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)

The way of the Ga'Hoolian

I never regretted buying this audiobook. Since the first time I put this on our car's audio on our way to school each morning, my 10-year old son and 15-year old daughter look forward to our next drive. It's quite far where we live and it was an average of a little less than hour's drive. I have put it on three devices where my son, my daughter and I can leisurely listen whenever we have a time then we catch up with our reading during dinner or in our lesiure conversations during the weekend. Then we listen together and catch up with each other's reading.

The book gave us a secret world where we develop our words, expressions and languages all derived from the book. We feel so exclusive to each other and it developed a bond and a way to communicate our wants and desires.

I definitely recommend this if the family loves to read but may not have the time to do it due to hectic demands of our time. This audiobook is an excellent way to expand your children's vocabulary, learn everyday science and become inquisitive enough to ask so many relevant questions that affect our world today.

painful narration

I am only about an hour into listening to this book, and I'm not sure I can endure another 15 hours of this narrator based upon how it starts out. First of all, the pace of the reading is almost plodding. Secondly, the character voices as the narrator does them are very close to being piercing in tone quality. Thirdly, the narrator's attempt to sing the "songs" is appalling. (If you'd like a example on this can be well done, listen to some of the Redwall stories by Brian Jacques. Not only is the singing better, but the poems/song texts are so good that you can almost hear them without anyone trying to sing them.) One final complaint (and this just might be only my problem) is the narrator's sound on words ending with the letter "g". It sounds to me like she's swallowing her tongue and once noticed, it became very distracting.

I read and listen to a lot of young adult, and even some children's stories, and the plot idea seemed appealing, combined with a number of positive reviews of the story. I did not realize, however, that this story may not be concluded in just the first book of the series. I don't know if I want to waste time listening to it if I'm already unhappy with the narrator on the first book.

A very good book for kids and parents

Great story! My 6 year old and I really love the story. We forget sometimes that they are owls but then the owl facts are put in the story so nicely! It's a great mystery book.

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!!

I loved it! If you liked the J.R. Tolkien series

It reminds me of other series like the J.R. Tolkien series about The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. It is a quest about discovering who and what one is destined to be and what strength it takes to be one's best. it is about good versus evil and the trials and triumphs involved. It is an adventure tale and coming of age story for a band of young orphaned owls.

A great story for kids and adults

Having seen the animated film I picked up this book and wasn't disappointed by how rich the character and story are. From cringing at twilights battle songs to cheering on sorens band battling the evil pure ones this book is well worth the ride.

please don't sing

Exceptionally nice reading, but, whoever advised the reader to sing at all, let alone impovise tunes should never work again. It is cringe-making and made me wish I had one of those things that skips commercials on tv to skip the perfectly awful "singing." I would have given this another star if somebody had had the good taste to just RECITE the songs.

HATED the voice used for a main character!

What would have made Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga???Hoole better?

The only sad part of our Christmas holiday was picking this book to listen to on the 4 hour drive! We love the GaHoole series in written passage only. One of the character voices was so painful to hear we gave up after 2.5 hours! My family has loved audibles since 2005 and NEVER had this issue. Buyer Beware!

Love the story, but narration awful at times

If this wasn't such a good story, I honestly wouldn't even consider listening to it. I can deal with the narrator's singing, that's more than fine. What I hate, is the high pitched portrayal of Gylfie and Soren. Soren more than Gylfie, I mean, I get that Soren's just an owlet, but I mean come on, he's still a dude (male) after all. The narrator was all over the place with Soren's voice, but most of the time, she was making him sound waaaaaay too high pitched, even for an owlet. I found this to be kind of annoying, I will give this story credit where it is due, the story is very suspenseful and keeps the listener intrigued, but this thanks to Kathryn Lasky, the narrator just reads what the author writes.

Who is this for?

Would you try another book from Kathryn Lasky and/or Pamela Garelick?

Yes, because although I couldn't totally identify with the character, stories, and world of this book, it's definitely creative.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I feel too old to take the owls seriously as characters, but I hesitate to recommend this to younger audiences because some scenes are very disturbing and violent.