As a fan of fantasy, I was excited about this book. However, although the premise was interesting, the book as a whole did not really hit the mark. I did finish the book, but I would not feel compelled to read any sequel.

The title alone caught my attention. Gryphons. Just the word alone conjures up the image of a beautiful mythical creature, part eagle part lion. The superhero of mythical creatures with incredible strength, protective instincts, and absolutely no tolerance for evil. That’s what they are. A soon-to-be thirteen-year-old Giada Bellantuonos is our protagonist. Giada is not the typical young girl that most writers write about. I am so used to picking up books where the main characters are lithe, athletic, and almost nothing short of perfect. Giada however. She is not one of these. She is funny, yet brave, strong-willed, and well. As the author so eloquently put it” Giada is a fat witch because so often we don’t see fat magical protagonists.”
The story itself is told in the first person. Giada is a young guaritori-in-training. Not that she is interested in becoming one or taking the official oath when she turns 13 as did her ancestors before her. Her passion lies not in healing people but in creatures both ordinary and the extraordinary. Which is well, not allowed. Healing people is what takes precedence. Not creatures.
The story unfolds in the beautiful streghe city of Amalfi, as described as the dangerous and mysterious under the world strega city of Malavita.
The story itself is written beautifully. Full of action and adventure, with no dull moments to note. Told from the first-person point of view, gave this story a personal touch. Like you, as the reader was involved in the first person from the get-go. Those with siblings will be able to relate to the relationship between Giada and Rocco as well as their playful banter and bickering. And, the will and determination to jump to their rescue when they are in danger.
This book is a definite must for young and well the not so young, who love magical tales and mythical creatures. This will appeal to Harry Potter fans too. Just because, magic. It resides in all of us. And we don’t have to fit the norm to fit our niche in this world.

Such a fun little middle grade book! I loved the relationship between Giada and the animals. I can't wait to promote this book when it comes out.

Summary
Giada, daughter of a family of famous healing witches, lives in the shadow of her older brother Rocco, who shows signs of becoming the most famous of them all in time. But Giada doesn't want to follow Apollo and heal humans; she wants to follow Diana and heal animals. But her wayward nature may get everyone in trouble.
Review

I picked up this book from NetGalley principally because it was about a girl who wants to use magic to heal animals. As someone who likes fantasy and cares deeply about animals, it seemed a great match. It also sounded like a light, YA story, and I’ve been reading more serious fare lately. Unfortunately, the book didn’t really deliver what I expected.

First, while I imagine it’s marketed as YA or NA, it read to me more like a younger children’s book – no A at all. That’s absolutely fine; I like children’s books too. But while some make pretty good reading for adults, I found this one disappointing – the plot is on the thin side, with little risk, and I found that some fairly big chunks of it just didn’t really make sense. The Streghe del Malocchio, for example, are feared throughout the witch community, but didn’t live up to their reputation in practice. The actions they take don’t seem to follow the story’s own proposed logic. Cannistra makes an effort to give the Streghe some depth as a misunderstood group, but then seems to drop that without ever really committing to the idea. Maybe that’s for a sequel. But I didn’t find myself interested enough to follow Giada along any further.

In part, that’s because, for me, the book didn’t deliver on its central premise of a girl who loves animals. She talks about it a lot, and she has a few animal companions, but the principal one feels forced on her, and there’s not a lot of rapport. More to the point, Giada herself doesn’t show much sign of liking animals. She gets quickly tired or frustrated with them, yells at them, etc. They feel more like a convenient plot device than something she really cares about. When mermaids give her a (presumably living) oyster, for example, she feels no compunction about accepting it, carrying it around out of water, and then summarily cracking it open to take a pearl. The oyster, which presumably dies slowly, is of no moment at all in the story, other than as a pearl maker. That’s the most extreme example, but there are others. I never felt Giada really cared about animals in the way I expected.

The magic of the story feels equally convenient. Giada is famously from a line of healers, who can achieve great, but still limited results. But their magic seems capable of pretty much anything, and without much reason or rhyme. I don’t insist that all fantasy come with a carefully described magic system, but there have to be some limits and some logic, or magic carries no weight. As it is, Giada, an untrained witch who doesn’t even seem to pay much attention, can do all kind of things without much effort.

That brings us back to the initial point – that the plot is too easy and too simple, and some of the plot points feel manufactured rather than natural. The inclusion of Italian words and phrases, intended to offer some ambiance, also didn’t feel natural to me (and referring to the Madre del Malocchio as ‘Madre’ rather than ‘la Madre’ didn’t help. And why do Italian witches follow a Greek god and a Roman goddess?). Overall, this felt to me like an early draft that still needed several rounds of editing. Just as important, though, was that it didn’t deliver on its promise of an animal-loving girl so much as offering a rebellious girl who … hey, let’s make her an animal healer …needed a gimmick. Healing gryphons, in the end, is not what the story is about.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

A delightful book full of adventure, action, and thrills. Fun to read, engrossing world building, and very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic. It's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. Would recommend.

With Christmas Eve rapidly approaching where 13 year old witches must take the oath to help heal students, Giada is torn. From the most powerful family in her region, she knows what is expected of her but she wants to heal animals. She is torn about how to tell her family that she wants to deviate from the norm. In the midst of her inner turmoil, Giada's older brother Rocco is kidnapped and taken to Malavita by evil witches. With Giada's parents out-of-town, she alone must rescue Rocco or risk losing him forever. As she works to save her brother, Giada's use of her powers and knowledge of animals becomes very useful. This allows others to see her desire to heal animals in a different light.