July 18th, 2008

Okay … enough dragon talk! Time for some serious evaluation of Donita K. Paul’s DragonLight, last book in the DragonKeeper Chronicles.

Today I’m going to get my minor-minor-gripes out of the way so that I can end tomorrow on a real positive note. This is a great book, so take this with a grain of salt!

Follow up:

The Title: DragonLight

Did the title really have anything to do with the book? I couldn’t figure out any direct connection. Anyone else find it?

This Book Will Be Enjoyed More By Women and Younger Adults

Don’t get me wrong … I enjoyed reading it immensely. But let’s not pretend that a woman wouldn’t enjoy it more! Here are a few examples:

• Wardrobe Magic. Kale has the ability to reshape, recolor, and restyle her clothing at will. This is every woman’s dream, and my wife pegged it right away. Did her husband, Bardon, have the ability to reshape his sword any way he likes … a spear, a lance, a roto-drill? Not a chance.
  
  
• The ending of the book. Now I don’t want to give a spoiler here, but it wasn’t done by the men, let’s say.
  
  
• The minor-dragons are cute. Yes, cute. I enjoyed them, but let’s face facts, here!
  
  
• Motherhood was a big theme. Dragon Eggs. Meech Eggs. A Miraculous Egg. Pregnancy & Babies. A cute, wonderfully written baby. This is enjoyable stuff, but I’m personally looking for a bit more action.
  
  
• The ideal husband. Note that there IS a strong and good message for guys here. Bardon is a great example of an attentive, self-sacrificing husband, and that is what every woman wants. So guys, even if this book isn’t your cup of tea, you can still take note and learn a thing.

And remember … this isn’t really a gripe considering the fact that 80% of all Christians who buy books are women. In a sense, this is key to the success of the series and something I will struggle with in trying to convince a publisher to take on my own book.

There Are A Few MINOR Craft Issues

Nothing serious that would have prevented publication. These are my opinions.

• The Glossary Should Have Been At The Beginning. I read over 100 pages in utter confusion as to what these creatures were before I found the glossary.
  
  Not that it helped much. I still really have little idea what most of these creatures look like. An O’Rant? I have no idea. An Emerlendian? Pointy ears and their skin gets darker as they age. A Tumenhofer? Short.
  
  Now granted, I haven’t read the other books, but since the text failed to describe adequately what these people looked like the glossary should have been expanded for first time readers.
  
  
• A Few Anachronism’s. On page 211 they dunk torches in kerosene! Now granted, it was referred to in the 9th century—but it didn’t come into common use until the 1900s. Not that this fictional, created world couldn’t have kerosene, but it pulled me completely out of the story. Almost any type of oil burns just fine on torches, so why include kerosene and make me think about it?
  
  Also, just two pages previously, one of the minor dragons (whose specialty is architecture) does “Stress Analysis” to help rebuild a bakery. Stress Analysis? Again, it didn’t fit, was unnecessary, and slapped me right out of the story. Thankfully, these are rare.
  
  
• Preaching. A bit too much here, but I have issues like this in my own book. Very difficult to do right, and I think the author only stepped over that thin line twice. Not a serious complaint.
  
  
• No Real Danger To The Main Characters. Was Bardon really in danger at the end? Kale? I didn’t feel it. Not personally. Since this was written in close 3rd person, it would have been nice to have a more personal confrontation with the enemy. To smell the fear of death creeping closer.
  
  I also felt this way throughout the book … ho-hum, another fight. No one will die. No one will get hurt. Maybe some hair singes. Thankfully other parts of the book kept things going, and more on that tomorrow.
  
  
• Author Intrusion. At the ending of the story, the author has Kale tell us the meaning of the tale, which means that Kale herself realizes that she was inside an allegory. This could have been handled more subtly and didn’t fit the rest of the book.
  
  Maybe for younger readers it was fine, but as an adult, I felt like the author didn’t think I had a brain. If this telling had been left out, I might have pondered the meaning for a long period of time, but having it given to me on a platter the value and mystery was lost.
  
  
• The Ending Seemed Rushed. At the uttermost end, after I labored with the characters long and hard to get to that exciting moment when the enemy was vanquished—it was handled in a few short sentences!
  
  This happened in my daughter’s first plot where she spent the entire book having a character seek a special sword, and then it was handed over to some people as if it were a toaster and worth nothing. I felt cheated, and told her so, so she changed her book dramatically. This is how I felt here. Cheated.
  
  I longed for more excitement. Struggle. Fear. But the wind blew and it was over.
  
  
• The Forgotten Prophecy. I can’t find the page anymore, but early on in the book, there was a prophecy about a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and the need to not let them in the fold. I spent the whole book trying to figure out who this traitor was, only to find it played ZERO part in the rest of the book.
  
  Was it Toopka? The author hinted. Was it Namee? Hmmmm. Was it Holt? Hahumm. But the answer was: Nope. Nada. No one. It was just a ruse. Or something edited out. I don’t know, but I’ve been told that when you show a smoking gun in Act I, it should go off in Act III.
  
  
• Believability. I had trouble with the ending. How the person who saves the day did what they did defies me. Nothing was planted in this person’s character prior to that point for me to believe they had the guts to do that. My opinion, again.
  
  Maybe it would have been better if that scene would have been written from HER perspective, and that would have solved a lot of things … I would have smelled her fear, understood her bravery, what was going on inside her head.

An Axe To Grind Against Anti-Dragon Christians

(Spoiler WARNING Here)

This didn’t occur to me until the end where I smelled it long and strong. In the book there is a cult that is taking over the land with false teachings. One of these teachings is that all dragons are bad. Well, in the end it is found out that this cult is led by someone who transferred hatred for Mot Angra (a black dragon who represents Satan) to ALL dragons.

Now I see the author’s point in this, and it raises an important issue: Are all dragons bad? Because Satan is portrayed in the Bible as a Serpent and a Dragon—should Christians always portray dragons in a negative light in fiction?

Perhaps the author has fallen under some harsh and possibly hateful criticism by well-meaning Christians, and this is her way of fighting back, but I felt like the axe was a little too obvious. And preaching to the choir in the sense that anyone reading her books long enough to get to the last one doesn’t need to hear this message.

Maybe it was just catharsis!

Overall Impression

Despite these minor flaws, an excellent book, and one I recommend! Check back tomorrow for the long list of positives.

Here are the other tour members: