DragonSpell

"Dragonspell" is a fun, wholesome fantasy novel which I thoroughly enjoyed both as a child and again as an adult. The quality of the novel mostly holds up under my most recent reading, but several weaknesses have also come to light. It is a solid beginning to a series which takes place in a deep and intricate world. The book is entertaining throughout and able to easily hold one’s attention when the action is occurring; however, pockets of exposition litter the volume, and when it is exposition time, get ready to wade through a fair bit of it. Whether descriptions of history, dragons, magic systems, or the seven high and seven low races, the details of the world are rarely delivered in an expert fashion, bogging the story down in places. Exposition is crammed into lulls in the action like traveling sequences, making those scenes stretch on for too long and adversely affecting the pacing of the story. The most notable issue with pacing occurs near the end of the story but, due to spoilers, I have relegated that discussion to my rants and rambles. What carried the book for me as a child were the characters. While many are one-dimensional and seem to exist only to provide solutions to problems along the quest and ensure the protagonist meets each of the seven high races, several of the main supporting characters receive good development. The main protagonist, Kale, is relatable, likable, and well-developed. My only complaint here is the basic and repetitive nature of many of her internal dialogues and debates. The simplicity of her dilemmas is understandable given the age of the target audience, but the repetitiveness has no excuse. Despite its flaws, this book is ultimately an exciting read, great for young audiences and good for older readers as well. I would definitely recommend this for pre-teens, either to read alone or with their parents.

My son is big into dragons right now. He loves fantasy. How nice it was to find a book which not only indulged that but had a good message. My husband read this book to both of my boys as bedtime reading. They loved it. The message does not beat you over the head as some Christian fiction does, but is much more subtle at least for the kids. My 10 and almost 12 year olds were entrhalled and can't wait to read the sequel.

This book was a surprise. The bookstore I work at gave this to me to read and review and I was innitially skeptical... there have only been a handful of Christian authors to successfully pull off fantasy (Lewis, Tolkien, L'Engle) and I doubted if any new Christian fantasy would do anything other than try to Christianize Harry Potter (GP Taylor). I turned out to be wrong (and went on to read "Raising Dragons" by Bryon Davis which is also quality)... and I'm glad I gave the book a chance. Donita K. Paul doesn't try to force a story but let's the story weave it's self. She creates great characters who are believable. When the characters aren't perfect you understand because you have been in simular situations where misunderstandings happen. Most encouraging was how the story could be read and enjoyed without feeling like the book was preaching at you. Paul uses some allegory, but it is subtle and tasteful... not quite as subtle as Tolkien (who hated allegory and just wrote stories...) but not as obvious as Lewis (who intentinally wrote allegorically). People who don't share the Christian faith should be able to read this story, like Lord of the Rings, without feeling like Paul is trying to trick them into any kind of religious belief.

Dragonspell by Donita K. Paul is a fantasy about Kale, a slave girl who finds a dragon's egg. The elders in her village free her from slavery since, after all, she now owns a dragon's egg, and send her far away to The Hall to learn. Kale may indeed now have a dragon's egg, but other than that, she feels the same as always. She expects to be a servant in The Hall now, much like a slave, which is the only thing she knows, so that's okay. On her journey she finds seven more dragon eggs. Every move she makes leads her away from her destination, despite her determination to get to The Hall. She is dragged along on a journey with a band, who keep telling her she's meant to use her special gifts. Kale has no gifts except obeying. Her companions tell her she has the gift of finding dragon eggs. The entire book is full of fun and adventure. Timid Kale turns into a plucky adventurer by necessity not choice. Despite her desire to obey her village elders and go to The Hall, she's having fun - fun interrupted by terror as the evil Wizard Rizzo tries to turn Kale to his side, so he can use her to find dragon eggs. In fantasy writing the challenge is `world creating'. In the best tradition of Lord of the Rings, Donita K. Paul creates a world with creatures good and evil. She conjures plants and animals with her vivid words. Paul creates an adventure so fast paced and death defying that it doesn't matter what the world around Kale looks like, but you can still see it. Dragonspell is for adults as well as children. It's funny and inspiring. The good guys are intrepid. Kale, the reluctant heroine, rises brilliantly to the challenge set before her. The evil Wizard meets his match with the all powerful Wulder and his fellow warrior Paladin. Dragonspell was an uplifting change of pace for me. An interesting respite from the romance and danger of most novels I read.