Started out with a lot of visual description, more than we're used to these days, and then we remembered how many books we loved as a younger person were similar ... then the story itself picked up and we continued to enjoy it.
Especially enjoy it because while it's a book about gryfons (and wolves) it's not a paranormal romance about humans and werewolves.
Straightforward YA story/series, glad we purchased the set all at once so didn't have to wait to start the next one.