Dragon Champion

Wow! This is a YA novel, sort of. Definitely great for adults, but this is a coming of age story. Knight explains in a very short, wonderful introduction that his Vampire Earth series garnered a lot of emails from fans & he likes that, except he noticed many were younger teens. He doesn't think that series is recommended reading for that age group, at least he doesn't want his kids reading it, so he decided to write this series.

As you might guess from the title, the dragon, Auron, is the main character, the hero of the story. It's a great world full of dwarfs, elves, people, & all kinds of critters. While our young dragon is as smart or smarter than a human, he's also able to communicate with some other animals like wolves & dolphins. show more Dragons are a wonderful mixture of base instincts, long lives, & high intelligence. All of this adds up to a backdrop on which Knight paints a great coming of age story beset by prejudice (both sides), war, slavery, the benefits of learning, & even some love/lust, although the last is handled in an entirely appropriate way for even the youngest kids.

The love/lust bit demonstrates a subtle realism with which Knight hands out the lessons in this book. Auron grows up & has urges. Even human women smell enticing & he realizes what is happening to some extent. He has memories (dragons have a type of telepathy) of how some dragons without mates like to capture female humans & play with them before killing & eating them. This is something he detests, but recognizes this in himself after he actually pursues some one time in a fit of passion. he comes to his senses & berates himself for it.

There is a lot more to this story than just the normal fantasy adventure. Even with 5 stars, I find I don't want to read any more in the series right now. This one was great, but enough for me now. Maybe more later, though.

This is probably a personal thing. I've been like this with other fantasy series that I really like, too. I'm full & another book would be gluttony. It doesn't really make sense to me. I blew right through [a:George R.R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg]'s 'Game of Thrones', but they were kind of like candy. This is more like [a:Janny Wurts|8591|Janny Wurts|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1311431926p2/8591.jpg]' 'War of Light & Shadows', meaty & rich. There is far more to think about than just the fantasy story. show less

Summary: In Dragon Champion, E.E. Knight gives us a relatively standard high fantasy adventure story, with one big twist: it's told entirely through the eyes of Auron, a dragon. Auron is a gray dragon, scaleless and without the hunger for treasure that plagues other dragons. His lack of armor makes him more vulnerable, and less immediately impressive, but also more adept at blending into his surroundings. After a fierce battle for primacy immediately post-hatching, Auron is the only male offspring left to his parents, the champion of their clutch. He's bright and inquisitive, but his world is mostly limited to the confines of the cave in which he was hatched.

All of that changes on the day his cave is invaded by murderous dwarves. show more Auron's parents are driven off or killed, and Auron must venture out into the world -- first with one of his surviving sisters, and then later alone. His first goal is survival, but a meeting with an elf maiden opens his eyes to the real problem: it's not just Auron's survival that's at risk, but the survival of his entire species. For dragon numbers have been decreasing for years, while the two-legged species -- elves, dwarves, blighters, and especially men -- have been increasing. Auron makes it his mission to find out why. Along the way, he makes some strange friends, faces some fierce and dangerous enemies, and must find a way to become the champion for which his parents named him.

Review: There's a long tradition of animal stories in fantasy (although relatively few from the point of view of a strictly fantastical animal.) Their point is to show us the world through an unfamiliar set of eyes; by making the alien familiar, we are then forced to re-evaluate all of the elements we take for granted as unobjectionable. For this to work, we have to find a connection with our animal narrator, some common ground on which to build a base of sympathy. However, when a book opens with its protagonist disemboweling and eating his newly-hatched brother in a battle to the death, and when that same protagonist matter-of-factly mentions crushing the skulls of human children he's seized for a snack… well, let's just say that I found it somewhat hard to empathize with him.

My lack of connection with the book's main character -- and thus, with the book itself -- may be a question of audiences. This book felt like it was aimed at 12-13 year olds. In and of itself, that's not necessarily a problem -- there's plenty of fantasy out there for mid-grade readers that can also be enjoyed by adults. However, Dragon Champion felt like it was specifically written for mid-grade boys, with lots of emphasis on the fighting and adventure aspects. Having never been a 12-year-old boy, I can't comment on how well they are likely to enjoy Auron's story, but I suspect many of them will love it. For me, however, it didn't quite make the jump into being a true crossover success.

That's not to say that there weren't elements I enjoyed. Knight's world-building description is excellent. Even though he's using pretty standard fantasy elements and races, the way they interact felt new, and I really enjoyed seeing each species's perspective on the origin of the world and its current state. Some of Auron's adventures were also very interesting -- I particularly got a kick out of his brief sojourn with a wolf pack. (Also fun in this part was listening to David Drummond, who was otherwise quite good, try to narrate their howling dialogue.)

The problem with single-protagonist stories like Dragon Champion is that their success is entirely dependent on how strongly the reader empathizes with the main character. When it works, it's great, and readers who empathize with Auron are likely to find Dragon Champion to be an exciting fantasy adventure story. For those of us who don't particularly care for Knight's leading dragon, however, it becomes very hard to stay involved in the story. 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Mid-grade and young adult fantasy fans who can't get enough dragons will likely love it; for older readers, I think reactions will vary depending on how much you like the main character. show less

I love dragons. This was an interesting book told from the point of view of a dragon as he ages from a hatchling to a dragon who will probably be spoken above in history. The author created a rich world with multiple cultures, peoples, species, and a long history.

I read this one based on a recommendation from RFM (though to be clear, there was no romance in this book). The book is similar to the Wings of Fire series in that it is very dragon-centric, and does an excellent job of giving an impression of what a dragon's point of view would look like. In contrast to Wings of Fine, this was definitely an adult book.

I think it did an excellent job showing the evolution of mental process and sophistication from a very feral as a young dragon, gradually gaining more wisdom and breaking from instinctive behaviors as he got older. There were a few memorable lines, such as:

"That's the best thing about friendship. It is a gift that cannot be lost. Only thrown away."

I didn't especially like the shift to show more more epic (world influencing) stakes in later stage of the book, though this is a personal choice, not a critique, I think I've had enough grand armies battling for the fate of the world to last a lifetime, and tend to prefer personal stakes recently. Fans of epic stories will probably like the ending. show less

Rating: 3.5
I found the concept that dragons' instinctual drive to collect precious gems and metals is due to their need to digest and absorb into their system for their scales and that a scaleless dragon would thus not have that instinctual drive is a great plot hook. In general, I liked the main character and enjoyed most of his adventures and meetings, but there was a decided lack of drive to the plot that just couldn't keep my interest.

This book sat on my shelf for around five years. Now that I have read the first book to this series I can determine that I am not invested enough to keep it on my shelf and am unlikely to seek out the rest of the series - though I wouldn't be surprised if I picked up the next book as I would like to show more read the perspective of a female dragon in this setting at the very least. show less

Although apparently written as a young adult fantasy, Dragon Champion is advanced enough to stand on its own as a novel for fantasy fans of all ages.

AuRon the dragon's journey from hatchling to fully fledged dragon is thoroughly enjoyable. Told from the mindset of a dragon, readers see the world through AuRon's eyes. This takes some getting used to, as dragons in E. E. Knights world have a different ethics system in relation to their hominid counterparts. AuRon's experiences cause him to question standard dragon thought processes, however, and his character is well developed by the novel's end.

I'm looking forward to reading the remaining books in the series, which deal with AuRon's siblings and their journey in the perilous world.

Dragon Champion by E.E. Knight is the first book in the Age of Fire sequence. I'd seen Knight by an author I'm a fan of so I decided to give him a read. Knight is more known for his pulpy Vampire Earth books, but as I'm a fan of high fantasy I went with his new series instead.

Dragon Champion has all the staples of High Fantasy going for it. It has elves, dwarves, and of course dragon's. It even has a dragon on the cover. ( Beautifully drawn by Paul Youll.) The protagonist is an orphan. Sounds cliche right? Well it certainly could be, but Knight take the cliche and turns it around. Perhaps not 180 degrees, but at least a sharp 90.

The orphan protagonist is Auron, a rare scaleless gray dragon, and the story is told entirely from his show more viewpoint. It follows his life from an emerging hatchling to a full fledged dragon. Along the way he experiences loss, finds new friends, makes new enemies, and discovers what it is to truly be a dragon.

The world building is very good. Knight sets sown several varied histories of the world, differing of course on which race is recording them. The creation mythologies are well layed out. He also does a fine job with characterization. For the most part his characters are very believable. The book sets a strong pace, but also gives the reader time to rest and reflect.

All in all Knight does very well in this endeavor. He takes what could be a tired concept and injects it with new life. I very much enjoyed Dragon Champion and will be looking to pick up the soon to be released follow up Dragon Avenger.

7.5 out of 10 show less