Short review: A baby griffin is born in a magical human family. The story is all about magic, but somehow, it feels empty of wonder and it jumps around too fast, never giving you time to have feelings about what's happening. It has some small touching and true magical moments, but in general it feels very flat, and there aren't many details for winged people to feel connected too. I don't really recommend it.
Writing: The writing is not that good... it just rushes ahead with the story without connecting with anything emotionally, and rushes into ideas that are really over-the-top without ever suggesting that this is strange or unusual. I guess they're trying to make it feel like magic is a normal part of their lives, but the result is that all the magic is taken out of the story, as miraculous things are treated as normal. The story also doesn't even really have a progression... the plot doesn't build up to a natural ending, but rather, a lot of different events happen and then it suddenly ends.
From a winged person's perspective...: Frankie can fly, but the flying scenes are really short and dull (wow... how did they make flying dull?). There is a brief reference to the joy of flight but the story doesn't dwell on it, or even really allow you to feel what flying is like. What is mentioned of the flying has some good realism in it though, and there are some other good details like descriptions of how the different feathers feel, and some mentions of the unique work it takes to care for a griffin. But the thing that I think most winged people will notice, that will overwhelm this, is how often he is talked about as a "horrible monster"... even by his family. It's meant to show how non-magical see him, not meant as hurtful towards him, but it doesn't make the impact any less.
Trigger warnings: Many people call Frankie a monster, demonic, and terrifying, even the magical characters. At the beginning, one person tries to attack him because of this view.
( More thoughts... )
Writing: The writing is not that good... it just rushes ahead with the story without connecting with anything emotionally, and rushes into ideas that are really over-the-top without ever suggesting that this is strange or unusual. I guess they're trying to make it feel like magic is a normal part of their lives, but the result is that all the magic is taken out of the story, as miraculous things are treated as normal. The story also doesn't even really have a progression... the plot doesn't build up to a natural ending, but rather, a lot of different events happen and then it suddenly ends.
From a winged person's perspective...: Frankie can fly, but the flying scenes are really short and dull (wow... how did they make flying dull?). There is a brief reference to the joy of flight but the story doesn't dwell on it, or even really allow you to feel what flying is like. What is mentioned of the flying has some good realism in it though, and there are some other good details like descriptions of how the different feathers feel, and some mentions of the unique work it takes to care for a griffin. But the thing that I think most winged people will notice, that will overwhelm this, is how often he is talked about as a "horrible monster"... even by his family. It's meant to show how non-magical see him, not meant as hurtful towards him, but it doesn't make the impact any less.
Trigger warnings: Many people call Frankie a monster, demonic, and terrifying, even the magical characters. At the beginning, one person tries to attack him because of this view.
( More thoughts... )