Title: Lord of the Changing Winds
Author: Rachel Neumeier
Series: The Griffin Mage
Sexual Content: none
Objectional Content: Violence
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Little ever happens in the quiet villages of peaceful Feierabiand. The course of Kes’ life seems set: she’ll grow up to be an herb-woman and healer for the village of Minas Ford, never quite fitting in but always more or less accepted. And she’s content with that path — or she thinks she is. Until the day the griffins come down from the mountains, bringing with them the fiery wind of their desert and a desperate need for a healer. But what the griffins need is a healer who is not quite human . . . or a healer who can be made into something not quite human.
My Review
I’m going to start this review a little differently than normal and begin with what I didn’t like about this book. There are a lot of names featured in this novel that are somewhat long and difficult to pronounce. The author clearly put in a lot of effort and creativity in these names, however, having to stop and try to sound out these words is really disruptive to the flow of reading. I also found it difficult to remember who the characters were since I couldn’t pronounce their names. This book would have benefited from a pronunciation guide and even a list of characters. Fortunately, the main characters names were not as difficult to pronounce.
Setting that aside, this book is a satisfactory fantasy novel. I haven’t read a lot of books featuring griffins so I found this to be fresh. Kes, the main character, is a quiet girl who has never really fit in with the people in her village and finds acceptance among the griffins. Except for the griffin part, I think this is something a lot of teens can relate to.
I found the writing to be quite beautiful, especially the descriptions of the griffins and the desert. The plot isn’t anything to rave about, but the world itself is interesting. Although this isn’t the most amazing fantasy novel I’ve ever read, I did find it easy to read and interesting enough that I wasn’t bored. It’s a fun quick read and I look forward to starting the next book.
My rating for The Lord of the Changing Wind is 3 out of 5 stars and I’d recommend it to someone looks for a light fantasy.
Thanks for reading!