Pegsus by Robin McKinley

Princess Sylviianel has always known that on her twelfth birthday she too would be bound to her 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.

 I was really not a fan of this book. I’m unsure if it is because I’m not a fan of fantasy as I once thought or if it really was the book.

This book moved terribly slowly. So slow, in fact, I found myself skimming at times instead of immersing myself in the story which I absolutely never do. I found myself waiting and waiting for something to happen but nothing ever really seemed to. If something did happen, I was only aware of it because the characters said it was a big deal I did not, myself, feel like it was a problem as I normally would were the story to have captured my attention and grabbed hold of my emotions.

It wasn’t as if the terrible flow of the story was due to great description either. I was constantly wondering what this or that looked like or why a certain action was done or existed. It was as if this fantasy world was created, but I wasn't alerted to its details.

I stuck with the book because I always felt as if something was going to happen. Something did finally happen at the end, but it occurred in the last 5-10 pages and didn’t wrap anything up at all. I’m terribly disappointed in the ending because I would not pick up the second book to go through all the waiting once again just to discover the outcome. I normally do not leave a series unfinished, but I this is one that will have to stay open-ended for me.

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Release Date: November 2010

Pages: 404

Series: 1/? (A sequel to come unsure if more)

Rating: 2 stars