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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Aug 2004, 528 pages
Paperback:
May 2005, 528 pages
A dragon. A boy. A journey. Together, they embark on a magical journey to find the legendary place where silver dragons can live in peace for ever, with only a curious map and the whispered memories of an old dragon to guide them.
A dragon. A boy. A journey.
Firedrake, a brave young dragon, his loyal brownie friend Sorrel and a lonely boy called Ben are united as if by destiny. Together, they embark on a magical journey to find the legendary place where silver dragons can live in peace for ever. With only a curious map and the whispered memories of an old dragon to guide them, they fly across moonlit lands and seas to reach the highest mountains in the world.
Along the way, they discover extraordinary new friends in unlikely places and a courage they never knew they had. Just as well, for the greatest enemy of all is never far behind them – a heartless monster from the past who’s been waiting a very long time to destroy the last dragons on earth.
27. The Dragon
The sky was radiant in the mild morning light as Firedrake approached the village with Ben and Sorrel, and the sun was not yet too hot for comfort. Flocks of white seabirds circled above the dragon, announcing his arrival with excited cries.
The villagers were waiting for him, standing outside their huts with children in their arms. The beach had been sprinkled with flower petals. Paper kites flew above the roofs of the huts, and even the smallest children were wearing their best clothes. Ben felt like a king sitting high above them on the dragon’s back. He looked for the ravens, but there wasn’t a bird in sight. However, the village cats— white, ginger, tabby, black-and-white, and tortoiseshell— were all over the place: on rooftops, outside huts, in the branches of trees. Firedrake walked over the flower petals and past the cats and the people until he saw Barnabas Greenbloom.When he stopped in front of the professor, the onlookers respectfully ...
Dragon Rider was a tremendous read - a classic adventure story in which our heroes (a dragon, a boy and a brownie) must complete a long journey and overcome many hurdles to reach their ultimate destination and defeat the dragons' dreaded enemy, before the only remaining population of dragons are destroyed. Whatever others may think, I have to tell you that all four of us (2 adults, 2 children aged 8 and 10) read the story together and we all enjoyed it. The word that keeps coming to mind is 'wholesome'; there's nothing edgy or cynical about it - just good old fashioned story telling that pulls together a cast of elves, dwarves, brownies, a thousand-eyed djinni, a kindly professor of archaeology and his family, a giant roc, a basilist, a sea serpent and a rotund rodent aviatrix.
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