Third in Talon Series by Gigi Sedlmayer Best Adventure Story Yet! Child to Adult Readers Will Love!

These children have been saved from the streets of Peru and given a chance of a new life...

Enjoy While You Visit Matica and Talon!

Waking up again, Matica opened one eye to see if it was morning. Since she could make out some shapes, it was the crack of dawn, but no rays of the sun shone into her room, yet. She closed her eyes again and listened. Everything was quiet, but she could hear from far away some birds twittering, singing their mystical morning songs. Recalling the dream she had in the middle of the night, she pondered about it. Where do dreams come from? Are they telling you what you think, what you will have, the future, what you want to have, what you fear? Is it the conscious of oneself, the mind of yourself, what you think can happen? Or is a dream telling you what will happen, without you knowing that you think about it? Or is a dream just coming, not at all telling you what will be, or what should be. Or is a dream telling you something and is warning you of things to come, or not to come? Or should you dismiss a dream at all? Oh, I wish I knew, because that dream of mine was strange. Changing into animals? But I have to say it was a great dream. Particularly being Talon. Flapping my wings. Yeah. Talon. Only the ending. What does that mean? ‘All will be fine’. Will something happen on our trip? She quickly prayed that God would protect her and her father, that God would have his arms around them on the way to Cajamarca and back.



Talon: Flight for Life
Book Three of the Talon Series

By Gigi Sedlmayer

I loved this third book in the Talon Series! I guarantee you will too! If you haven't already read any of the series, check out my reviews for the first two:

Talon: Come Fly With Me and Talon: On the Wing, especially if you want to see some closeups of who Talon is! You see, the main character of the series is a Condor! And, of course, Matica!

Talon

Tamo and Tima

Matica is what we call in America a "Little Person." She is the daughter in a family of four who have moved from Australia to Peru to be missionaries. It was very hard for Matica because the Indians were either afraid of her or thought she was possessed...They didn't know that there were other people like Matica... Well, actually, during the stories, there is one little boy, but that is a sad part of the books, but does emphasize how the Indians reacted to Matica. Until... two large birds came into her life and, later, Talon, was born... Now the key thing was that, because of her size, Matica was able to fly on the back of Talon! That's now a long time ago and the three condors are just like members of the family, except for Matica's father who is not to sure about them...

Crayn said, shrugging his shoulders, "We don't
know where dreams come from or why we do
dream. I think that the mind is working out
something. Unconsciously. But the thing is when
you thought the dream might come true, the
dream told you not to worry. So don't worry."
Mira nodded then kissed her daughter, saying,
"That's right. It's nothing to worry about."
Mira grinned at her, but she knew she was
kidding herself. She was worried and fearful
but didn't dare to show the fear in her face
to her husband or her daughter...Mira prayed
a quick prayer in her mind: Lord, watch over
them. Let Tamo be with them and keep them
safe. She said, "Dad has walked that route
do many times already. Nothing will happen.
~~~

By now, everybody knows about Matica and her condors! At least those who are Indians, because the news spreads rapidly through their communities... But, in the third book, Matica is scheduled to go to visit a large city, Cajamarca, with her father. The trip will be for 5 days...they will walk there...

Because of how she was treated when they first moved to their village, Matica is worried about traveling to other places, but they are planning a trip home to Australia, which she's not sure about either, and they need to go, make arrangements, and get supplies. In the past, only her father has made the trip.

The main fear, however, is that Matica will be away from her friends, the condors. She has seen them every day and flown with them. She knows she will miss them, but what will they think?

The first thing readers will discover is that the condors are very intelligent. Of course, we don't know how they are truly, but in the story, most of what Matica says is understood and acted upon!

The other reason was because of the dream she had--she told her parents about it, but they didn't want Matica to become afraid...

But was the dream really foretelling something?

And then it was time to set off, but this time, Matica's sadness made the time much longer...She was hugging everybody as the condors watched. But even Matica was surprised when it happened!

You see, they had been watching all this and then jumped down to participate. Matica hugged Tamo and Tima, planning to save Talon for last...but he wasn't waiting!

She embraced them both, having her arms around their necks, but still her head was hanging onto her chest. Talon stood still in front of her, just looking at her. Suddenly she felt someone pushing and squeezing between Tamo and Tima. When Tamo and Tima stepped aside, Talon grunted and purred into her face , poking at her nose. But it didn’t cheer her up. Then he watched the flow of her tears as they ran down her cheeks like little streams. He licked them off. Next she fell around his neck, embracing him tightly. ‘Oh, Talon,’ she mumbled with a broken voice into his tummy, surrounding it with her arms and pressing it hard. But then Talon lifted his wings and embraced her again with his wings, pressing her into his tummy. ‘Oh, Talon,’ she said into his tummy again. ‘I love you so much.’ Her mumbled voice touched Tamo and Tima’s hearts and she could feel their beaks poking into Talon’s wings. Matica mumbled out of his wings, ‘It’s so great, wonderful, glorious, outstanding, superb, magnificent, splendid, brilliant.’ Her tears mingled with Talon’s tummy feathers. Minutes later Talon slowly opened his wings only to let Matica drop into Tamo’s embrace the same way, as he stood ready to receive her. Matica’s voice broke down. ‘Oh, Tamo. You like his cuddle. So do I. I love you so much. Thank you.’ Staying in his embrace for a while, she felt somebody knocking at Tamo’s wing. Matica peered between Tamo’s wing feathers and saw Tima with spread out wings ready to embrace her. Delighted, she said, ‘Thank you. You really know I’m going with Dad tomorrow and comfort me. Thank you so much. I love you so much.’ All three birds nodded in unison and grunted. Tamo let go of her and she fell into Tima’s embrace . For a second she saw that Talon shook his head in surprise. But she didn’t say anything to him yet because she wanted to enjoy the embrace with Tima. ‘I love you, Tima.’ But when she let her go after several minutes, she went to Talon and said to him, stroking him over his face, ‘Why are you surprised that your parents want to give me that wonderful embrace as well? Don’t be. They love it because they love me and certainly I love it from all of you, because I love you all so much.’ She embraced Talon. ‘I know you started it. But let them do it to me as well. I certainly love it.’ Next Tima and Tamo went to Talon and kissed him. It looked to Matica as if they were thanking him for showing them how to embrace their best friend. Talon just grinned, playing naive. ‘Well, I think it’s time to depart now,’ Matica said sadly, letting her head drop again. ‘That’s it.’ The tears flowed once more. She couldn’t control it.

~~~

Ok, a little mushy, but they all loved each other! LOL And, because this was the very first real embrace from the condors, Matica was hoping, although not totally confident, that they would join them sometimes on their trip. And they did!

An interesting thing happened for Matica's father, Crayn, as they started to walk. After Matica had gotten past being sad, she started noticing...everything! Crayn admitted that he'd not seen most of what she called attention to, since he had just walked, watching the ground. Well, there was just so much that Matica had never seen, her head must have been turning all the way around! Birds to the left of them...

And Spider Monkeys to the right!

Until one brave little guy decided to find out more...

Watching the monkeys and eating their lunch, Matica was on her last one when one monkey suddenly came running along the long, fat branch that was nearest to them. Hopping over another monkey that was sitting there grooming itself, the running monkey stopped short of the end of the branch and, bending down, it stared at them, making hilarious faces. Matica laughed. Crayn grinned. ‘Isn’t he cute,’ Matica said. ‘He? Oh, right, yes.’ Next Matica stretched out her arm towards him with the last piece of bread and, opening her mouth, she wanted to say, ‘You want this?’ But before she could say the words, that movement had frightened him. The monkey jumped up then ran screaming back over the branch, bumping into the other monkey. The other monkey lost its grip and fell, screaming. But quick as it was it curled its tail around the branch, dangling until it pulled itself up. Screaming, it ran after the other monkey who was running away. Catching up with him, it slapped him in the back. The bold monkey stopped and turned around then slapped the other monkey in the face. And now a screaming and slapping fight broke out between these two monkeys. But soon they both disappeared between the others. Disappointed, Matica pursed her lips. ‘That was a bold monkey, but now he’s gone. I can’t make him out between all the others. Do you think he’ll come back?’ Crayn shrugged his shoulders. ‘If he’s curious and bold enough, he’ll come back, if he’s finished fighting. Well, that was hilarious, wasn’t it?’

 ‘Yes, that was.’ And then she called, ‘Here monkey, monkey, this bread is for you. You can have it when you come back before I eat can have it when you come back before I eat it.’ She waited for a few seconds but nothing happened. ‘He’s gone,’ she said, disappointed and wanting to bite into her bread when her father said, ‘Don’t give up too quickly. We have a little time.’ Not biting into her last piece of bread and closing her mouth again, she held it out again. Matica prayed silently: Lord, let that one come again. It would be so much fun. Then she sang out, ‘Here monkey, monkey, monkey, I have nice and delicious bread for you. I know you would want it. But you have to come to get it...can have it when you come back before I eat it.’ She waited for a few seconds but nothing happened. ‘He’s gone,’ she said, disappointed and wanting to bite into her bread when her father said, ‘Don’t give up too quickly. We have a little time.’ Not biting into her last piece of bread and closing her mouth again, she held it out again. Matica prayed silently: Lord, let that one come again. It would be so much fun. Then she sang out, ‘Here monkey, monkey, monkey, I have nice and delicious bread for you. I know you would want it. But you have to come to get it.’

~~~

So do you think Matica made friends with that monkey? You bet she did, and she even saw him on the return trip...

Now one important thing I'll mention before I move on...Matica had been very young when they moved to Peru, so she had forgotten any of the modern conveniences that were found in a large city. But the best was that all of the children already knew her and were very friendly! Readers will enjoy her reaction to, for instance, the hotel where they stayed...and the grocery store where they could find so many different varieties of the same thing... Just like I always think--how do you make a decision which to buy?!

 

Ahhhh, but the excitement hasn't even started and it certainly surpasses all the amazing things Matica and readers had already learned about! 

Only one clue before I close... I'm just not sure which is the bad guy...but...if you're in Peru, walking along, watch out for the Spiders!

Give the Guy A Chance!

There is an underlying story in this series about the need to evaluate people...and animals...by more than just their looks! How many of you have loved Beauty and the Beast. If you enjoyed the TV program as much as I did, surely you won't mind meeting... Talon and his family!

In case you haven't realized it since I'm sharing so much! I loved this book and am adding it to my personal favorites for 2015...So much to discover--in so many wonderful ways! Don't miss this one...It's a long novel but older children and teens, I think, will enjoy it just like we adults!

By the way, Matica and her father also visited the Rain Forest and Machu Picchu in this book. We visited there yesterday, remember? So, if you haven't seen the pictures for these beautiful places, as well as my review of the children's cultural program and visiting Peru, do check it out before you leave!

GABixlerReviews

Gisela (Gigi) Sedlmayer was born on 19 May 1944 in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin in Germany.
Her family escaped to the West just before the infamous wall went up. They moved around in Germany until finally settling in Munich where Gigi studied architectural drafting and met Albert in 1965, marrying in December 1967. She worked as a civil draftsperson in various private consultancies in Munich.
Since her uncle was a writer, she tried to write short animal stories herself. Nothing further came of it, but she developed a love for the written word and started to consume books.
In May 1975, Gigi and her husband moved to New Zealand. Because of language challenges, she started a handicraft business. As a specialty, she made colourful parrots of which she sold thousands in a few years.
In 1988, they decided to adopt and became adoptive parents of twin girls the year after. They lived in New Zealand for eighteen years and moved to Australia in September 1992.
Two years later Gigi was diagnosed with cancer. After operations and radiation, she withdrew, thinking that she would probably soon be dead, like her friend who died of cancer, but her two little girls gave her the courage to keep going. After a few years, still among the living, her brain started to work again, so she thought, 'Get a grip on yourself and do something good with your life'.
She remembered the time she wrote short stories and got inspired again, seeing her husband Albert writing the story of their adoption. Her English became increasingly better so she pressed on to develop her creative writing.
Albert taught her how to use a computer and she wrote many short stories. She entered them in competitions and often got very good reports back, which gave her confidence to go on writing. One day the idea for the TALON series came to her and she spent the next several years bringing the story and the characters to life.
She now loves writing and spends most of her time at the computer, developing new story lines. She also loves travelling, 4x4 touring, swimming, gardening, handcrafting, reading, fossicking and enjoys good adventure DVD's or going to the movies.