The Guardians of Ga'Hoole "The Capture" by Kathryn Lasky

Here's the link to the movie trailer-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_lMihSKkgA
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Countdown to Legends of Ga’Hoole: Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 1: The Capture by Kathryn Lasky

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WHOOOO----HOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about an awesome year for kid’s book movies!!!! First Percy Jackson, then Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and now this!!!! And it comes out this month!!!
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Okay, so I’m doing sort of the same thing that I am for the Deathly Hallows: reviewing the books! Now I’m betting that they’re going the merge the first six or so into one movie, so that’s what I’m gonna do: review the first six! And no complaints if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am, ‘cause I have concrete evidence: they show the bad guy in the preview, and he really doesn’t show up till the end of the third book!!
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So here we go, and see you at the movie!
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The story opens with our hero, Soren the Barn Owl, watching as his new baby sister Eglantine hatches. Nearby are his mother and father, his slightly sinister older brother Kludd, and his family’s nest-maid snake, Mrs. Plithiver. Soon, Eglantine is out of her egg and eating her first bug. Ahh, the joys of a happy family.
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But soon that is ruined for Soren when he falls out of the nest! Mrs. Plithiver tries to get help, but before she can, Soren is swept away by a mysterious owl to an equally mysterious stone labyrinth.
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Soon, we find out that the labyrinth is called St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, though it’s better known as St. Aggie’s. There Soren meets a new friend: Gylfie the Elf Owl, and finds out the strictest rule at St. Aggie’s-no questions! That’s right, no questions! Yikes!
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Between them, Soren and Gylfie figure out what’s going on at St. Aggie’s-they’re brainwashers! Using a combination of giving them a number instead of a name, something called moon blinking and repeating their old names over and over and over so it becomes just another sound, they’re slowly turning all the owlets-including Soren and Gylfie!-into brainless zombies!
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Luckily, they manage to find ways around their efforts-for example, they start saying their number instead of their name and staying in one place during the sleep marches so that they stay away from the moon’s glare, they manage to keep their brains unwashed. But the question is, how long can they keep this up? They desperately need to escape.
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But there’s one problem.: the only way out is to fly out. And neither Soren nor Gylfie are ready to fly.
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Yeah. Really.
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So in the meantime the unlikely duo decides to investigate just what St. Aggie’s is really up to. So Gylfie gets the twosome positions in the pelletorium, where owls peck apart the small pellets that all owls throw up (or yarp, as the owls in the Guardians of Ga’Hoole universe say). But why? Soren eventually finds out that they’re looking for flecks-tiny pieces of metal embedded in pellet that have many magnetic qualities. But why are Skench and Spoorn, the two head owls here at St. Aggie’s, after the flecks?
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Not long after, the two are promoted to work in the eggorium, where snatched eggs from all over the owl world are sorted and given to broodies, who sit the eggs until they hatch. Soren sorts the Barn Owl eggs, and Gylfie the Elf Owl eggs. But they aren’t figuring anything out.
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Soon, Soren meets an owl named Hortense, or number 12-8. She’s a broody, like Soren is at that point. Her nest is located high up, overlooking the canyon-a perfect place for Soren and Gylfie’s first flight. But more than that, Hortense turns out to be un-moon blinked, like them! See, she was born near a river that had lots of flecks in it, and it gave her a peculiar resistance to moon blinking. Now she’s living at St. Aggie’s, but is she really all she seems? Not by a long shot, as Gylfie discovers one night. She’s actually an infiltrator, smuggling away the very eggs she keeps warm by giving them to a large bald eagle that comes every so often to take eggs.
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Hortense agrees to let them meet the bald eagle but, that very night, they are discovered! Aunt Finny, a pit guardian, and Skench and Spoorn try to take the egg back, but in the ensuing fight Hortense is shoved off the edge by none other than Finny, who we thought was rather nice but now we know as a person who really hates children! (I think she’d probably get along well with Professor Umbridge!)
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Well, overall, things aren’t going well. They get worse when Soren and Gylfie see what happens to pretty much all the flight-age owls at St’s Aggie’s-they get bitten by vampires! And they aren’t even the awesomely-cute Twilight type! (Aw, man!!) They’re actually vampire bats, and what they do is take out the vital supply of blood that helps the owls’ flight feathers grow. No blood, no growth, no flight, no escape.
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And the bats always come at the new moon. (Hmmmm. Does that ring a bell or is it just me?) Soren and Gylfie have to get out of here before then or they can kiss any hopes of escape good-bye.
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The truth is, Gylfie has some suspicions about one of Skench and Spoorn’s top lieutenants, Grimble. So they go and talk to him and discover he isn’t moon blinked, either! He’s been resisting it too, all these years since he was taken, as an adult owl, to St. Aggie’s. He’s astonished that Soren and Gylfie have discovered a way to resist it. Luckily, though, he agrees to help Soren and Gylfie learn how to fly.
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Well before the next new moon, Soren and Gylfie are ready. Grimble says he’ll arrange it so they can take off from the library, which is the highest point in St. Aggie’s besides where Hortense’s nest was. But then, somehow, they are discovered! Skench bursts in with full armor and battle claws on. But somehow, she is pulled back and slams into the walls, giving Soren and Gylfie just enough time to get on the wing and escape St. Aggie’s at last!
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They fly through the night, until they are far away from the stone walls and seriously non-cute vampires of St. Aggie’s. But still, they don’t have anywhere to go to. They try Soren’s hollow, but when they get there, Soren’s parents are gone, and with them Eglantine and even Soren’s slightly sinister brother Kludd. Now what are they to do?
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Soon after, they meet their new friend Twilight, a huge Great Gray, who was snatched at birth by St. Aggie’s but somehow managed to escape and has lived on his own ever since. The trio decides to head to Kuneer to see if they can find Gylfie’s family. There they meet Digger, a Burrowing Owl whose family was discovered and snatched by-yes, and again-St. Aggie’s. But when the four owls are attacked by two huge Long-Eared Owls, Jatt and Jutt, will they be able to fight them off? Will Soren ever see his family again? And will the four owls-now known as the Band-ever reach that group of noble owls, the Guardians of Ga’Hoole?
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Sorry, but I really don’t want to give it away, so you’ll just have to wait for the next review. But I will say that it should be pretty soon. I want to get the first six done before the movie’s release on the 24th. That means I’ll have to do a few a week. Any complaints? Good. Next up is number two, The Journey. I’d look for it this weekend, OK? Good. Until then, see you at the movie!