Raptor Pass

DragonLight
by Donita K. Paul
Reviewed by David Reagan 7-15-2008

This is the last book in the DragonKeeper series. The series started out with Kale finding out that she had the ability to find dragon eggs, and bond with the dragons once they hatched. She also found that she had the talent to be a wizard. The first four books chronicled her adventures as she learned to trust in Wulder(God), and all the various life lessons you learn when on fantastic quests. This series, unlike many others, actually has Kale grow up age wise. In the first book she is barely a teenager. In this one, she is in her twenties.

The basic storyline is of Kale and her husband of a few years, going on a quest to help their friend, Regidor and his wife, find the lost colony of Meech dragons. Regidor wants to find the colony because his wife is about to have an egg, and they want to leave the egg among their own kind.

Of course in addition to finding the colony, they have to figure out what is going on with a group of people claiming to teach a better way to follow Wulder. And then there is the mysterious swarms of black dragons that seem to have an mean desire to hurt Kale. Plus, Kale’s ward Toopka, is acting strange.

So, there is lots of adventure to make the story enjoyable.

The DragonKeeper series does not seem to attempt to be a perfect allegory. Wulder is obviously God, but Paladin, the character most like Jesus, seems more like an Old Testament Judge. I think I’ll have to reread the other books to see for sure.

Another thing that makes this series different is that Paul’s writing doesn’t focus on the action as much as the interaction. It most stories I have read, the focus is on how the characters beat the bad guy. In this story, the focus is on how the characters act while they beat the bad guy. As a result, it becomes very obvious that it is Wulder that has orchestrated the entire adventure. Just like God orchestrates our lives, even in times of trouble.

DragonLight is an excellent end to the series. It brings Kale’s story to an good stopping point, and leaves room for new stories. I recommend DragonLight to anyone who has read the rest of the series. I also recommend the entire series to anyone who likes fantastic adventures. Young kids will enjoy them read out loud, older kids will enjoy reading them, and adults can enjoy reading them as well as long as they relax and be childlike for a while.

So, go out and pick up a copy, and then sit down and enjoy a good read.

Can you see the video clip that is supposed to show in the blog post below? I can’t see it and I am wondering if it is because I am on firefox 3 and linux right now. Guess I’ll check later.

So I just watched the first episode of Babylon 5 on Hulu. It was a mediocre show, but this clip made the entire episode worth it. The alien is an ambassador, just so you know.

Only in fantasy fiction can you have a line like this:

“Damn it, even in my head I get no respect! That’s it! I’m outta here!” Naruto proceeded to look for an exit that didn’t exist in his mind.

He has been laughing up a storm this evening…

So I was doing my laundry today, and outside of the laundry room there was a cat. You all know that I love cats, and this one was very friendly so I spent some time petting it. It even followed me all the way to my door… Likely wanted in out of the rain… Anyway, so as much as I enjoyed petting a cat for the first time in forever, I am not enjoying the subsequent sneezing…

So, I can’t cook well, so I like to nuke pot pies for dinner. Been doing that a lot for a couple months now. Each time I have taken it out of the nuker, I slide the pie out of the box it is nuked in onto the plate. Then I have to flip the pie over to get the cardboard pie plate off it.

Um, yeah, so tonight I just slid it out of the nuking box upside down… The plate just came right off without me having to nearly burn my fingers… And it took me that long to figure it out….

So, my brother wants an update. Why exactly he wants that, I don’t know. There is nothing I would write about that he doesn’t already know about. The only other person I know of that visits here regularly is my mother, she also already know everything I would write about. So, is there anyone who visits here that doesn’t know what is going on in my life?

Dragonfire

by Donita K. Paul

reviewed by David Reagan 12-20-2007

Think on things that are good and beautiful. A very well know Bible principle, and the reason I liked this book so much. Mrs. Paul weaves a tale of magic and the supernatural in such a way that good is good, and evil is evil. She emphasizes serving God the way God wants, and not your own selfish desires. It is shown how easy it is to fall into the enemy’s trap when we are physically and emotionally hurt. The consequences are shown, but God’s forgiveness is also shown. All of this is done without spending very much time with the characters in peril. Hence, your mind is directed towards how good God is instead of how bad the characters have it.

Story wise, the plot is somewhat confusing. There is an overall war going on, but the focus is kept to where the main characters are. So it is hard to see the overall effects. The main plot is that the bad guys are rising up and the good guys need to get off their rear ends and do something about it. From there it focuses in on Kale as she helps her father find more dragons to help unite the Amaran lands, and Bardon as he goes directly to where fighting is already happening. It climaxes in big battles against the two evil wizards.

Magic in the land of Amara is essentially just energy used to manipulate the world around you. For example, pulling moisture from the air to form pools of water. It is emphasized that wizards must follow God’s rules for how they use their magic. The evil wizards are the ones who don’t. Magic is also seen as a direct gift from God.

In conclusion, this is a good book for young teens to adults who don’t have to have something written for adults. There are many good lessons in it, and it definitely focuses your mind more on God. I read it in about four or five hours, though I am a somewhat fast reader. Be sure to read the first three in the series first.

Heh, just found this link. The Pi Song. Make sure you have your sound turned on. If I listen to it enough I might get part of pi memorized….