When Kaeldra’s foster-sister, Lyf, falls ill, Granmyr sends Kaeldra on a quest for dragon’s milk, which is the only hope they have of curing Lyf. By making a bargain with a dragon, Kaeldra gets in over her head. Soon, she finds herself looking after three mischievous draclings. When the mother dragon is killed, Kaeldra begins a journey to save the draclings delivering them to their kyn.

Kaeldra encounters many dangers along the way, but is determined to save the draclings. She must be careful who she confides in, as dragon parts have many magical uses and are extremely hard to come by. As they grow larger, hiding them becomes more difficult, and Kaeldra must find ways to safely transport the draclings to Rog, where they will be reunited with their kyn.

The story comes to an interesting climax when a person Kaeldra trusts turns out to be someone other than who he says he is. The last remaining dragons in existence are suddenly threatened by a man who wants to kill them all, so that his army might become invincible by swallowing the dragons’ hearts.

I remember reading this book when I was younger. It was one of my favorite books, then.

This time around, it was a quick read, but still fun. The story was a little less interesting, but the book was more than tolerable. There were quite a few cheesy passages I had to chew through, though, and some of the minor characters seemed unrealistic to me.

The dragons really came to life for me. I’m not sure if that’s because I have a vivid imagination, or because the author took great care in describing them. I particularly enjoyed this passage:

“Kaeldra looked up.

The horizon was moving. It tumbled toward them in a great long line, darkening the afternoon sky. The birds surged to meet it and the line broke into chunks, became a cloud of separate things.

‘Dragons,’ she whispered. ‘They came.’

They were every shade of green and red. They wheeled through the air in twisting spirals like enormous pennants set free from their moorings to swirl across the sky. They swooped above the island, circling, trailing wind spouts that thundered in the trees.

Above the bluff the circle of dragons tightened. A chaos of birds soared about them, squawking, twittering, screeching. The dragons hovered, waiting.

...There were twenty of them, at least. They hovered in a circle that nearly spanned the bluff. Their scales glinted in the sun; their wings glowed with a pearly translucence; their bodies rippled in shifting currents of air. The largest dragon, long as a ship, so dark green as to be almost black, peeled off from the circle and sculled the air above Kaeldra. It glared down, its eyes vast, emerald pools, and she felt the power of its voice.

{Who called Fiora?}”

I think this is a great children’s book, but doesn’t really satisfy my adult appetite for a good science fiction/fantasy read.

I’m still keeping a copy on hand, for the sake of memory. ( )

A great fantasy to take you away from the troubles of your own life. ( )

This is the book that instigated my dragon obsession. It's a beautiful story--adventure, heartbreak, and overall coming-of-age at its finest. The prequel and sequel are also good reads, but this one is a true gem. ( )

The protagonist Kaeldra's foster sister falls ill whereas only dragon's milk can save her. Kaeldra is sent because she is the only one that can communicate with the dragons, or Ancient Ones. Along the way she is captured by a mother dragon and takes care of the draclings; later rescuing the draclings and saving the day once and for all. ( )