Carol N. (steelerfan) reviewed The Unexpected Dragon: Pigs Don't Fly / Master of Many Treasures / Dragonne's Eg on + 12 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Sumerdai's mother is the village whore. When Summer's mother dies she is thrown out into the world seeking a husband. Unwittingly she puts on her fathers ring (wich she later finds out is made from the horn of a unicorn and gives her the ability to talk to animals) Summer rescues a blind knight that has lost his memory, a shabby dog that is very unusual,a horse that is a princess in her land,a so called "flying pig" that gives even more suprises...
daedelys -
Helpful Score: 3
Pig's Don't Fly
This author does manage to write a tale that is quickly engrossing and has interesting characters. I've especially like that what I have read by her has had characters who didn't hold up to the "standards of beauty". (Initially anyways.) Somerdai is a large girl who grew up a little unconventionally and, after the death of her mother, had to set out on her own. I found it very fun how she was able to communicate to animals through the use of a magical ring, because she gained some wonderful traveling companions.
The book did lose a couple of points with me, though, because her character was given stereotypical psychological problem associated with someone who has low self-opinion of putting up with the B.S. of her male traveling companion because she thought him so handsome. There's also a few plot holes here and there as well as a frequency of bad encounters. It was done often enough that you started to see a pattern.
The story's general theme is quite juvenile, but due to language and sexual content, a parent may want to read it first to decide for themselves. But, overall, it was an interesting read with a pleasantly surprising ending.
Master of Many Treasures
I think that this story was a little better than the rest I've read in the series (so far) just because the ending was totally unexpected. Also, they didn't continually stumble upon a castle or a caravan that had people who were initially nice but only betrayed them later.
The feel of the story does tend to be a bit juvenile, which may make people think this book is okay for young adults, but the very adult topics and situations in it make it unsuitable for less mature readers.
In truth, I don't think I care for the character Somerdai (Summer) because she tends to be an idiot often, even though she thinks she isn't. (Obviously, it's not her fault, since the author wrote her that way, but how many times do you need to get a warning from your magic ring before you actually listen to it? And how many times does the same plot device need to be used in one story before the author gets a little more creative?) The characters do tend to be TSTL because they often do the exact opposite of what people warn them not to.
Overall though, I couldn't stop myself from reading this book. I don't know why I didn't put it down because I'd get quite disgusted with some of the idiocracy in it, but there was just something that kept me going.
Dragonne's Eg
I did think that this story started out slower than the previous ones in the series, but I kept on reading it because I wanted to find out what happened so I wasn't left with not having "story closure". It's set in the later 1800s, so it also felt weird reading a story set so much later than the previous ones.
I didn't like the lead character, Sophy, very much. Especially her annoying views on Christian "philosophy". She had several comments that drove me nuts. One for instance was that she believed Native Americans, Africans and Aborigines could be cured of their "ignorance" and lack of use to society by education. It's the kind of bigotry of the times that really angers me, because I can't stand people who think they are superior to others because of their religious beliefs and those who aren't were considered "heathens".
An annoyance with the series in general, is that I've also noticed a common theme. How is it that the unicorn's ring keeps finding idiotic twits as being perfect for a quest? I know the thing's not a person, but it's still a horrible judge of character. Another theme is that the adventuring group always manages to find guides who run off with their supplies or someone who they trust that "just happens" to betray them. And then there's the popular plot piece of the heroine refusing to believe in some new magic she's told about even though she's already seen some magic and hadn't believed in any prior to her first experience with it. I mean really, how many times does a person need to be convinced of something? Also, luckily, the characters in the book had never been exposed to the old badly dubbed Kung-Fu flicks, because every time characters would lip sync as the Ky-Lin talked for them, I'd be reminded of the Bruce Lee movies I watched as a kid.
Overall, this book on it's own was not bad. But if you're going to read them back to back like I did, it gets very repetitious. It just ends up feeling like you're reading the same story over and over again with only some changes in characters and locations to try to make it different. And, sometimes, there's not even that.
This author does manage to write a tale that is quickly engrossing and has interesting characters. I've especially like that what I have read by her has had characters who didn't hold up to the "standards of beauty". (Initially anyways.) Somerdai is a large girl who grew up a little unconventionally and, after the death of her mother, had to set out on her own. I found it very fun how she was able to communicate to animals through the use of a magical ring, because she gained some wonderful traveling companions.
The book did lose a couple of points with me, though, because her character was given stereotypical psychological problem associated with someone who has low self-opinion of putting up with the B.S. of her male traveling companion because she thought him so handsome. There's also a few plot holes here and there as well as a frequency of bad encounters. It was done often enough that you started to see a pattern.
The story's general theme is quite juvenile, but due to language and sexual content, a parent may want to read it first to decide for themselves. But, overall, it was an interesting read with a pleasantly surprising ending.
Master of Many Treasures
I think that this story was a little better than the rest I've read in the series (so far) just because the ending was totally unexpected. Also, they didn't continually stumble upon a castle or a caravan that had people who were initially nice but only betrayed them later.
The feel of the story does tend to be a bit juvenile, which may make people think this book is okay for young adults, but the very adult topics and situations in it make it unsuitable for less mature readers.
In truth, I don't think I care for the character Somerdai (Summer) because she tends to be an idiot often, even though she thinks she isn't. (Obviously, it's not her fault, since the author wrote her that way, but how many times do you need to get a warning from your magic ring before you actually listen to it? And how many times does the same plot device need to be used in one story before the author gets a little more creative?) The characters do tend to be TSTL because they often do the exact opposite of what people warn them not to.
Overall though, I couldn't stop myself from reading this book. I don't know why I didn't put it down because I'd get quite disgusted with some of the idiocracy in it, but there was just something that kept me going.
Dragonne's Eg
I did think that this story started out slower than the previous ones in the series, but I kept on reading it because I wanted to find out what happened so I wasn't left with not having "story closure". It's set in the later 1800s, so it also felt weird reading a story set so much later than the previous ones.
I didn't like the lead character, Sophy, very much. Especially her annoying views on Christian "philosophy". She had several comments that drove me nuts. One for instance was that she believed Native Americans, Africans and Aborigines could be cured of their "ignorance" and lack of use to society by education. It's the kind of bigotry of the times that really angers me, because I can't stand people who think they are superior to others because of their religious beliefs and those who aren't were considered "heathens".
An annoyance with the series in general, is that I've also noticed a common theme. How is it that the unicorn's ring keeps finding idiotic twits as being perfect for a quest? I know the thing's not a person, but it's still a horrible judge of character. Another theme is that the adventuring group always manages to find guides who run off with their supplies or someone who they trust that "just happens" to betray them. And then there's the popular plot piece of the heroine refusing to believe in some new magic she's told about even though she's already seen some magic and hadn't believed in any prior to her first experience with it. I mean really, how many times does a person need to be convinced of something? Also, luckily, the characters in the book had never been exposed to the old badly dubbed Kung-Fu flicks, because every time characters would lip sync as the Ky-Lin talked for them, I'd be reminded of the Bruce Lee movies I watched as a kid.
Overall, this book on it's own was not bad. But if you're going to read them back to back like I did, it gets very repetitious. It just ends up feeling like you're reading the same story over and over again with only some changes in characters and locations to try to make it different. And, sometimes, there's not even that.
Denise H. (auntnecee) reviewed The Unexpected Dragon: Pigs Don't Fly / Master of Many Treasures / Dragonne's Eg on + 18 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I thought it was a light read but it was still a good book.
Amanda N. (AnnDragera) reviewed The Unexpected Dragon: Pigs Don't Fly / Master of Many Treasures / Dragonne's Eg on + 25 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
the first two stories in the book flowed amazing well, but i could not stand the last story - the only thing connecting it to the first two was the thief who stole the egg and he is already dead, the egg itself, and the horse creature who showed up in the second story. I couldn't even read the third story, I lost so much interest.
Beth D. (bathroomreader) reviewed The Unexpected Dragon: Pigs Don't Fly / Master of Many Treasures / Dragonne's Eg on + 16 more book reviews
Great fun read, very different concept for a fantasy book.
