I'm always looking for a new series to read, and I love when I can hop aboard as a new set of books launches. You never know what you are getting and you never truly know what to expect. It can be a great experience or one you regret buying into. Well, sadly, The Summer Dragon fits into the latter category. And, though there are hints of brilliance along the way, no doubt due to the fact that illustrator Todd Lockwood is the author, it inevitably has too many flaws and attempts to cater to a more marketable group Reading through The Summer Dragon, I couldn't help but feel that it had been rewritten at some point. There is a lot of evidence that points towards the book either originally being in a third person perspective, rather then the highly constrictive first person narrative presented here, or being for a much older audience. You see, it's mostly YA, but it doesn't feel like it should be. The book opens, for instance, with a third person perspective prologue, then abruptly throws readers off when it switches to the perspective of Maia. Initially, Maia is a completely incompetent and insufferable character, the first chapter paints her as a run-of-the-mill snappy female lead, destined for adventure. I got to say, for how brief the first chapter is, it took me a long time to read. Maia is annoying, her brother is annoying, her father is the typical gruff-yet-knowledgeable sort of father you see in these types of books, and her friends are flat, just there to express that there is some small community around dragon breeding. They, ultimately, prove to just be flat names and their dragons are given one character trait each to define them; compliment their given owner. I must point out, as well, that Maia inadvertently almost kills a family friend in this chapter - you'll see why I bring this up later. After the first chapter, the whole book wildly changes in both style and quality. Explanations and descriptions go from short, brief, and almost dumb - to well done and almost poetic. Maia's view of the world also shifts entirely, as if shes someone else completely. No longer is she snappy, but instead she's a little young minded, yet, but earnest and understandable. You can see how she views the world around her as a beautiful place and genuinely loves the work she does with dragons, they are more to her then just vehicles or weapons. It's great, for a bit, and I couldn't help but feel like this was some remnant of what the book had initially been - because this Maia is a better character, and this Maia makes sense. However, this Maia also doesn't seem to care enough to regret almost killing her family friend. She doesn't even bring it up. The gore described from the incident, she could care less, and the incident just passes her by without her caring. She does seem to care about ancient, mysterious, ruins that coincidentally skirt a buried city, which is coincidentally near where she lives, and, coincidentally, one of the legendary dragons that is described almost instantly shows up. Of course, Maia and her brother are surprised, but instead of caring that a legendary dragon of myth, the real Summer Dragon, has presented itself to them - they are just concerned about themselves. Oh, is this good luck? Maybe that means we'll get Dragons now, what we want. Then there is a dead dragon, possibly poachers and - it utterly ruins any wonder, becoming tedious, as the book hops from scene to scene ad nauseam. Further in the book, when he does decide to commit to a scene or idea, it is entirely too drawn out. And he just keeps stacking things on - including a side character that is just there to segway the story into a second book. It's a mess, and though the ideas may be good individually, they make for a confusing spotty story-line when placed together as they have been. Worse yet, it's all YA. Trying to cater to a scene that people make more money from in the short-term and it further harms this book. As I mentioned, there are times when the writing breaks through into more mature prose, but other times it seems dulled or dumbed down for a younger audience. It made me feel a little alienated as a reader, confused as well. We already had the Eragon series for YA Dragon stories, and no one has been asking for them since. So, why bother? The content here demands a sprawling, massive, fantasy world - not a forgettable, by-the-numbers first person YA fantasy. I yern for what could have been. -L. BROOKS
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It seems like a million years ago, that I came across the Twilight novels being displayed at a library in North Chili, NY. I remember being curious, though young and far too prideful to admit my curiosity, so I went about searching for anything but books in that place, instead rummaging through the libraries selection of rock albums and DVDs. Down the road, when I finally realized how odd it was of me to be picking up music and horror films at a local library, I convince my, now ex, fiancee to pick them up for herself to read. Me, I held to my prideful ways, but read the entirety of the first two novels over her shoulder. No, they weren't too bad, but to say that I'd predict an oncoming movie, one that would launch a franchise and push novel-based movies back into the public eye... well... who could predict that? I remember hating Twilight, despite it being a rather faithful adaption, and I, to this day, can't exactly tell you why. Perhaps it was just the marketing, the pseudo-somber tone that had the movies creators had made, or, could it be, the horrible pacing and abrupt ending? No, it happened that way in the book. And, the movie went into the public eye and then out, and not a person thought that Twilight would be anything more then a flashy burn-out fad movie (during that time, almost every movie was like that; never having enough staying power to become a series). It wouldn't be long before the second movie rolled out, despite the lukewarm reception of the first, and, somehow, the series powered through a bout of hate and garnered a fan-base like few others. This strange fan-base would thrust both the books and the movies into stardom, pushing the latter's actors into a semi-international spotlight. {I must mention that it was strange that this fan-base would choose 'teams' to select which man Bella Swan, the main character of the series, should end up with - despite the fact that the books had already revealed who she was going to end up with.} You would have posters, albums, books, comics, stationary, documentaries, and just about anything you could think of plastered with nigh every characters face. Most of it was eaten up quickly by rabid fans, whilst the rest would eventually hit bargain bins and liquidation departments some years after. By the time New Moon's popularity had fizzled out, Twilight was in the face of every person, if they liked it or not. Of course, the whole thing would build up in waves with every movie and eventually end with an abrupt flop - any attempts to revive the series dashed by hatred and a general sense of boredom the previous fans had felt over the final two movies. But that isn't any surprise. By the time the series ended the author had made a fool of herself in interviews and even the likes of Stephen King had taken jabs at the poor woman (despite the fact that, for a long time, Stephen King had been somewhat of a joke himself), as if her work had been some bane on the writing world itself. Both forms of the story, books and movies, were also held down by a bevy of knock-offs trying to emulate its fame, miserably failing and continuously leading people to blame Twilight for the supersaturation. Viewing the shambles, it isn't hard to see why most everyone ironically calls the Twilight rise a phenomenon. But, there has to be some reason why the series persisted so long; why people stayed as long as they did, despite how ridiculous it all seemed. My theory? The ideas were bold. It really is that simple. You see, Twilight presented ideals that were not popular, and still aren't, but they helped established a unique identity for the series. It tackled the difficulties of abstinence, the want to be intimate but the need for a healthy and true relationship, to see if this couple could persist through difficulties and come out on top. In the end, Bella and Edward's sexual relationship would be validated. She fought the temptation that comes from being committed to a person and feeling that momentary want for something else (it does happen), and he persisted through the loneliness and desperation that can come from being separated from the person you love. They survived the irrationality that comes from the idea of love, to discover they did love each other for what they were as a couple even during issues. Sometimes, even if a problem seems stupid, irrational, and easy to fix for a person looking in, it doesn't always seem that way to a couple. To me, this really is the heart of what both the movies and books were. And, for people wanting relationships, or who had been through them, these ideas were easily understood and appreciated. Meyer's unique take on vampires seems silly when the questionable nature of diamond skin is brought up, but it makes sense when you pay attention to the details rather then taking it for surface value. Her vampires are reptilian almost, spreading their disease through venom. When you get that, the whole thing comes together rather easily. Not to mention, most new ideas seem strange to the audiences of their times, it often takes quite a while for people to appreciate what they are being presented. The idea of vampires turning to stone when killed was simply a device presented later in the film series to dampen the violence and maintain a lower rating for audiences. I'm not saying it's all peachy, no. But I'm saying that there was a backbone to it all, there were straight forward reasons for people liking this series. Sadly, not a lot of people would come to its defense near the end, perhaps due to a failure to mature the series properly - as series like Harry Potter were presenting more complicated tones and ideas with every release. Soon after its end, more complicated novel-based movies, such as Hunger Games and Divergent, would come to be, and make the more tame and quiet nature of the Twilight Saga seem far more immature then it really was. It wasn't my thing, it might not be your thing. However, there is no denying that Twilight, in the book world, paved the way for the YA fiction boom, and within the domain of film, it gave film companies the confidence to invest in the series that came after. Twilight is, and will always be, a silly but important staple in the media world. A lot of bad things came from it, mostly in the form of actor's career and personal life choices, sometimes more dedicated fans would make things difficult for the more sensible members of Twilght's fandom, but those were momentary. Take this series as you may, but do not forget its impact, and the fact that, that YA series your reading was most likely brought into fruition through the confidence given by Twilight's success. -L. BROOKS |
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