Customer Reviews

The Sight (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(128)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

"The Sight" is an animal fantasy in the tradition of Richard Adams's classic "Watership Down," where the author crafts a mythological culture for a group of animals living alongside humans. Where Adams used rabbits in contemporary England, David Clement-Davies selects wolves (or `Vargs' as they call themselves) living in war-torn fifteenth-century Transylvania, during the reign of Vlad Dracula. It's an immediately intriguing concept, and Clement-Davies does some wonderful work with the exotic, gothic backdrop and the mysterious nature of wolves -- beautiful, tough, misunderstood animals that project an alluring magic that perfectly fits this type of tale.

But "The Sight" is far different from "Watership Down" in some important ways. Magic and the supernatural play a huge part in the story. The Sight of the title is a supernatural power granted to certain wolves; a kind of sixth sense, sensory projection, telepathy, and prophetic ability rolled into one. The wolf Morgra possesses the Sight, and from her hate plans to use it to fulfill a complex prophecy: summon a demonic entity called Wolfbane and create `the Man Varg,' a mysterious figure linked with a stolen human child. If the prophecy is fulfilled, Morgra can possess all of nature. Standing against her is another wolf who possesses the sight, young Larka, and her family. The plot moves through many turns as the extremely tricky prophecy propels the factions of wolves into wars against each other, plunges Larka's family into grief, and spirals closer and closer to a final confrontation between wolves, birds, men, and spirits of the dead.

"The Sight" is a busy and intricate book with a very dark tone, but it will appeal to intelligent younger readers who hunger for something more than simple fantasy. Clement-Davies lacks Richard Adams's wonderful myth-making skills; his mythological background for the wolves is sometimes too thickly layered and patchwork to be effective. The book also dips into a few too many lengthy philosophical discussions between the wolves. Nonetheless, it's an excellent book and quite exciting. The finale ties the story into the history of humanity and ends up offering a moving lesson that reflects on our own world. "The Sight" seems to be about wolves, but David Clement-Davies has crafted a story with a deep meaning at its core. (He explains in an interesting afterward how this theme developed from his visit to Romania in 1990).

I highly recommend this fantasy novel to anyone who enjoyed "Watership Down," the "Redwall" books, or Clement-Davies's previous animal-fantasy, "Fire Bringer." Wolf lovers or anyone with a taste for the gothic will also enjoy this book.

I liked this book a lot, (if you have not read the book do not read the next sentence) although the evolution thing in the end sort of ruined it. (ok you can read again)you will cry and laugh. The plot was great a little creepy in some parts but a beautiful work! Terribly sad in some parts well, in a lot of parts it makes us never want to hate again, over all it was very good! not a great book for young readers. 3 1/2 due to the end vision it would have goten better if not for that.

I read the the back of the book and I thought this is stupid. MAGIC WOLVES! c'mon? I read the book anyway and man am I glad. This isn't some strange sci-fi with aliens and wolves fighting side by side. This is book has it all. Combat. A Difficult Journy. Friendship. Death.( if you have a weak stomache don't read the last 50 pages)and a twist ending that will take your breath away. If you don't buy the book here, go to a library, do SOMTHING! Just make sure you read it!

I remember the day I finsihed Fire Bringer I happened to see this in a Book Store. I was estatic. Fire Bringer was one of my favorite epics and this looked to be just as good. And it was! The Sight tells the story of a family of wolves. When Huttser and Palla have two wolf cubs, Larka and Fell, they are shocked when Palla's evil sister Morgra comes for a visit. Morgra is cruel and harsh and wants nothing more than to be a part of the cubs life but the pack denies it. In turn Morgra casts a horrible curse on the pack which touches everyones life in more ways than one. Larka, as she grows up, discovers that she has the Sight, a strange and mysterious power that is both a curse and a gift. Larka hates this, all she wants to be is a normal wolf, but she cannot have this at all. Becasue her new powers are developing quickly and everyone around her is suffering becasue of it. She runs away, seeing it as her only hope, but sooner or later the Legend that everyone fears so much and Larka's destiny must be fufilled.

The Sight is an amazing book. Just like Fire Bringer, the author manages to tell a wonderful animal fantasy story while weaving in history, mythology, and religion on the way. The wolf charecters seem more human than anything at times but they also keep their natural insticts, which I find impressive. If you're a fan of Fire Bringer or just animal fantasy read this book.

This is one of my three favourite books of all time. I could almost not bear to read other reviews people wrote on it because I can't stand people criticizing it. It is so beautifully written and the message is so deep that every time I've read it (three times) I've refused to talk to anyone during the day and cried myself to sleep at night for at least a week. And I am seriously not a person who cries very much. The only other books that have EVER made me cry are The Amber Spyglass and the 5th Harry Potter book. Some people find The Sight confusing and long. I read it when I was ten and I did not find it hard at all. Actually, the hardest part was looking at it after I had finished because I'd start to want to cry again.

Part one of this book is mainly about a pack of wolves. Palla and Huttser, the Drappa and Dragga, or leaders of the pack, are fleeing Palla's half sister Morgra, a wolf who killed a pup in her youth and was forced out of her pack. Palla gets to the place of her birth and gives birth to two pups, Larka and Fell. Larka and Fell's puppyhood is entirely destroyed when the pack finds out that Larka has the sight, a sort of supernatural power that lets you talk with birds, see the future in water and control others. They also hear a legend of the sight and a child and a sacrifice that Morgra is trying to fulfill. At one point Morgra tries to join their pack and they refuse to let her so she curses them and they all begin to die one by one until the only ones left in the pack are Huttser, Palla, Larka, Fell, and Kar, a pup from Palla's brother's pack whose parents were killed by Morgra. Then something terrible happens that splits them all up (I'm not going to say what) Sounds extremely sad and complicated so far, doesn't it? Well it's not. I'm just not very good at summarizing.

The story goes on with more surprises, more terror and more tragedie. It is intrancing. I believe that only when a character you like dies do you really realize how much you really liked them. That's what happened to me numerous times anyway. The other thing is that after finishing this book I felt that I had actually learned something. A mesage. Not many books are like that.

The Flaws: Absolutely NO book is perfect and even my favourites are not exceptions. I think this book may have had a few too many characters and a tad too much death. For instance, though Khaz made the story that much sadder, I don't think he was really developed enough to add anything apart from a bit of texture. Not that it would have been better if he had been developed, the book is certainly long enough already. I also think it was a little gruesome at times-I mean do we really need description of an insane wolf sacrificing pups for reasons we are never explained?

However, the description was beautiful, the meaning was strong, the characters were amazing, even though Larka got a little on the perfect side by the end, and the story was brilliant. I loved the wolf language and even though the legend was sort of similar to the one in Fire Bringer, it was gorgeous poetry and at one point I think I even memorized it. After I first finished this book I just stared at it for a while as the rollar-coaster ride my mind had been going through for the last few weeks slowed down and reached a halt.

Alright, maybe this book isn't for all ten-year-olds. I would recommend Fire Bringer to that age group more because I don't think the average kid would get as much out of it at that age. I certainly had to read it two more times before I finally got through the many layers of meaning. There are probably still more that I would discover if I read it now. I mean, it took me untill the third ime through to realize that it was really the story of Jesus. I'd say you should read this book if you are ready to experiance a ton of emotions you didn't even know you could have. Another quality of this book is that it couldn't possibly be religeously offensive. It's sort of like a deeper version of C.S. Lewis through the wolf's point of view.

Every time I read this book I felt as if I had lost something very dear and I had to start it again. I haven't read it for more than a year now because I have finally recovered from repeating lines from the last chapter and waking up in the middle of the night and having to find the book and read the saddest parts again before being able to sleep again. I'm a little afraid of starting all that again. But I think I probably should. This is a book that I will always treasure as the book that made me believe in love.

This books is, by far, one of the most outstanding of its time and genre. Clement-Davies has taken the wolf and turned it into a being full of beautiful intelligence, wisom, and faith. He gives them their own religion and culture, making them more realistic than any fantasy that I have ever read.

If anyone wants a good book, this is the best of th best -the cream of the crop! It is my favorite book of all time! It is better than the Harry Potter books -better than Eragon. Read this, and you will never look at wolves in the same way again! FIVE STARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This tale is intrigueing, deep, and emotional. it tosses away that 'happily ever after' trash and that 'protagonist is always 100 percent victorious' trash, and really explores the real world; the dark side of things. 'happily ever after' is a lie. dealing with death is a truth. this is the best book i've read in ages - even better than kenneth oppel's fantastic book 'sunwing', but unlike 'the sight' it shows humans as being pure evil. yep - i recommend 'the sight' as opposed to my classic favourite 'sunwing' or 'watership down' because it does not portray humans as being pure evil.

I love philosophical anthropomorphic novels, such as Watership Down, and I heard The Sight was very similar, so I decided to give it a go. The plot started off very interesting, although the characterization was a bit boring. I was very disappointed after having read the whole thing, realizing it was just another one of those oh-so-preachy "we all need to be atheists because religion is dumb" novels. Now, I enjoy hearing other people's various points of view on the subject of religion and heatedly debating it, but what I don't enjoy is having some one else's opinion shoved down my throat in such an obvious way (especially in what I suspected to be an entertaining animal tale). The Sight is not a story for those wanting a simple fantasy animal adventure. Also, just because this is a young adult novel does not mean it has to be so blatant! It would at least be a little more tolerable if it had some room for interpretation.

I feel guilty for not liking this story, but in a review honesty must come first, so...

First, the good:

The ideas in this book were good and interesting, the descriptions well-done and evocative, and the setting generally believable and realistic. Also, the plot was non-traditional and didn't follow a predictable path like so many fantasies do.

And now, the bad:

I found the story severely lacking in the area of characterisation. The characters were flat and not very well-drawn, and frankly uninteresting. I was unable to invest emotionally in their struggles and lost interest in the plot as a result, only reading on because I wanted to discover the answers to a couple of mysteries. Also, I felt that the dialogue was poor and tags like 'snapped', 'growled' and 'said bitterly' were overused and quickly became irritating.

I couldn't help but find the storyline and character motives confusing and unclear; even right to the climax I had no good idea what it was the characters were trying to achieve. The Sight, the power central to the story, was explained (or not explained) in a way that meant I didn't have a good picture of what it can and cannot do, etc. All this meant that the book felt unfocused and disorganised, and was less enjoyable as a result. I also felt that it had a few too many similarities to Fire Bringer for comfort, especially during the first half, and the ending was confusing and anti-climactic

However, I concede that it was an honest effort, and so I'm giving it three stars in the hope that the author will improve with successive works.

I read it when I was eleven, and I'm reading it again, its just soo GREAT! The suspense in this book is fabulous, its a REAL page-turner!! I read David Clement-Davies' first novel, Fire Bringer, it was just as good as this one!!! I am a real wolf-lover and really like The Sight, hes just a really awesome writer!
About The Sight: Its about a pack of wolves fleeing from the evil wolf Seer, Morgra, which just so happens to be Palla's, mother of the main characters, Larka and Fell, half-sister. When she gets rejected twice from the pack, Morgra curses the pack and soon this evil curse gets to the packs' head until finnally, Palla and her mate, Huttser, get into a fight and Larka leaves the pack when.... oh I'll just leave it at that for you to figure out how that happened.
Happy reading!