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The Burning
GoGH6 - The Burning
Credits
Author: Kathryn Lasky
Cover Art: Richard Cowdrey
Cover Design: Steve Scott
Details
Publish Date: 2004
ISBN Number: 9780439405621
Summary
St. Aggie's has fallen to the Pure Ones and plan to launch an attack on the Great Tree itself. The Chaw of Chaws are sent to the Northern Kingdoms in order to gather allies for a counterattack.
Previous Book: The Shattering
Next Book: The Hatchling

The Burning is the sixth book in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series.

Description[]

A great battle is on the horizon and drawing near. In preparation, Soren and his band must fly to the mysterious Northern Kingdoms to find allies and study the grim art of war. Meanwhile, St. Aggie's has fallen to the Pure Ones. If they are not stopped, they will launch another, more deadly attack against the great tree. And without allies from the north, Ga'Hoole will surely fall. Soren's mission must succeed. And the final battle must be won. The coming conflagration will demand wisdom, bravery, and sacrifice from all the owls of the great tree, and from Soren and the band, nothing less than heroism.

Eyecatcher[]

Chapters[]

Prologue

  1. Claws in the Moonlight
  2. Puffling Alert!
  3. The Ice Dagger
  4. A Circle of White Trees
  5. Firth of Fangs
  6. The Retreat of the Glauxian Brothers
  7. Flivling and Riffles
  8. Hoke of Hock
  9. The Ancient Warrior of the Firth
  10. Gragg of Slonk
  11. The Island of Dark Fowl
  12. Stuck on a Dagger
  13. Pirates
  14. The Pirates' Lair
  15. Twilla Suspects
  16. An Unholy Alliance
  17. A Deadly Glitter
  18. Gizzardly Matters
  19. Deep in Enemy Territory
  20. A Song in the Night
  21. Waiting for When
  22. The Beginning of Forever and a Day
  23. The Tunnel in the Smoke
  24. The Battle of Fire and Ice
  25. Scrooms in the Night

Plot[]

The prologue begins with Soren's Band finally becoming Guardians. They recite the Guardian Oath.

The Chaw of Chaws are sent to the Northern Kingdoms on a mission, courtesy of Ezylryb, who had given Soren his battle claws, so every owl of the north would know that Soren was his ward. Ruby and Martin are sent to meet the Kielian Snake, Hoke of Hock, to recruit other Kielian snakes to help them defend against the Pure Ones. Otulissa and Gylfie are sent to escort Dewlap to the Glauxian Sister's Retreat to be taken care of, while also traveling to the Glauxian Brothers Retreat's Library to learn about war strategy and retrieve a copy of the book she unknowningly destroyed. Digger, Twilight, Eglantine, and Soren are sent to the Firth of Fangs to meet up with an old warrior, Moss, to gather troops for an invasion of St. Aegolius Canyons. Afterwards, they would all reunite at Dark Fowl Island.

When the owls reach the Ice Narrows, they nearly crash into a bunch of pufflings learning to fly. Their father, Dumpy, whom the Band had met on their initial journey to the Great Tree, invites the group to come back to his nest. There, they meet his mate, Tuppa, who obsesses over Dewlap and expresses wishes to "adopt" her, despite her being an elderly Burrowing Owl. This causes their son, Little Dumpy, to furiously leave the nest for good. Soren refuses their offer to take her, insisting that they still need to deliver Dewlap to the Glauxian Sisters.

After their short visit, Soren's band make their way to the Ice Dagger in the Everwinter Sea, where the owls would split up to carry out their individual tasks over the course of fourteen nights. Gylfie and Otulissa rush off to deliver Dewlap to the Glauxian Sisters, then are quickly on their way towards the Brothers' Retreat.

At the retreat, Gragg overhears their plan and convinces Ifghar, Ezylryb's treacherous brother - who had been cast out of the Ice Talons after the League's defeat along with Gragg - that they should betray the Guardians to the Pure Ones in exchange for a reward and for revenge on Ezylryb. They have a gang of pirates kidnap Gylfie and threaten to feed her to wolves, unless she tells them information about Ga'Hoole, along with what she is up to. Ifghar claims that he needs the information to help recruit the Ice Talon League to aid the Guardians. Gylfie, however, sees through the lies and realizes that he and Gragg really mean to hand the information over to the Pure Ones as a form of revenge on Ezylryb. However, before the pirates can feed Gylfie to the wolves, Twilla, who had been suspicious of Gragg and Ifghar, turns up and paints herself golden and impersonates Glaux to trick the Snowy Guards Vlink and Phlinx. She helps untie Gylfie, though they are nearly caught, but manage to use mirrors to blind the pirate owls and knock them out of the air.

Meanwhile, Soren, not knowing that Gylfie has escaped, reports that Gylfie has been kidnapped and that he doesn't know if the Northern Kingdoms will send them aid or not. He soon learns that he and his friends are assigned to teach Skench and the St. Aggie's owls how to fight with fire, something he refuses to do as a gizzard resister, and he takes an alternate assignment of working on making cold coals.   

Meanwhile, Kludd and Nyra plan to hatch their egg during the lunar eclipse so that their child will become a powerful owl. They also expect the Guradians to attack during the lunar eclipse and have the place fortified. They have obtained the aid of rogue smiths from Beyond the Beyond to craft them fire claws.   

In order to invade the canyons safely, Soren and Bubo destroy the piles of flecks placed around the Pure Ones' stronghold with cold coals. Back at the tree, an invasion plan is underway utilizing owlipoppen decoys. The Guardians drop these decoys around the Great Horns and enter through the Beak of Glaux, where a terrible battle takes place, with the canyons being set on fire in the process. Gylfie arrives and reunites with Soren, who is overjoyed to see his friend, only to be backed into a cave by Kludd. Soren desperately tries to find a way not to kill his own brother, but Twilight arrives and does the deed, ending the battle and the reign of the Pure Ones.

After Kludd's death, the Tree celebrates as Soren and Eglantine see their parents' scrooms, who sadly express their belief there was no real place for their eldest son of earth, but tell Soren they understand Kludd had to be destroyed before they ascend to Glaumora. In the Canyonlands, however, Kludd's legacy lives on: Nyra had survived and, as the vultures fed on the fallen bodies of the dead soldiers, the broken-hearted Nyra grieves over the shell of her and Kludd's egg as it hatches under the eclipse. Nyra tearfully names the chick Nyroc and tells him he will grow strong like his father, vowing revenge on the Guardians and Soren...

Trivia[]

  • This is the last of six Guardians of Ga'Hoole books to include illustrations of the main and minor characters that appear in the book.
  • This is the final book in the Chronicles of Soren, meaning it is the last book to directly follow Soren.

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