Monday, June 30, 2008

Here Be Dragons challenge


The Here Be Dragons challenge ends today. Our mission was to read 3 to 5 dragon books between 1st January 2008 and 30th June 2008. I managed to read five. I have reveiws of the first two, but the other three got caught in my extended "CFS brain fuzz" of 2008, so I'm going to pop a short paragraph about each into my list here.
  1. Dragon Blood - Patricia Briggs Finished 15-Jan-08: Review here

  2. Dragonhaven - Robin McKinley Finished 12-Feb-08: Review here

  3. Rhapsody - Elizabeth Haydon Finished 6-Mar-08
    This was a great start to an excellent fantasy series and I have started the second book, but not got far yet. As far as dragons go, they don't appear in the flesh in this book (I belive that happens in the one I'm reading now) but they are a firm and established part of the world's mythology and are fundamental to the founding of at least one major civilisation. So I feel this still qualifies for the challenge despite the physical lack of dragons. This promises to be an excellent series and I'm really glad it was suggested to me to read.

  4. Here, There Be Dragons - James A. Owen Finished 11-Apr-08
    This was published as a YA book and I think the writing is aimed at that audience, but it was still a very pleasant read. The dragons here are rainbow coloured ships that can carry people between our world and the Archipelago of Dreams where mythological and fictional creatures live and the fate of which will determine that of our own (and vice versa). The main protagonists find themselves caretakers of a precious book of maps and on one of these dragons ships headed into adventure. Other dragonships appear as the book pregresses and battle is waged against evil. This is a pleasant series, although I do think it is probably better suited to teens than adults. I may continue to read the books, but haven't decided yet.

  5. The Changeling Sea - Patricia A. McKillip Finished 15-Jun-08: Comment here
    This book contains one of the most wonderful dragons. A sea dragon, it appears out of the sea chained by a golden chain. When the folks of the nearby fishing village find a magician to set it free, young Peri finds herself caught up in the fate of dragons, princes and kings. It is a beautiful book, beautifully and lyrically written and I highly recommend it to anyone. Don't let its YA designation put you off as it is a delight for anyone and a wonderful introduction to McKillip's beautiful writing.
This was a fun challenge and I'm very glad I joined in with it.

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