Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Books One, Two, and Three

By: Kathryn Lasky

Narrated by: Pamela Garelick

Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

This box set contains the first three books by Kathryn Lasky, which are the basis of the animated movie, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.

The Capture, Book One
Soren is born in the forest of Tyto, a tranquil kingdom where the Barn Owls dwell. But evil lurks in the owl world, and Soren is captured and imprisoned in a dark canyon where there is a mysterious school. It’s called an orphanage, but Soren believes it’s something far worse. He and his new friend, the clever and scrappy Gylfie, know that the only way out is up. To escape, they will need to do something these fledglings have never done before—fly. Along the way, Soren and Gylfie meet Twilight and Digger. The four owls band together to seek the truth, be reunited with their families, and protect the owl world from a great danger.

The Journey, Book Two
It began as a dream, a quest for the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, a mythic place where an order of owls rises each night to perform noble deeds. There, Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger hope to find inspiration to fight the evil that dwells in the owl kingdom. When Soren and his friends finally arrive at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, they face challenges they never imagined. If they can learn from their leaders and from one another, they will become true Ga’Hoolian owls: honest and brave, wise and true.

The Rescue, Book Three
Ever since Soren was kidnapped, he has longed to see his sister, Eglantine. Now, Eglantine is back in Soren’s life, but she’s been through an ordeal too terrible for words. At the same time, Soren’s mentor, Ezylryb, has mysteriously disappeared and may be in danger. Something deep within Soren tells him there is a connection between these mysterious events. To rescue Ezylryb, Soren must face a force more dangerous than anything that even the evil rulers of the owl orphanage could have devised.

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©2003 Kathryn Lasky (P)2006 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“The story’s fast pace, menacing bad guys, and flashes of humor make this a good choice for reluctant readers, while the underlying message about the power of legends provides a unifying element and gives strong appeal for fantasy fans.” (School Library Journal)

“Broad themes related to the nature of personal choice, the need for fellowship based on love and trust, and sharing knowledge with one’s peers are presented compellingly and with swift grafting to the animal adventure story.” (Booklist)

“The fantasy’s strong believability and fascinating plot make this series a must-read for fantasy-lovers.” (Children’s Literature)

Enthralling!

Listened to this on my long drive to and from college and loved every second of it! Big fan of the movie and I'm so happy to have finally listened to the source material. I wish the complete series was on here!

I love these owls

Owl characters are well-developed, with just enough humor to balance the drama and tension! Narrator was very good at voicing a variety of different characters. I can't wait to listen to more in this series!

Excellent!

I loved this one in every way! The storyline, the narration, the flow of the three books together - it was all perfect.

an entirely different experience

I grew up obsessed with the movie that was based off this series.... now that I'm reading it, I can't believe how much more captivating this story is. I feel as though my entire childhood was a lie

Firelilly and the pickle

The adventure is mysterious and the art that forms in your mind when they discride the story is so beautiful and there is no other book like it and a am mad because I got to go to the wed and see if there are more were the owls are older and if not that is really sad because the book is so so so good if it were on a scale of 1 - 100 I would put 100!!!😁😘😍😜😝😻😊 I checked and there is more!!!!!!!😻😻😻🐼🐼🐼😻😻🐼😻🐼😻🐼😝😜😍😘😻🐼😻🐼😻🐼

Excellent new series

I would place this series in the same type of category as the Harry Potter series with the characters as owls instead of people. It pulls you into the story and carries you along as if you were an owl yourself. I listened to this 3 book set prior to watching the movie, big mistake! As usual, the movie did not do justice to the books and I was so distracted by the inconsistencies between the books and the movie that I couldn't enjoy the movie! I would say the movie was based on the books solely by using the book's name, some character names and the GaHoole tree! While listening to the books, my attention was captured from beginning to end and leaving me wanting more! That's the way you know you've just listened to a winner!!

The four-year-old loved it. I couldn't handle it.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This is a very, very, very long listen (understandably, since it is three children's books in one). Quick warning: this series, I learned, is actually FIFTEEN books long, so after the hours put in to this you'll still have barely scratched the surface of most of the story.

Would you be willing to try another one of Pamela Garelick’s performances?

Perhaps it's because it's such a long read, but I've never encountered a professional audiobook with so many errors still in the final product. There are several stammers, halts, re-starts, and misplaced pauses. She does an excellent job of keeping track of the twenty or so different owl voices she affects, but darned if two-thirds of them aren't almost entirely unlistenable. Her main characters are obnoxious to listen to, especially Twilight. And while I give her major kudos for actually attempting to sing the songs in the book... the end result was risible.

Any additional comments?

Ultimately, it's a decent kids' book series with a unique premise that is almost entirely brought down by its distracting voice-acting.

A lesson in making voices while reading.

Any additional comments?

The story itself has its moments of good drama, though the second and third book get bogged down with recapping a lot, as if the reader/listener forgot everything in between books. My main issue though is the narrator. She has a lovely voice, but for the love of everything the voice miming was *horrendous*. From nails-on-chalk-board high to hilariously exaggerated low, the character voices needed *a lot* of patients to get used to. If she had just read the voices in her own voice with the slightest of pitches it would have been so much better. Still, her regular speaking voice was very lovely.

Great story

I love the books, but the narrator should have just spoken the songs instead of trying to sing them.

this is very biased

I love owls so much and whomever loves owls too much read this book series