Book Review - The Capture

Soren is an innocent young owl, not even able to fly yet, when he is pushed out of his nest by his older brother.   Owls from St. Aggies Academy for Orphaned Owls picked him up and took him to St. Aggies.   There he met Gylfie and they found out together that the academy was really brain washing young owls with moonlight and then having them help fight to take over the world of owls.   Soren and Gylfie decide that it is time to escape.   They meet an owl who will help them and teach them to fly.   They escape while their owl friend blocks the academy owls who are trying to kill them, but then the owl gets killed. They meet Digger and Twilight and together they set out to find out how they can stop the academy.

Soren, a Barn Owl (Tyto alba), is a young owlet who lives in a fir tree in the Tyto Forest with his mother, father, older brother (Kludd), and younger sister (Eglantine). One night when his parents are off hunting, his jealous brother, Kludd, shoves him off the nest. Soren falls to the ground reasonably unhurt but is completely helpless because he cannot fly. The blind snake, Mrs. Plithiver, the nestmaid who watches over the children and cleans the nest, attempts to rescue Soren but cannot.

Soren, helpless and confused, dreads the coming of dawn. Dawn means that the raccoons will be out and raccoons often go after helpless owlets. When Soren feels a draft of wind, he cries out, believing that his mother or father have come to rescue him. However, the wind was not caused by his parents. An owl patrol snatches Soren away and rudely speaks to him. Soren meets a female Elf Owl named Gylfie. The owls who have snatched them along with other owlets fly to the canyonlands, where St. Aggie's Academy is located.

Soren and Gylfie find out that St. Aggie's Academy was basically a prison. By exposing owlets to the dangerous shine of the moon, the owlets lose their personality and become mindless tools of evil and destruction. Soren and Gylfie realize that the only way to escape the deep canyon floors was to learn how to fly. An infiltrator named Hortense assists them but is caught in the act and brutally pushed off a cliff. Soren and Gylfie turn to the elderly Boreal Owl named Grimble, a somber owl with a sad past. Grimble teaches them to fly and helps them escape the canyons.

Jenny, Resident Scholar