Melissa B. (dragoneyes) -
Helpful Score: 2
I love dragon stories of all kinds. This one lived up to it's expectations. It was about a girl named Rosalind (Rose) who was filled with shame. She was born with a dragon's claw instead of a finger. Her mother made her wear gloves in order to conceal the claw and sent healer's to try to fix the problem. This just made her feel even more shameful until one day she is whisked off by a true dragon. She is made to take care of the 4 babies he has since her "kind" killed their mother. There her claw is looked at as a thing of beauty. Rose (renamed Briar by the dragons) works hard while she's there and learns of the dragon history and also finds her true self. It's a story of growing up and seeing both sides of the story. The only downfall to the book was the amount of death that took place in such a small book. I found it to be quite depressing. Otherwise, I highly recommend this book.
Dahlia (bookworm222) - reviewed Dragon's Keep (Wilde Island Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I absolutely loved this book when i read it. It kept you very interested! A great teen read (since I am a teenager :P) But yeah, it's a great read!
Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed Dragon's Keep (Wilde Island Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 2527 more book reviews
Prior to reading this book I read, and really enjoyed, Dragonswood. Dragonswood made me want to go back and pick up the first book in the Wilde Island series. The two books are only loosely related (this one takes place quite a while before the story in Dragonswood and focuses on different characters). This was a beautifully written story that moves very slowly.
Princess Rosalind (Rosie to her friends) is born with one finger that is a dragon claw. Her mother goes to great lengths to hide Rosie's flaw in hopes that Rosie will someday be cured and able to marry Prince Henry. Rosie spends most of her life worrying about hiding her shameful finger. Then she is carried off by a dragon and everything changes.
The writing here is beautiful and I loved the traditional fantasy type of setting. However, the story really takes a long time to get going and moves slowly. I also didn't like how passive our heroine Rosie was throughout.
Rosie is a very damaged girl and she undergoes some fairly horrific trials. Pretty much one horrible thing after another happens to her. She is one of the heroines where reading about her just makes you tired and sad...too many bad things happen to her.
Given all of her trials I was a bit disappointed in how abruptly and neatly everything was tied up. Despite all Rosie's efforts it ends up being the word and support of someone else who solves her problem. Then the whole story is tied up in just a few pages at the end. It was an unsatisfying ending; rushed and contrived feeling. The way the ended was done seemed to really make all of Rosie's suffering seem a bit hollow.
Overall this is beautifully written but slow and hard to engage in. I really enjoyed Dragonswood much much more than this book. Given that I am unsure if I will read the third book in this series or not right now. I would definitely recommend Dragonswood to fantasy lovers, but I think I would skip reading Dragon's Keep unless you really want to learn the history of what happened before Dragonswood.
Princess Rosalind (Rosie to her friends) is born with one finger that is a dragon claw. Her mother goes to great lengths to hide Rosie's flaw in hopes that Rosie will someday be cured and able to marry Prince Henry. Rosie spends most of her life worrying about hiding her shameful finger. Then she is carried off by a dragon and everything changes.
The writing here is beautiful and I loved the traditional fantasy type of setting. However, the story really takes a long time to get going and moves slowly. I also didn't like how passive our heroine Rosie was throughout.
Rosie is a very damaged girl and she undergoes some fairly horrific trials. Pretty much one horrible thing after another happens to her. She is one of the heroines where reading about her just makes you tired and sad...too many bad things happen to her.
Given all of her trials I was a bit disappointed in how abruptly and neatly everything was tied up. Despite all Rosie's efforts it ends up being the word and support of someone else who solves her problem. Then the whole story is tied up in just a few pages at the end. It was an unsatisfying ending; rushed and contrived feeling. The way the ended was done seemed to really make all of Rosie's suffering seem a bit hollow.
Overall this is beautifully written but slow and hard to engage in. I really enjoyed Dragonswood much much more than this book. Given that I am unsure if I will read the third book in this series or not right now. I would definitely recommend Dragonswood to fantasy lovers, but I think I would skip reading Dragon's Keep unless you really want to learn the history of what happened before Dragonswood.
Jessica P. (celestial-winter) reviewed Dragon's Keep (Wilde Island Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 31 more book reviews
It was a good story. Loved Sir Faul and storyline involved but the love interest was too rushed. I didn't feel like there was a connection between the two and there wasn't enough build up to set up the relationship. Other than that, it was pretty good. I recommend for dragon lovers :)
Jennifer W. (GeniusJen) reviewed Dragon's Keep (Wilde Island Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 5322 more book reviews
Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com
Rosalind's fate was written in the stars, read by Merlin, some 600 years before she was born. A direct descendant of the Pendragon line, her ancestor, Evaine, was the younger sister of King Arthur. Evaine married an outlaw and was banished to Wilde Island and erased from family history, setting Rosalind's destiny in motion. Three things are said of the twenty-first queen of Wilde Island; "She shall redeem the name Pendragon. End war with the wave of her hand. And restore the glory of Wilde Island."
Rosalind knows the prophecy well. She has been groomed for it her entire life. The way her mother sees it, England is in the midst of a civil war and Rosalind will marry Prince Henry, future king of England, thereby fulfilling all aspects of the prophecy. There are just a few problems. Having never met the Prince, what if he and Rosalind don't get along? Not that the Queen of England has officially contacted them yet, though it is assumed she is aware of the prophecy. With the recent dragon attacks on Wilde Island their military force is depleted, and may not be much help to England. Oh, and there's the little matter of Rosalind's ring finger. Instead of a finger it's a dragon's claw. So far she and her mother have hidden it behind golden gloves, but that won't work when Rosie is married. They MUST find a cure soon. A cure that is made harder to find due to the fact that the healers are never told what the exact problem is. Things are beginning to look bleak.
When an envoy from England comes to visit Wilde Island, things may be looking up a little. Especially since they've managed to slay the dragon that has been harassing the Island forever. It doesn't hurt that the one who killed the dragon is a handsome boy around Rosalind's age. At least in Rosalind's opinion, but her mother might not see it the same. Not that it's a concern for long. What should be one of the most triumphant moments in their history turns horrifying when the dragon's mate returns to punish the people, and takes a special interest in Rosalind. Before long, Rosalind's life will never be the same, and it doesn't look like the prophecy could ever possibly be fulfilled.
There is so much more to this book than I can tell you here! So many more levels and layers to the story. If I tried to fit it all in it would not only ruin the story, but end up nearly as long as the book! The relationships between the characters are so multi-leveled and very realistic. Rosalind may be a Princess with a dragon's claw in a faraway time and place, but her relationship with her mother is something you could see in anyone's life. Her desire to be normal and accepted are the same things everyone experiences as a teenager. So while the circumstances aren't something we experience every day, the people in them, and their reactions to them, are completely realistic and easy to relate to.
Part fairy tale, part mythology, part legend, all around fantastic! Read it! You'll be glad you did.
Rosalind's fate was written in the stars, read by Merlin, some 600 years before she was born. A direct descendant of the Pendragon line, her ancestor, Evaine, was the younger sister of King Arthur. Evaine married an outlaw and was banished to Wilde Island and erased from family history, setting Rosalind's destiny in motion. Three things are said of the twenty-first queen of Wilde Island; "She shall redeem the name Pendragon. End war with the wave of her hand. And restore the glory of Wilde Island."
Rosalind knows the prophecy well. She has been groomed for it her entire life. The way her mother sees it, England is in the midst of a civil war and Rosalind will marry Prince Henry, future king of England, thereby fulfilling all aspects of the prophecy. There are just a few problems. Having never met the Prince, what if he and Rosalind don't get along? Not that the Queen of England has officially contacted them yet, though it is assumed she is aware of the prophecy. With the recent dragon attacks on Wilde Island their military force is depleted, and may not be much help to England. Oh, and there's the little matter of Rosalind's ring finger. Instead of a finger it's a dragon's claw. So far she and her mother have hidden it behind golden gloves, but that won't work when Rosie is married. They MUST find a cure soon. A cure that is made harder to find due to the fact that the healers are never told what the exact problem is. Things are beginning to look bleak.
When an envoy from England comes to visit Wilde Island, things may be looking up a little. Especially since they've managed to slay the dragon that has been harassing the Island forever. It doesn't hurt that the one who killed the dragon is a handsome boy around Rosalind's age. At least in Rosalind's opinion, but her mother might not see it the same. Not that it's a concern for long. What should be one of the most triumphant moments in their history turns horrifying when the dragon's mate returns to punish the people, and takes a special interest in Rosalind. Before long, Rosalind's life will never be the same, and it doesn't look like the prophecy could ever possibly be fulfilled.
There is so much more to this book than I can tell you here! So many more levels and layers to the story. If I tried to fit it all in it would not only ruin the story, but end up nearly as long as the book! The relationships between the characters are so multi-leveled and very realistic. Rosalind may be a Princess with a dragon's claw in a faraway time and place, but her relationship with her mother is something you could see in anyone's life. Her desire to be normal and accepted are the same things everyone experiences as a teenager. So while the circumstances aren't something we experience every day, the people in them, and their reactions to them, are completely realistic and easy to relate to.
Part fairy tale, part mythology, part legend, all around fantastic! Read it! You'll be glad you did.
