Guardians of Ga’hoole Book 4: The Siege

Book 4 The Siege, ”We are the Chaw of Chaws. Don’t you forget that?” Soren and his friends have to keep trying. Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger were in. They’re going to fight, will the others? I don’t know how the author does it, but these books just keep getting better.

Soren’s beloved mentor, Ezylryb, is finally back at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree. But all is not well. There’s a war between good and evil in the owl kingdom. On one side is a group led by Soren’s fearsome brother, Kludd, who wears a terrifying metal mask to cover his battle-scarred face. On the other side are the owls of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, who must fight to protect their legendary home from Kludd’s attacks.

Hate & Jealously are a definite strong undertone in the series. What if you were extremely shocked that your own brother was a leader of an evil group of owls known as the ” pure ones” and then he was planing an attack on the Great Tree and also planing on killing you!?

The setting of the book takes place in various places but mostly at the Great Gahoole tree and Saint Aegolius academy for orphaned owls. The main characters are Soren who’s a barn owl, was snatched when he was only an owlet, is the student of a very wise teacher at the Great Gahoole tree named Ezylryb, Leader of the ” band”, brave, and he constantly worries about his sister Eglantine. Gylfie is a tiny elf owl who was also snatched when she was just an owlet, is Soren’s best friend, uses very intelligent and big words,and is very brave. Digger is a burrowing owl, part of the band with Soren, Gylfie, and Twilight, asks many questions, and his brother was eaten by st. Aegolius academy lieutenants. Next, is Twilight is a Great Grey owl, can see through heavy fog,fierce but kind- hearted,and was orphaned as an owl because of the St. Aggies Academy but managed to get away. Last, is Kludd who is a Barn owl just like Soren, is Soren’s older brother, leader of the so called ” pure ones”, and also known as Metal Beak.

The plot summary is about Soren’s brother Kludd had just been in a battle with an owl he never thought he’d seen again which is his younger brother Soren who had come to save his mentor Ezylryb who had disappeared after the rescue of his sister Eglantine. So, Kludd is enraged with hate of seeing his brother alive when thought he had been dead because he had pushed him out of a tree while his parents were out hunting. And now he is planing an attack upon the Great tree. While Soren and his friends are assigned a mission to go to back to a place that was dreadful to both him and Gylfie , for they had been to St. Aggies before and never wanted to go back because of the evilness of moon blinking which causes and owl to forget about who they are and to just do as they’re told.So,Soren,Gylfie, Twilight, Digger, and some other friends Soren had met at the Great Gahoole tree has to sneak back into St. Aggies as spies and figure out if there are any of Kludd’s followers there trying to steal something called Flecks that is iron but very valuable and can be used for evil. You have to read the book to see if Soren and his friends make it out of St. Aggies alive again and if his brother succeeds in taking over The Great tree of Gahoole.

The theme of the book is numbers aren’t everything in war and it is just to have faith and be strong,to fight for your rights, and all that you believe in. A passage from the book that supports the theme is:

Ezylryb could feel the growing confidence of the troops. ” my trust is in your abilities this battle to the finish- does not waver, but grows by the second. we are few compared to these evil owls, but as i said before numbers aren’t everything. And never in the history of owl kind has so much been owned a few. And now i say, go forth. Go forth for our island, go forth for our tree, go forth for our honor and all that we imagine when we think of the civilization wrought by our Guardians of Gahoole. Once more i say, ye be owls of valor. Glaux bless.” ( Glaux is God) 

At one point when the knowledge of flecks is spronk, i.e., forbidden by Dewlap the ryb of Ga’hoology(who was later found to be a spy for the pure ones after being mislead into thinking by them of the otherwise) you will definitely agree with Otulissa! SPRINK ON SPRONK! Dewlap had no right to spronk that book! besides, who,may I ask, besides Dewlap, DECLARED IT SPRONK??? Simply speaking a little amount of knowledge is a danger to all.

The pacing of the book is kind of slow in the beginning but then it picks up speed in the middle and you just never want to put the book down. The book is written from a Christian perspective because this book mentions God which is Glaux throughout the book. Plus, Kathryn Lasky is a Christian. I think the author is trying to let you picture what hate and war does to people and i think the authors mood is to make it suspenseful and leaves you with wonder on wanting to know what will happen next so you get the next book. I would recommend this book to people who like owls,fast paced books that you’d probably finish within a week or less and to older middle school people because there are some violence in the book an some deaths that are tragic. 

Building on the owl world that she created in her other Ga’Hoole books, Kathryn Lasky captivates us with the gripping and terrifying events that fill the lives of these extraordinary owls. Many of them must face new challenges and confront old demons. There is no guarantee that Soren and his friends will all survive the new threats that confront them. Spiced with a sprinkling of mythology, mysticism and wonderful characterizations, THE SIEGE is an excellent continuation of a unique series. 

Genre :       Fiction, Children's


Publisher : Scholastic


Rate :         5/5 (It was amazing)