Michael A. Heald
Lulu Press (2007)
ISBN 9781430325093
Reviewed by Dylan James (age 11) for Reader Views (1/08)
“A Rumor of Dragons” main characters feature a prince born with no hands, a wizard that likes swords more than magic, and a flightless dragon whose kind was thought to be extinct. The prince named Marc, who uses “grippers” instead of hands, runs for his life after his father’s castle is defeated in a sneak attack. Along the road, he meets Evlynn, a girl from a mystical tribe, who helps him throughout all the dangers in public life. Kili, the wizard, manages to escape from his captors at the castle and looks for Marc, his charge. They chase the leader of the castle’s attack into a portal and K’lal (the dragon), Marc, and the girl he’s supposed to marry begin a deadly battle to decide the fate of the world.
Both boys and girls nine and up will enjoy this book, though I think that boys will enjoy it more. I loved this book so much I read it three times, and each time this book was able to grab me and throw me into Marc’s world. This book is like Star Wars, a totally new approach at how to write books, throwing in mutilated main characters with a weird, but cool, storyline. There is nothing I can criticize of the writing except to use less- complicated words. For example, maybe the author could use a different word for handfasting when describing marriage.
My favorite part of “A Rumor of Dragons” was all the very descriptive parts of fighting. It adds a lot to the book.
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