Sun Blind is the first of two books in this series written by Gwen Hansen, probably my favorite of the four authors who contributed here. I recently learned that the name "Gwen Hansen" was actually a pseudonym for Ellen Steiber, a "manuscript reader, copy-editor, proofreader, line and series editor" (and, of course, author) who recently released a new novel. This explains the whole "Why can't I find any information about this author?" problem that I had for so many years.
Now. Sun Blind is one of the two books in this series that I was never able to find as a kid. And I looked everywhere. So, up until a few years ago, I had no idea what it was about. When I finally did get to read the book (thank you, Lexie), it was more than a decade after I'd first read the other four. So obviously, my perspective and tastes have changed. Reading it as an adult for the first time was a hugely different thing than if I'd read it first as a child.
Still, having said that, I really couldn't find much to complain about. In fact, I was pretty impressed.
One of the big reasons I was always so partial to this author was because she didn't often "write down" to the audience (something that's particularly true with her second book, Moonspell). So maybe I cringed a little near the end when Quiet Storm "took flight," but other than that I thought she did really well in writing a story that, while aimed at a relatively young age group, didn't necessarily feel so young, most of the time (if that makes any sense at all). She also introduced the age-old "Lion vs. Unicorn" theme into the story, which was more fully expanded upon in book six.
I know that I'd have been a huge fan of that scene by the river between Sheila, Dian and Darian, where he basically kicks Dian the hell out and takes over Sheila's sword practice. And of course, I also loved that, in both of the books she wrote, the author puts Sheila and Darian together for a good chunk - if not almost all - of the time.
They hold hands (a theme!) for the first time in Sun Blind, don't they? Aww.
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