The Dragonlord’s Heir by Christina Kenway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Thanks to the author for a copy of the book in exchange for a truthful review.
This is a story for all the 13-year-old boys out there who love dragons and would love to fight them.
There were some great action scenes where the boy, Logan, is working to get all the pieces of the dragon spear that will help him control the evil dragon Bolla. He has to do lots of Indiana Jones-type things from water filling up the room to jumping over lava. We also has an awesome fight against a dragon. What 13-year-old wouldn’t love to read about those things?
Logan is also a very typical boy of that age – so the author is spot on with the characterization – as he wants to be a grown up and have responsibilities, but he doesn’t yet have the wisdom to know how to tackle them. He is a little bit of a fish out of water here too because he learns at the start of the story that he is the Dragonlord’s heir (you get that from the title of the book – so that is not really a spoiler). In that way, this is a little like the Harry Potter franchise. It is also similar in that he has to go up against a “bad guy” and he must somehow come out on top. Where Harry uses his wits and friends to help him, Logan relies more on his own luck and naivete to get him through the day.
There are some problems with the book, as some other reviewers have pointed out. And I also recommend that Christina find a good editor to help her improve her writing and next book even more. She does have the beginnings of a nice story and interesting characters – especially the girl “puppy love interest”.
All in all, it is a nice read and I expect the next book to be even better!