Pegasus
Pegasus book cover

Pegasus

Hardcover – November 2, 2010

by
Price
$17.78
Format
Hardcover
Pages
416
Publisher
G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0399246777
Dimensions
6.31 x 1.33 x 9.38 inches
Weight
1 pounds

Description

From School Library Journal Gr 7 Up–By the terms of an ancient treaty, children of royalty in Balsinland are “bound” to a pegasus on their 12th birthdays, in a ceremony cementing friendship between the two. However, humans and pegasi cannot speak to one another without the help of specially trained magicians because the two species communicate in such different ways. So, when Princess Sylviianel comes to her big day, she is nervous about being bound to one of these strange, beautiful, incomprehensible creatures...until, in the middle of the ceremony, she discovers that she can mind-speak to her pegasus–and he can speak back. Such a thing has never been heard of in all the years of the alliance, but to Sylvi and her bond-friend it proves a wonderful gift by which they can promote better understanding between the two species. A few royal magicians, however, do not wish to see free communication develop between them, and they will do whatever they can to keep Sylvi and Ebon apart. This novel is reminiscent of McKinley's The Hero and the Crown (Greenwillow, 1984) and other earlier works, and includes many of her trademarks, including a tendency to ramble through pages of description and backstory, sometimes even in the middle of a conversation. Still, the story is strong and fresh, and the characters are nuanced and believable. Fans will anxiously await the sequel.–Misti Tidman, formerly at Boyd County Public Library, Ashland, KY. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. From Booklist It’s been almost 1,000 years since the forming of the Alliance—an agreement between humans and pegasi that they will live in peace and harmony. But as breathtaking and majestic as the pegasi are, a language barrier, only somewhat ameliorated by magicians, keeps them distant. That is, until 12-year-old princess Sylvi has her “binding” ritual with Ebon, her black, winged pegasus counterpart, and the two find themselves able to enjoy perfect telepathy. Their closeness shakes the foundations of the kingdom, and soon Sylvi is not only enjoying forbidden rides atop her pegasus but is also extended an invite of historic import: a trip to the pegasi’s mysterious Caves. McKinley’s storytelling is to be savored. She lavishes page after page upon rituals and ceremonies, basks in the awe of her intricately constructed world, and displays a masterful sense of pegasi physicality and mannerisms. The plot is very short on drama—a villain, established early, vanishes until the final pages, and with him goes the suspense—but an apparent sequel may add balance to the overall arc. Grades 8-11. --Daniel Kraus Robin McKinley has won various awards and citations for her writing, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown and a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword . Her other books include Sunshine ; the New York Times bestseller Spindle's End ; two novel-length retellings of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast , Beauty and Rose Daughter ; and a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, The Outlaws of Sherwood . She lives with her husband, the English writer Peter Dickinson. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • Because she was a princess, she had a Pegasus… Princess Sylviianel has always known that on her twelfth birthday she too would be bound to her own Pegasus. All members of the royal family have been thus bound since the Alliance was made almost a thousand years ago; the binding system was created to strengthen the Alliance, because humans and pegasi can only communicate formally, through specially trained Speaker magicians. Sylvi is accustomed to seeing pegasi every day at the palace, but she still finds the idea of her binding very daunting. The official phrase is that your pegasus is your “Excellent Friend.” But how can you be friends with someone you can’t talk to? But everything is different for Sylvi and Ebon from the moment they meet at her binding—when they discover they
  • can
  • talk to each other. They form so close a bond that it becomes a threat to the status quo—and possibly to the future safety of their two nations. For some of the magicians believe there is a reason humans and pegasi should not fully understand each other…

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(147)
★★★★
25%
(123)
★★★
15%
(74)
★★
7%
(34)
★
23%
(113)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Pegaus (Part 1)

I will preface this with the acknowledgment that this book is:
1) Part One of a Two-Part Pair
2) A Cliffhanger book.

The trouble with Pegasus, compared to other McKinley books is that it is not a one-shot volume. This is shocking, because she never writes sequels. Every McKinley book ever has been a one-volume novel, even when related to other novels. That this has changed so suddenly has left many fans bewildered.

Does this make Pegasus less brilliant? No.

The world-building is intricate, perhaps because it is so very different from our own. The geography, culture, customs, history, it's all there, making this world believable, and real enough to step into. The characters, also, are fascinating. Sylvi and Ebon most especially, but also their families and enemies. There does not seem to be even a single superfluous character in the entire volume.

The narrative is a little different from normal-- because the world is so different, and there is so *much* to fit into each volume, some of it must be explained with flashbacks. Several reviews have mentioned disliking flashbacks, or finding it to be distracting, but I feel like they all served their purpose.

I really did love this book, and I felt like despite the lack of sword-waving and adventure, it was still suspenseful and fascinating. I look forward to seeing what comes next.
50 people found this helpful
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Only Part One of a Two Part Book....?

My husband recently got me "Pegasus", and I read it while recently sick in bed. It was a treat to have a book by the author of "Deerskin", and I read it avidly at first. But then,noticing that I was more than halfway through the book, and it was moving at an unusually slow pace, I began to wonder what was going on. When it came to the last chapter, I was totally bewildered and upset, feeling extremely cheated, and more than a little angry at Ms.McKinley to have written a book that ended with no ending. There is no notice anywhere in the book that it is supposed to be a two part book...normally when this is done, the author puts a snippet of the first chapter of the second book in after the last chapter, to show readers that the book is not intended to be a standalone. But for most buyers of this book, I bet they dont know this- I found out only by reading the reviews here.

A note to the publisher-*PLEASE* drag a few pages of the second book out of Ms McKinley, and add them to future printings, or you are going to lose buyers of both this and the second book. This one appears to the unwary reader to be a standalone, and it is *extremely* disappointing, taking away much of the joy the reader felt in following the tale of the princess and her bondbrother pegasus. It is a good book, but greatly flawed by this omission, and the incredible lag till the publication of the second one. In my opinion, she rushed this onto the shelves long before she should have...1012 is too distant a date for the next book from this one.
45 people found this helpful
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No cohesion, no logic, no ENDING

Every review here is quite accurate, only individual perceptions differ. I suggest you read all the reviews before purchasing this novel.

Beautiful landscape, good people, a wondrous Pegasus species, a sneaky villain, horrible monsters, political intrigue, an interesting world you might want to visit. All the elements are there.

Put it all together well and you should have a brilliant story.

Sadly, this was not put together well. Not only is the reader constantly confused, so are the characters. There seem to be some rules that should never be broken, but only some magicians seem to understand these rules. Even the good magicians are confused, apparently some of their history books are missing or hidden.

The story I read (which is obviously a story the 5 star reviewers read differently) ...

Sylvi (human) is bonded in a ritual ceremony with Ebon (Pegasus) because it is what a princess does at the age of twelve. Why is it the custom? No idea , but it seems to correspond to a convoluted history that is part of a treaty between Pegasus and humans.

Sylvi and Ebon bond incredibly well during the ceremony, creating a strong telepathic and very sweet friendship, but this is somehow bad. Why is it bad? No idea, but the court magicians feel threatened because they believe only they should be able to translate speech between a bonded pair with a whacked out sign language that is less than understandable. Why shouldn't the Pegasus and humans understand each other through unfettered telepathy? Because true understanding is somehow bad.

Ebon takes Sylvi flying, (sounds like fun to me) but this is also supposed to be wrong, so they have to do it in secret. If they get caught flying together, disaster will strike. Why? Don't know.

Ebon and Sylvi travel through the kingdom to outlying towns and cities, earning the love and respect from the people. Good? No, bad somehow.

In the last chapter, some hidden and previously unread book is found by the evil magician. The treaty between the allies is broken. Weeping and suspicions, lack of trust between Pegasus and humans ensues. The bonding between Sylvi and Ebon must be broken for the good of the kingdom. Why? No clue.

The cryptic reading of the passages from the hidden book by the evil magician make absolutely no sense. The story read is about a love and sacrifice between a bonded pair of a human prince and Pegasus. In fact, (in my opinion) the translation points in the opposite direction than how it's perceived by the magician.

And so it ends without end... Everyone sadly goes their separate ways even though the monsters are coming and they desperately need each other as allies to face the threat.

Wait for the sequel that is supposed to come out sometime in 2012. Maybe the questions will be answered and explained. (Assuming you remember the questions and still give a tinker's damn.)

Personally, I don't care what happens to these folks. Re-reading this mishmash to get back into the loop is too painful to contemplate.
40 people found this helpful
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Only HALF a book!

This isn't book one in a series, or a whole book on its own. Pegasus is half a book. It ends, just as the conflict begins. I'm sure there is a second part coming. Robin McKinley is too much of an expert to just end the book there, but as a reader, I feel abandoned mid-story.

A recent Connie Willis book was split in two also. I hope that we can make publishers realize this is unacceptable. If a book is written with the intention of splitting it, then it can have a smaller arc within the series arc. Just chopping it in two, however, kills any momentum the story gained.

If I had known this was half a book, I would not have paid for it. Robin Mckinley or not, I don't buy half books. That is ridiculous.
35 people found this helpful
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Okay, Putnam tricked me.

I would still have pre-orderd this book if I had known it to be a cliff-hanger; I pre-order all McKinley's books in hardback as soon as they're announced. If, when it arrived on the day of its release, the book jacket had stated that this isn't a stand-alone book, I would have raised an eyebrow, shrugged, enjoyed the book, given it five stars, and waited eagerly to pre-order the next volume.

But that didn't happen. The publisher, Putnam, so carefully, so meticulously, so deliberately presents this as an ordinary complete-in-one-volume book that they left me feeling, at the end of the book, successfully tricked, deliberately deceived, manipulated, fooled, jerked around, lied to, betrayed, offended, and angry. Very angry. The marketing for this book marched with sounding trumpets and waving banners right across the line that separates misleading suggestions from deliberate duplicity, and I don't have any respect for that at all.

Hence the two stars. I nearly gave it one star, but a reader review posted before mine says that according to McKinley's blog another volume is forthcoming.

Once burned, twice shy. I won't pre-order books published by Putnam any more. In fact, I may simply stop purchasing books published by Putnam. I prefer to deal with people I can trust not to misrepresent the items they sell, and publishers who in all good faith set their readers' expectations as accurately as they can. I'll have to look into ways to buy McKinley's books (ways that benefit the author, not just, say, waiting to buy a used book) without encouraging this kind of shabby behavior by Putnam.
19 people found this helpful
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so, so disappointing!

I think that Robin McKinley needs a change of editor. This book is too long and took too many turns that should have been nipped in the bud before coming to print.

I really looked forward to reading this book, as I have greatly enjoyed most of Ms. McKinley's other books. The rocky start of _Chalice_ was salvaged in the end, and I kept hoping _Pegasus_' inauspicious beginning would be, too. It wasn't.

First of all, the relationship between Sylvi and Ebon(as at least one other reviewer mentioned) is downright creepy. There's something more than friendship going on here. I think it's particularly EW! because pegasi look like horses...we're not talking aliens, elves, fairies or even dragons, but something that largely looks like a real-life animal. The flying sequences almost seem like a metaphor for something else. More yuck. Moreover, Ebon is way too annoying. He won't shut up and comes off way too cocky to be likeable.

McKinley also spends too much time on insignificant details and description and too little on what would actually be compelling. McKinley makes a big deal about how Sylvi doesn't want to reveal what happened when she visited the land of the pegasi (particularly about the portrayal of the treaty-signing in the Caves and the revelation that Redfora and her pegasus were also truly bonded), but we never understand why. You'd think the first thing Sylvi would do is go to the library and find out more about Redfora...but she never does. It's confusing rather than tension-building, and Sylvi comes off as stupid, or at least immature.

The magic and what magicians do is poorly explained, and because of this, what they do looses drama. The central villian disappears for most of the book, and when he reappears, we don't care what he's going to say...and when he says it, it doesn't make much sense.

There are other potentially interesting characters--Sylvi's family members, Galfin, the pegasus shaman, and Sylvi's Speaker--but none of them are used enough in a plot that revolves too much around the two central characters that are basically annoying teenagers.

I almost abandoned this book multiple times. I kept thinking, "It'll get better." It never did. I don't recommend the book and can't imagine reading its sequel unless the reviews are truly outstanding.
15 people found this helpful
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Missing an ending. It just stops in the middle ...

Missing an ending. It just stops in the middle of a conflict and I can find no sequel listed anywhere.
14 people found this helpful
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disappointing, weak

I feel like McKinley is no longer trying. I loved her earlier stuff (Beauty, Hero and the Crown, Blue Sword), read them all numerous times, but I think she has stopped stretching her imagination as hard. Even though I didn't like Sunshine or Chalice I was filled with hope and wanted her to be good so badly that I pre-ordered this book as a act of good faith. I had no idea it was a only 1 part of a multi-part book so the stupid plot doesn't even finish. How could they not alert me of this? I doubt I'll read the 2nd book when it comes out, maybe I'll look up its plot to see how it ends but I won't even commit to that. From my perspective the main weakness in this book is that the problem doesn't make any sense and it's unclear what's at stake, if anything. The main conflict seems to be that there is a big, mysterious communication barrier between the Pegasi and the humans and the passing of that barrier by the protagonist and her Pegasus is causing problems for some reason. This logically makes no sense to me because if both species have written languages then I don't see how it's impossible for them to at least create a dictionary. Instead McKinley goes through great lengths to describe a crude sign language that they can only execute imperfectly because of anatomical differences and she hand wavingly dismisses alternatives because of possibly some kind of magical spell that makes it impossible for them to communicate? I wasn't buying it. It also seems like nothing is at stake. People are just dumbly uncomfortable with the unconventional intimacy between the 2 main characters but there aren't any clear consequences of this except in the end when they're inexplicably separated. In previous books, when there's a conflict,lives are on the line, but here nothing is really happening. It's unclear why either species even needs to communicate except in times of war or something- they don't typically collaborate on anything. I really wanted this book to be good but it doesn't even make sense. It's such a waste that even if McKinley's skills as a character builder or whatever have been improving over the years, nothing makes up for a silly story.
14 people found this helpful
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A good idea but . . .

I have read and reread McKinley's books since "Beauty" first came out. I doubt that I'll reread "Pegasus" or bother with the sequel--which I knew nothing about. Count me among those shocked and disappointed at the ending. As the pages thinned at the end I wondered how she could possibly wrap up the story, to find she didn't bother--or maybe doesn't know how. Clearly the relationship between Prncess Silvi and the pegasus Ebon is more than brotherly or best friends; apart from the telepathic attunement, she loves being near him physically--where does McKinley think she's going with that? There's no clue in the book that magic can turn her into a pegasus also, but her longing to stay in the pegasus land and increasing dislike of her human body suggest perhaps in part 2 she will become one--so much for her learning to deal with the world. The other problem with the book is McKinley's increasingly didactic style; other reviewers mention her world-building, and I'm getting the impression, from "Sunshine" and "Chalice" also, that she would rather create the world, imagine all the details--and tell us every one of them--than tell the story. She doesn't weave the details in, she lays them out in sometimes repetitive lengths of exposition. "Pegasus" is 400 pages long; there should have been room for the story. At least "Sunshine" ended with a battle won, even though the war wasn't over and the relationships between Sunshine, Mel, and Con were unresolved; McKinley didn't do a sequel to that book and it makes me wonder if she will bother this time either.
14 people found this helpful
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McKinley Comes Through Again

This book was well written and readily drew me into its world. As usual Robin creates wonderful individual characters with a lot of depth. She tells her story in a way that makes it totally believable. Her characters are normal everyday people with the foibles, faults and strengths we all have regardless of the occasional magical or unique ability with which they are saddled or unusual situation in which they find themselves. They go through their lives without knowing what to do any more than the rest of us do and have as many self doubts along the way. Yet they manage, often, to still accomplish extraordinary things. This is the true success of Robin Mckinley's work and what makes it so engaging. I have yet to read one of her books that it was not a finely cut jewel crafted with care and affection.

That said, I dropped one star for the cliff hanger ending that has not been remedied yet after several years. I understand that Robin Mckinley has her own way of writing and it is not fluid or easy. I understand that she plans to continue the story in subsequent books (which I avidly await) but I feel the ending does detract from the (un)finished story which otherwise is beautifully written and told.
13 people found this helpful

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