Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Dragon Castle by Joseph Bruchac


Why is Prince Rashko the only intelligent being in his family? No one knows. His parents mysteriously rode off in the middle of the night. His lovesick brother welcomed the Baron Temny and Princess Potenshenie - who may be their fiercest enemies - inside the protective walls of their castle, Hladka Hvorka.  However he may find help in the story of his ancestor Pavol the Good and his slaying of the seven Dragons. As he follows Pavol's story he finds there's much more to him and this castle than meets the eye. It is also possible that Rashko is the foolish one.

At first I had trouble with some of the words as the characters use some Slovak in their speech. Though as I eventually figured out, it translates the foreign words into English next to the Slovak words, and if you still don't understand, there is a glossary in the back. It was entertaining from the beginning through to the very end. All of the characters are deep and it makes them so real, even the bad guys! I believe we all have a mini Baron Temny and Princess Poteshenie inside of us and this is a perfect way of showing this. I recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy, especially on the subject of Dragons.

Reviewer Age:11
Reviewer City, State and Country: Rockwell City, IA USA