Swordbird

Last updated
Swordbird
Swordbird-cover.jpg
Author Nancy Yi Fan
Illustrator Mark Zug
Cover artist Mark Zug
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Children's Fantasy novel
PublishedFebruary 2007
HarperCollins Children's Books
Media typePrint (hardback)
ISBN 978-0061131004
OCLC 70877706
LC Class PZ7.F19876 Swo 2007
Preceded by Sword Quest (2008) 
Followed bySword Mountain (2012) 

Swordbird is a children's fantasy novel written by Nancy Yi Fan. A prequel, Sword Quest , was released January 22, 2008. A sequel, Sword Mountain , based on Sword Mountain, home of an eagle tribe mentioned in Sword Quest, was published in early 2012.

Contents

Plot

The story begins with Turnatt, an evil tyrant hawk and lord of Fortress Glooming, watching the construction of his fortress. Farther in the forest of Stone-Run are two tribes: the Bluewingle tribe of the blue jays and the Sunrise tribe of the cardinals, which are at war with each other, each accusing the other of stealing their eggs and food, not knowing that this is actually the work of Turnatt.

A member of the Bluewingle tribe, a female blue jay named Aska, meets a robin named Miltin, a slave at Fortress Glooming, who warns her of Turnatt. Aska leaves and tells the two tribes of Turnatt.

The groups make amends in time for the Bright Moon Festival, during which the Flying Willowleaf Theater arrive and help celebrate by telling the legend of Swordbird, a giant dove-like bird of peace with magical powers. The celebration is cut short when a group of Turnatt's soldiers attack, attempting to capture and enslave the two tribes and the members of the Flying Willowleaf Theater.

The tribes manage to defeat the soldiers and decide to summon Swordbird, thinking that he is the only one with the power to defeat Turnatt, using his Leasorn Sword. The only problem is that Swordbird can only be sumonned by a song and one of the Leasorn Gems, which are said to be crystallized tears of the Great Spirit. There are only seven Leasorn Gems in the world, with an eighth one in Swordbird's blade. All hope seems lost until a recently escaped Miltin tells them that his tribe has one of the Leasorn Gems. The tribes decide to send Aska and Miltin over the White Cap Mountains to reach Miltin's home, the Waterthorn tribe.

While Miltin and Aska are away, Turnatt sends his raven spy, Shadow, to destroy the two villages. Shadow and his group manage to set the Bluewingle tribe's home ablaze. The Bluewingle tribe take refuge with the Sunrise tribe. Shadow and his group attempt to light the Sunrise village on fire too, but are attacked by the tribe members and scattered.

At the White Cap Mountains Aska and Miltin are attacked by a group of Slarkills and Miltin is mortally wounded and slowly dying. The two make it to the Waterthorn tribe where Miltin dies and Aska convinces the tribe to aid her tribes against Turnatt. The Winterhorn tribe arrives in time to help the Sunrise and Bluewingle tribes and the members of the Flying Willowleaf Theater in their battle against Turnatt and his attacking army.

Aska manages to summon Swordbird, who quickly kills Turnatt. With their leader dead, Turnatt's army leave and the birds of Stone-Run release all those enslaved in Fortress Glooming. Two years later, Aska is married to Cody, an old friend of hers, the Sunrise and Bluewingle tribe have formed together as the Stone-Run Forest tribe, and Fortress Glooming has been made into the Stone-Run Library. The story ends with Cody and Aska visiting the grave of Miltin and leaving one of Swordbird's feathers. [1]

Awards and reviews

Swordbird, a New York Times bestseller, was nominated for the Book Sense Children's Picks List for spring 2007. [2]

Related Research Articles

World of <i>A Song of Ice and Fire</i> Fictional world created by George R. R. Martin

The fictional world in which the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin take place is divided into several continents, known collectively as The Known World.

<i>Wizards First Rule</i> 1994 novel by Terry Goodkind

Wizard's First Rule, written by Terry Goodkind, is the first book in the epic fantasy series The Sword of Truth. Published by Tor Books, it was released on August 15, 1994 in hardcover, and in mass market paperback in September 1995. The book was also re-released with new cover artwork by Keith Parkinson in paperback on June 23, 2001. The novel was adapted to television in the 2008 television series Legend of the Seeker.

Deltora Quest 3 is a series of children's fantasy books, written by Australian author Emily Rodda. It follows the adventures of three companions, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine, as they journey across the magical land of Deltora to awaken the last seven dragons and destroy the Four Sisters. It comprises four books which were first published in Australia in 2004 and 2005 in the United States by Scholastic. The Dragons of Deltora series is preceded by two other series that take place in the same fictional world and feature the same characters and continues the story. These series are Deltora Quest and Deltora Quest 2. Collectively, these three series are known as the Deltora Quest series or the Deltora series.

<i>Seven Swords</i> 2005 Hong Kong film

Seven Swords is a 2005 wuxia film produced and directed by Tsui Hark, starring Donnie Yen, Leon Lai, Charlie Yeung, Sun Honglei, Lu Yi and Kim So-yeon. An international co-production between Hong Kong, China, South Korea and the Netherlands, the story is loosely adapted from Liang Yusheng's novel Qijian Xia Tianshan and is completely unrelated to the novel except for some characters' names. Seven Swords was used as the opening film to the 2005 Venice Film Festival and as a homage to Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film Seven Samurai.

The Deverry Cycle is a series of Celtic fantasy novels by Katharine Kerr set in the fictional land of Deverry. As of February 2020, sixteen books have been published in the series.

<i>The Forests of Silence</i> 2000 Book by Jennifer Rowe (as Emily Rodda)

The Forests of Silence is a fantasy novel written by Australian author Emily Rodda, and is the first book in the eight-volume Deltora Quest series. It was first published in 2000 by Scholastic and was awarded the "Notable Series in Children's Book of the Year Awards 2001: Younger Readers". The novel follows a teenage boy named Lief as he and his companions search the deadly Forests of Silence for the magical Topaz gem, one of the seven missing gems from the belt of Deltora.

Nancy Yi Fan is a Chinese American author who is best known for writing a series that currently consists of the novels Swordbird, Sword Quest, and Sword Mountain.

<i>Fable</i> (1996 video game) 1996 video game

Fable is a PC point and click adventure game developed by Simbiosis Interactive. It was the company's only release. It was published in North America by Sir-Tech and internationally by Telstar Electronic Studios.

Deltora Quest is a children's fantasy novel series written by Emily Rodda. It was first published between 2000 and 2002 in Australia by Scholastic Press. There are eight books in this series: The Forests of Silence, The Lake of Tears, City of the Rats, The Shifting Sands, Dread Mountain, The Maze of the Beast, The Valley of the Lost and Return to Del in that order. These books are followed by two other series set in the same universe: Deltora Quest 2, Deltora Quest 3. Together, these three series are collectively also referred to as the Deltora Quest series, and occasionally the Deltora series by some fans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandon Mull</span> American author (born 1974)

Brandon Mull is an American author best known for his children's fantasy series, Fablehaven, as well as Dragonwatch, The Candy Shop War, the Beyonders trilogy, and the Five Kingdoms series. He also began the Spirit Animals series.

<i>Sword Quest</i> 2008 childrens adventure novel by Nancy Yi Fan

Sword Quest is a 2008 children's adventure novel by Nancy Yi Fan. It is a prequel to Swordbird which was published in February 2007.

<i>World of Quest</i> American TV series or program

World of Quest is a sci-fi comedy animated television series based on the graphic novel series of the same name by Jason T. Kruse. The series was produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment, in association with Teletoon and Kids' WB!. It appears to be a parody of the fantasy genre that blends swords, sorcery and technology, in the vein of Masters of the Universe. The show premiered on March 15, 2008, on Kids' WB on The CW in the U.S. and in Canada on Teletoon on August 10, 2008, as a preview, with regular airings starting on September 1, 2008. The CW4Kids removed it from its schedule after airing the first-season finale "Search For Power" on June 14, 2008. It's also the last series to be produced for the Kids' WB block.

This is a list of books by Mercedes Lackey, arranged by collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Fan (actor)</span> Hong Kong actor and martial artist

Louis Fan Siu-wong is a Hong Kong actor and martial artist. He is best known worldwide for his starring role as Ricky in Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991) and as Jin Shanzhao in Ip Man (2008) and Ip Man 2 (2010), as well as roles in numerous television series produced by TVB.

<i>Cavern of the Fear</i> 2002 Book by Jennifer Rowe (as Emily Rodda)

Cavern of The Fear is the first book in the Deltora Quest 2 series written by Emily Rodda. It was published by Scholastic in 2002. The story follows the adventures of Lief, Jasmine, and Barda.

<i>Dragon Nest: Warriors Dawn</i> 2014 Chinese film

Dragon Nest: Warriors' Dawn is a 2014 Chinese animated fantasy-romance-adventure film directed by Song Yuefeng and based on the Dragon Nest video game.

<i>League of Gods</i> 2016 film

League of Gods is a 2016 Hong Kong-Chinese fantasy film directed by Koan Hui, co-produced by Charles Heung and Wilson Yip, based on the 16th-century novel Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin and starring an ensemble cast of Jet Li, Tony Leung, Fan Bingbing, Louis Koo, Mark Huang, Angelababy, Wen Zhang, Andy On and Jacky Heung. The film was released in China on 29 July 2016.

<i>Middle-earth: Shadow of War</i> 2017 action-adventure video game

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a 2017 action-adventure video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Shadow of War is the sequel to 2014's Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, both of which are based on J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. The game is set in between the events of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings film trilogies, from which the game also takes inspiration. The player continues the story of Talion, the Gondorian Ranger who bonded with the wraith of the Elf Lord Celebrimbor, as they forge a new Ring of Power to amass an army to fight against Sauron. The game builds upon the "nemesis system" introduced in Shadow of Mordor, allowing Talion to gain followers from several races of Middle-earth and command them in warfare.

References

  1. Fan, Nancy Yi (2007). Swordbird. HarperCollins Children's Books.
  2. www.swordbird - SWORDBIRD (2007) and SWORD QUEST (2008)