Wyvernhail

I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't the end of the series I was hoping for. The first of the books I simply couldn't put down. The issues between the bird and snake peoples are just so moving I was completely caught up. As the series progressed and the characters shifted into the children of those we had grown to love, the tone of the series shifted slightly and while it was as enjoyable as the beginning of the set, the energy wasn't the same, changing how I felt about the story as a whole unit.

The culture that is created in the series is very well thought out. That is one thing consistent through every book. It is obvious that the author took great care to create something that had meaning and prepare relationships that would mean show more something in the reader's own heart. That also continues with Wyvernhail, where characters that we had previously felt uncertain of are beginning to grow flesh before our eyes.

This wasn't a book I sat down and devoured the way I had the first of the series, but I didn't find myself wishing things had been different either. If this truly is the end to the Kiesha'ra series, I feel that it is an appropriate one. However if another book pops up, I'll happily snatch it off my library's shelf. show less

Richly imagined, this story is the continuation of the Kiesha'ra series of books, that follow the fortunes of intertwined and opposing peoples, of avian creatures, serpents, and wolves. Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has woven a rich mythology and compelling cultures for all the civilisations we meet in the course of her series, and the characters that inhabit her world are many facetted, realistic and often beautifully flawed.

That same attention to detail holds true in this book in the series, where all that has gone before comes to a head in the confusing conflict between past and future seen through the eyes of Hai, a falcon-cobra hybrid who both embodies, and somehow manages to rise above the age old conflict that has raged for centuries show more between the two peoples, and which now threatens to tear apart the fragile peace, won at so great a cost during the course of the first four novels.

The writing is fast paced, events coming thick and fast one after another, and the plot twists and turns almost as much as the unstable magic twists the lives of those born of such as union as the one between Hai's parents, and while the ending seems, in some ways, bittersweet – it is an appropriate ending; one that ties up the loose ends and yet – at the same time, could leave open avenues to walk within the world of the series. show less

In this fifth and last book of Ms. Atwater-Rhodes Kiesha'ra series we are treated to the viewpoint of the precognitive and slightly mad Hai, the half cobra/half falcon, who was rescued from the dark void of the Ecl by the royal falcon, Nicias. The funny thing about reading this story is that although I found it difficult to keep up with the back-story which was almost as important as the immediate ongoings of the book, and I tended to lose track of which character was whose descendant, I still felt it impossible to put this book down. The author has an amazing way of writing that just kept me stuck to the book so that I had to read it in one sitting.

Since her introduction Hai has been a very hard character to feel for because of her show more tendency towards insanity and frequent loss of control of her magic. However, in this story as we get to see how she tries to deal with her visions and get a better understanding of the relationship between her, Nicias and the heirs of the Wyvern Court, she becomes a much more sympathetic and stronger character than one might have thought. Although I did not feel as emotionally attached to these characters as I did in the original Hawksong, they certainly were interesting. With this being the last of the Kiesha'ra stories I did feel that the ending was left rather open-ended with some loose strings remaining. However, I don't feel slighted or discontent with having continued with the series through its conclusion. show less

The lastest book in this series, Hai is a "mongrel" - half cobra, half falcon - and her hybrid nature makes her magic very unstable. She sees possible futures all leading to the destruction of Wyvern's Court. But even she cannot foresee the true reality of what is to come.

I still like these books, very very quick reads. Not sure which one is my favorite...but I love the mythology and ancestry behind them.

Submitted by Elizabeth...
Wyvern Hall wasn't my favorite book out of all the books
she has writtin, but it was one of the better ones.
Short Summary - Decisions made by the royal family leads Hai to have visions of a terrible future. She uses her Falcon magic to try and change the outcome of the near future, where her new home will be ingulfed by flames.
Even though saving her new home might mean betraying the people she loves.

Suspenseful followup to the unexpected ending of Wolf Cry, shows the visions that the future and the outcomes of action and inaction.

again, the book is written well but i guess i question the decision to take it so far away from the original characters and foresee this "Great Destruction" i don't know, in my opinion i would have stopped reading after Snakecharm =) and i do now when i read them over