Robin McKinley

Because of a thousand-year-old alliance between humans and pegasi, Princess Sylvi is ceremonially bound to Ebon, her own pegasus, on her twelfth birthday, but the closeness of their bond becomes a threat to the status quo and possibly to the safety of their two nations.

Pegasus

Kayla Ndife

Robin McKinley has never failed to enchant me with her work, and this book is no different. From the first time I picked up The Blue Sword in first grade, I have loved this woman and the way that she reinvents the way girls' stories are told.

This is most definitely a YA book, but from page three I could not turn away or put it down. There is not much in the way of plot, if you consider plot to be "here is the definitive goal" and "here is the definitive conflict" and "here is the definitive villain." A lot of it comes as a "slice of life" story, the main characters getting to know each other, while hints of a major conflict to come slowly but surely begin to form. You do not hit what I call the major conflict until the very end of the book, but since I've known before I picked it up that she was working on a sequel, my only qualm upon turning the last page was that I wanted to read that sequel now.

Pegasus is a lovely story that takes it's time letting you get to know the history, the structure, and the people of the kingdom that McKinley created. What's more, you get to know the main characters on such a deep level that you cannot help but know them as real people (or pegasi), and I almost didn't care that there was no traditional conflict except for what was bubbling beneath the surface. I genuinely cared about the characters and wanted to see them succeed, be happy, interact. After the faith I've been losing in YA lit over the past few years, McKinley brought me back with this novel.

Alexandra Mellas

Publication Date:
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
ISBN: 0399246770
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre:Fantasy
Source: Library
Lootability:***

What I Liked: McKinley made the Pegasi her own. She created an image of them, beyond the stock white and blue Disney character, and made them real for me. I was able to appreciate the fragile beauty of their wing fingers and the soft tapering of their long faces.
Each Pegasi had its own personality, and though the focus was on the relationship between Sylvi and Ebon, there were obvious efforts to create characters out of the other Pegasi and the bonds with their human counterparts.
The world building is great! The human lands are extensive with a focus on Sylvi's castle home, but the best part if her trip to the Pegasi home lands and the Caves. There is an etherealism created by McKinley that makes their lands seem magically possible and that's what I appreciate in a fantasy novel. 


What I didn't Like: The plot was interesting but it had some issues. It was, at times, hard to follow, and a little dry, and I found myself looking for something else to read. It kept me coming back eventually but the flow of the narrative didn't feel smooth.
The biggest issue was Pegasus as part of a series! It set itself up for a big plot and ended on a huge cliff hanger, only for me to pop onto Goodreads and see that Ebon (Book Two) isn't expected until 2014 (after being pushed back by two years), after Pegasus was published in 2010. It was very disappointing.

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Pegasus

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