Sarah McGuireRezensionen
Autor von Valiant
Rezensionen
Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
I don't think I'm a fan of re-tellings so closely resembling the source. This author failed to draw me away and into the world of the book.
I think one of the main problems I had with the book was the lack of belief. I mean, if giants exist it's only fair to assume that other stories might be true too.
Also, I don't think I was in the mood for an actual fairytale (though I did like it more than the original story).
While not a waste of time, I cannot in good faith get fully behind the book. I'm unsure of the reason for why it gained so many raving reviews. After all, it was hardly as spectacular as I was led to believe it would be.
FINAL VERDICT : Try it, but reel in your expectations beforehand
But this. I wanted that final moment, that contented sigh...but I also wanted to stay in the book forever. For one thing, The Flight of Swans is an incredibly immersive retelling, clever in its reworking of the fairy tale elements and deliciously thorough in its worldbuilding and characterization. But I don't think that's why I didn't want to leave its pages: that honor goes to Andaryn. And her family.
Andaryn is a remarkably brave heroine, but her bravery expresses itself in a marathon of endurance. For six years, she pushes herself through terror and hardship and loneliness and grief, and while she has help from time to time, over and over again, she turns to herself and rediscovers or rekindles her strength, her courage, and her will to continue. Being inside her mind was like being inside my own, silent and fierce, as I followed through on every dream, persisted through every fear, endured every pain...and triumphed. Her strength became my strength.
...And her family became my family. All their love for one another, the way they tease and protect each other, wrapped around me and welcomed me in. I'm very lucky: I have a family like that. And I know how important that feeling is, especially when life is frightening or lonely or sad. So even as I struggled alongside Andaryn in her exile, I reveled in the love and support of her brothers and rejoiced in the way she gave that love and support back to them.
Is it any wonder I didn't want to leave the book? To forego Andaryn's strength and relinquish her brothers' affection and warmth? I know I have strength and family of my own to turn to...and I'm very glad to have finished the book and breathed my happy satisfaction at its end...but I also know I'll be returning to this book whenever I need a reminder of the depth of my endurance or the power of my family's potential.
This clever story riffs on the Brave Little Tailor adding in gender bending and a lot more back story to the giants. I hit the ground running in the beginning and zoomed through the first half of the book.
The main tailor of the story is actually the daughter of a tailer. He's a great tailer but a lousy father. When he becomes ill, the daughter of the tailor becomes the apprentice. Saville becomes Avi. The girl cuts her hair and becomes a boy.
The last 1/3 of the book lost its way as we learn more about the giants. The antagonist of the story had a great backstory but we never really get to know more than he's evil. And finally the romance ... I've come to expect after the big bad is vanquished, romance shortly ensues. This ending dragged on dragging a potential 5 star book to 4.
También en: El Extraño Gato del Cuento
Uno de mis cuentos favoritos de niño fue/es El Sastrecillo Valiente, cuando eres la más pequeñita a donde sea que vayas, te hace crearte modelos a seguir bastante peculiares. Valiant lo empecé a leer dos veces, recién en la segunda pude terminar el libro con un poco de fuerza de voluntad.
Por la cantidad de buenas opiniones antes de su publicación pensé que amaría el libro, lamentablemente se me hizo muy tedioso poder terminarlo. No sé exactamente qué fue, porque Valiant en teoría tiene todo lo que me gusta en un libro de este tipo, no hay romance desde el inicio, la protagonista no es exactamente una damisela en apuros, usa las habilidades que tiene a su favor al contrario de solo quejarse de ellas, si bien no es exactamente su cosa favorita que hacer, no se la pasa lamentándose su destino.
Se podría decir que en teoría me gustó, pero no será un libro que muera por releer
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The potential screams out from the plot and the political intrigue(it's hard to make political machinations seem interesting, but she does). It is significantly hampered by confusing writing and a slow middle and the inclusion of music, which is always difficult to include in a written form. And the ending
Final conclusion: The writer has talent. The book needed a little more fine-tuning, though.
This is the first retelling of the Brave Little Tailor I've ever come across. And it was really good! Saville is an engaging heroine who is smart and determined, and keeps her spirit despite living under the shadow of her abusive father. She dresses as a boy to take on the role of her father's apprentice when he has a stroke and is unable to work, and uses her chutzpah and skill to make clothing for the king.
And then the giants attack.
This was super engrossing. I read the entire book in one sitting. I was a bit skeptical at first since it started out a bit slow and ho hum. I hadn't realized it was a retelling of a fairy tale so my interest in the story grew a lot when the pivotal scene, Saville matching wits with the giants, happened and the lightbulb went off in my brain. Coincidentally, that was also when the plot took off and grabbed me along for the ride.
Super fun. I look forward to seeing what else McGuire may write.
Be still, my fairy tale loving heart. Valiant was perfection. Had you happened to stumble upon me while I was reading this, you would have seen one very content bookworm. There wasn't even a tiny portion of this story that didn't impress me. Not one moment that I wished for something more than what was offered. I've read many a fairy tale retelling in my life, but none as beautifully written as this one.
Ah, Saville. Thank you for exceeding my expectations. Saville's character is a brilliant balance. She's strong, but still shows raw emotion. She's honest, but not always. In other words, Saville isn't some built up ideal of a female character. The focus isn't on how pretty she is, or how talented she is, but rather on the fact that she's a person who cares about other people. Her decisions in this story weren't always entirely what I expected, but it just made her more human. She was instantly likable, and I would have followed her to the end of the Earth. Giants or not.
Tying in with this is the simple fact that Sarah McGuire doesn't see the need to wrap everything up with a shiny red bow. Like my favorite Grimm stories of old, this particular retelling doesn't shy away from the gritty reality that fairy tales often gloss over now. Sometimes people die. Sometimes people are horribly altered, whether that be physically or emotionally. Still, there's always that little ray of hope. The idea that good will persevere over evil. That tough times bring true selves to the surface. Seeing that come to life in Valiant stole my breath away.
If you'd allow me, I'd gush about this book until you finally threw your hands up in defeat and went to get a copy. That's how much I am truly in love with it. In the world of YA, there are plenty of love triangles, plenty of teen angst, and more than enough bad boy characters. What I've been seeing a distinct lack of lately is heart. Valiant has that. It has heart and, because of that, it has my heart as well.
****** SPOILERS AHEAD ******
I have not enjoyed a retelling this much in a long time. I realized going in to this that it was a middle grade book, but I must admit that I completely forgot about that as I was reading the story. To be completely honest I’m not 100% sure if I would call this completely middle grade fiction. I feel like it could be the upper age range of middle grade or in some space between middle grade and young adult. If you are buying this book for your child to read I would recommend they be at least 11 due to character death (not really super graphic, but it didn’t really fade to black) and romance (there is some kissing).
I would say that going into this book you would need to know at least the basics of the Six Swans tale to really be able to understand the story to its’ full extent. Because I had this prior knowledge I was alright but if you had no idea what it was about then I feel like this book could be a little bit confusing. To me, this retelling not only built upon the original but made it accessible and easy to understand and feel like you were really a part of the story. It built upon the original story and McGuire added her own flair which I personally loved.
Also, another small touch I really appreciated was the chapter headers. There are swan wings for the parts of the story where her brothers are swans and a full moon for the chapters where they are human again. For me these little touches really make the story and make me love it that much more.
The world building and pacing for this book was phenomenal. The worlds felt like real places to me that I would personally love to explore. I definitely got some Scottish and Ancient Roman feels to the worlds of Lacharra and Eyre. I was worried about the pacing for this book because I didn’t know how McGuire would manage to handle covering 6 years in a single book. She does it so magnificently though! The story never fell off in pace, something was always happening and the story was always progressing. We did lose big chunks of time at once but that is to be expected though because they book is already 437 pages long and really couldn’t be any longer. I never got bored with the story or wanted to stop, in fact I read this book in a single sitting! I was sad when I realized how close to the end I was because it felt like I got there so fast.
The only thing I feel like it was missing was a map so we could see and travel with the characters as they went on their journey throughout the book. I am slightly biased though when it comes to book maps because I adore them. But I also would’ve loved a pronunciation key for the names in the book because I didn’t know how to say some of them and I am sure that in my head I said a bunch of them wrong. I can imagine it would be much harder for middle grade readers to pronounce them.
I loved all of the characters in this book. Andaryn was a delight and I loved to see the dynamic between her and her brothers. I was so sad when Tanwen died! But my favourite part was watching Ryn grow up and her character development over the six years in silence throughout the book. There were no big leaps and bounds (except for her dealing with Tanwen’s death) but it was a slow and quiet development over time as she went from a spoiled princess to a young woman who knows her own mind and who she is and what she wants. Andaryn was a principled, courageous, tenacious, generous and truly lovable character that made me sympathize with her and root for her to win.
Her brothers were endearing, protective, and a joy to read about. Each brother had their own distinct personality that really made them stand out and not fade into the background even though they spent most of the story as swans. And how could you not fall in love with Corbin! He was so smart, understanding, courageous and most importantly for me, he allowed Ryn to save herself on multiple occasions and not dash in like a knight in shining armour. I actually would’ve like a little bit of the book to be from his perspective because I would like to understand his character a bit better.
I also loved the underlying theme in the book about the power of words. With the loss of her voice and words altogether Ryn realized how incapacitated one could be and manages to find a way around it. She finds a way to speak without words which was truly amazing to me. I actually tried for just an hour to not make a single noise and it was impossible. You make noise when you yawn, cough, laugh, you speak without thinking, you hum, etc. You don’t even realize how hard it is until you actually try it. To me this makes words and the power of them even more important. Words have the power to hurt people, to raise them up, to become poison or medicine and this story just reinforced that. As a reader and blogger I always knew words were important and this book just does really well demonstrating how.
There was really nothing that I disliked about this book except for the fact that I never wanted it to end. I did want to see an epilogue of a few years later with Ryn back with Corbin and maybe with kids of their own and a bigger Carrick with the two countries enjoying peace and harmony. That is how I imagine it would all turn out anyways, but I still would’ve loved to see it in the book. A girl can hope for a novella though right?
Overall I truly adored this book and I would definitely recommend people of all ages to read it. It is a wonderfully imaginative and compelling retelling of the Six Swans tale that does justice to the original story. I’m so sad that the story is over because I would’ve loved to see another book set in this universe. This is the first work by author Sarah McGuire that I’ve read but I am definitely going to read more of her books in the future! I would like to thank Thomas Allen & Son for provided me this ARC copy to read, I’m so delighted that I did! Now go out and get your copy now.
This is a great re-telling of the Brave Little Tailor, a lesser-known fairy tale.
This version is about Saville, blessed with great heart and courage, while cursed with a less than perfect family. It follows the general idea of the "original" fairy tale, but paints a more complete, fleshed out account of the characters, with rich backstories of both the giants and humans.
I would recommend this for all ages, although those younger than 8 may prefer for this to be read to them. Besides being awesome to read by yourself, it is also a wonderful book to read with/to your family.
After her mother’s death, Saville’s father, who is a tailor more in love with his precious material than his family, moves them to a small, gloomy, dirty shop in the city of Reggen. Soon after, her father suffers what appears to be a massive stroke, leaving him bedridden and Saville with the responsibility for his care as well as their livelihood. Despising the tailor business but knowing how to sew, she dresses in boy’s clothing, poses as the tailor’s male apprentice, and visits the king hoping to receive commissions for new clothing. Dismissing rumors of a fierce army of giants preparing to attack the city, she encounters two giants on her return trip and uses her wits to trick them into not hurting her. Saville's seemingly astounding feat is quickly blown out of proportion and widely spread throughout the kingdom, causing King Eldin to summon her to the palace to reward this brave hero. Of course they believe that she, is really a he, and there are lots of twists and turns in this tale including her developing tender relationship with Lord Verras, her friend William and even the giants. I loved this strong, tender, adventurous story with a brilliant heroine that rings true of friendship, love, honor and defending those you love. Written for tweens, this wonderful retelling of “The Brave Little Tailor” will surely satisfy and warm your heart.
Sharyn H. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.
Saville has a complicated relationship with her father, the tailor. He's always loved his craft more than he loves her -- if, indeed, he loves her at all. Now he is determined to travel to the big city and ply his trade for the court, or maybe even the king. Saville doesn't doubt that he's talented enough to do it -- but she hates leaving her mother's grave and everything she has ever known in order to pursue her father's dream. Shortly after their arrival in the city, the tailor is struck with a sudden illness. He can neither speak nor sew, and it's up to Saville to provide for both of them. Though she doesn't love sewing, she is nearly as good at it as her father is. She decides to dress as a boy and pass herself off as the tailor's apprentice, and she even manages to gain a commission from the king. But then the giants arrive. . . .
I love fairy tale retellings, and this is one I don't think I've seen done before. McGuire shows a skillful hand at stitching together all of the elements in the old tale to fashion a full, vibrant novel. I was never quite sold on the romance, but the romantic portion of the plot is so slight that enjoyment of the book doesn't hinge on that aspect. All in all, a promising debut!
Would have been a 5 if not for the princess's wedding decision.
I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. This was a very well written young adult fantasy. I really really loved this book. I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed this novel.
The story is a retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Valiant Tailor with the twist that this story features a young woman named Saville. Saville’s father is a fabulous tailer who values his trade over anything, including his daughter. He decides to pick up and move to a different kingdom so that he can makes clothes the way he wants to make them (in their home kingdom he has been ridiculed for not following the law laid down by the king there). Saville is upset about leaving her life and her friends and hates tailoring with a passion. Upon their arrival in a new kingdom things go very wrong when her father has a stroke and Saville is forced to pretend to be her father’s apprentice (and a boy) to make a living. Saville is an excellent tailor and things go well for her until the giants arrive.
I have never read the original story of The Valiant Tailor, but I have heard it is not the most exciting of the Brothers Grimm works. This was a very exciting and very well written fantasy story.
I loved the fact that the “brave tailor” in this book is a girl. Saville faces many challenges and is smart and brave again and again throughout the story. She is forced to pretend to be many many different people, but never loses sight of who she is and who she wants to become.
There is a lot of action, war, and intrigue throughout the story. The main issue being dealt with is the mystery behind where the giants came from and who their leader is. It’s an entertaining and well done story. The story has a very classic fantasy feel to it, but also incorporates some great humor throughout.
The characters are fantastic and really come alive; they are very engaging and interesting. The side characters are also well done.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this amazing fantasy retelling of The Valiant Tailor. I am very happy I picked up this book to read and would definitely recommend it to fans of classic fantasy. I would also recommend to fans of fairy tale retellings; this is a great story!
FROM AMAZON: Saville hates sewing. How can she not when her father, the Tailor, loves his bolts of velvet and silk far more than he's ever loved her? Yet, when he is struck ill shortly after they arrive in the city of Reggen, Saville must don boy's clothes in the hopes of gaining a commission from the king to keep them fed. The kingdom is soon on edge when stories spread of an army of giants led by a man who cannot be killed. But giants are just stories, and no man is immortal.
And then the giants do come to the city gates, two larger-than-life scouts whom Saville cunningly tricks into leaving. The Tailor of Reggen is the hero of the kingdom, the king promises his sister's hand in marriage, and by the time Saville reaches the palace doors, it is widely known that the Tailor single-handedly killed the giants. When her secret—that she's a girl—is quickly discovered by Lord Galen Verras, the king's cousin, Saville's swept into the twists and turns of court politics.
The deathless man is very real, and he will use his giant army to ensure he is given the throne freely or by force. Now, only a tailor girl with courage and cunning can see beyond the tales to discover the truth and save the kingdom again.
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Awards: Capitol Choices (2019)
New York Public Library Best Books for Kids (2018)