RUTH F. (ruthy) reviewed on 5/1/2009 + 56 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 6

This has been described as "A bloody, unsentimental fairy tale" by Publisher's Weekly. And that really does describe it well. I didn't mind the way the author writes. He definitely goes for "realistic" and not romantic. He views the different characters and their species and writes about them in a "true to life" way. Dragons are large and carnivorous. They will eat any meat including those of dead friends if necessary. They don't mind eating humans or any other life form that is meat. I didn't find it all that bloody and it isn't "dark", but it is maybe a little more "real" than some people can appreciate if they prefer the romantic type of dragon story. It is also a story where dragons are the main cultural influence and considered the most civilized - at least by the author. It's interesting to read a story where the animal (from a human's view) is at least as fully capable as a human and not considered "lowly". Every creature can talk in this story and they frequently do.

This first book is dedicated to telling the story from the perspective of AuRon, a gray, scaleless dragon who is born with 2 sisters and 2 brothers. The parents of the dragons are killed while they are still small, and he escapes with one sister. They get separated and their tales become two. AuRon is a "renaissance" dragon in that he learns quickly and possesses great intelligence. He travels over most of the world and meets many different characters and works with many of them in different ways. I've enjoyed reading it. There will ultimately be 6 books in this series.

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