The Capture

There are a lot of animal fantasies on the shelves; authors constantly competing to create worlds with anthropomorphic creatures that talk and think. This series did it right, and it will always be one of my favorites.

Soren is a Barn Owl, hatched in the Forest of Tyto, in a world where human beings are only a mysterious memory from the past. But Soren's comfortable nest life is short-lived; somehow, he falls from the nest he shares with his fierce older brother Kludd and sweet sister Eglantine, and is immediately picked up. But not by a rescuer.

Thus, Soren enters St. Aggie's, the twisting maze of canyons that calls itself a "school" for young owlets. There, thousands of owls are divided into groups, forced to perform bizarre rituals and show more tasks, and indoctrinated into a world where no owl thinks for itself, or worse, is allowed to fly.

With only the companionship of a sharp-minded Elf Owl named Gylfie, Soren must struggle to keep himself from being overcome by the horrors that he discovers within St. Aggie's. And the only way to escape from a deep canyon is to learn to fly.

In this first novel of a great series, Lasky builds a world populated with all kinds of characters and all kinds of owl species. I love owls, so I was fascinating learning about the different characteristics of each. Not only that, but the plot twisted and turned, full of horrific revelations and triumphant moments. And the end is really only the beginning. show less

Soren is a young Barn Owl living with his parents and two siblings, his older brother Kludd and his younger sister Eglantine. There have been disturbing reports of owlets going missing recently, but it's not something Soren is particularly worried about...until his parents leave on a long hunting flight and Soren suddenly finds himself pushed out of his nest. He can't fly and is completely defenseless. Before anyone is able to help him, he's snatched away by an owl who takes him to St. Aggie's, an owl orphanage.

Soren knows that he isn't really an orphan, but none of the adults at St. Aggie's seem to care, and things get worse from there. Each owlet is referred to by a number rather than their real name, everyone is made to undergo show more something called a "sleep march," and questions are forbidden. Soren clings to his sense of self with the help of a new friend, an Elf Owl named Gylfie, and the two of them work together to find a way out of St. Aggie's and back to their families.

My eldest niece is into animal books right now. I know she's reading Erin Hunter's Warriors series. I don't know if she's discovered this series yet, but I figured I'd give them both a shot and see what they were like.

St. Aggie's was a weird and disturbing place. I don't know if Lasky based it off of anything in real life, but I found myself thinking of assimilation camps. The owlets were fed an inadequate diet of crickets, deprived of the ability to sleep properly, and subjected to "laughter therapy" or forced plucking if they didn't unquestioningly follow the rules. Most were prevented from ever becoming true adult owls. It was a lot darker than I expected.

Just a warning: several characters are killed in this, and their deaths have an emotional impact on the main characters. I appreciated that their deaths resulted in more than just a paragraph or two of sadness, although I imagine it could be tough for sensitive younger readers.

Lasky included several species of owls in this book, and their different traits and abilities added some nice variety. I don't know much about owls - their physical abilities seemed to be accurate, but I wondered about things like Mrs. Plithiver, a blind snake who served Soren's family, keeping their nest clean and free of maggots and insects (some googling indicates that this happens in real screech owl nests, although I'm still not sure about barn owls).

Overall, I thought this was decent, although I'm not sure yet whether I'll be continuing on - I'm interested to find out who's behind St. Aggie's and what their plans are, but I also have lots of other things on my TBR mountain calling my name.

Extras:

A map of this book's world and a black-and-white drawing of Soren being taken away from his family.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

This was a lot better than I thought it'd be! A super easy read, but damn did it have dark themes especially for a kids book. How many times do I need to hear how an owl is eaten by another or killed in a gruesome way

Finally finished reading this book to my son tonight. Amazing story. A joy to read out loud to him because the writing was very evocative and full of great imagery. I don't want to spoil any of the story, but I really liked the way everything went. There are a few surprises along the way, and if you read this book, be prepared for heartbreak. Lasky holds no punches when dealing with the storyline and all the repercussions.

What do you get when you take an animal, in this case owls, mix in human characteristics and then send the owls on an adventure? You get Kathryn Lasky's, Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. The Capture is the first book in this series. I've had it on my list to read for a while but had not had a chance to read it. I am so glad I was offered the opportunity to review the book. The others in the series will soon be gracing my shelves as well. I am truly sorry I waited so long to read it.

Soren is a young barn owl who finds himself on the forest floor one night while his parents are away hunting. Only a few weeks old and still unable to fly, he knows the dangers that surround him and feels he probably won't survive the night. Suddenly he is show more scooped up and taken to St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. From the beginning he believes that something is not quite right with the academy. He befriends another owl named Gylfie who also shares this belief. He just needs to survive until the time he can fly. He also needs to avoid being moonblinked, or brainwashed. If he can manage to do all of this, then he might be able to escape and help the owl kingdom survive. He has learned that the academy's true purpose is to control all of the owl kingdoms on Earth.

It is refreshing to find a series where you can delve into a fantasy world yet learn some animal facts as you go along. I had to stop and remind myself that the characters were owls and not humans. The characters were well fleshed out, to the point I could decide who I liked and did not like, and why. The fantasy world they lived in was very believable. This is something that is important if we are to pull kids into a book. show less

Soren is home in his nest high in the forest. He may only be an owlet, but he's learning so much form his parents and it won’t be too much longer before Soren knows how to fly. For now, he loves talking with his little sister, though his older brother is a bit of a grump. One night when his parents are off hunting, Soren’s thrust out of the nest and lands on the forest floor. He thinks his life is over and that he’ll be dinner for a larger animal. But then the owls come and seem to rescue him, only they’re not rescuing him. Soren realizes they are capturing him. He is taken to St. Aggie’s and he meets Gilfey almost immediately. They become fast friends, and it isn’t long before they start to realize that something very bad show more is going on there. Owls are made to chant their names over and over again. Each is also assigned a new number to go by and questions are forbidden. The leaders of St. Aggie’s force all the young owls to stand in the light of the full moon for three nights straight. This can cause a lot of damage to owlets and Soren and Gilfey worry they’ll forget who they are and what they believe. They haven’t even learned how to fly and it’s forbidden at St. Aggie’s. Is there any way that they can escape? Being sent to separate places to work makes it even harder for them to devise a plan. Can they come up with something that will work? You’ll have to read this interesting fantasy story to find out!

I recently saw a trailer for the movie The Guardians of Ga’Hoole and it made me curious about the books. I decided to pick up the first one in the series, The Capture by Kathryn Lasky. I listened to the audiobook, which I highly recommend because the narrator did a wonderful job with the different voices and bringing the story to life. I like the friendship between Soren and Gylfie. Both characters have their strengths, and I think they do a great job supporting each other. Being at Saint Aggie’s sounded scary to me, so I could understand why they wanted to leave. I felt nervous for them about the dangerous situation they were in, but enjoyed reading the story from the owls’ points of view. It would be a perfect read for anyone in fourth grade and up who likes a story with a variety of characters and a more complex plot. Since listening to the first book in the series I have already finished the next three. I’m waiting for book five to arrive at the library. I thought there were eight books in the series- but just heard there are sixteen. I am looking forward to reading more of the series- but with that number of books it could take a while. show less

In the first of her Ga’hoole series, a children’s fantasy series focused on the lives of various owls, Kathryn Lasky tells the tale of little Soren, a barn owl who falls from his nest before he is old enough to fly. He is kidnapped (owlnapped?) by some big surly horned owls, and brought to a strange school for orphaned owls, where the administrative staff and faculty proceed to brainwash the foundlings.

Soren, with the help of some other rebellious owls, make plans to escape as soon as they are able, and the broad multivolume franchise takes flight.

The book is a children’s book, which to some people, means that the quality of the narrative does not have to be as good as it would be if it were to target a larger, older audience. I show more found that while the narrative did lack the potent storytelling of a skilled narrator, the actual story being told was interesting, and managed to keep me intrigued until the very end, and quite possibly into the other books of the series, just to find out what all the mystery and intrigue were all about.

I did find it a bit annoying at times, though, when the author seemed to wedge every last fact about a certain type of owl into the prose. But, I suppose it was there to help kids learn more about owls, or to not feel like all that research went to waste.

While this book is not a masterpiece, it would almost certainly appeal to children, especially those who find denser books boring, and as well to those trying to learn more about this owl fantasy thing. For those trying to find the next Harry Potter or what have you, you might want to look further, as while both stories involve owls, the similarities end there. show less