"DragonSpell" by Donita K. Paul

“DragonSpell” is the story of how Kale, an O’rant slave, became a Dragon Keeper. One day she found a dragon egg, except it wasn’t a normal dragon egg. Kale had found a Meech egg, which are very rare and need to be closely protected. Meech dragons are the most intelligent species of dragons, they also have the ability to talk, cast magic, and cook. Though they are supposed to be peaceful, sometimes they have the ability to fight using a sword, a type of martial arts, or breathing fire. They also have the ability in some cases to fly.

Kale’s goal is to reach the Great Hall in Vendela and become a Dragon Keeper for Paladin, the ruler of the land as well as the chosen spokesman for their god, Wulder. In the book almost everybody but the villain believe in Wulder. Almost no one believes that there is no higher force that directs everything. On her way to Vendela, Kale is attacked by a group of ogres who are trying to eat her. She manages to escape into a tunnel with too small a mouth for the ogres to enter. On her way trying to escape she finds a nest of 7 minor dragon eggs. Kale’s escape doesn’t work as she had planned but she is rescued by two people on dragons. The first is Sir Dar, who is a Doneel. Like most Doneel, he is of average height, has fur on his body, and is conscience of manners and appearance at all times. Sir Dar is also a excellent cook. The second rescuer is Leetu Bends, who’s an Emerlindian. For the most part Leetu Bends works for Paladin. Emerlindians have pale skin, white hair and have pointed ears. After being rescued, Kale is told that they have to visit Wizard Fenworth in his bog. Wizards usually incorporate some of their element into everyday living. For example, lizards, bugs, and other small living things love to scuttle on and around Wizard Fenworth. And a lake wizard leaks water from his body.

While on their quest, 2 of the 7 minor dragon eggs Kale found hatch. The first is the green dragon, Gymn, who is a healing dragon. At the beginning when he was only a week or two old he would faint when he was scared. He grew out of the habit though. The second to hatch was the purple dragon, Metta, who was a singing dragon. Minor dragons aren’t very big. Most of them are long enough to wrap around the back of your neck. They are small enough that they can fit in your lap, and are light enough that they can rest on your shoulders without feeling burdened by their weight. Both these minor dragons help in their own ways throughout the book. Their main goal is to stop the evil wizard Risto from using the Meech egg for his own devious purposes.

The book was very good and hard to dislike. The book had a good amount of different characters and a good amount of action. I the characters all did their parts in the book and none were left to just talk. I thought that all the characters had a distinct personality and were different from each other. At least half the characters are warriors, but there is not any detailed fighting. I thought that the dragons contributed to the book even though they were only in the book from about half way to the end. The other ability that I enjoyed seeing was the fact that the dragons could communicate with Kale through mindspeaking. The dragons can only mindspeak to their dragon keepers, another dragon keeper, and wizards. I wish that the author wrote what the dragon was saying instead of just getting a vague idea from how Kale responds.

I think the book is excellent and almost anybody would enjoy it. There are currently 4 other books in the series which include “DragonQuest,” “DragonKnight,” “DragonFire,” and “DragonLight.”

>>Buy “DragonSpell” by Donita K. Paul

"Word Freak" by Stefan Fatsis

“Word Freak” is the real-life story of Stefan looking into the world of professional Scrabble playing. Stefan starts looking into it with a small degree of interest but then he started playing Scrabble himself and that is when his small hobby turned into something he spent most of his time on. Stefan first realized this after he watched an entire tournament play out. He then knew that he wanted to be as good as these Scrabble fanatics. Stefan starts to play the game more and more, eventually going to tournaments and clubs. The main club that Stefan goes to is the Manhattan Scrabble Club. For the most part Stefan only plays at tournaments or one of the clubs but once or twice he goes to someone’s house. For instance, he was invited to play at the house of one of the makers of Scrabble. His goal is to win the biggest Scrabble tournament hosted in the world.

One of the things that I enjoyed about this book is that Stefan meets a wide range of interesting people, including many of the top Scrabble players. For example, G.I. Joel is somewhat of a friend of Stefan but doesn’t call him buddy or anything. G.I. Joel is basically a lover of Scrabble and was in the final round against Matt Graham, another player, in one of the tournaments at the beginning of the book. Matt is a pretty good Scrabble player but takes the game too seriously. He takes so many pills to increase his performance; it’s scary. Marlon Hill is also weird but not in an unhealthy way. For the most part Marlon is eccentric and a trash talker. Joe Edley, who was national champion twice, as well as the associate director of the National Scrabble Association, helps Stefan out once he starts to love to play Scrabble. Edley was probably the most helpful to Stefan of all the people in the book. The book also includes some facts such as when Stefan looks into the history of how Scrabble started. He lists facts such as how they started producing the game and the major people who started it up.

The book is for the most part believable even though there are some weird things in it. The only reason I think that the book is somewhat fiction is because of the weird conversations that just randomly pop up in this documentary. I’m sure that some of the comments didn’t exactly happen since the conversations that come are sometimes random or you can’t tell why it started.

In reading this book you can learn quite a bit about Scrabble tactics and gameplay. He made sure that people who were reading it could tell if a word played was accepted in Scrabble or a made up word. Some of the words that he uses in the book are either not real or just not accepted by the National Scrabble Association and tournaments. He points out all the words you shouldn’t use from the book at the end in a list. Some of the Scrabble games that he plays he gives a good description of what is going on but sometimes I feel that once or twice he leaves out enough of the game so that it just is like a single paragraph about what is happening in the game before it is finished.

Overall the book is pretty good and is captivating, especially if you play Scrabble.

>>Buy “Word Freak” by Stefan Fatsis

"Joust" by Mercedes Lackey

Vetch is a serf who was taken from his homeland of Alta. He is forced to work under harsh conditions. After working countless hours for his cruel owner, a life-changing event happens: The dragon jouster, Ari, chooses him to be his dragon boy for his dragon Kashet. Vetch is ignored and overall treated badly by most of the staff at the jouster compound, yet he knows it is infinitely better than when he was forced to work for his old master.

While working at the compound, Vetch finds out that Kashet is a one-of-a-kind dragon, being the only dragon who doesn’t need to be controlled by the drug, Tala. Overtime Vetch gains a special bond with Ari’s dragon. Kashet is a large blue and green dragon that has a good sense of humor and is fun to be around, since he is calm and doesn’t need to be controlled like the other dragons. That’s when Vetch realizes the secret to how Kashet is so tame. Ari had raised Kashet from the egg. As Vetch and Ari begin to trust each other, Vetch begins to learn some of the secrets on how to raise a dragon from an egg. Vetch decides that that is one of the only ways he could escape Tia and get back to his homeland of Alta.

As Vetch sweeps through the jouster compound, finishing all his tours as fast as possible, his chance comes. A dragon boy quit and his charge was a pregnant dragon. Vetch eagerly agrees to take care of her planning that he can steal one of her eggs. Everything seems to slow down in his life even if it is going faster than before since he is caring for two dragons instead of one. Vetch knows that he will be free of his slavery soon and it drives him to greater measures to get everything done with the best care possible. Vetch becomes even braver after the weather mages of Alta send a terrible storm to ground the Tian dragon jousters. Vetch begins to worry that he will be discovered escaping from the compound but he won’t know if he will be discovered until he tries. His escape attempt is the climax of the story.

The dragons in this book are very different from what you normally expect when you read a book about dragons. First of all, the dragons don’t breathe fire or spit acid or any of the other magical things. Secondly, they are highly intelligent but can’t speak at all. The dragons in the book also have no fascination with gems or precious metals like most other dragons. The dragons somewhat have the color of certain gems but there are only gem like on their wing skin and back skin. The color of the belly is almost always different than the rest of the body. The shape and size of a dragon is about the same as in the book “Eragon,” so they aren’t as big as sky scrapers with huge caverns as their home. Also the dragons are feral (excluding Kashet) so they must be drugged in order to be ridden or handled.

The book is also different from most fantasy books because it has very little action in it. Vetch doesn’t do any fighting in the book and the only time you see any action is when the weather mages of Alta forced most of the dragons at the compound to land at once, which caused several people to be injured as well as infuriating the dragons. Ari comes back several times from fighting but you never actually see him joust against an Altan jouster. For the most part the book is about Vetch planning his escape, meeting and working with new members of the compound, doing his chores, and him having conversations with Ari. It is still a good book and the books later in the series—“Alta,” “Sanctuary,” and “Aerie”—have plenty of action.

It is an excellent book that almost anyone who loves to read fantasy would enjoy.

>>Buy “Joust” by Mercedes Lackey.