Flight of the Phoenix (Nathanial Fludd, Beastologist) by R. L. LaFevers (2010-09-13) Paperback

* My rating is 3.5 stars.*I absolutely love R.L. LaFevers' Theodosia Throckmorton books. Both Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos and Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris have a permanent place on my bookshelf. I pre-ordered Flight of the Phoenix months ago and have been looking forward to it with great anticipation. Perhaps that anticipation backfired just a little.I'll admit, in Flight of the Phoenix, I was expecting a male version of Theodosia with her quirkiness, her wit and resourcefulness - and that's not what I got. However, that's not a fair basis for a review and I only include the information for others who might have the same expectations I did.On to the story I did get... :-)Flight of the Phoenix introduces us to Nathaniel Fludd, a newly orphaned boy who barely knew his always traveling parents and who has lived a quiet, very ordinary (and rather dull) life with Miss Lumpton, who acted as his de facto guardian while his parents traveled. In the opening pages, Nate learns that his parents have been lost at sea and that he will be going to live with an aunt - Philomena Fludd - whom he has never met and didn't know existed.In short order, Nate arrives at Phil's home, meets a talking dodo bird and is told to get his things together as he will be accompanying his aunt on her newest adventure. For that, it turns out, is what Fludd's do; they are adventurers, mapmakers and beastologists - men and women who study creatures that most of the world thinks are mythological. And, in Phil's opinion, it is high time Nate joins the family business.Flight of the Phoenix is a well constructed story with a limited cast of fairly well-drawn characters and attractive black and white illustrations by Kelly Murphy. Nate is very likable and kids will enjoy watching him come out of his shell. As is expected with the first volume in a planned series, a number of foreshadowing plot points were peppered in to start building curiosity and interest in future entries. I'd love to see LaFevers do more with the historical 1928 time frame and with background on the settings, both of which I thought were lacking in this story. There's a wealth of material there and, IMHO, giving readers more in those areas will broaden the appeal of the series.Flight of the Phoenix is a very fast read and should work well as a read-aloud to children 4 or older and as an early chapter book for kids reading on their own.While I felt Flight of the Phoenix lacked the magic of the Theodosia books, it was an enjoyable little read and I'll be sharing it with my grandkids.

My 7-year-old daughter started reading chapter books because of this book, which came as a part of her Prime Book Club. After she read it, I bought the rest of the 4-book series on the kindle. Both she and her 9-year-old brother have read the whole series. And so have I!In addition to the fact that this series has launched my daughter into reading chapter books, there are several things I like about the stories and themes.1- Orphaned Nathaniel Fludd, the main character, goes to live with his relative Phil Fludd, the last beastologist in the family. Phil turns out to be his aunt, and she is awesome. She is brave and smart and she immediately takes full responsibility for Nathaniel and also loves him.2- Beastologists are people who protect endangered magical beasts, even at great cost to themselves. The books include the following beasts: Phoenix, basilisk, wyvern (dragon), dodo, and unicorn to name a few. You could imagine them protecting real endangered species throughout the series, and there’s a pretty important angle on protecting them.3- Aunt Phil has high expectations for Nathaniel. He may be young, but he’s a beastologist in training and expected to act like one right away. None of the typical theme of adults keeping kids out of the action. In this case, the responsible adult pushes Nathaniel toward courage and action.4- Nathaniel discovers and befriends a gremlin named Greaslie. There is a widely held bias against gremlins, because they live in engines and eat oil. However, there’s a storyline throughout of Nathaniel’s friendship with Greaslie and the two of them bringing Aunt Phil along and even to a point of accepting Greaslie and admitting that many of the beasts Aunt Phil protects used to be considered pests.5- Finally, for any kids who are interested in reading fantasy fiction (like Harry Potter) later, this is a great introduction to many of the creatures that populate the pages of the most famous and fun fantasy books they may read up to soon.

My kids, ages 7 and 8 at the time, loved this series! Perfect for young fantasy enthusiasts who aren't ready for series like Harry Potter.HOWEVER, you should know that the series is incomplete (and likely to remain so) and ends with a cliffhanger! I'm giving Flight of the Phoenix 4 stars individually but could just as easily have given it 1 star based on the fact that I can't actually recommend it.From the author's 2016 blog post:"As for updates, I’m afraid I don’t have any good news on that front. While co many of you are passionate fans, as of right now, according to my publishers the sales numbers simply don’t warrant continuing with the books at this time. This breaks my heart, as I had always planned two more books in the Beastologist series and at least one more Theodosia book. However, I am also a great believer in never saying never. I do hope to get back to them at some point—but it will not be in the near future as I have contracted projects that commit my writing time through 2020.Please know that I would never, ever have ended both series on such a cliffhanger if I’d had any idea that would be such a time gap before the next books."

We found these after listening to (and LOVING) the Theodosia books. However, we have to skip scary parts in Theodosia because my son is pretty sensitive. This I read to him straight through. There is some perils, but it’s light and well handled. After we finished this book last night, my son could. Not. Stop. Talking. About the phoenix egg. The story opened up a conversation about technology and the Bedouin’s endangered way of life.Also, for books with a different perspective on camels, absolutely do not miss Kathi Appelt’s Once Upon a Camel, one of our absolute favorites. (Which is also fantastic on audio.)

Lovely book. Enchanting series. Arrived promptly.

My son read it over and over again and couldn’t wait to get the next books

A right mix between adventury, mistery and fun. I would recommend it from 9 yrs on.The german Edition is being loved at the Moment.