Book Review: Dragon Rider

I'm back! I finished this while we were out of town. It was 523 pages, not including the bonus material at the back of the book.

"Dragon Rider" by Cornelia Funke

Firedrake, a young dragon living in a valley with the others of his kind, is shocked when he is informed that humans are preparing to come to Dragon Valley. The dragons must find a place to move to quickly--and the only safe place they know of is the Rim of Heaven, a dragon paradise. Some say that it's just a myth, but Firedrake believes that it's real and sets out with his brownie friend, Sorrel, to find it. At the beginning of their adventure they find an orphan boy named Ben, who joins them. The three continue their search with the help of a map made by a rat, but the dangers of their route isn't the only problem. Nettlebrand, a vicious creation of an alchemist who wants to destroy all dragons, is on their trail, also trying to find the Rim of Heaven. Unfortunetely for Ben, Firedrake, and Sorrel, he is closer to finding it then they thinkn.

Even though they have their differences, the three main characters help each other out and would care if one of the others got killed. One of my favorite characters is Lola Graytail, a daring aviator rat. The negative is there's a bit of Hinduism in part of it (the idea that when a person dies, he or she comes back in another form). Overall, it was a very good book.

Izori