Mira's Griffin

By: Christie Valentine Powell

Narrated by: Talon David

Mira would rather climb mountains alone than hide in the confining village, despite warnings of griffins. She met a griffin, and he didn't harm her; in fact, he saved her life. But his friendship isn’t enough to protect her or her village.

Griffins unlock abilities in their human captives. Mira’s new ability to translate seems useless compared to her friends’ fire, water, and healing - until she discovers that she and her griffin friend can communicate. Their bond threatens griffin culture and human rebels alike. Caught in between, Mira and her griffin must teach their species to communicate before both sides are destroyed.

©2019 Christie Powell (P)2021 Christie Powell

A new take on griffins!

I think this is a great read and listen for middle grade or maybe slightly younger readers with advanced capabilities. I also think they’d enjoy listened to Talon David’s performance as she brings a lot of emotion and excitement to the book.

Griffins are attacking villagers and taking them as slaves. Despite having, and granting, magic powers to the humans, obviously being captured and enslaved is traumatic to everyone involved. There are tons of these griffin sects all over the mountains where there are clear divisions between those captured vs born into sl@very as well.

As you can probably tell, the book is about a lot more than a young girl and a magic creature. I think it’s good that middle grade books are taking on some stronger themes like human trafficking, using words to solve your differences rather than swords, and learning that family isn’t always going to have your best interest at heart. That said, the themes are presented in a digestible way for younger readers and I think it’s appropriate for most ages with parental guidance.

I like the human characters too. Mira is tough and slightly naïve but learns quickly. She is exposed to people of other cultures and appearances and accepts them for who they are, in fact developing at least one rather cute friendship. The powers are cool too, based on the elements and language arts.

There’s a good amount of world building too. I had a pretty good idea what the world was like and how complicated the power struggles and intrigue were like among the humans and griffins.

So… why only three stars? Honestly, the ending threw me off. The action went from 100 to 0 real quick and I just don’t see what actual resolution was reached after the fight ended. I think I needed a little more on-page conflict resolution. Also, the entire premise just slightly missed the mark for me. I got stuck on Vikings and the premise of humans earning freedom based on hard work and sentience didn’t quite hit home.

THAT SAID though: now go read the first five paragraphs again because the book has a LOT of good aspects, and a highly enjoyable narration. I think it will hit young readers differently and there is no language, no ‘romance’. Other than some violence and the concept of sl@very this is definitely a clean family-proof read. I’d say check it out if you like magic creatures and strong young main characters