The Shattering: Book 5 of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series
Target age group: 8 – 12 years old
Is a pattern emerging? Similar to the previous instalment, half of The Shattering is ‘alright’ and the second half is fantastic.
Here’s the description from the back cover (because phrasing my own summary just wasn’t working for me this time):
Soren's sister, Eglantine, is falling under the spell of a strange nightly dream. Then, just as Soren notices her trancelike state, Eglantine disappears, and the dreams become a deadly waking nightmare that puts the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole in terrible danger. Soren must lead the Chaw of Chaws to rescue his sister. Thus begins the next battle between the owls of Ga'Hoole and the evil Pure Ones, deep in the treacherous territory known as The Beaks, where a raging forest fire will prove the greatest danger to the rescuers – and their best hope for victory.
Bad points:
- While she did end up developing as a character, Eglantine annoyed me to no end for the first half of the book. It really soured the story for me; for the first time in the series, there is a book (this book!) which does not have Soren at its centre – but instead we get Eglantine as a protagonist. She’s bland, seen only as ‘Soren’s sister’ rather than a character in her own right, and in the past has established herself as whiney and irritating.
- SPOILERS.
- And even though Eglantine basically loses control over herself in this book and therefore can’t help her actions, she’s a frustrating protagonist due to the reader’s ability to see so clearly that she is oblivious to all the warning signs. What’s going on isn’t rocket-science– unless, of course, you’re Eglantine. Sigh.
- This leads us to the other main bad point: Ginger. The Guardians of Ga’Hoole are meant to be smart, yet they decide to fully trust a ‘reformed’ Prisoner Of War and let her bunk with two impressionable young owls. And then they wonder why one of these owls is ‘suddenly acting strangely’. Oh please – this is definitely a case of being told that the Guardians are intelligent rather than having it shown to us. The reader can tell from page 1 that Ginger is bad news, yet not one owl considers that maybe she is an evil infiltrator. I’m sorry, but I’m just not buying this plot point. And finally, to make matters worse, it’s this convenient plot point which drives the entire story. It simply makes the foundations of The Shattering seem rather shaky…
- Oh right – END SPOILERS.
Good points:
- The cover art. It’s puuuurdy. …Now moving on.
- SPOILER!!! ---> Even though everything related to her was a little obvious, Ginger still gave me the creeps! Well done antagonist. Actually, on that note, Kathryn Lasky’s antagonists are quite good at being evil, on the whole. Particularly….
- …Nyra! As evil and psychotic as ever. Good stuff. And END SPOILERS, as everyone already knew she was a bad egg (yes…I did just go to Bad-Pun Land. Groan).
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| Her evilness is confirmed in writing, just in case you had somehow missed that she might be a bit nasty when looking upon her kind, loving, psychotic face. |
- Oh, and the Sacred Orb stuff was fantastic. Creepy, but in a deliciously evil kind of way. There were also some really great action scenes revolving around it, the kind of scenes which had me considering giving this book a 9/10.
- Just randomly – that song Eglantine sings (the one she recalls her mother singing during her childhood) is actually quite sweet. It made me dislike her a little less.
- Thankfully, however, Eglantine finally grew a backbone and proved to me that she didn’t need my pity or deserve my hatred. Her character undergoes some development and she improves vastly in the characterisation stakes. She even does something clever and pro-active! All hail the new Eglantine! I loved her by the end.
Moral of the story? Even if Eglantine is really pissing you off in the first half of the book, bear with it; your final opinion of her will be drastically better than your first impression once you reach the end of the story.
I really thought about giving The Shattering a nine for the action scenes…really…but no. Not when I consider my feelings at the beginning of the book. No nine for Eglantine.
Pippa’s rating: 8/10
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