To Be a King

Guardians of Ga'Hoole #11

by Kathryn Lasky

The eleventh title in this best-selling series brings Hoole to kingship and the legends to fulfilment signaling a return to the adventures of Coryn, Soren and the Band. In this final book of the Legends trilogy Hoole reclaims the thrown of his father and goes on to wage a war against the forces of chaos, greed and oppression led by the powerful warlord-tyrants. Grank, the first collier, uses his skills with fire and metals to forge weapons for battle. With great trepidation Hoole uses the power of the Ember in the final, decisive battle and wins. At the dawn of a new ear of peace, Hoole searches for the ideal place to establish not a kingdom but an order of free owls and finds the Great Tree. (continued)

Genres: Fantasy, Animals, Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens, Young Adult, Adventure

206 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Kathryn Lasky, also known as Kathryn Lasky Knight and E. L. Swann, is an award-winning American author of over one hundred books for children and adults. Best known for the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series, her work has been translated into 19 languages and includes historical fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction.

Reviews

[Amara Tanith · Rating 2 out of 5]

When it comes to the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series, I can't say I'm a fan. Kathryn Lasky and I are just on two totally different pages, so to speak. She's trying to write anthropomorphic fantasy with an anti-racism moral, and it's all coming across as vaguely pseudo-racist and lazy to me--as I've mentioned in previous reviews of the series, the protagonists and their goals are hypocritically prejudiced while the world-building has only the vaguest internal consistency. Both of these factors annoy me to no end.

It's disappointing, because there are a lot of moments over the course of the last eleven books that had the potential to be undeniably awesome... only to be squandered one way or another. Examples:

Lasky built an awesome team of characters... only to eclipse them behind a new protagonist who quickly morphed into a Sue and then a whole new set of prequel characters (in the middle of the series rather than via spin-off).

She writes great battle scenes with (quite appreciated) attention to war tactics... that are few and far between, as well as peppered with preachy nonsense about the protagonists' self-righteous and stereotypical morality.

She sets up two separate groups of villains to facilitate varying shades of morality... and then opts for strict black and white ideals that unreasonably favor her protagonists.

Worst of all, though, is the character of Lutta. In her, Lasky has created an intriguing, morally ambiguous character suffering from lifelong brainwashing and emotional rejection and struggling to resist a budding What Is This Thing You Call Love? epiphany.

See, Lutta is a shape-shifting creature created by a powerful hagsfiend sorceress. She's been sent to steal the Ember of Hoole from King Hoole himself while disguised as his acquaintance, Strix Emerilla. As so many other undercover fictional females seem to do, she starts falling in love with the hero. Ultimately, of course, she's found out as an impostor and met with a brutal Heel Face Door Slam.

She dies with everyone believing that she's a vile, evil beast bent on stealing the ember, and Hoole ends up married to (wait for it...!) Strix Emerilla.

...excuse me? The most heartbreakingly tragic subplot in the entire series is over just like that, with no resolution--and then the Ga'Hoole universe offers up one last slap in the face, having Hoole marry someone who looks exactly like her but isn't "sullied" by any moral ambiguity.

Seriously, just thinking about it's making me angry all over again. I'm really looking forward to being done with this series.

[Megan Bering · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lutta plotline is one of the most fucked-up things I have ever read

[King Hoole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. It is the conclusion of the legends. Hoole must now mass an army of all types of creatures to defeat this nachtmagen (evil magic) once in for all. It is very inspirational, heroic, adventurous and of course, sad. But that's the nature of war. What I really like is the strength of the characters. Particularly Hoole and his mother Queen Siv. In fact I adore Siv. I love how Hoole talks about its not magic makes us powerful and strong. No magic is REALLY good. Our strength is rooted in earthly values like goodness, equality, and nobility of deed. He has the kind of personality that if everyone were like him, the world would be a better place. And Siv, oh Siv. She is truly a noble owl like no other. She is strong. She saw her own mate get killed and knew she must right things. She is a powerful female character. Grank even expresses that he believes he has met only one owl with ga', (great spirit) Siv. She protects the ice palace for as long as she can, she gives up her only son for his safety, she attempts to battle Lord Arrin forever crippling one wing, and she resists the horrible crippling yellow light that floods from the eyes of hagsfiends twice. The last time giving up her own life to save her son's. I tip my hat to her.

[Ritika · Rating 5 out of 5]

A finale to the 3 part "Legends of the Old", I loved how all things came together in the end.
Now onto the journey of and with Coryn.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, it was a well written book and I like it a lot, but the ending felt rushed. And well, that last part about Lutta? That broke my heart. In some ways, it was good it didn't end up with her saving everyone and finding love with Hoole. But she was merely a victim and she deserved redemption.

[Mijo Stumpf · Rating 2 out of 5]

…and that’s the end of the best trilogy of the whole 15 book run and gotta say the ending is owlfully flat. Someone needs to get you, Kathryn, the Sims- because you’ve got character creation-itis!! There are too many gosh darn owls out there for me to care about now. I’m also sorry to say that you write like you are trying to shoehorn as many details and devices into your series as you can and then when you step back and look, you can kinda say “hey look it works!” but it’s kind of a janky, jumbly mess.

All that to say-Hoole is a waaaaayyyyyy better to protagonist than Soren and waaaaaayyyy less better one than Coryn, so onto the final 4! I don’t have many HOOTS left to give!

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really fun to read to me. It was also an awesome adventure through N'yrthghar and S'yrthghar. What I saw as the theme of book was learn others ways to become more with them. I think the author is trying to teach us that you may look different then each other, but that doesn't mean that you can't think the same. An example of where I saw that in the book was when Hoole was withe the wolves. This is an example because he felt almost as if he was more wolf than owl. Also he was thinking more like a wolf so he bonded with them better. This is a book I would recommend for those who love adventure and action.

[Anniesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really the whole set. My nephew started me on these when I was recovering from surgery and staying at his house so they could watch over me. I read his 8, sent them to the bookstore for book 9, have since read book 10. I see I am behind again. I think these are among the best children's books and the best fantasy books I have ever read.

[AziaMinor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall Rating : B+

"Evil may cloak itself as good, and good can sometimes appear to be evil. They know each other's ways."

[Urban Mama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Final book of the three book prequel that covers the life and growth of Hoole as he becomes king. Any great book in the guardian journey. We are listening to the audiobook version and enjoying it immensely in this format.

[Jeri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how Lasky went back in time in these past few books and blended the present world with the world of the legends. Her writing is outstanding. I'd love to be able to write like this.

[Kryptomite · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be a king picks up where the last legend novel left off, and I am pleased to say it was just as strong. It continues on with the tradition of the last one, creating some powerful lore for the Ga'hoole universe, and continues to build upon it. I was excited that they managed to integrate and explain magic, as I was never entirely sure if magic really existed in these books up until now. I was also thankful that Theo got a backstory, as I felt his character's arrival in a prior book seemed strange and unexplained. I also enjoyed the perspective of the villains in this book, which made me feel for them as not just completely corrupt. This book finishes up with a strong ending, and gives a great jumping off point to bring us back into the current era with the owls we grew to know.

[Logan Chaput · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading the last legend was very interesting. I feel it really finished of the character arc of the characters in the legends well. this book told me a lot more about the Hagsfiend's and was over all a good book. I definitely would recommend reading this series or if you don't want to read all of the guardians of Ga'Hoole books at least read this one and the two before it.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son loved these! He read them in about 3rd grade. I didn't share his love, but then I'm an adult and I experienced the story from a totally different point of view (I mean, fighting owls??! It was hard for me to get into.) I was willing to let him read whatever it took to get him to reading fluently and I was just happy to see him immersed in a book.

[Thereadingbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

To Be A King by Kathryn Lasky

I want to be fair about this book but I think I should go back and start at the beginning of this series to be able to follow along better. I did enjoy the story but I think knowing more about each character and why war was waged against chaos. I was entertained by the owls as characters I was sort of surprised that I enjoyed this more than I thought going into it.

I plan to go back to the start of this series and read the whole series to get the whole story so I can be better at giving this a more fuller review with a better understanding on how Hoole got to the point too wage the war when he regained his thrown. I also liked that the owls worked with the wolves it was interesting to me.

[Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

She was sick; sick of being half: half crow, half owl, both hagsfiend and Spotted Owl. She was, she realized, nothing. She was nothing and yet she loved.

[William Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book i really liked it

[WendyTheOwl · Rating 2 out of 5]

FR
Je ne sais pas quoi vous dire. Je pensais que ce tome on retrouvait nos protagonistes principaux, mais non, nous sommes encore dans le passé. J'aurai préféré une trilogie (??) spin-off, et que je ne sois pas obligée de tout lire de peur de rater quelque chose !
Il y a vraiment des soucis avec ce livre, des retournements de situations qui ne sont pas bons, tout simplement.
J'attends de voir, espérant que celui-ci était bien le dernier. Même si je comprends pourquoi ça a été écrit. Je ne sais pas quoi en penser, je suis déçue.

ENG
I don't know what to tell you. I thought that this volume we found our main protagonists, but no, we are still in the past. I would have preferred a spin-off trilogy (??), and that I don't have to read everything for fear of missing something !
There are really problems with this book, reversals of situations that are simply not good.
I wait and see, hoping this is the last. Although I understand why it was written. I don't know what to think, I'm disappointed.

[Cbilinski3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoole wanted to form an order of owls that would be good. But the evil hagfiends rallied and went after them. So Hoole rose an army of owls to rid the world of the hagfiends evil magic. Then in an epic battle Hoole clashes between the hagfinds in an epic war for the Ember of Hoole. To Be king is about friendship, trust, and perseverance.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is set up so that you know the ending, but not in much detail, so it's very good to read. The plot is very intricat, but it got too fast paced aroound the end, so the final battle was written too short. However, it's still a great book.

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lotta was a very cool character but her death seemed rushed. I know it was supposed to be tragic and it was; but it came too quickly and was too short. Overall the book had a nice pace just like the last one, but nonetheless too much writing was spent on Hoole holding grand speeches.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time reading the prequel arc for some reason. It rounded our fairly well in the end, but I'm anxious to get back to Sorren and the gang in the last four books of the series.

[Elzbeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually my favourite one yet. I tells how everything actually came about, how the Great Tree got its name and how Coryn was foretold.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

These books are getting too long

[Logan · Rating 2 out of 5]

To me, this book highlights the flaws in Lasky's writing for the series. There are characters that have the potential to be interesting due to their internal and external conflict, but that potential is written out before the end of the book. We are left with main characters that feel the same. You could swap Soren, Coryn, Grank, and Hoole's perspectives and the only difference would be the setting. Lasky also attempts to tackle complex problems such as racism, sexism, disability, and trauma, but these issues are portrayed in an extremely two-dimensional, surface level manner. I am aware that these books are intended for children, but these plot lines do little to educate kids further than "this man is abusive and being abusive is bad."

And now to discuss the hardest fumble in the series up to now: Lutta. A half hagsfiend, half owl shape-shifter that was rejected by her parents as a chick. She was created and raised by Kreeth, a powerful hagsfiend who sought the Ember of Hoole to make some sort of powerful dark magic spells. I was excited to see where Lasky would have taken Lutta's plot. She had the potential to be a complex character with a strong plot line about how you are more than your appearance and what you were told to be, but unfortunately her arc was as flat as a table. She is killed within a paragraph and never mentioned again. Lutta dies believing that she is nothing. Her potential was squandered in the most heartbreaking, anti-climactic way possible. Lutta's story is an amalgamation of the worst aspects of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole.

This book still has the redeeming quality of it being fun to read for the most part. The drama is entertaining, and I somewhat enjoy the fragments of worldbuilding we get. Plus, if I was reading for quality, mentally stimulating literature, I would not be reading children's animal xenofiction books like Warrior Cats and Guardians of Ga'Hoole.

[Antonio Higgins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, there it is. The prequel trilogy finished. This series of books suffered from poor pacing. I can envision Lasky wanting to write a bigger story, yet limited by maybe time or style or editors. This could have been told maybe in 6 books like the first storyline was. Throughout this trilogy, characters were introduced and then killed off or never mentioned or properly developed. The only character development Theo received was in this book. Phineas could have been an interesting character, yet battled with the Snow Rose for screen time, essentially.

This book was much more fragmented, where we followed three different story lines that essentially all coalesced within the final chapter in a very rushed manner. There was no big battle— well, none described; only told. The introduction of Lutta as a character was an interesting concept, but she could have done so much more. The fact that we do not see Hoole catching feelings for Lutta makes the marriage between him and Emerilla forced.

This book isn't a two star book, but is close. It did have moments where it captured my interest and there was so much potential in this book to really be a shining light to cap of the trilogy. Theo and Emerilla had moments, I was suspecting a relationship between them for a moment. Namara was good addition to the story and tied the wolfs back in for one final battle. Yet, Lasky siphons that potential out as this all just becomes the set-up for the next series of books.

And per the blurb for the twelvfth book, I'm excited to see the return of our main cast, as well as to catch up with Otulissa, who's really becoming more of a central character than even some of the Band.

[owlette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm grouping my reviews for Books 9-11, aka the prequel, here. TL;DR: Lasky made some choices.


Choice #1: When Book 9 introduced a first person narrator, I was hoping for a change. Lasky gets too expositional as a story narrative spans across more books. I don't really understand her choice to expound every character and every event from the previous books because these expositions happen so constantly that they break the flow.

Because Book 9 is a prequel and inherits no history from the previous installment, it was refreshing to read without this sort of interruption. Although unrelated, I was hopeful the first-person narration meant that the narrator for the prequel segment would be more attentive to keeping the flow even if less fastidious than the omniscent third person Lasky had employed since Book 1. Unfortunately, Books 10 and 11 reverted to the same third person narration.

Choice #2: Another choice of Lasky's that left me perplexed was the character of Lutta, a changling who infiltrates the Great Ga'Hoole tree by shape-shifting as a spotted owl named Strix Emerilla. So far there hasn't been any romance among these owls; love either happen off-stage or have already happened by the characters appear in the story. Lutta is the first character the reader meets who feels love in her gizzards. Her unrequited love towards Hoole coupled with her struggle with her sense of identity--being neither an owl nor a hagsfiend--was a golden goose of an opportunity. But no, Lasky just kills Lutta off without ever giving this previous character the chance to explore these themes. And Hoole doesn't know Lutta ever had these feelings. It's one thing for Hoole, whose gizzards are more sensitive than other owls, couldn't see through Lutta's transformation; it's another thing that he marries the real Strix Emerilla without any qualms.

My bafflement over Lasky's choice with Lutta's character feels like a final straw to the pattern of disappointment I've been feeling over the last twelve books. Lasky has a pattern of dipping her toe into serious themes and then drawing back from it without wading further into the waters. I'm still going to read the whole series for the sake of completion, but, reader, it's becoming harder to give these books score higher than 3 out of 5 stars.

[Twyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite part was when all the hagsfiends were defeated,a nd the ice palace was restored. My least favorite part was when Lutta died because even though she worked for evil, she was actually quite good, it was just because of how she had been raised. I now want to figure out how Nyra is a hagsfiend, because she is a barn owl, and doesn't look like a hagsfiend. I'm pretty sure it will explain it in the next book though. And, there is no mention of who actually was the writer of the third legend book that the Band read, which is wierd, because the other two books at least mentioned it.

[Isla Scout · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I want to start the next one! In this book, Hoole (the king) has chosen a place to live and it's The Great GaHoole tree. At the tree he raises an army to fight the hagsfiends. Hagsfiends are evil half-crow, half-owl birds. The hagsfiends have taken over the ice palace and it's starting to rot. Once the king of the hagsfiends is dead, the rot disappears. Over all, this book was amazing!

[Jenny Zavala · Rating 5 out of 5]

No wonder Ezylryb hid these legends - they describe the true relationship between the power of the ember, magic, and war. If others knew, they would definitely go after the ember more and such. Hoole was a great king with great followers. I hope Coryn and the band learned a lot and can build upon the legends.