Dragons Be Here

First off, I want to say sorry for the long absence. I got caught up in a lot of homework and then it was just really hard to get started again. But I'm back now and hopefully I'll be able to keep this up for a while yet.

Seraphina

By Rachel Hartman



'Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.'

Seraphina is one of the best dragon books I've read in a long time and I felt like I really couldn't sum it up anymore concisely then the summary on the back of the book.

 It begins with both a birth and a funeral. Prince Rufus has been found murdered in a suspiciously draconian method and this does not bode well for continued peace.

Seraphina is a very gifted musician who is the assistant to the court composer and whose father is intimately involved with making sure the treaty is kept. She gains much attention for the haunting solo she plays at this funeral and soon she is teaching Princess Glisselda harpsichord.

Of course soon she has learned things she'd rather not and Seraphina's deepest secret is threatening to be revealed.

One of the things I love most about this book is the dragons themselves. While they may look human it is very plain to anyone who meets them that they are not. They move awkwardly and stiffly, their blood is silver, and they don't understand emotions well at all. The newer the dragon the more obvious their wrongness.

Political intrigue and mystery are also elements that I really enjoy in this book. There are players on both sides that don't want the treaty to work. On the human side, we have The Sons of St. Ogdo, who believe that Dragons are all monsters that should be wiped out and not allowed to integrate their evil into society. While on the dragon side, we have old Dragon Generals who feel that they gain very little with this peace and lose much, most notably their hoards.

It is very unclear throughout the book, until the end that is, just who it is that benefits from the death of Prince Rufus.

Someone did complain that some of the names in this book were too similar and that made it confusing, but I didn't find it to be that much of a distraction.

There is some romance, but I thought that it felt more like a subplot rather then a major component of the plotline.

Overall I found this to be a very sophisticated young adult book. It's 467 pages so it's longer then some of the books I've reviewed but I don't think it's a laborious length at all.

Two for the Price of One

Today I'm writing about two books by the same author, yay, hence the title of the post.

I love this author's name, Vivian Vande Velde. It sounds so fantastical. I'm sure that it's a pen name but still. Okay, I just wanted to get that out there before I started to talk about the books.

Dragon's Bait

By Vivian Vande Velde

Accused of being a witch by a greedy neighbor Aly is left as an appeasement to a dragon that has recently moved into the area.

The dragon isn't interested and would have passed by but Aly herself unwittingly draws his attention. 

Now Aly is faced with the decision of whether or not to take the dragon, Selendrile, up on his offer of revenge, and is that really what she wants?

Dragon's Bait is a very short book, only 196 pages. It was the first book by this author that I ever read and it was a good representation of the kind of books she writes. Quirky, yet it seems like a straightforward story at first glance. It's probably most suited for 10-15 years old but its an entertaining simple story anyway.

There are many classic fantasy elements to this story: A falsely accused main character, a young female left as an offering to a dragon, a quest of revenge, disguises that may or may not work in real life.

There are some twists as well, dragons can speak any language but only when they have taken on that shape which uses that language.

I have to confess I hate books that seem to have an obvious moral to the story. It always makes me feel like the author just created a story for the sake of rubbing a moral in my face. But someone else pointed out to me that there is a small moral at the end of this book. And I'm not telling you what it is so you have to go read it yourself.

Heir Apparent

By Vivian Vande Velde

At an unspecified point in the future, technology will have progressed to the point that you can go to gaming centers and be completely immersed in a variety of games. 

You are the character and the character is you. Your thoughts are your character's thoughts and your character's pain is your pain.

For Giannine's birthday her father's secretary sends her a gift card to Rasmussen Gaming Center and she's determined to make the most of it even braving a protest to get into the center.

Heir Apparent is a game with many ways to win. All you have to do is survive long enough to be crowned king. Unfortunately Giannine isn't as good at this as she would like and she keeps dying. 

Then something happens. It's different this time and she receives a message from outside the game. The equipment she's connected to has been damaged and they can't pull her out because of her immersion. The only way to get out is for her to win the game, but she only has a few hours left before permanent brain damage occurs. 

Now Giannine is stuck in a court full of deceivers with no idea of who to trust and time is running out.

I found Giannine a little annoying at first but I kept reading because I found the premise of the book to be so intriguing.

This is a little longer than Dragon's Bait, about 250 pages I would guess. It's perfect for 12 and up.