Flight of the Griffons: A Review
*I received a copy of this book from Nimbus Publishing to review*
When Flight of the Griffons arrived in my mailbox, I was really excited to crack it open. It was a small “fun” size, had great graphics in it, and wasn’t too long. It looked like the perfect read.
Flight of the Griffons is actually the sequel to The Dread Crew: Pirates of the Backwoods. This is a series of books under the genre of Young Adult Fantasy. It is by the Nova Scotian Author Kate Inglis.
What I have to say:
I am not usually a fantasy reader, but thought I would give it a try, for as I mentioned, it looked like an easy, fun read for teens.
However, as soon as I cracked the book, I realized that I was completely lost. I had no idea who any of the characters were, and I kept reading more trying to get some sort of grasp of what the storyline was.
I should mention that I have not read The Dread Crew, so I was not familiar with the characters or the plot. Often times, when picking up a book in the middle of the series, the author will recap, but this was not the case. It feels like it picked up where the other story might have ended.
By page 35 I felt I had a sense of what the story was about; however, I kept getting lost in a sea of characters. There were far too many characters for me to keep straight. The book has wonderful drawings of each of the pirates from the Griffons crew, but does not list the other characters in other crews who you come across.
Despite this, the book had a really interesting running theme. In essence, the Griffons are a band of, what I call, vigilante environmental pirates. They set out to sabotage various, usually government sanctioned, projects that are harmful to the environment from pipelines to tar pits and mines.
The book teaches us to really look at the motives behind someone’s actions, and those that you think are bad, may not actually be so! It’s about doing what and fighting for what is right. It’s also about sticking together and helping each other out.
What my mom says:
To get a second opinion, I asked my mom to read the book. She’s an avid reader and a retired elementary school teacher who ran a youth program called Battle of the Books. This is what she had to say about Flight of the Griffons.
Young Adult books are one of my favourite genres. There was a small recap of what had happened in the previous book but it could have been more detailed as I had not read the first book. I was able to quickly identify the main characters and concentrated on them. (The list of characters in the back of the book was helpful but it did not list all the crews).
Missy is a great protagonist and I enjoyed her exploits working with the northern woods crew; the Griffons and their airship, meeting the Blackfoot people, escaping pursuing followers. Eric was a nice balance and he kept all the stories together.
The Griffons’ ideals were admirable but I was really not is agreement with their methods – sabotage. Their ideas of delaying projects thus costing companies money and thus not desecrating the environment were fine but no allowance was made in case of accidents.
All the different groups worked well together and were loyal. They had their own system of communication and were great inventors (fuel from cooking oil). They came to one another’s aid in times of trouble.
To sum up the earth is precious and we need to work together to save it.
All in all a good read; needs a better intro but I would read the others in the series. I recommend this book for grades 5 and older.
What Nimbus Publishing says:
In Flight of the Griffons, the sequel to The Dread Crew: Pirates of the Backwoods, we follow young Missy Bullseye as she ventures from her pirate crew’s adopted Nova Scotian home base to begin probationary work terms along the road to union-certified junking. From the deep northern woods of Ontario and Quebec to the great western prairies, Missy wanders far on a secret mission—one that turns her against her own.
While tracking and spying on a blacklisted crew, Missy encounters mechanical moths, an outlawed tilt-rotor airship, a mega-pipeline, and the unexpected sound of grassland drums. What she discovers along the way is that heroes can look like villains, crimes can look like profit, and heights aren’t so bad—as long as a true-hearted pirate is holding the rope.
Overall, my recommendation would be to start with the Dread Crew before heading on to the Flight of the Griffons!
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