I really liked where everyone in this ended up; the story did not flinch from the hard decisions and discomfit of "right", and I really liked that. I was basically meh about everything else, unfortunately, if not downright ambivalent. I'm a hard sell on talking mythical animals. (Why can't you just have people, if you're going to look at clashes of intelligent talking beings? Is that not other enough? Is it too politically charged? Good! Ahem.) I did like how uncanny and inhuman the griffins were, but I was also tremendously irritated at how much of the plot conflict pivoted around characters not saying things to other characters for reasons other than being physically unable. For serious, when you can't overcome your pride sufficient to do the thing you came here to do in the first place, I reserve the right to desperately want to smack you upside the head (and that sort of thing inhibits enjoyment of the story, for me).

Anyway. Competent, standard fantasy fare, with occasional spots of being really interesting (the almost Shakespearean posing of some of the arguments actually delighted me). In no hurry to see what happens next. ( )

The Griffin Mage Trilogy is about magic, politics, loyalty and griffins. It has excellent worldbuilding, lovely writing and characters I immediately cared about.

The griffins are creatures of desert and fire. They’re capable of human communication but their perspective and values are not human. In Lord of the Changing Winds, the griffins are forced out of Casmantium and flee to Feierabiand, bringing their desert with them.

Kes is a shy teenage girl from a small village, enlisted by the griffin mage Kairaithin as a healer. Bertaud, the king of Feierabiand’s former page, meets Kairaithin when he is sent to discover if they can negotiate with griffins - or if it will take a war to make them leave. Through contact with the griffins, Bertaud and Kes both find their loyalty is challenged and they develop unexpected abilities.

I really enjoyed this, right up to the ending, which is muted by loss. However, this isn’t the end of Kairaithin, Kes and Bertaud’s respective stories. All of them play important roles in the subsequent books - just not centre stage the way they do here.

The griffins came to Feierabiand with the early summer warmth, riding the wind out of the heights down to the tender green pastures of the foothills. The wind they brought with them was a hard, hot wind, with nothing of the gentle Feierabiand summer about it. It tasted of red dust and hot brass.
Kes, gathering herbs in the high pastures above the village of Minas Ford, saw them come: great bronze wings shining in the sun, tawny pelts like molten gold, sunlight striking harshly off beaks and talons. One was a hard shining white, one red as the coals at the heart of a fire. ( )

An excellent take on a theme used again and again, but the plot twist and turns and are refreshingly difficult to predict, but not becoming strange. It comes in on the lightweight side of fantasy and there are som wrinkles in the world-building that itches a bit.
But it was an enoyable read and I look forward to the next book. ( )

There is alot to like about this story. The griffins for example are beautifully portrayed. These are not your wise, noble, often humorous gryphons, like those found in Lackey's Valdemar series. Oh no, these griffins are fierce, bloodthirsty, half bird, half lion and all attitude. And yet, for all their ferocity, they are strikingly regal and breathtakingly beautiful. It was easy for me to imagine that these are exactly the types of griffins ancient royalty chose to grace their coat of arms.

There is also some decent worldbuilding with a different type of magic system and different "gifts" associated with each country. This gave the story plenty of magic while making it easy to keep things separate and distinct. I was very comfortable in this world and I'll admit that I rather enjoyed my stay there.

I absolutely loved one thing about this book. (Besides those wonderful griffins that is.) It does not read like a trilogy. This story had a beginning, a middle and an end. A conclusive end. I thought I had died and gone to that great library in the sky. This is a rare and wonderful thing indeed. Now I know there are more stories to be told and I fully intend to read them all but what a fantastic feeling it was to close the book and be completely satisfied with the ending. I slept like a baby that night.

Read Full Review @ Dragons, Heroes and Wizards ( )

Spring-Summer 2010