Scan barcode
jessalynn_librarian's review
4.0
This is the third in a loose series - following The Winter Prince and A Coalition of Lions. I say loose because while many characters repeat from book to book, and each one resolves but leaves you hanging a bit, like a good series, each one is unique in plot and mood. These are no cookie-cutter series titles, but filled with well-developed characters, intrigue, and fascinating settings. By this book, the story has moved fairly far from the Arthurian legend roots of The Winter Prince, but a few of those elements are still there even in the African setting.
As with the previous two, I felt a similar love and addiction as I feel when reading Megan Whalen Turner. Telemakos is Eugenides' long-lost brother, particularly when he hides around the palace or goes on insane spy missions, but also deeper in his personality, where is pain and delight in things live side by side.
I think these books could be appreciated by a really sharp middle-schooler - they're not for the struggling or reluctant reader - or by anyone older who doesn't think it's babyish to read an excellent book with an 11-year old protagonist (the earlier books have young adult protagonists, so you could hook a high schooler and then they wouldn't care).
Read the series in order - you'll have a better feel for the characters that way, even if the plot makes sense on its own.
As with the previous two, I felt a similar love and addiction as I feel when reading Megan Whalen Turner. Telemakos is Eugenides' long-lost brother, particularly when he hides around the palace or goes on insane spy missions, but also deeper in his personality, where is pain and delight in things live side by side.
I think these books could be appreciated by a really sharp middle-schooler - they're not for the struggling or reluctant reader - or by anyone older who doesn't think it's babyish to read an excellent book with an 11-year old protagonist (the earlier books have young adult protagonists, so you could hook a high schooler and then they wouldn't care).
Read the series in order - you'll have a better feel for the characters that way, even if the plot makes sense on its own.
katmarhan's review
3.0
Book 3 of [a:Elizabeth E. Wein|52320|Elizabeth E. Wein|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206789548p2/52320.jpg]’s series, The Lion Hunters, tells the story of young Telemakos as he becomes a spy for the Emperor.
annika2304's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
nostoat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
cosmogyral's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
emma_rs's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Medical content
ejoa's review against another edition
5.0
For me, The Sunbird is Elizabeth Wein’s Prisoner of Azkaban: the third book in an already excellent series that goes out and takes it to another level. The first two books in her Lion Hunter series are beautifully written character studies and political intrigues, just like this one is, but they set up the backstory that allows The Sunbird to soar.
Like most Arthurian adaptations, The Sunbird is about a royal bastard who saves the kingdom. Unlike most Arthurian adaptations, this royal bastard is no king—in fact, his greatest asset is that no one notices him—and the kingdom he’s trying to save isn’t Britain. A plague is spreading across Aksum (modern-day Ethiopia) thanks to black-market salt traders who defy the emperor’s quarantine. Eleven-year-old Telemakos has the skill and the courage to root out the traitors—but does he have the time?
At its core, though, this story isn’t about political espionage or thrilling heroics. It’s about family. The loneliness of a biracial boy whose father has taken a vow of silence. The love and hate of two siblings still haunted by their brother’s premature death and their own misdeeds. The fear that the past will repeat itself. These characters are beautifully flawed. They make mistakes because they live in a dangerous (and largely historically accurate) world that forces them to make difficult choices, not because they’re careless or callous.
Is Telemakos too much of a prodigy, being able to smell blood from over a mile away and memorize sentences in a language he doesn’t know? Perhaps. But he’s also a fully fleshed out character with contradictions that run deeper than his dual heritage. He’s simultaneously overconfident and terrified. He’s allowed to weep out of both sorrow and joy. He runs, mud-spattered and bloody, into a highbrow party because he doesn’t know how to deal with his father’s affection—the same affection that he craves more than anything else. In short, he’s one of the most likable protagonists I’ve come across in some time, even more so because he is so in tune with his emotions. You don’t often see male protagonists who feel things deeply and are open about it.
Wein is also incredibly economical with her storytelling. Other authors would prolong Telemakos’s adventure, but what Wein describes is much more real: three months of brutality and loneliness for a few minutes of useful information—and with it, agonizing pain. She lets readers find meaning in the allusions and doesn’t waste words. In fact, silence is perhaps the biggest theme of the novel.
The only reason not to read this book would be if violence, especially toward children, disturbs you. It’s not gratuitous, but it is graphic.
It is an insult that this book only has 353 ratings and 73 reviews. I picked up my first Elizabeth Wein book in December and just finished my fourth. Safe to say, you can judge her books by their cover; if her name’s on it, you’re in good hands. I am both excited and terrified to move on to the fourth book in this series, The Lion Hunter. Partially because I don’t want this series to end, and partially because I’m afraid that it’s going to be Elizabeth Wein’s Goblet of Fire (in terms of how happy the ending is).
Like most Arthurian adaptations, The Sunbird is about a royal bastard who saves the kingdom. Unlike most Arthurian adaptations, this royal bastard is no king—in fact, his greatest asset is that no one notices him—and the kingdom he’s trying to save isn’t Britain. A plague is spreading across Aksum (modern-day Ethiopia) thanks to black-market salt traders who defy the emperor’s quarantine. Eleven-year-old Telemakos has the skill and the courage to root out the traitors—but does he have the time?
At its core, though, this story isn’t about political espionage or thrilling heroics. It’s about family. The loneliness of a biracial boy whose father has taken a vow of silence. The love and hate of two siblings still haunted by their brother’s premature death and their own misdeeds. The fear that the past will repeat itself. These characters are beautifully flawed. They make mistakes because they live in a dangerous (and largely historically accurate) world that forces them to make difficult choices, not because they’re careless or callous.
Is Telemakos too much of a prodigy, being able to smell blood from over a mile away and memorize sentences in a language he doesn’t know? Perhaps. But he’s also a fully fleshed out character with contradictions that run deeper than his dual heritage. He’s simultaneously overconfident and terrified. He’s allowed to weep out of both sorrow and joy. He runs, mud-spattered and bloody, into a highbrow party because he doesn’t know how to deal with his father’s affection—the same affection that he craves more than anything else. In short, he’s one of the most likable protagonists I’ve come across in some time, even more so because he is so in tune with his emotions. You don’t often see male protagonists who feel things deeply and are open about it.
Wein is also incredibly economical with her storytelling. Other authors would prolong Telemakos’s adventure, but what Wein describes is much more real: three months of brutality and loneliness for a few minutes of useful information—and with it, agonizing pain. She lets readers find meaning in the allusions and doesn’t waste words. In fact, silence is perhaps the biggest theme of the novel.
The only reason not to read this book would be if violence, especially toward children, disturbs you. It’s not gratuitous, but it is graphic.
It is an insult that this book only has 353 ratings and 73 reviews. I picked up my first Elizabeth Wein book in December and just finished my fourth. Safe to say, you can judge her books by their cover; if her name’s on it, you’re in good hands. I am both excited and terrified to move on to the fourth book in this series, The Lion Hunter. Partially because I don’t want this series to end, and partially because I’m afraid that it’s going to be Elizabeth Wein’s Goblet of Fire (in terms of how happy the ending is).
annalise's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
amdame1's review against another edition
3.0
book 3 in the set. 3.5 stars
Telemakos, grandson of the former British king as well as of the grandson of a member of Aksum's imperial parliament, likes to test his abilities to hide and spy on happenings in the court. Finally the emperor decides that the best way to utilize Telemakos' skills is to send him on a mission. There is plague in the kingdom and someone is deliberately sabotaging the quarantine in order to make money in the black market. The plague is spreading due to this breach and must be stopped lest the whole kingdom be devastated.
Not as much action and adventure as you might think, but lots of intrigue and suspense.
Some torture, fairly graphic.
Telemakos, grandson of the former British king as well as of the grandson of a member of Aksum's imperial parliament, likes to test his abilities to hide and spy on happenings in the court. Finally the emperor decides that the best way to utilize Telemakos' skills is to send him on a mission. There is plague in the kingdom and someone is deliberately sabotaging the quarantine in order to make money in the black market. The plague is spreading due to this breach and must be stopped lest the whole kingdom be devastated.
Not as much action and adventure as you might think, but lots of intrigue and suspense.
Some torture, fairly graphic.