The Griffin’s Flight by K.J. Taylor

KJTaylor-The Griffins FlightI love mythology, I love history, but The Griffin’s Flight by K.J. Taylor kicked my butt and took me weeks to read.  It really was a love/hate situation.  I told Jackie, it’s like watching Dancing with Wolves, the movie was good but good gravy it was long and all of the subtitles drug it out even more, making it hard to watch.  It’s one of those movies you can see once and never see again.  The same goes for The Griffin’s Flight…and this series.

Although he was once chosen as a griffin’s companion, Arren Cardockson was reviled, betrayed, and ultimately killed. Brought back to life by a power beyond his understanding, Arren flees for the frozen sanctuary of the North. With the man-eating griffin Skandar by his side, and an entire country hunting him, Arren has little hope of reaching the place of his ancestry and of lifting his curse. But then he comes across a wild woman who may hold the key to making his lifeless heart beat once more.

In The Dark Griffin, book one in the Fallen Moon series, we meet Arren Cardockson, or Arenadd Taranisaii which is his birth name.  He has a lot of hardship, his griffin dies, he becomes a fugitive even though he’s innocent for the most part, then he gets imprisoned, he escapes his death sentence with a wild griffin named Darkheart and takes out his revenge on the person who framed him turning him into a murderer.  I thought that one was a tough read, but The Griffin’s Flight was even harder.  This book has even more hardships to the point that Arren is almost constantly being punished and tortured by something or someone.  I can handle conflict, there’s always good vs. evil, but this story is more bad vs bad.  You get to the point of wondering what else can go wrong with this poor guy and just wish it would stop.  There’s a sense that all this bad stuff is heading for one heck of an explosive ending, which I hope is true.  Otherwise what’s the point to all his suffering?

However, the book isn’t exactly terrible.  It’s a hard read with all the bad things happening to him, yes, but, the story itself is really good.  I love the griffins and cannot get enough of them.  I’d much rather read those scenes than anything else.  You also get to see some of the customs of his people, which although very gruesome, coincides with historical fact of some civilizations from our past.  I love that!  Give me more historical fact and mythology and less conflict!

Maybe with the next book, The Griffin’s War, I’ll like this series more who knows.  But as it stands right now, I’m struggling to read this series and can’t say I’d recommend it.

Read Order:
Dark Griffin
The Griffin’s Flight
The Griffin’s War

Also reviewed by: CSI: Librarian, 5-squared

About Nikki R 120 Articles
SAHM of 2, happily married bookworm, blogger and aspiring author. If I could read/write all day, every day, I would. Luckily I have a very understanding, and patient, husband who lets me get away with it as much as possible. Now if only the kids would understand my obsession, and the house would clean itself, then I'd be all set.