Fotografía de autor

K. D. Halbrook

Autor de Smoke and Mirrors

3 Obras 61 Miembros 1 Reseña

Obras de K. D. Halbrook

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

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Miembros

Reseñas

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Good
Recommended: Yes
Level: Middle grade

This was a cute story, and reminded me of Christopher Paolini's Eragon. While I found it hard to stay focused on this book (it was clearly not meant for my age group), it was a quick and easy read and I can see many children really enjoying it.

Silver Batal and the Water Dragon Races, as you can imagine, follows the adventures of a thirteen year old girl named Silver Batal. Though she has spent her entire life being trained by her father to be a jeweler, Silver's true passion lies in racing water dragons. Unfortunately, Silver and her family live in the middle of a vast desert, meaning Silver has very little chance of even seeing a water dragon, much less racing one. This changes when Silver's elderly friend, Nebekker, introduces her to a rare baby dragon named Hiyyan. When Hiyyan's mother Kirja (and Nebekker's bonded dragon) is kidnapped, it is up to Silver and her cousin Brajon to brave the big city to get her back. The two are led on an epic adventure that will test them in many ways, while also giving Silver the chance to finally live her dream and become a water dragon racer.

This book had some issues (I'll get to those later), but overall I thought it was very cute and appealing to middle grade readers. As I said before, the plot feels very similar to Eragon, with a wayward teen bonding with an extremely rare dragon and going on an epic adventure. Unlike Eragon, however, this book is an incredibly easy read. The writing style is simple but engaging, and there are no made-up words or languages for the reader to memorize. This is a book I would easily recommend to a reluctant reader, especially one who enjoys series like Wings of Fire, as I think it has a lot of appeal to fans of fantasy and dragons.

I'll admit that I rarely read middle grade, as I tend to enjoy YA more. Where middle grade is extremely tame and generally inoffensive, I enjoy YA for its ability to push boundaries and take risks, covering topics that many adult and children's authors are often hesitant to tackle. Silver Batal, though not a bad book, falls into this category of being harmless and inoffensive. There is absolutely no cursing, sexual content, or real violence (some of the dragons get wounded, but that's about it), and the story focuses much more on friendship and learning to be true to oneself than anything else. This obviously isn't a bad thing, but it made for a rather uninteresting read for me. To a middle schooler obsessed with dragons, however, I could easily see this being their favorite book, if only because the premise is so cool. If I had picked up this book in middle school myself, I think I would've really enjoyed it as well, but it didn't quite capture my attention as much as an adult.

One thing I loved was that the front and back inside covers of this book featured pictures of some of the dragons mentioned in the story. The downside to this, however, is that it doesn't show all of the species, and the book is also lacking a map. Any time I'm reading fantasy that name drops certain city names or landmarks, I expect there to be a map so that I can follow along with the characters as I read. It is, unfortunately, one of my pet peeves when it comes to fantasy, and this book had that issue. Of course, this is only the first book in a series, so there might be maps and different dragons in future installments, but for now I remain a tad disappointed. I will say, however, that the art featured in this book is gorgeous, from the cover to the black and white illustration in the back. I would love to see more of this beautiful artwork, as I think it helped spark my initial interest in picking this title up for ROYAL.

And now I have to discuss my one major issue with this book: Silver herself. Though she is written realistically for a naive, impulsive thirteen year old girl, I found myself getting a little frustrated with Silver throughout the story. First, she steals from her father before going on her adventure, and never once apologizes to her family for doing so. I understand that her father was less than supportive of her desire to race water dragons, but I don't think this justified Silver stealing precious jewels from him. She later gets really indignant and defensive when jewel thief posters are put up, insisting that she's not a thief, but... she literally is. It frustrates me that she never really takes ownership of this, and there are never really any consequences for doing so.

Another thing about Silver that annoys me is that she seems to be very selfish at times, worrying more about her own desires and what she wants than what those around her want. One example is Brajon; though he wants to stay put in their hometown, Silver seems to bully him about this a little bit, guilting him into coming with her anyways. She then gets annoyed with him over little things throughout the story, including disappearing briefly in the city (he was trying to help her) and being afraid to fly on Hiyyan. Though this is remedied at the end when she lets him remain home, Silver never really apologizes for this behavior, and there are (once again) no consequences for this. The same thing happens later when she pushes Hiyyan too far, and while she does learn from it and apologize this time, her attitude still left me feeling icky and annoyed. Again, she's meant to be a very flawed thirteen year old with a lot to learn, but I worry that the lack of real consequences for her actions might be modeling bad behavior in younger readers.

Aside from Silver, however, I really enjoyed the rest of this book. I thought it was really cool that the author (who is herself Lebanese American) worked in some aspects of Middle Eastern culture, such as fashion (headscarves and caftans) and the desert setting. While I admit that I know very little of Lebanese culture, it was neat to see a small piece of another culture woven into a fantasy, as this is good representation for those who might not otherwise be exposed to cultures different than their own. I can always appreciate diversity in a story, especially a fantasy story.

I also really enjoyed the relationships in this book, from Silver and her dragon to her friendship with Brajon and Nebekker. I also loved what seemed to be a hinted future romance between Silver and Ferdi, as I think they're really cute and had great chemistry. I also liked how this book gave a subtle warning to young teens about putting their heroes on a pedestal, as Silver's hero Sagittaria Wonder turns out to be a cruel and manipulative bully. Silver's behavior throughout the book might actually be hinting at the fact that she could turn into Sagittaria if she's not careful, which helps justify the author's writing choices throughout the story. I still worry that some readers might not understand this comparison, but I can at least recognize that some of Silver's bad choices have a rhyme and reason within the story.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and think it would be a great choice for any young fans of dragons or fantasy. I would especially recommend it to fans of Wings of Fire, How to Train Your Dragon, and Eragon, as I think this story is in the same vein as the other two. Better yet, it's going to be a series, giving readers an opportunity to dive into a new series while they wait for others to update. This book is also good for reluctant readers and those with restrictive parents, as the language is easy to follow and extremely inoffensive. I would feel comfortable with an elementary schooler reading this, as I didn't come across anything offensive or controversial in the book. While it wasn't exactly an instant obsession for me, I recognize that I am not the target audience for this book. I believe middle grade readers will really enjoy this story, however, and will gladly add it to my library's collection and recommend it to them in the future.
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Denunciada
SWONroyal | Nov 19, 2019 |

Estadísticas

Obras
3
Miembros
61
Popularidad
#274,234
Valoración
4.0
Reseñas
1
ISBNs
13

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