were well thought out. There are many books in this series. The first are excellent. The later ones are some better than others. But in each the uniqueness of an owl community plays out really well.

Man, do I love Pamela Garelick’s narration. I really do think the experience with this series is improved immensely if you go with the audiobooks. I also loved Theo and Svenka in this book. Grank is such a simp for Siv, I respect it.

Actual Rating: 4.8

I love love love the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. An excellent blend of fantasy and realism. The owls can talk and make things (i.e. battle claws, ice splinters, etc.) but Kathryn Lasky also blended in some real owl elements into the story. The reason why this book didn't reach a full 5 stars is because of the confusion. In some parts, the story became twisted and odd. The part where Siv talked with Grank afterwards was quite confusing because of the different POVs. I still love how this book, the First Collier, is also the book that Soren and Coryn are reading. It gives the world of Ga'Hoole a background history. It completes the puzzle. Soren can read the future through his dreams, they are in the present, and the three books in the secret library (The First Collier, The Coming of Hoole, To Be A King) are all reread to the reader in an owl's eyes. It covers the background story and gives us all a better understanding toward the kingdom of Ga'Hoole and its inhabitants.

Super Idee und Weise, die alten Legenden in die Haupthandlung mit einzuflechten. Am Anfang liest es sich wirklich wie eine Historie und dann bekommt man verschiedene Blickwinkel und das ganze ist plötzlich viel lebhafter und ausgefleischter.
Ich danke der Autorin ganz herzlich für Siv, wie gern hätte ich mehr von ihr gelesen :(

The kids have really enjoyed this series (well my youngest gets a little bored at times) but this 9th book so far is boring! We hope it gets more exciting soon... only 6 or 7 chapters into it so we're holding out hope.