The Silver Gryphon

Funny - for all the straight-forward action-adventure in this one, it is basically a psychological study on parents and children. Skan and Amberdrake handle their children entirely differently, and equally badly. There's a lot more about gryphons and gryphon society, K'Leshya society (which is, by then, White Gryphon society), even a bit more about the Haighlei Empires. Little Windsong and Skan and Zhaneel's gryphlets are suddenly people, with all kinds of complex emotions and reactions and motivations - some of which set up the adventure. I found the adventure itself rather flat - I hate horror and refuse to regard this in that light, so it's just crash, run away, find place to hole up, final fight, yay rescue (with the last two kind show more of mixed up). It could be quite horrific (hunted through the jungle by unseen enemies!), but if I regarded it that way I wouldn't ever read the book. And it does have a happy ending, with many of the emotional dislocations solved or at least strongly abated. And as usual Skan realizes (yet another) new role, or new level of role, that he can and should fill. There are some very neat bits - Judeth and Aubri realizing how much of a problem the disappearance is, for one - but overall it's kind of flat. Which means it's only good, not wonderful like most of Lackey's books. show less

This is the third novel in Lackey's Gryphon series, so if you haven't already you should read The Black Gryphon and The White Gryphon first. This book is centered on two children of the central characters of the first two books: Tadrith and Silverblade.

I think they're not as interesting as their fathers, Skandranon and Amberdrake, nor is the plot as engaging as the first two books; there are dull spots, I think because for much of it Tadrith and Silverblade are stranded by themselves, with little interaction with others. This particular novel dragged for me I'm afraid, I rather had to push myself to finish it, and I didn't feel the pay off was worth it.

Lackey is actually a favorite author of mine, with books I've read again and show more again--fantasy comfort food. But this isn't one of her stronger books (or trilogies). If you've never read her before, don't start here. If this was your first novel by her, don't judge her by it. Try Arrows of the Queen or Magic's Pawn or Joust before you decide she's not for you. show less

The Silver Gryphon is the last book in the Mage Wars trilogy, the first in the epic Valdemar saga. The first book in the series was pure high fantasy, the second less magic and more intrigue, and this one is a tale of survival. It also contains one of my favorite quotes from any book, ever...

“In a calm, clear voice, she suggested that the wyrsa in question could do several highly improbable, athletically difficult and possibly biologically impractical things involving its own mother, a few household implements, and a dead fish.”

A dozen or so years have passed since the end of The White Gryphon. Unlike the first two books, this one does not center solely on Drake and Skan. Instead, this one focuses on Tadrith and Silverblade, the show more children of Skan and Drake respectively. The two are partners in the Silvers, the pseudo military/law enforcement service of White Gryphon. They have been in training and now it is time for them to go out on their first scouting mission. Their parents are so notorious that both of them are more than willing to leave, to be out from under watchful eyes. But things go badly for them almost from the start and they end up lost and alone, injured and being pursued by forces they have never experienced.

This is more of an action novel than one of magic and mystery. Although I enjoyed the story and I love the two new characters, it just wasn't as much fun to read. Yes, there was a bit of mystery and some great action, but overall I felt like it just didn't move the story forward as much as the others. It was good for character development, except for the fact that this book is the one and only one in the series that discusses these two characters.

My Recommendation: No, this wasn't my favorite in the series, aside from the great quote. But it is still enjoyable for a fan of the Valdemar series. show less

I like the books Mercedes Lackey writes, she is good at creating a believable world and people to populate it. While her writing is not the strongest I do find it engaging ang and enjoyable. I like a series I can live inside of and her books are ones that have characters I feel invested in and a world I believe could exist.

As much of a mess as The Black Gryphon is, The Silver Gryphon is worse. OK, it actually has a plot, but it's just terrible. Part of the problem is that it's fundamentally a teenagers-leave-the-nest story, and I find those generally pretty unbearable. (Hell, I often find teenagers pretty unbearable.) The familiar characters are turned into one-dimensional overprotective parents up until the last fifteen pages, and the bulk of the book involves excruciatingly tedious accounts of trekking through jungle.

There's also no real villain - there are some dangerous and intelligent (although not necessarily sapient) animals, and there is a bunch of teenage "Dad just doesn't understand me!" whining. And rain. Lots of rain.

I like Lackey primarily show more for her painstaking construction of cultures to explore ethical issues. This book doesn't have any of that. It just has rain. show less

This is the third and final entry in the 'Mage War Trilogy' (obviously!), and takes us a further ten or twenty years after the events of 'The White Gryphon' (favouring the latter, here).

Unlike the pevious couple of books this doesn't deal with Great Events - no great evils to be faced down, but we arestill facing the fall out of the Mage Wars that had led to the establishment of White Gryphon.

Silverblade and Tadrith, human and gryphon respecively, daughter and son of the great Amberdrake and Skandranon respectively and both recent graduates of the Silver Gryphons' training programme found themselves scheduled to a disant outpost where they could be out of the oversight of their illustrious parents.

Both youngsters knew that Outpost 5 show more was risky but they'd supplied themselves for all the risks they could imagine. Just a pity that they hadn't anticipated the area of null-magic that meant Tad wouldn't be able to keep he basket holding Blade and their supplies up in flight. Their crash left both injured and with no magical tools, incuding the teleson that could have told the people back home of their fate. Nad then there was what ever had caused that null-spot. Especially when it appeared to be after them!

Most of the book describes the flight of Tad and Blade through the jungle as they try to make their escape. It's a mixture of a survivalist adventure and horror, the latter gradually growing as the nature of the creatures chasing the youngsters becomes clearer. show less

This ending to the series is better than the 2nd book and not nearly as good as the first. The characterization has improved but there are still whole chapters that feel like filler, and not well-written filler. I was relieved it was over.