A review by nathuffman97
Dragonsdale by Salamanda Drake

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.