Nancy Yi Fan, Swordbird

So I read Swordbird and I have to say young Nancy Yi Fan is very talented indeed.

However I felt the book read too quickly, althought I enjoyed reading it and seeing how such a young author wrote this fantasy tale of sword wielding birds- I was slightly disappointed.

The storyline was not that original, the villains did seem rather plain and the battles involving pies were not so realistic. I would have liked to have seen a true battle to add that extra wow factor to the book.

Yet although I could ramble on about the faults of this novel I have to hand it to Nancy, she wrote an imaginative book and was able to get it published (without an agent) by Harper Collins! Well done Nancy

I really did not enjoy the book. And I'm one of the recommended ages. The characters are bland and predictable, with all of them the same: courageous and just. The villains are all idiots, excluding maybe Shadow, but he just crosses the line. Turnatt's most threatening aspect is his bad breath he has no motive, seems to have a mental sickness in his indecisiveness, and he is completely incompetent. The writing is also not exactly stellar, though it is passable. The soldiers are frightened away by a bunch of idiots singing about peace, which by the way sounds like it came straight from Barney or something. After this 'touching' song Swordbird comes and blows Turnatt up. The protagonists barely do anything, they just summon that stupid overweight bird to go blow Turnatt up. And don't get me started on the rainbow that 'signified peace'. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. No character development, no nothing. I'm also an amateur writer, and if your first thought when you put a book down is 'I could do better than that', the author is not a good writer at all.

Nancy Yi Fan, Swordbird was horrible, as I say and others. Characters were trite and stale; the crows and such didn't seem evil at all, just foolish. Milton was pitiful, just doing some petty good deeds through it. Also, you can't find all that harvest she talked about in one forest, and birds don't sweat, but unfortunatly, she made one. What kind of research is that? Well, she got it published, but it's not what I expect in a good book.

Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan was pathetic! (No offence Nancy) The plot was flat, nothing was explained, the setting was horrid and the "bad guys" were given no background and seemed very silly in my opinoin. The battle scenes were poorly done and everything seemed to Redwall-y to me. This should have been a fan-fic or school writing assignment, not a novel. Drawings were nice, overall message was great.

I would like to congradulate Nancy on actually getting her story to go somewhere. I wish her all the best in future and hopes that by then she would have aquired some real talent.

This book was very poorly written. The message of "peace and freedom" was pretty much rubbed in you face every other line! I think that this book should NOT have gone on the Best Sellers list or even gotten published.

I didn't like how the antagonist was just evil. Why was he evil? What made him evil? Also, I am a perfectionist and I love details, but in this book I don't think there is enough details.

Well, this book could be good but it needs a lot of help in my opinion. Who would publish something that, I think, has errors? Not just grammatical ones.

Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan is a book that promotes peace, which is good. However, the writing was terrible and the plot was weak. The characters were flat and two dimensional. I didn't feel bad at all when a bird died. Not really worth reading. Not well done at all.

Swordbird is a marvelous book! I am definitely a bird fan now! I highly recommend it. I love the "peace is wonderful; freedom is sacred" part. I did some research online and read all the reports on Nancy's website.

Swordbird

Nancy Yi Fan

HarperCollins, Jan 2007, $15.99

ISBN: 0061131008

Turnatt takes control over the hawk population of Stone-Run Forest. He demands loyalty and will punish those who disobey though he can be fickle and inconsistent with his commands. His goal is become the Evil Conqueror and Slayer known as the "Tyrant of Fortress Glooming" that will eventually encompass the entire forest.

As his forces attack the other bird species, the blue jays and the cardinals think the other has attacked them. Their hostility is open and war seems imminent with the only winner being Turnatt whose minion caused the argument between the blue and the red. Unless a miracle occurs many will die and a free forest will become a vicious, malevolent dictator's realm. However, only the Swordbird, son of the Great Spirit, can prevent the tragedy and return the forest to domestic tranquility for all its creatures. The only problem is the Swordbird is a myth.

This is a fascinating, well-, personification fantasy aimed at the 8-12-year-old crowd. Readers will see differing personalities, especially between the various bird species. As the non-Hawks pray for a hero, especially Swordbird, fans will enjoy the confrontation between evil and good.

Harriet Klausner