The Search for the Red Dragon

{second of 8 in Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica; fantasy, audiobook, quest fantasy, adventure, children's, young adult, YA}(2008)

narrated by James Langton

We're back in the Archipelago of Dreams where myth and fantasy mix and the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica are called back to help with another crisis. This story begins '9 years to the day' after the start of the first book, Here, There Be Dragons. I would read these in order especially as this one starts with a recap of the first book and there are some spoilers for book one plus it does help to know the background of the characters and this world going into The Search for the Red Dragon.

The three current Caretakers - John, Charles and Jack - have avoided each show more other since their earlier adventures so as not to raise the suspicions of who they really are by any observing enemy forces but now they have all been having bad dreams and suspect that something is going on in the Archipelago. They meet and decide to search for previous Caretakers to find out what's going on and to work out how to return to the Archipelago to help sort things out.

Time moves at the same rate in the Archipelago and they catch up with their friends and the progress made since they left the Archipelago. Children around the Archipelago have been disappearing without a trace, including Aven's son, and the only clue they have is something cryptic about a Crusade returning. Almost all the Dragonships have disappeared too, which will handicap their search somewhat, so they go in search of the last one, the Red Dragon. We meet the Lost Boys - and Girls - catch up again with Aven, Bert and Tumnus and make the acquaintance of one Peter Pan as well as the rather grumpy Cartographer

'Anyone who's indifferent to the fate of Edwin Drood is okay in my book'

who lives (perforce) on the top floor of the Keep of Time and keeps the Imaginarium Geographica up to date. (The Mystery of Edwin Drood was published about half a century before this book was set.)

There's a lot going on; we visit the underworld and see the place where Dante (another Caretaker) got his inspiration for the nine circles of hell, where J.M. Barrie (yes, a previous Caretaker) picked up ideas for Neverland and one of the present Caretakers rediscovers their inner child. Owens pulls together history, myths and legends and gives them a twist of his own. I confess that I tripped myself up trying to guess where the story would go based on the legends he used (especially since my ancient Greek legends are a bit rusty). I listened to this as an audio e-book with the same narrator as the first. I did get a bit confused with a couple of mythical characters (it's hard to go back and check on audio).

Still fun; I look forward to the third instalment.

(September 2025)
4 stars show less

A good sequel to "Here there be Dragons". The story certainly confirmed some hunches I'd had about the earlier volume. I like how Owen is mashing together various myths, which have some preexisting similarities, into almost totally new versions. I also like how he has incorporated some of the real life aspects of his three main caretakers into their (as far as we know) fictional counterparts. I'm definitely interested in reading the next volume now.

The Search for the Red Dragon continues the story of John, Jack and Charles, caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica - a book with maps of the Archipelago of Dreams. But the Caretakers are much more than keepers of the maps. In this story, they travel back to the Archipelago to figure out why the children of the Archipelago are missing. I don't want to give anything away, so let's leave it at if you liked the first, you'll like this one as well.

As with the first book, Owen weaves myths and stories into a very real world that I just didn't want to leave. Fortunately, there's a third book!

John, Charles and Jack are back and recalled to the Archipelago of Dreams. They are the Caretakers of a book called the Imaginarium Geographica which is essentially a book of annotated maps about the Dream world. It seems that all of the dragon ships have been stolen and all of the children have been taken apart from Laura Glue who appears one day in Jack's garden with a set of wings.

They begin their adventure by visiting one of the previous caretakers Jamie (J M Barrie). He helps them contact Bert who takes them back to the Archipelago and they meet up with Aven. On visiting the sisters they learn that an event many years in the past has been changed by them and it has casued the future to unfold differently. They need to figure out show more what they accidentally changed and how to fix things.

There are lots of mythological references focusing on Greek with Jason and Orpheus taking precedance. There are also lots of fairy tale references especially Peter Pan and the Pied Piper. The action is pretty much constant and relentless as the plot keeps driving forwards. Lots of characters return from the first book as well as some new faces. Lots of twists and turns, I love the way Owen's mind works connecting different tales and myths. Again I adored this book and cannot wait to read the third installment and have heard there is a fourth due later in the year as well yay! show less

The 2nd installment of Owen's Chronicles series does not disappoint. Our friends from before return - John, Jack, and Charles, along with Aven, Artus and Tummler. This time the three Caretakers are called back to the Archipelago to help locate a large group of missing children. Jack is being plagued by dreams, ad then John and Charles go to see him, they all meet Laura Glue with a cryptic message from her Grandfather- the legendary Peter Pan.
Once again Owen does a miraculous job of pulling together his already established tale of history in with other legends - Peter Pan, Sir James Barrie, Amelia Earhart, and more. His talent for tying together historical events, and pulling them into his world of dreams is second to none.

The three Oxford scholars return to the Archipelago of Dreams to assist little Laura Glue find thousands of missing children that have disappeared without a trace. She is the granddaughter of Peter Pan, and as in the first book, Owen has masterfully interwoven myths and stories from Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, Hansel & Gretel, Jason and the Argonauts, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and Little Red Riding Hood. Fun and nice illustrations too.

I had read "Here There Be Dragons" by James A Owen when if first came out and thought it was cute enough to try out the second book in the series now that it's been released. Owen does a nice job of blending together several legends, myths, children's stories and real life characters to keep the story moving but I found this one to be less engrossing as the first. It was a quick and easy read but not overly memorable. And it was a little too similar to "The Book of Lost Things" so I guess I'm a little burned out on books like this at the moment. Still, I'll probably pick up Book 3 (if there's one in the works) when it comes out, just out of curiosity.