Shard is a gryfon with a great destiny, and desperate to stop a war. He …
Enjoyable wrap-up of the Chronicles. These stories of Shard the Gryfon and all his friends & his world have been charming, thoughtful, occasionally surprising, sometimes sad, almost always beautiful.
There are still more typos than a published work should have.
Would love to have the full set of these stories in hard copy. Maybe they will be re-issued in proofread & corrected copy someday. That would be lovely.
Shard is a gryfon with a great destiny, and desperate to stop a war. He …
Comes together beautifully
No rating
I love these books, even with the typos, and am sad to be coming to the end of the stories. Silver Wind wraps up Shard's main journey, bringing together many threads into what I found a satisfying conclusion. I especially like how Owen crafts characters that grow, doubt, struggle, and redeem themselves. There is uncertainty at times but never a real sense of impending doom. The books feel safe for most readers except those who absolutely cannot have death or carnivores.
I fervently hope that these books are picked up by a bigger publisher or otherwise re-issued with all the typos fixed. They would be worthy additions in hard copy to any library (we read/are reading them as ebooks).
Shard is a gryfon entrusted with a great responsibility. A dragon of the Sunland has …
As the stories of Shard & friends get more complex and multi-branched, we need to revise our opinion of this as YA... it's YA-friendly but more than "merely" YA. There are still way too many typos.
a glossary with more than 7300 entries related to gemstones and gemology aimed at students, …
Attractive & Useful Reference Book
5 stars
Gempedia: A Comprehensive Glossary for Gemstones and Gemmology is a friendly & useful reference book. We say “friendly” because while it’s substantial indeed (over 7,300 entries), it’s also easy to hold in one hand while flipping through the pages, and has good-sized print and nice margins. Entries include trade names, organization names, technical terms, and more. There is a section at the back for numerical entries, and a final short section for symbols.
This book is text-only. It is not a coffee-table picture book. It is, however, a good companion to all of those coffee-table books, as it can provide one with definitions and context for all the unfamiliar words in their captions and blurbs. It would also make an excellent gift.
Shard is a gryfon in exile from the pride of the Silver Isles. After learning …
I would have loved to have found this series when I was a youngster, 3rd through 7th grade especially. With the various species and their interconnections, and the songs, it still reminds me, a little, of The Jungle Books. The plotting is spot on, characters varied and personable (or unpleasant), and while there is hunting and fighting, no gratuitous gore, yet fights and hunts are well described (no small feat when the combatants are angry gryfons).
Owen describes characters and landscapes in fine detail, which younger me especially would have savored. Her worldbuilding is thoughtful, the various peoples and places interconnected. The story pacing is restrained, no rushing -- and the main characters make their share of blunders, large & small. There is a gentleness & a nobility of spirit underlying the narrative, which feels familiar and right, and so gracefully done that the "message" (if any) never overwhelms the …
I would have loved to have found this series when I was a youngster, 3rd through 7th grade especially. With the various species and their interconnections, and the songs, it still reminds me, a little, of The Jungle Books. The plotting is spot on, characters varied and personable (or unpleasant), and while there is hunting and fighting, no gratuitous gore, yet fights and hunts are well described (no small feat when the combatants are angry gryfons).
Owen describes characters and landscapes in fine detail, which younger me especially would have savored. Her worldbuilding is thoughtful, the various peoples and places interconnected. The story pacing is restrained, no rushing -- and the main characters make their share of blunders, large & small. There is a gentleness & a nobility of spirit underlying the narrative, which feels familiar and right, and so gracefully done that the "message" (if any) never overwhelms the narrative, which has been the demise of too many otherwise fine novels & series.
[Shard’s quest is not at all the same as Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s was, and yet somehow during this book “Jonathan Livingston Gryfon” became a mantra that wouldn’t leave for a while. You’re welcome.]
There are too many typos though, many of which seem to be of the sort you get while editing -- a word missing when a phrase is cut/moved, say -- or spellcheck fails. Would be great if these could be fixed and the e-books, at least, updated, maybe POD books too? Leaving as five stars though because imo this series should be in every school & public library.
Started out with a lot of visual description, more than we're used to these days, and then we remembered how many books we loved as a younger person were similar ... then the story itself picked up and we continued to enjoy it.
Especially enjoy it because while it's a book about gryfons (and wolves) it's not a paranormal romance about humans and werewolves.
Straightforward YA story/series, glad we purchased the set all at once so didn't have to wait to start the next one.
