About the Book
-
Author:
- Cornelia Funke
Cover Story: Okay
BFF Charm: Mixed Bag
Talky Talk: Tonally Uneven
Bonus Factor: Mental Health Awareness
Anti-Bonus Factor: Colonialism
(Caution: This review contains spoilers for Dragon Rider (Dragon Rider #1).)
Cover Story: Okay
Ben rides on Firedrake’s back, holding the titular feather while griffins wheel around them. Not exactly how it happens in the book – and where are the pegasi? – but it could have been worse.
The Deal:
Two years after the events of Dragon Rider, Ben has been adopted by the Greenbloom family and helps them run a sanctuary for magical creatures. When an emergency involving the last living pegasi requires the power of a griffin’s rare sun feather, Ben and his father travel to Indonesia to search for the griffins and negotiate with them. There’s one problem, however: these griffins are notoriously hostile. How do you ask for help from those who’d eat you as soon as look at you? And will Ben, torn between his human family and his dragon best friend, ever figure out where he truly belongs?
BFF Charm: Mixed Bag
I found Ben more interesting in this book than the last one; having ties to two different worlds gives him some fascinating internal conflict. The same goes for Firedrake, who is now an expectant father, which rather changes his perspective on their adventures. Sorrel the brownie is as grumpy as ever, and Twigleg is still the most vulnerable – and bravest – member of the team. I loved seeing him co-pilot for Lola, the daredevil rat aviatrix; they’re such opposites that it shouldn’t work, but it does. As for the new characters, I would have liked to see more of Winston Setiawan, a young Indonesian boy who saves animals from poachers. Kraa the evil griffin king, on the other hand, is basically Nettlebrand, the villain from the last book, all over again. His bombastic threats got old very fast.
Swoonworthy Scale: 1
Firedrake and his partner Maia are the only couple who get a scene together, but it’s a good one. He feels guilty about wanting to travel while she’s brooding over their eggs, but she reassures him that the other dragons will take care of her, and Ben and the pegasi need help more than she does. It’s a good sign when a couple puts each other’s needs before their own.
Talky Talk: Tonally Uneven
I haven’t read this book in the original German yet. I don’t know how much of this is due to Cornelia Funke and how much to her translator, but the tone of this book swings back and forth between poetic (“his tawny golden dreams”) and cartoonish (“Oh no! It was going to eat [REDACTED] before their eyes!”). This mostly happens in the scenes written from Twigleg’s point of view, in order to show how anxious he is, but I thought that would have been clear enough already without so many exclamation marks.
Bonus Factor: Mental Health Awareness
The Greenblooms’ sanctuary helps its guests in every way, not just physically. While Ben and Barnabas search for a sun feather to save the pegasus eggs, Vita and Guinevere look after the pegasus father, who is grieving the death of his partner and avoiding the eggs because he’s afraid to lose them. The Greenblooms recognize that, even if they can get the eggs to hatch, the foals will only thrive if their father is mentally stable (sorry, bad pun). They give him work guarding the sanctuary, and find a wise centaur who understands what he’s going through. Saving lives doesn’t always involve flights and battles; often it’s quieter than that, but no less worth it.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Colonialism
When Ben and Barnabas arrive in Southeast Asia, the local creatures (magical and otherwise) mistrust them not just for being humans, but white humans who speak English. They’ve had centuries of experience being hunted and sold by Europeans, and are in no mood to believe it when the Greenblooms assure them that they come in peace. Soon Ben and Barnabas are in over their heads in a volatile political situation they know nothing about. Funke doesn’t let them fall into the “white savior” trope, however; instead of the white characters saving the day, some unexpected local allies save them instead.
Relationship Status: Along for the Dragon Ride
While not quite as epic as the prequel, this book is still a great adventure. If nothing else, read it for the baby pegasi.
Literary Matchmaking
Find out how Ben and Firedrake first met in Funke’s Dragon Rider (Dragon Rider #1).
Read more about magical creatures and culture clashes in Rachel Hartman’s Shadow Scale.
Respect the potential of an unhatched egg with Makila Lucier’s Dragonfruit.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review.
