Pegasus

Because she was a princess, she had a Pegasus....

Princess Sylviianel has always known that on her 12th birthday she too would be bound to her own Pegasus. All members of the royal family have been thus bound since the Alliance was made almost a thousand years ago; the binding system was created to strengthen the Alliance, because humans and pegasi can only communicate formally, through specially trained Speaker magicians. Sylvi is accustomed to seeing pegasi every day at the palace, but she still finds the idea of her binding very daunting. The official phrase is that your pegasus is your “Excellent Friend”. But how can you be friends with someone you can’t talk to?

But everything is different for Sylvi and Ebon from the moment they meet at her binding - when they discover they can talk to each other. They form so close a bond that it becomes a threat to the status quo - and possibly to the future safety of their two nations. For some of the magicians believe there is a reason humans and pegasi should not fully understand each other....

©2010 Robin McKinley (P)2021 Recorded Books

Not her best work

I've been a huge Robin McKinley fan since I read The Blue Sword and saw my first strong female protagonist in a fantasy setting. For me, this book just didn't live up to that standard, even setting aside the dramatic cliffhanger ending. She keeps mentioning so many names of things that I cannot keep track of because they were never properly introduced in the first place - there are multiple evil races at war with the kingdom, but there is no description of what they are like. So much of the character development is left until far too late in the story to be useful. It also in general doesn't follow the principle of "show, don't tell", so a lot of the action is just going on inside of the protagonist's head, instead of being played out in a concrete way within the world around her. Despite this, I love the character of Ebon, and found the events during the visit to the Pegasus country fascinating. I feel like even if this book was intended as part of a trilogy, it should have also been able to stand better on its own, and releasing it before it was able to do that was a disservice to her writing and her vision.

No real ending!

Much was implied but it left the ending unfinished. There’s still questions about how this goes forward. I’d ther

I need part two

This is an absolutely wonderful story but definitely not complete. Please make part 2 ASAP

Half a book

The story was great, until it ended just as the inevitable existential battle was about to begin. It’s clear there was meant to be a sequel and equally clear, after eleven years, that it will likely never be written. I wish I’d paid more attention to the reviews before purchasing it.

Pegawhat???????

I was completely enthralled with this story, biting my nails and then it just ENDED. I don’t think it would have been possible to leave more loose strings dangling! It’s like they just decided “ok, tired of it, done, we’ll stop here.” Such a disappointment. How about a part 2, please??????