Reviews

Dragonsdale by Gilly Marklew, Salamanda Drake

thenewyorkbookshelf's review against another edition

3.0

I acquired this book when I was in year 2, but didn't read it. I'm glad I've read it now, it was a really nice read.

nathuffman97's review against another edition

4.0

A re-read of a book I really liked as a kid. I think the reason it hit me so hard is that the authors (Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore, under the pseudonym "Salamanda Drake") really captured the helplessness and frustration of being a kid and having things be out of your control. Re-reading as an adult, it's even more obvious that Huw does wrong by his daughter. It's not fair for him to try to control Cara when it's obvious that she has a love for flying and that the sport, while dangerous, is safe enough for plenty of other kids to feel safe doing it. It's also not fair for him to deny her her grief for her mother just because his is too painful to face. Cara has to try to mourn her mother alone, because her father refuses to ever talk about her-- but Cara's in a way lost both parents, because her mother's dead and her father is emotionally unavailable and too busy for her. It always really bothered me that her father never apologizes at the end. It's hard to read about the pain Cara goes through with no help from any of the adults in her life. As an adult she'd be free to make her own choices, but as a child she's subject to her father's control.

Basically what I'm saying is that this book always made me cry as a kid and it made me cry as an adult too on this re-read. Cara is a great, strong and tough character who's willing to risk defying her only family for what she knows is right. Plus, the worldbuilding of the dragons and competitions is cool, and I always like a good horse-girl book. A surprisingly emotional and hard-hitting read.

d1sarray's review against another edition

4.0

my 9yo loved this. i thought it was pretty well written & a decent story. this was written by a 16yo, which i think is awesome. my only complaint would be that i think she tried to use every word she knew. she obviously has a great vocabulary, i just think that the story would flow better if there weren't so many words that could be said in less exaggerated way.

kirstieellen's review against another edition

3.0

Can't remember the story now but I do remember that I really enjoyed it.

treereader's review against another edition

2.0

meh. I'd have loved it when I was 8. But really you could have swapped 'dragons' to 'horses' and except for the flying it would be identical - one of my favourite thing about dragons usually is their high intelligence. It honestly felt like a horse book with flying. Oh well!

elizabethwig's review

5.0

Finally I found this book on Goodreads! I knew it was about dragons and it was awesome, but I read it long before I got an account and couldn't find it anywhere. I loved this story - wyverns and dragons and excitement, a great plot, and a setting that made me desperately want to learn how to fly dragons (despite the problems encountered). This was a wonderful story.

effectordinary's review

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I highly recommend the audiobook!

marcia_94's review

3.0

This book makes us think dragons are like horses with all the terms used, but it has a great story.