Pegasus [Hardcover]

This is only a half of the book!!!

I thought I would get this out of the way first. Truly, there was not even an attempt to wrap up anything in this novel, not even temporarily. "Pegasus" ended mid-scene, mid-conflict, almost mid-sentence. It will be quite a laugh if McKinley never finishes this sequel.

Now onto the story itself. I was glad to be back to the old-school princess-fairy-tale McKinley, after the genre detour "Sunshine" was. If you ever read fantasy written by the author, you already know the key elements of her stories: meticulous, imaginative world building, a young, strong heroine who has to come to terms with her own powers and grow into her responsibilities and attain self-confidence, friendships with animals, magic, all accompanied by the most gorgeous writing. All of this was in "Pegasus."

The moment I opened the book, I was completely enchanted by the world McKinley had created and by the words she used to describe it. The centuries-old alliance between humans and pegasi, their complicated communications, binding rituals - all of it was so new, so unique, so detailed and well thought-through. And then the moment Ebon, the main character's Sylvi's bond-mate, entered the picture, I totally fell in love with this naughty, outspoken, mischievous pegasus. And the way MckKinley described Ebon tumbling into Sylvi's window, or spread his wings, or a tiny pegasus playing with Sylvi, it made me grin in delight. McKinley just has such a genius way with words, I can't explain it.

But (of course there is a but), as much as I loved the world building and gorgeous writing, it just wasn't enough for me. It wasn't that the book was light on plot, but like in all McKinley books, the plot was driven by the main character's internal struggles and growth. And again, it's fine by me, generally. I loved Harry's personal journey in "The Blue Sword," but that book was only 270 pages and "Pegasus" - 400 and only half of the story. I don't know about other readers, but I can enjoy luscious, descriptive and reflective writing for only so long, at about page 200 I want some action, and so happened here. By the middle of the book my attention started to waver and I began skimming a bit, trying to get to the end or at least some excitement faster. Basically, it seemed the narration got a little too indulgent. For what the plot was, the book was way too long. I could literally summarize the entire novel in one paragraph. I would have enjoyed it much more if the whole story only took one 300-page volume to tell.

I can see how "Pegasus"'s reviews can be all over the place. Fans of McKinley's writing and those who enjoy leisurely, slow paced quality of it, will love the novel, and rightfully so. Those who prefer books with more action and despise being left with no resolutions, will hate it. I am somewhere in the middle. At this point I am moderately interested to know how it all works out, but will I still be in 2014, when the sequel comes out?

Sylvi is a princess in a world where pegasi and humans maintain a thousand-year-old alliance. Humans are allowed to live in the beautiful green countryside that originally belonged to the pegasi in return for keeping all sorts of beastly creatures away from the delicate, unwarlike pegasi. The two races can scarcely communicate, since their languages are miles apart, but the human magicians try to bridge the gap between the two. But when Sylvi turns twelve and undergoes the binding ceremony that ties her in friendship to Ebon, a son of the pegasus king, she discovers that she and Ebon can communicate perfectly on a telepathic channel. But a simple thing like perfect clarity between a girl and a pegasus may end up being more of a curse than a blessing and may change life in her kingdom forever.

I did like how very intricate the worldbuilding was. The history of the human interactions with the pegasi is incredibly complex, and every last detail of courtly life is thought out and explained. There are very specific rules about the treatment of pegasi, for example, the fact that humans can never touch the pegasi and can never, ever, ever ride on them. And though the pegasi are perceived as vain creatures, most of their supposed vanity is based on the human presumption that any creatures so beautiful must be vain and consider themselves superior the the grubby, crude humans they keep as allies. These pegasi aren't just horses with wings added, either--they're fragile hollow-boned creatures that have as much in common with deer as horses. They have have rudimentary hands sprouting from the bend of their wings, and they can make a variety of stunningly lovely crafts, though they long for strong human hands in the exact same way that humans secretly long to fly. I'm really in awe of how well the author presented the pegasi and how fantasy-realistic they seemed, with reasonable physiology and intriguing social customs.

However, the structure of the narrative posed a problem for me. The scenes aren't really chronological because Sylvi has so many flashbacks to things that happened years, weeks, or days ago. I usually like a more straightforward approach to storytelling. When Sylvi recalls something important, she'll stay in that memory for several pages and every once in a while I lost track of what was currently happening and what was just a long, but recent, memory. The novel is still beautiful, but reading it often felt like wandering through an art gallery shaped into a labyrinth--you get caught up in the beauty, but every once in a while you stop and think, "Wait, where am I? Where is this path going? Oh, look how pretty..."

The two big dangers in the novel seem to be the nightmarish monsters that are returning to the wild lands around the kingdom of Balsinland, and the pompous court magicians who aren't exactly pleased with Sylvi's ability to talk to Ebon, as it breaks up the Speaker-magicians' monopoly on human-to-pegasus communication, eliminating the magical middlemen as it were. There's plenty of action and peril, but at it's heart, this is a story about the love between a girl and her winged friend.

There were several characters I appreciated. Sylvi's dad is a good, tired king who is an excellent leader and a sympathetic father, her mom is a warrior who taught her riding, hawking, fighting, etc, and Ebon's got a great bold personality and telepathically says whatever's on his mind. But the exposition-heavy writing, the many flashbacks, and the disappointing ending made this beautiful story hard for me to read.

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.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 113 reviews  3.3 out of 5 stars