Reviews for Three Swords for Granada

The average rating for Three Swords for Granada based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-08-31 00:00:00 Matt Paynton One reason I love Walter Dean Myers is the varied stories he tells. Sure, many of his novels are set in inner-city Harlem, New York, but not infrequently he wrote books like Three Swords for Granada, which happens to be about a trio of anthropomorphized cats defending their homeland in fifteenth century Europe. It is the year 1420, and felines across Spain have seen better days. Canine soldiers known as the Fidorean Guards have moved into the city of Málaga and aren't shy about ordering the cat citizens around. Three young cats named Askia, Paco, and Lacy are eager to declare war on the Guards and decide the issue at swordpoint, but older, wiser heads know the time for confrontation has not yet come. Pietro Felini, the elder cat of Málaga, is aware of the Fidorean Guards' ultimate goal: to annex all cat territory up to and including Granada, the heart of feline culture. This must be prevented at all costs, and that means biding their time until the Guards are vulnerable to defeat. Do Askia, Paco, and Lacy have the discipline to wait? "My friends, in these desperate times we must use every weapon we have...You must understand that patience can be a weapon." 'Pietro, Three Swords for Granada, P. 10 After Pietro is severely wounded in an ambush by the Fidorean Guards, and Lacy is captured and detained in their Alcázar to fight ravenous hyenas for the Guards' amusement, Askia and Paco set out to make things right. Dubious alliances may be necessary to form a resistance front against the Fidorean Guards, and the young cats are willing to strike a deal even with Romulus the rat, a gangster from Far Almadén. Askia and Paco must break Lacy out of the Alcázar and then regroup with the feline braintrust at Málaga to decide if now is the time mount an all-out armed defense of Granada. If the Fidorean Guards take the city, cat culture will enter a new dark age. Askia, Paco, and Lacy'especially Askia'have struggled to control their emotional fervor and make wise choices in engaging the enemy, but victory in the coming battle will hinge on their ability to do both. Spain's future is at stake. Three Swords for Granada isn't a bad book, even though I'm rating it one and a half stars and couldn't bring myself to round up to two. The concept had promise, but the plot is hard to follow and the characters don't feel sufficiently distinct from one another. I like that Walter Dean Myers set this playful story about cats in a real historical time and place, and that he paid careful attention to Spanish geography in doing so, but we aren't given any deep sense of why the story matters. Granada is obviously important to the cats, but why? What brought the Fidorean Guards to Málaga in the first place, and what led to conflict with the cats? A more immersive, comprehensive historical context would allow Three Swords for Granada to be a better book. Nonetheless, it's reasonably entertaining, and I enjoyed seeing a different side of Walter Dean Myers. At his best, he's one of my favorites.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-01-08 00:00:00 Joe Martin I bought this book from our local library because 1) I wanted to support the library, 2) this book looked interesting, and 3) I want to start reading more chapter books to my Kindergarten son. I can't say that I loved this book, but I did mostly like it. Obviously, an allegory, but I'm not sure how much kids will pick up on that. Still, it might be a good way to introduce my son to historical events.