The Flight of Swans

by Sarah McGuire

Overview

Based on the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale Six Swans, The Flight of Swans follows Ryn's journey to save her family and their kingdom.

Princess Andaryn's six older brothers have always been her protectors—until her father takes a new Queen, a frightening, mysterious woman who enchants the men in the royal family. When Ryn's attempt to break the enchantment fails, she makes a bargain: the Queen will spare her brothers' lives if Ryn remains silent for six years.

Ryn thinks she freed her brothers, but she never thought the Queen would turn her brothers into swans. And she never thought she'd have to undo the Queen's spell alone, without speaking.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541530881
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/07/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	452
Lexile:	680L (what's this?)
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Sarah McGuire is a nomadic math teacher who sailed around the world aboard a floating college campus. She writes fairy tale retellings and still hopes that one day she'll open a wardrobe and stumble into another world. Coffee and chocolate are her rocket fuel. She wishes Florida had mountains, but she lives there anyway with her husband (who wrote this bio in less than three minutes!) and their family.

Editorial Reviews

"[F]illed with magic, romance, and peril. . . . An imaginative retelling with an unforgettable heroine."—starred, Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

09/01/2018
Gr 5–8—For fans of reworked fairy tales, McGuire takes on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Wild Swans." Princess Andaryn, aka Ryn, is the youngest in her family, which includes her widower father and her six older brothers. When her father remarries a beautiful witch who enchants him and the rest of the kingdom, they are all in jeopardy. A showdown with the witch puts Ryn's prince brothers into danger, so the princess strikes a bargain with her stepmother: to spare her brothers' lives, Ryn must remain silent for six years. During that time, her brothers will live as swans. Now Ryn must run away and try to discover how to thwart the evil queen before the six years are up—all without endangering the lives of her brothers. Darker than most contemporary reworkings of classic tales, McGuire hews closely to the source material and keeps it in the original time and place. It is refreshing to see the princess (and youngest sibling at that) save the princes. She is clever, courageous, and persistent, and she experiences much growth and maturity as the novel progresses. At first, the identities of the brothers seem confusing, but they are written distinctly enough that readers will be able to tell them apart as the story progresses. There is some violence and romance, yet nothing too intense, making it an acceptable choice for older elementary and middle school students, especially those interested in the world of Game of Thrones, but not mature enough to watch the show. VERDICT A finely crafted and compelling fairy-tale retelling. Hand to voracious fantasy readers and fans of Gail Carson Levine and Shannon Hale.—Kate Nafz, Fair Lawn Public Library, NJ

School Library Journal

★ 2018-06-25
Twelve-year-old Princess Andaryn will do anything to save her father, her six older brothers, and her kingdom from her father's new "witch-wife," even if it means her silence. Her father hasn't been the same since he was lost in the forest and then rescued by the imperious woman he then married. Once kind and attentive, he is now distracted; once gentle and just, he now permits brutal, capricious punishments. When the queen threatens to kill her brothers, Ryn bargains for their lives. She agrees to remain silent for six years while her brothers are changed into swans. Rather than stay at the castle to be tormented, Ryn flees, fakes her own death, and disappears into the countryside. There, she seeks the help of the queen's mentor, a strange, addled old woman living in the midst of a nettle bush. She learns that the only way to break the spell is to fashion tunics made of nettles for each of her brothers. Relentlessly pursued by Otherworldly creatures drawn from the Great Hunt, Ryn is forced to stay on the move. She is soon joined by a hen, her sister-in-law, and later by her baby nephew, but it is not until she meets a ruler from another land that she begins to turn her eyes toward home again. Ryn is depicted as white on the cover; diversity in this Europe-esque fantasy land is limited to magical creatures. This imaginative retelling of a familiar Brothers Grimm story is filled with magic, romance, and peril, but where it shines is in the quiet moments. Ryn's strength, love, and sacrifice make her heroic, but her fear, fatigue, and insecurity make her human. An imaginative retelling with an unforgettable heroine. (Fantasy. 9-13)

Kirkus Reviews