Hawksong

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Dec 2008 · Sold by Delacorte Press

About this ebook

DANICA SHARDAE IS an avian shapeshifter, and the golden hawk’s form in which she takes to the sky is as natural to her as the human one that graces her on land. The only thing more familiar to her is war: It has raged between her people and the serpiente for so long, no one can remember how the fighting began. As heir to the avian throne, she’ll do anything in her power to stop this war—even accept Zane Cobriana, the terrifying leader of her kind’s greatest enemy, as her pair bond and make the two royal families one.

Trust. It is all Zane asks of Danica—and all they ask of their people—but it may be more than she can give.

A School Library Journal Best Books of the Year

A VOYA Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror List selection

Ratings and reviews

This book was un-imaginative and boring. It has a simple stream-line plot that at times seems directionless because it gets lots in the massive amounts of un-needed detail and lack of movement. There is nothing paranormal about this book other than the fact that the people are shape shifters of two groups, snakes and hawks. That is the only thing that makes this book paranormal, so if you're looking for a magical world that spins a tale of these shape shifters, their powers, the reason they are there, it has none. The book just plops you in the story, doesn't really explain anything, except "I am a hawk, you are a snake and we are enemies in war." This is all you will get, nothing more because everything else is human like. Sure personalities clash, but what human's personality doesn't clash with another? The romance didn't really start till about the last quarter of the book and there wasn't much of it for you to get emotionally attached to the characters with. The book was predictable as I predicted who the "assassins" were pretty much in the first quarter of the book. It was a big disappointment, where thoughtless stereotypes were used and it follows the same flow and story line of the dreaded harlequin romance.

Truthfully I adored this book. I found myself being sucked into the story and the characters, and trust me when I say my attention span isn't always the best. This book may not go down in history as a classic of American literature, but it is definitely a magical read.

Still carry this book around over a decade later. It's the best in the series, with Snakecharm second. I can't read the other books though. I love Danica and Zane....but I DNF the series because it was becoming harder and harder to stay interested. And everyone sounds the same.

About the author

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes wrote her first novel, In the Forests of the Night, when she was 13 years old. She has since published Demon in My View, Shattered Mirror, Midnight Predator, all ALA Quick Picks for Young Adults, and Snakecharm.