Guardians of Ga'Hoole
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| Author | Kathryn Lasky |
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| Original title | Guardians of Ga'Hoole #13 |
| Illustrator | Richard Cowdrey |
| Country | America |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Scholastic Paperbacks |
| Released | July 2007 |
| Media type | Paperback |
| Pages | 224 |
| Preceded by | Guardians of Ga'Hoole #12: The Golden Tree |
Guardians of Ga'Hoole is The New York Times bestselling book series written by Kathryn Lasky and illustrated by Richard Cowdrey. There are currently eleven books in the series published so far, with the most recent novel, Guardians of Ga'Hoole #12, entitled The Golden Tree. Guardians of Ga'Hoole #13, the next novel in the series, is to be entitled The River of Wind and released by July 2007. The fourteenth novel, Exile, is set for release in February 2008. The product information about Exile can be seen in its original context here. A guide to Ga'Hoole, just recently found, named "Guardians of Ga'Hoole: A Guide Book to the Great Tree", is to be released by October 2007. A movie produced by Warner Bros. is also expected to be released in 2007.
Ga'Hoole, in the owl language, means "Great Spirit of Hoole."
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
Soren, a Barn Owl, was born in the peaceful Forest of Tyto. At around two to three weeks old, he was pushed out of his nest by his older brother, Kludd, while his parents were away. Lost and alone, Soren was picked up by a patrol of St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. At the academy, Soren met an Elf Owl named Gylfie. They soon discovered that St. Aegolius was actually a trap, with the singular goal of controlling their minds for something evil. Soren and Gylfie decided to attempt an escape from the canyons and travel to a legendary place called the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, the center of the ancient Kingdom of Ga'Hoole. After learning to fly and managing to escape with the help of a Boreal Owl called Grimble, they started out for Ga'Hoole.
Along the way, they met Twilight (Great Gray Owl) and Digger (Burrowing Owl) . The two owls joined Soren and Gylfie in their quest to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, and together they began to call themselves "the Band." On their way to the Great Tree, they noticed a burning fire, and the Band flew down to find a dying Barred Owl. They were attacked by a bobcat but Soren managed to toss a hot coal into its eye. They then asked the dying owl, "Was it St. Aegolius?" to which the owl replied, "St. Aggie's? Believe me ... if St. Aggie's ... oh, you only wish!" and died. When they finally reached the Great Tree, the Band began to learn great things to become true Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Soren learned he was too be in the colliering chaw (group) which collected coals from forest fires, and flew in the weather chaw, which gathered information about the weather and atmospheric conditions.
However, soon after the Band came to live at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, a new threat emerged that proved even more dangerous than St. Aggie's. Soren's mentor, Ezylryb, had disappeared. Soren experienced a vision in which the scrooms, or ghosts, of his parents warned him to "beware of Metal Beak." Soren and the Band investagated and discovered that Ezylryb was captured, and they went out to go save him. Only then to they learn who the terrifying "Metal Beak" was - Soren's own brother, Kludd, who had since turned into the most vicious owl on the planet. Soren learned partly from his little sister, Eglantine, and from Kludd himself that Kludd was now part of an ancient, secret society called the Tytonic Union of Pure Ones, or just the "Pure Ones."
Made up entirely of Barn Owls and their relatives, and led by Soren's own brother Kludd and his mate Nyra, the Pure Ones were intent on "purifying" the owl universe by destroying all other breeds of owls, which they considered to be less "pure." They believed they were justified by believing that Glaux, the ancient ancestor of all owls, was solely a Tyto and that all other owl species were inferior. After his encounter with Soren, Kludd, who was now "High Tyto" or king of the Pure Ones, decided to besiege the Great Tree, which he wanted for himself and Nyra, who had just laid her first egg. The battle was disastrous, not only decimating the Pure Ones' forces, but also ended up in the "murder" of Nyra's first egg by brave Eglantine. The Pure Ones soon discovered the mind and gizzard numbing effects of flecks, and used these bits of metal in horrendous ways. In a great scheme, Kludd's mate Nyra and a Pure One slipgizzle called Ginger used flecks to shatter Eglantine, and infiltrate the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. However, their grand plan to conquer the Great Tree once again failed once Soren revived Eglantine, causing Nyra and Ginger to flee. After, the Pure Ones' Grand Army eventually conquered St. Aggie's and therefore captured the canyonland's great stores of flecks. The Great Tree's main conflict with the Pure Ones finally came to an end when, in a great and decisive battle, Twilight managed to split Kludd's spine with an ice dagger, killing him.
Soon after the defeat of the Pure Ones, Kludd and Nyra's only son, Nyroc, hatched under the fiery light of a lunar eclipse. Nyroc seemed to Nyra the perfect hatchling on which to rebuild the Pure Ones' glory, with his unusual intelligence and expert flight skills. However, he began to doubt the Pure Ones' beliefs after seeing the truth in the flames of his father's Final Ceremony due to his firesight ability. Nyroc fled after discovering the dark requirements of the "Special" ceremony, in which he would be required to kill his best friend Dustytuft (aka Phillip). He wished to go to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree to meet his uncle Soren, but he knew he'd never be accepted unless he somehow proved himself. So he changed his name to Coryn - the reverse of Nyroc - and flew to the only place for an outcast like himself: Beyond the Beyond, where he met the dire wolves and befriended one called Hamish. Otulissa of the Great Tree met Coryn there and took it upon herself to teach him basic colliering. But Nyra followed her traitor son there with the intent of killing him, and it became obvious that he must be the one to retrieve the legendary Ember of Hoole before she could. Coryn managed to, and thus became the new king of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. Nyra fled, badly wounded, and disappeared...
From his deathbed, the wise old owl Ezylryb instructed Soren and Coryn to read three ancient legends hidden in his private library: The First Collier, The Coming of Hoole, and To Be a King. From these legends, the young king and his uncle learned of the danger that now faces the Great Ga'Hoole Tree.
After Coryn, the Band and Otulissa read the three legends, the ember began to have odd effects on the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. The tree was in a state of perpetual summer, and was glowing gold. To take Coryn's mind off the possibility that his mother was a hagsfiend, Soren and the Band took off on a long flight with him, and left the other Guardians in charge of the tree. However, two owls named Gemma and Elyan were unhealthily obsessed with the Ember of Hoole and created new laws and rituals that centered around caring for it. This eventually led to the arrest of the outspoken Otulissa, but was put to rights when Coryn and the Band returned with the book of the hagsfiend Kreeth in tow. The Ember was stowed away in Bubo's forge, and the tree regained its natural majesty. Nyra and her forces had disappeared in a cave battle with Coryn and the Band, but they knew this did not necessarily mean she was dead.
Not even the Krakish-fluent Otulissa could decipher the Book of Kreeth, and the book would have had to be brought to Bess in the Palace of Mists if it was to be decoded.
[edit] The Books
The Series
- Book 1: The Capture
- Book 2: The Journey
- Book 3: The Rescue
- Book 4: The Siege
- Book 5: The Shattering
- Book 6: The Burning
- Book 7: The Hatchling
- Book 8: The Outcast
- Book 9: The First Collier
- Book 10: The Coming of Hoole
- Book 11: To Be a King
- Book 12: The Golden Tree
- Book 13: The River of Wind (To Be Published July 1, 2007)
- Book 14: Exile (To Be Published February 1, 2008)
Other Books
- Guardians of Ga'Hoole: A Guide Book to the Great Tree (To Be Published October 1, 2007)
[edit] The Legends of Ga'Hoole
A spin-off book series was planned to begin, entitled "Legends of Ga'Hoole". The First Collier was to be the first book in the series, and was to be released in April 2006. The second legend would be called The Coming of Hoole and was to be published in July 2006. Finally, the final legend was entitled To Be a King and came out in October 2006. However, the series was canceled, and all books that were planned as part of the series were moved to the original "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" series, the titles unchanged.
The three books are about the legendary young king Hoole, and his mentor, the first collier Grank. Grank was the first to find the Ember of Hoole, and King Hoole was the first to find the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. Hoole came under the protection of Grank because his mother was a close childhood friend of Grank's.
[edit] Characters
Soren (Guardians of Ga'Hoole) - Main character & part of "The Band"
Gylfie - Soren's best friend & part of the "The Band"
Twilight (Ga'Hoole) - part of "The Band"
Digger (Guardians of Ga'Hoole) - part of "The Band"
Ezylryb - The wise old mentor at the Great Ga'Hoole tree
Kludd - Soren's older brother
Eglantine - Soren's younger sister
Nyra - Kludd's mate
Nyroc (aka Coryn) - Kludd and Nyra's chick; now the new monarch of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree
Otulissa - one of the rybs at the Great Tree
Ruby (Guardians Of Ga'Hoole)- a member of the chaw of chaws
Martin (Guardians Of Ga'Hoole)- A member of the chaw of chaws
Bess (Ga'Hoole) - The wise Boreal Owl; daughter of Grimble; also known as THE KNOWER
Hoole (Ga'Hoole) - The legendary Spotted Owl of the times of the Legends; raised by Grank.
Mist is a Spotted Owl. She first appears in Book One: The Capture as Hortense. She is from the Forest Kingdom of Ambala. Hortense helps Soren and Gylfie escape from St. Aegolius canyons, only to be pushed over a cliff by one of the evil owls of the Academy. She reappears later on in book 4.
[edit] Historical Allusions
- Ezylryb's speeches in The Siege are loosely modeled after Sir Winston Churchill's (the Prime Minister of England during the Second World War).
- The Battle of Short Light and Long Night (aka Forever and a Day) is based on the Normandy Invasion.
- The evil Pure Ones, who believe that only Barn Owls are pure, may be an allusion to the Nazis, who had similar beliefs about purity based on lineage.
- Kludd's name is another name for a chaplain in the Ku Klux Klan.
[edit] Locations
The Great Ga'Hoole Tree - The main place where the story is. It is a tree with Ga', as said by Hoole.
St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls - A "school", once ruled by Skench, Ablah General. In truth, St. Aggies' was a center for brainwashing to carry out Skench's evil plan-to rule the entire owl world.
Beyond the Beyond - This is a place where dire wolves live. It plays a major role in Book 8 The Outcast, when Coryn retrieves the Ember of Hoole.
