Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Dragonspell by Donita K. Paul Review

DragonSpell (DragonKeeper Chronicles, #1)

Goodreads: One Dragon Egg Holds the Key to the Future.

Once a slave, Kale is given the unexpected opportunity to become a servant to Paladin. Yet this young girl has much to learn about the difference between slavery and service.

A Desperate Search Begins…

A small band of Paladin’s servants rescue Kale from danger but turn her from her destination: The Hall, where she was to be trained. Feeling afraid and unprepared, Kale embarks on a perilous quest to find the meech dragon egg stolen by the foul Wizard Risto. First, she and her comrades must find Wizard Fenworth. But their journey is threatened when a key member of the party is captured, leaving the remaining companions to find Fenworth, attempt an impossible rescue, and recover the egg whose true value they have not begun to suspect…

Weaving together memorable characters, daring adventure, and a core of eternal truth, Dragonspell is a finely crafted and welcome addition to the corpus of fantasy fiction.

My take: This is a perfect book for a middle school age child who enjoys fantasy fiction.  It's an allegory and obviously contains symbolism which may or may not be missed by the younger reader, depending on their maturity. It is the story of Kale, an ordinary girl with unique gifts and her quest to her goal which simultaneously leads her to a better understanding of herself and her relationship with God.

In the same vein as C.S. Lewis, the author weaves an interesting story with Divine  symbolism which is an extension of the child's (and adult's) personal spiritual journey. Very well written. Clean read. No swearing. Excellent character development. Story moves quickly and keeps the reader engaged.

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