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A review by owlette
To Be a King by Kathryn Lasky
2.0
I'm grouping my reviews for Books 9-11, aka the prequel, here. TL;DR: Lasky made some choices.
Choice #1: When Book 9 introduced a first person narrator, I was hoping for a change. Lasky gets too expositional as a story narrative spans across more books. I don't really understand her choice to expound every character and every event from the previous books because these expositions happen so constantly that they break the flow.
Because Book 9 is a prequel and inherits no history from the previous installment, it was refreshing to read without this sort of interruption. Although unrelated, I was hopeful the first-person narration meant that the narrator for the prequel segment would be more attentive to keeping the flow even if less fastidious than the omniscent third person Lasky had employed since Book 1. Unfortunately, Books 10 and 11 reverted to the same third person narration.
Choice #2: Another choice of Lasky's that left me perplexed was the character of Lutta, a changling who infiltrates the Great Ga'Hoole tree by shape-shifting as a spotted owl named Strix Emerilla. So far there hasn't been any romance among these owls; love either happen off-stage or have already happened by the characters appear in the story. Lutta is the first character the reader meets who feels love in her gizzards. Her unrequited love towards Hoole coupled with her struggle with her sense of identity--being neither an owl nor a hagsfiend--was a golden goose of an opportunity. But no, Lasky just kills Lutta off without ever giving this previous character the chance to explore these themes. And Hoole doesn't know Lutta ever had these feelings. It's one thing for Hoole, whose gizzards are more sensitive than other owls, couldn't see through Lutta's transformation; it's another thing that he marries the real Strix Emerilla without any qualms.
My bafflement over Lasky's choice with Lutta's character feels like a final straw to the pattern of disappointment I've been feeling over the last twelve books. Lasky has a pattern of dipping her toe into serious themes and then drawing back from it without wading further into the waters. I'm still going to read the whole series for the sake of completion, but, reader, it's becoming harder to give these books score higher than 3 out of 5 stars.
Choice #1: When Book 9 introduced a first person narrator, I was hoping for a change. Lasky gets too expositional as a story narrative spans across more books. I don't really understand her choice to expound every character and every event from the previous books because these expositions happen so constantly that they break the flow.
Because Book 9 is a prequel and inherits no history from the previous installment, it was refreshing to read without this sort of interruption. Although unrelated, I was hopeful the first-person narration meant that the narrator for the prequel segment would be more attentive to keeping the flow even if less fastidious than the omniscent third person Lasky had employed since Book 1. Unfortunately, Books 10 and 11 reverted to the same third person narration.
Choice #2: Another choice of Lasky's that left me perplexed was the character of Lutta, a changling who infiltrates the Great Ga'Hoole tree by shape-shifting as a spotted owl named Strix Emerilla. So far there hasn't been any romance among these owls; love either happen off-stage or have already happened by the characters appear in the story. Lutta is the first character the reader meets who feels love in her gizzards. Her unrequited love towards Hoole coupled with her struggle with her sense of identity--being neither an owl nor a hagsfiend--was a golden goose of an opportunity. But no, Lasky just kills Lutta off without ever giving this previous character the chance to explore these themes. And Hoole doesn't know Lutta ever had these feelings. It's one thing for Hoole, whose gizzards are more sensitive than other owls, couldn't see through Lutta's transformation; it's another thing that he marries the real Strix Emerilla without any qualms.
My bafflement over Lasky's choice with Lutta's character feels like a final straw to the pattern of disappointment I've been feeling over the last twelve books. Lasky has a pattern of dipping her toe into serious themes and then drawing back from it without wading further into the waters. I'm still going to read the whole series for the sake of completion, but, reader, it's becoming harder to give these books score higher than 3 out of 5 stars.