Rating: 
Summary: Hawksong
Review: The book Hawksong was fantastic. I read it over and over again. The first time I read it, I couldn't put it down. My friend lent it to me and she couldn't believe it when I said how many times I had read it. If you're looking for something a little different, you should really check out this book.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved it
Review: Hawksong is Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' fifth book, which is an accomplishment for being only nineteen this year. Her first book, In the Forests of the Night, was published on her fourteenth birthday. However now she has abandoned the vampires we have grown to know so well from her previous four books. Instead she takes up her pen to create a new world that shape-shifters have inhabited. In this most recent book, Hawksong, there reside the avians, who have the second form of birds; and the serpiente, the snakes. Danica Shardae, one of the golden hawks of the royal avian family, was raised with the teachings of war. Always have the two races fought; no one even remembers how the war started. Danica watches her family steadily fly into the war, and slowly she becomes the only child of Nacola Shardae, the queen. Her mother then suddenly presents the crown to Danica before anything else may happen. With this new rank, comes the responsibility of keeping her people safe, which means one thing: peace. To bring this she accepts Zane Cobriana, the king of the serpiente, as her pair bond. Even Zane has lost loved ones in war, and he says he wants peace as much as her, but how can she trust him? If he killed Danica, her line would end. How can she be sure that he won't strike as quickly as his cobra form? Nevertheless she pretends to be hopelessly in love with him in front of the serpiente court. When they are alone though she can't help but show her fear. This threatens to break the two royal families apart again - which is what many want, even if it means killing their own kind. Her writing gets better which each book, so if you're not a fan now you'll hopefully become one with Hawksong. If you already love her writing, well, this book will easily work its way into your collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't fly
Review: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes at her best is mediocre, and "Hawksong" is probably her best book thus far. Having temporarily abandoned her melodramatic vampires, Atwater-Rhodes draws on the most popular works of Shakespeare and Laurell K. Hamilton. One wonders why she still tries. Danica Shardae is the heir of the avian (bird) shapeshifter throne, which is at war with the serpiente (snake) race, and has been for many generations. After the death of one of the serpiente heirs, his sister Irene Cobriana appears at the Hawk's Keep to ask for peace talks in the land of the Mistari (tigers). Reluctantly, Danica's mother accepts. But when they arrive, the heir Zane Cobriana makes a strange offer to Danica: Peace can be achieved if they are married. (Or, as Atwater-Rhodes puts it, he chooses her as his naga and she chooses him as her alistair) Reluctantly, Danica agrees -- but her mother does not. As they plot secretly to wed when both are declared rulers of their people, strange assassins lurk in the shadows to somehow stop their marriage. It's never a good sign when a book has a glaring flaw on the first page. In this case, it's the use of the masculine name "Alasdair" (the Celtic form of Alistair) for a female character. Not a great way to start. While Atwater-Rhodes has smoothed out some of the flaws of her earlier writing, such as zooming fast to the finish, it's still too self-conscious, too formulaic. The revelations about the assassins (who act like four-year-olds) are awkward and stilted, as if she merely got tired of writing and wanted to finish quickly. "Hawksong" has a lot of the problems her previous books have: Supporting characters are paper-thin (the bodyguards, fussy in-laws, and flaky seamstress most notably). Everyone is gorgeous. Every nonhuman has some outstanding characteristic like weird eyes. Nobody falls in love because they want to, just because she feels the need to include a love story. All attractive men give off a sexy-danger vibe and move gracefully. And she spends a lot more time thinking about cool names for different stuff than she does making the characters worthwhile. (It wouldn't have detracted from the book if she hadn't fussed so much with all the different terms for a spouse) While Danica is thankfully not the tough-girl caricatures present in Atwater-Rhodes' last three books, she's pretty dull. She doesn't have much motivation to suddenly take mercy on Zane's brother, supposedly the defining moment of her characte; she never acts, only reacts. We never get to know Zane very well, because he has no depth. He smolders and sizzles a lot, then turns into a tender, sensitive, ineffective wuss, much like the male leads of her prior books. While this stands above the prior books of Atwater-Rhodes, that's still pretty low. "Hawksong" isn't so much a mess as a flat, featureless, flavorless mass.
Rating:
Summary: I love it!
Review: I am a huge fan of Amelia Atwater-rhodes (she is my idle, really). I hope to write nearly as good as her when im 16. Anyways, When I first read about this book, I dident think that it was going ot be as good as her others, because it isen't about vampires. Well, I would have to say this is my 3rd favriot of them all. Amazing details, and so much description to everything. And her famous ending us without knowing what happens next ;)
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: this book was amazing. one of the best of Amelia's books. Danica Shardae is the next Tuuli Thea (queen) of the Avians. they are shap-shifters and Danica is a golden hawk. Zane Cobriana is a Serpiente (how ever you spell that) and is to be the serpiente king. they two kinds have been at war for as long as anyone can remember. both Danica and Zane wish to stop the war and all of the killings. then a plan is proposed. since neither Danica nor Zane have an Alistar for Danica or a Naga for Zane it is suggested that they marry and together stop the war. Danica doesn't trust Zane and Zane doesn't trust Danica. but can they put those feelings aside to save their people? will they learn to except each other? what happens to them in the end? read it, and you'll find out! again this was a great book!
Rating: 
Summary: A good enough romance, but nothing special.
Review: For all of us looking for a book with two teens falling in love, Rhodes latest offering isn't off the mark, but she still doesn't have the ability to write flawless prose. Or even, frankly, remotely good prose (does anyone honestly think that if she wasn't an (overgrown) 'child prodigy' she would even have been published?). She glosses over issues and events that bear further investigation, and doesn't describe the actions of the characters well enough for the reader to understand the scenes without reading over passages again and again. But by far her biggest problem is the fact that, apparently, she isn't creative enough to come up with something new. Shattered Mirror was a Buffy rip-off, Midnight Predator copied L. J. Smith's Black Dawn -- which is especially worrying since neither author realized that the book could be better told from the Delos/Jaguar viewpoint -- and now Amelia is stealing from Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series and Shakespeare. The plot hasn't been lifted from Hamilton, but all of Her basic theory on Shape-shifters is there, along with Anita's guiding principal, never ask anyone to do something you yourself aren't willing to do. Not to mention Anita's discomfort with all things sexual. Danica's relationship with Zane Cobriana is taken straight from Anita and Jean-Claude. Even the characterization in her books, admittedly her strongest point, is weak. Just because you change their names doesn't mean their different Amelia. Because of a completely depleted imagination, bad writing style, and a book that only reads smoothly because of its packaging (there's a reason for the weird dimensions), I give this book one star. It's too bad the computer won't let me give it zero. To sum up, as a cheap thrill, this book, and all of Rhodes's others, is passable, but pick it up from your local library and read the originals instead.
Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: after finishing this book, this was one of the most well written amelia has ever wrote. i admire danica and zane for sacrificing so much in order to bring peace between the two shapeshifter families and that it wasnt easy to gain it. although someone or something wants to bring the war back so the two families can fight again. at the end of the book, you'll find who the traitors are. one of the most well-written books i read from amelia. great job!!
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Summary: How far will she go to bring peace to both peoples?
Review: Danica is an avian shapeshifter who has experienced war her entire life: war between her people and the serpiente shapeshifters. As heir to the avian throne she has a chance to make a change - but only by pretending to be in love with the sepiente shapeshifter she distrusts. How far will she go to bring peace to both peoples? This fantasy will delight young adults looking for something different.
Rating:
Summary: Worth-while
Review: One of Amelia's better books, in my opinion. Definitely worth reading, and the characters and storyline are so much fun! Except, she could have profitted from slowing down a little and develing into descriptions better than she did. Towards the end especially, it gets to be sort of detatched. But Zane is awesome! :)
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Summary: Rhodes is Back!
Review: After reading her last effort, the dissapointing Midnight Predator, I had almost lost my faith in Amelia's creditbility as a teen author. But when I found out her next book, Hawksong, was about to be released, I decided to give her one more chance. After picking the book up, I was able to take my time with this book. Taking a much needed break from the world of witches and vampires, Rhodes treats us to a world ruled by two breeds of shape-shifters (One is avian; the other is serpienten). A war that has been going on for ages leaves the heir to the avain throne, Danica Shardae, to achieve the goal of creating peace between the two lands. With the help (an a forced marriage) to Zane Corbriana, heir to the serpienten throne, they must try to put their differences aside and start the long road to peace. Hawksong, in case you didn't know, is Book I in a series of four planned by Rhodes. The writing has diffently matured and has become more descriptive since Amelia's first novel, which was the biggest welcomed change. I haven't seen people complain (yet) if Hawksong is a rip-off of an L. J. Smith novel (Midnight Predator) or a knock-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Shattered Mirror), but to me this seems to be more orginal than the other four books. I would happen to agree with most reviewers that this is her best offering so far, but we'll just have to wait until the next three are published in order to justify this. Also, she has improved on characticterzation. No more 2D, cookie-cutters here. But with most of Rhodes' books, she still has flaws. The most common is her tendency to "over-dramitize". While she has lightened up on this through out most of the book, she still has hints of it in some passages. Amelia also has a problem with description. She will often give her readers too little or too much, which will throw you off. If anyone wants to get into Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, suggest this book!
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