joseftsach

I read Flight to Dragon Isle before I read this book. I have thoroughly enjoyed both. It's great to see a novel for confident readers with illustrations as well. Quenelda, the daughter of Earl Rufus DeWinter, has a strong affinity with dragons. She was born in the dragon roost, in secret, then claimed by her father for the protection both of her mother and her. (Reading as an adult, I think I can guess who her mother is, but I don't think a child reader would). Her father is the commander of the Stealth Dragon Services, and Quenelda is raised around the dragon stables. She is confident around the dragons, but impatient with others who aren't. Root Oakley is a gnome, the orphaned son of a scout for the SDS who is killed in a reconnaisance mission, checking on the hobgoblin forces, for there is a war going on between the hobgoblins and the other peoples of the Seven Seas Kingdom, and a very powerful traitor. Root saw first his mother and siblings killed by the hobgoblins, then his father is killed by them. He is taken on as a stable boy, but is terrified of the dragons. In order to curb Quenelda's arrogance about her abilities, her father appoints Root as her esquire. This is a great book. Alongside the magic and fantasy, which I love, there is also a very identifiable story of a lonely girl, rejected by her half brother and despised by other girls, and a boy suffering the trauma of losing his family, regaining his confidence. I am very excited about this new series, and would recommend it to fans of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Artemis Fowl but also children who like books about horses; the relationship between Quenelda and her dragons is similar to that between children and horses in the pony books I loved as a 9 to 11 year old.

2022-11-14 16:49