Dragon Magic

That's good. Funny, by modern standards it's basically an unfinished story - there 'must' be some reason, some quest or duty for the boys that the dragons made for them. But the story just ends - with the four of them as friends, now, and each with an insight into the proper way to act, but without any real point to the dragons. My view is probably affected by knowing there's a sequel, which will probably be more 'proper' by modern fantasy standards, with a purpose and a quest. But Draqon Magic is extremely rich without that overarching quest. I liked the shoutout to Rosemary Sutcliff - Judith Tarr's Egyptian stories are younger, and probably Norton's own as well. I don't know a good Fafnir story nor any for the Slumbering Dragon - but show more I'll be keeping an eye out for them from now on. This is one of those stories that without any great fanfare or even quoteable lines weaves its way into your (well, my, at least) worldview. I like. show less

Impulse grab at the library because illustrator.
I hope that the "series" is not really such, and they don't need to be read in order: do you know?
Now that I'm done it sure does not seem so.

So, this is a boy's adventure / history book. These four kids are given this experience by the author so that they'll grow up to be the kind of men that legendary heroes are. I would have had no interest as a girl child, but it's sort of five short stories in one for me now, and I got through it, and I appreciate the research that went into the stories and the presentation of the theme and the writing. So, four stars worth of recommendation.

Anyway, what the four legends are is something you want to know before you decide to seek out a copy to read is show more 1. Sigurd and Fafnir 2. Nubia, Daniel (from the Bible), and Sirrush-Lau 3. Artos Pendragon, who is not quite the same as King Arthur, and 3. Chuko Liang the Slumbering Dragon.

There are no notes, but Norton is well-read and capable of doing research; I trust the value of this book.

Also interesting is that nowhere in this early (first?) edition is there a revelation that the author is female. Make of that what you will....

Btw, it also gets 'diversity' points and recent history points. Not least interesting is the African-American boy's story, taking place as it does when youth were adopting African names and repudiating their parents as they accused them of "Uncle Tom-ing to whitey." show less