Guardians of Ga'Hoole is a fantasy book series written by Kathryn Lasky and published by Scholastic. The series contains a total of 16 books, and although it was originally intended to conclude with the 2008 publication of The War of the Ember, it has a prequel, The Rise of a Legend, published in 2013. Apart from the main series, there are a few more books and spin-offs set in the same universe. The first three books of the series were adapted into the 2010 animated 3D film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, directed by Zack Snyder.
Story
This series follows the adventures of Soren, a young barn owl, for the first six books, and follows Soren's nephew Nyroc, later renamed Coryn, for Books 7 and 8. Books 9-11 are prequels to the other books, telling the story of Hoole, the first king of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. Books 12-15 continue the main storyline, through the reign of King Coryn. Book 16 is another prequel, this one telling the story of Ezylryb, Soren's mentor.
The Capture Soren, a young Barn Owl (Tyto alba), lives in a nest in a hollow of a fir tree with his parents Noctus and Marella and siblings Kludd and Eglantine, in the forest kingdom of Tyto. Soren, unable to fly, falls out of the nest to the forest floor, and is abducted by a patrol of owls from the St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, or St. Aggie's, which is led by General Skench, a Great Horned Owl, and her lieutenant Spoorn, a Western Screech Owl. Soren and other snatched owlets are enslaved into tasks such as sorting eggs and pellets, for reasons they do not understand. Owls at St. Aggie's are "moon-blinked", a brainwashing technique caused by sleeping and walking under the full moon, endlessly repeating their true names to forget them and lose any sense of self and will.
Soren befriends Gylfie, a young Elf Owl from the desert kingdom of Kuneer. Together, under the guise of being moon-blinked, they plot both to learn the true purpose behind St. Aggie's and escape. Gylfie suspects that a Spotted Owl named Hortense is not moon-blinked. They befriend her, learning she is sneaking out stolen eggs to return them to their parents with the help of two eagles, Zan and Streak. Hortense is discovered by the Academy owls as she delivers another egg to Zan, and is thrown from a cliff to her apparent death during the ensuing fight. Soren and Gylfie also meet a partly moon-blinked Boreal Owl named Grimble, and plan to escape as he teaches them how to fly. On the night of the pair's planned escape, they are discovered by Skench; she kills Grimble, but Soren and Gylfie manage to escape by taking flight for the first time.
After escaping, Soren and Gylfie meet Twilight, an orphan Great Gray Owl who learned his survival instincts from the "Orphan School of Tough Learning", and go looking for their families. While Soren is unable to find his parents and siblings, he reunites with his former nest-maid Mrs. Plithiver, a western blind snake. She regretfully informs Soren that Kludd had shoved him out of the nest and later did the same thing to Eglantine, forcing Mrs. Plithiver to flee. The group travel to Kuneer and unsuccessfully search for Gylfie's family, but encounter Digger, a Burrowing Owl, who also lost his family to the St. Aggie's marauders. The group are attacked by Jatt and Jutt, two Long-eared Owls who serve as high-ranking officers for the Academy, but manage to kill them with help from Zan and Streak. The newly-formed band decide to search for a legendary order of warrior owls called the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, to warn them about the Academy.
The Journey Soren, Gylfie, Twilight and Digger, accompanied by Mrs. Plithiver, fly in search of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, where the Guardians are said to live. They face numerous obstacles along their way, including an attack by crows, a fight with a bobcat, and an encounter with a family of puffins. After a lengthy search, the Band finally find their way to the Great Tree, which is located on an island in the middle of the Sea of Hoolemere, and are welcomed by the Guardians. As they settle into life at the Great Tree, the Band begin training as Guardians in selected classes called chaws, where young owls study in fields such as star navigation, tracking, search-and-rescue, colliering, and weather research. They also meet other young owls, such as Otulissa, a Spotted Owl, and Primrose, a Northern Pygmy Owl.
After completing their basic training, the Band are selected for their official chaws. Soren is assigned to the colliering and weather chaws, along with Otulissa; Martin, a Northern Saw-whet Owl; and Ruby, a Short-eared Owl. The chaw's ryb, or teacher, is Ezylryb, an elderly Whiskered Screech Owl, who proves to be an excellent mentor despite his intimidating appearance and withdrawn demeanor. Soren is initially hesitant, but develops his skills under Ezylryb's guidance, participating in expeditions such as flying through a gale and harvesting burning coals from a forest fire.
Shortly after Soren's first colliering mission, the Guardians must go into action when hundreds of owlets are found abandoned in the middle of an uninhabited forest, an incident that becomes known as "the Great Downing". All of the owlets belong to the Barn Owl family; in addition, they all seem to be extremely confused, constantly babbling about the "purity of Tytos". Among the owlets, Twilight and Digger are shocked to discover Eglantine, Soren's lost sister. She is brought back to the Great Tree and eventually recovers from her ordeal, but she and the other rescued owlets have no memory of what had happened to them. In addition, Ezylryb mysteriously disappears in the aftermath of the incident, but Soren vows to find him.
The Rescue Some time after the Great Downing, Ezylryb is still missing, so Soren and his friends decide to investigate. After narrowly surviving a flight through a hurricane during an outing with the weather chaw, Soren dreams of the scrooms, or spirits, of his parents, who warn him to "beware Metal Beak". Bubo, the blacksmith of the Great Tree, informs Soren that Metal Beak is actually a mysterious owl, believed to be one of the most evil owls in the world. After learning that a rogue Snowy Owl blacksmith in the forest of Silverveil may have more information, Soren and the Band sneak away during a week-long festival to talk to the Smith. They discover that the Smith is actually the sister of the Great Tree's famous singer, Madame Plonk, and that she is also on friendly terms with Ezylryb and his nest-maid Octavia, a Kielian snake from the Northern Kingdoms. The band return to the Great Tree with their new information, although they are caught and punished for sneaking away without permission.
After investigating Ezylryb's living quarters and discovering a secret chamber, Soren and Gylfie are interrupted by Octavia, who reveals that Ezylryb was once known as Lyze of Kiel, a famous warrior from the Northern Kingdoms. Shortly thereafter, Eglantine begins to regain her lost memories, and recalls being imprisoned in an abandoned stone castle by Metal Beak and his followers, a mysterious group of Barn Owls called the Pure Ones. Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, Digger, Eglantine, and Otulissa, dubbed the "Chaw of Chaws", sneak away from the Great Tree again to search for the castle, hopeful that Ezylryb may be there.
After locating the castle, the Chaw discover that the Pure Ones possess knowledge of "Flecks", magnetic iron particles which can confuse and disable owls, which were also prized by the leadership of St. Aggie's. Using Otulissa's knowledge on the subject, they eventually find Ezylryb trapped inside a "Devil's Triangle", a disorienting magnetic field created by placing three bags of Flecks in a triangular formation, and manage to free him by burning all three bags to destroy the Flecks. However, it is revealed that Metal Beak and a group of Pure Ones had trapped Ezylryb, and a fight ensues. Martin and Ruby arrive in time to reinforce their friends, and the Chaw manage to fight off their attackers using burning branches. In the process, however, Soren is horrified when Metal Beak reveals himself to be Kludd, whose "metal beak" is a mask and artificial beak made of Mu metal, a soft alloy that negates the effect of Flecks. During their fight, Soren inadvertently covers Kludd's mask in burning embers; this causes it to partially melt, burning Kludd's face and forcing him to retreat. Ezylryb and the Chaw return safely to the Great Tree and are met with a joyous reception. As daylight sets in, Ezylryb writes a poem reflecting on the impending war with the Pure Ones.
The Siege Immediately after his fight with Soren, a badly-burned Kludd crashes into a pond near the hollow of Simon, a Brown Fish Owl and a pilgrim from the Glauxian Brothers' Retreat in the Northern Kingdoms. Simon nurses Kludd back to health, but Kludd then murders him. As he leaves to regroup with the Pure Ones, he is observed by a nearly-invisible Spotted Owl named Mist.
At the Great Tree, Dewlap, the Burrowing Owl Ga'Hoolology ryb, declares the topic of Higher Magnetics and the book Fleckasia and Other Disorders of the Gizzard "spronk" (forbidden knowledge) despite its importance in understanding Flecks and their effect on owls. Soon after, the Chaw of Chaws are given a secret mission to infiltrate St. Aggie's Academy, as the Guardians' leaders believe that the Pure Ones are obtaining their Fleck supply from the Academy's large stores. Ezylryb gives Otulissa the banned book, but Dewlap later finds her reading it and sentences her to a punishment. Otulissa initially complies, but eventually flies off to join the Chaw on their mission; frustrated, Dewlap flings the book into the sea. After reaching St. Aggie's under assumed identities, the Chaw are put through moon-blinking sessions, but each of them has memorized a part of the Ga'Hoolian legends in order to resist. Soon, they discover Barn Owls smuggling Flecks out of the library where the particles are stored, and using some of them to influence the Barn Owl eggs that the St. Aggie's patrols have been stealing. Otulissa gains the trust of St. Aggie's General Skench by giving her misinformation about Higher Magnetics, and learns that some of the Barn Owl infiltrators are actually double-agents for St. Aggie's.
Meanwhile, at the Pure Ones' castle, the Rogue Smith of Silverveil is hired to make a new mask for Kludd and battle claws for the Pure Ones' army, but after deducing that they are planning an attack on the Great Tree, she goes to tell Mist. At St. Aggie's, the Chaw plan to escape by inciting a fight between the workers and the Barn Owl spies. They all manage to escape in the resulting commotion, but Soren is wounded in the process and falls gravely ill. Fortunately, he is saved when Mist arrives with Zan, Streak, and a flying snake named Slynella, whose venom heals him. Mist reveals herself as Hortense, having survived her fall from the cliff, and warns the Chaw of the Pure Ones' impending attack. The Chaw returns to the Great Tree to alert the Guardians, who prepare for war.
The Pure Ones, led by Kludd and his mate Nyra, launch their attack on the Island of Hoole. After several clashes and a lengthy siege, Soren, his friends, and Ezylryb devise a plan to turn the tables by digging a tunnel from the Great Tree to the other side of the island, allowing the Guardians to attack the Pure Ones from behind in a pincer movement. This plan is a success; the siege is broken in a decisive battle, and the Pure Ones retreat from the island. During the battle, however, Strix Struma, Otulissa's mentor, is killed by Nyra, leaving Otulissa devastated, while it is revealed that Dewlap had betrayed the Guardians by leaking information to the Pure Ones during the siege. In the aftermath of the battle, Soren realizes that he possesses an ability known as starsight, which allows him to see glimpses of the future in his dreams.
The Shattering