Okay ... enough dragon talk! Time for some cool evaluation of
Donita K. Paul's DragonLight, last book in the DragonKeeper Chronicles.
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 ... 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.
A Message For Anti-Dragon Christians
(Spoiler WARNING Here)
This didn't occur to me until the end where I smelled it strongly. 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 Donita has fallen under some harsh and possibly hateful criticism by well-meaning Christians, and this is her way of fighting back. Catharsis!
Overall Impression
An excellent book, and one I recommend! Check back tomorrow for more positives.
Here are the other tour members:
Views: 54
Published by Robert Treskillard
Robert Treskillard is a teller of epic tales, lover of mythic history, sometime bladesmith, happy husband, dad, and granddad.
An award-winning author, he has crafted, and continues to craft, a new and wondrous tale of King Arthur and his adviser, Merlin.
Look for MERLIN'S BLADE, MERLIN'S SHADOW, and MERLIN'S NIGHTMARE—the books of The Merlin Spiral, published by Blink Young Adult Books / HarperCollins Focus.
View all posts by Robert Treskillard
Man, what insight. Do you do counseling for writers who have been bashed for dragon-use? I also have wizard backlash to contend with.
To be fair, (SPOILER!)the fact that the leader of the cult turned out to be a meech was another slam against poor Gilda who thought her race could do nothing but good.
Donita,
I hadn’t thought about that connection of the Follower’s leader to Gilda’s pride issues … that does tie together nicely. It was painful to watch her expectations destroy her, but aren’t we all like that in some way? We find those we look down at loved by God just as much as ourselves and this humbles us.
-Robert
Interesting theory about the “Anti-Dragon Christians!” I caught a glimmer of that as well but couldn’t quite articulate it.
Great post!
John … thanks for stopping by! I enjoyed your posts, too. And congrats on finaling in the Genesis Contest … I’m still considering going to the ACFW conference, and hope to have a decision next week. Maybe we can meet … I’m from the Twin Cities originally, so its going home for me and can visit family and friends.
Robert, a great post. I noted some of the things you mentioned–rushed ending for example–but others didn’t bother me, maybe because I’ve read the other books.
The hating dragons is interesting. I never once thought of it outside the story. In other words, I was thinking of it in terms of Christians falling under persecution, much the way Paladin was being kept apart from the others.
That’s where I think a lot of the reviews have fallen short. Too easily people are dismissing the story as not having depth, but I think there’s a lot here to think about regarding the church and what we do or don’t do to stay healthy.
Becky
You know, I hadn’t really thought about other lessons from the book applying to the church and how we live. But there really is a lot there. If I spent enough time thinking and analyzing the book, I could probably come up with a whole other post just on that topic!