DragonLight by Donita K Paul

When we review a book we usually have at least two of our judges read it and after a period of discussion one of them writes the final review. In this case the two judges had such differing views they could not be reconciled into a single review. Therefore we have decided to post two separate reviews of this novel that show the differing perspectives. First of all we all agree on the description so here it is:

Now that Amara has had rest from war, the dragon races are thriving. Kale and her father are taking care of dragons that are hatching left and right. The country seems to be at peace. But all is not well in Amara. A cult calling themselves the Followers of Paladin has appeared throughout the country. They claim to be revealers of the real truth of Wulder and Paladin. They are encouraging the seven high races to join their ranks and to donate money to their cause. Kale and Bardon set out to discover the meaning of this as they travel with Regidor and Gilda to find the lost meech colony. But then another disaster strikes. An enormous black dragon named Mot Angra is awakening from his deep slumber, and is causing earthquakes with his movement. Every time he sheds a scale, it turns into a vicious minor dragon. These small black creatures are swarming the countryside and wreaking havoc. As they are under attack at every side, Kale and Bardon must stand firm to defeat their foes.

Now the first review:

It is clear the Donita K Paul had no business writing this fifth addition in the DragonKeeper saga. The writing style is not at all like her normal self. It is choppy and disjointed, thus revealing that she threw this novel together just to have it.

Any personalities these characters had in the first four books are gone. They have become the typical non-characters you would expect from a fantasy novel. The only good character is Toopka, and it was about time she developed a personality. Gilda is the only character who retains her personality, but in the end, she turns into a perfect character. Toopka and Gilda are two of the only positive things in this book.

DragonLight

is another mindless quest to go with the other mindless fantasy quests on the market. The characters go here, the characters go there. A problem appears, the problem is fixed. And many things are fixed in the end. Here is a quick summary:

There appears to be four key character deaths at the end. In the end, they are brought back to life. One character is good example of the cost of having a gift-he is blind yet he has the power of premonition and foresight. This character's eyes are healed in the end. The inevitable showdown with Mot Angra ends predictably. A ridiculous CRT is the source of most of these healings and fixings.

Besides that, there are other typical plot ideas like pregnancy in the two married couples and cult mentalities. Also, Kale's myriad of minor dragons makes her and Bardon invincible. They can do anything by just calling a minor dragon. This combined with Kale's wizard powers makes them invincible. They never have to work for anything. Donita should have had Kale lose her powers at the end of the previous book and ended the series there. That would have the original thing to do.

Basically, what Donita has done with this novel is stoop to the level of all other cheap fantasy. The first four books in this series are above such cheap fantasy. I wish Donita had not ended her series on such a sour note.

At least there is hope for the future of Donita K Paul.

2 stars

Here is the second opinion:

Contrary to the opinion of my partner I quite enjoyed this novel. I certainly do not feel that it is perfect and acknowledge that it has several problems but it deserves a better rating than he assigned. First about those problems, most of them are contained in the final fifty pages something that is all too common for Ms Paul.

There is one silly object that seems to have the power to do almost anything namely healing and defeating enemies. Also I have grown a bit weary of Kale's entourage of powerful creatures. However Kale herself remains to be a good character and struggles with her own sinful nature in a way that adds great depth to the plot. She is far from perfect and at one point her powers are even limited for a time. I was also relieved that we did not have to endure yet another quest littered with battles with mordakleeps and grawligs. These same scenes were not missed as the heroes dealt with other enemies instead. Finally the other interesting aspect was that the cult involved is a very interesting group with an interesting explanation. Holt the marione continues to be an intriguing character and does not come to a perfect end. One particular tool invented by the seemingly all powerful Regidor has trouble functioning at some points a small thing that combined with several others creates a realistic element in the plot. The only way this book could have been improved would be to have a more imperfect end and tone down all of the powers a little. I know that on this site we are critical of healings in plots but sometimes they occur and I will not pull down an entire plot just because one occurs. Also I believe that the statement by my partner that there seemed to be four key character deaths is ridiculous. If the reader got this impression it was for about half of a page and similarly to the healing issue, I will not require there to be a death in order to approve of a plot. Deaths can add a realistic and original aspect to a plot but they are not necessary and this "false death" is nothing compared to some that have been pulled off.

Obviously there are differing opinions here but I think that if you look for the good you can certainly find it here. I am no faithful optimist who tries to shine the best light on every book I review and I still hold very negative opinions about several books, but when a book is not deserving of a bashing I am not afraid to defend it. I would similarly write a challenging review if my partner wrote one that I deemed too positive.

All in all this is a good fantasy plot especially when compared to other fantasies and young adult books that are on the market. It has its issues and it is not the best end to the series but Paul's creativity and ability to pull you into her world keeps this book Elite.

4 stars

The Vanishing Sculptor by Donita K Paul

Tipper, an emerlindian, and her mother, Lady Peg, live on an estate in Chiril, a country far away from Amara, where no one has ever heard of Wulder. Tipper and Peg live alone with their servants and caretakers, ever since Verrin Schope, Peg's husband and famous artist, disappeared without explanation. Tipper and her mother were forced to sell many of his sculptures in order to keep the estate afloat. But now Verrin has reappeared, bringing with him two unknown companions. For those who have read the Dragon Keeper chronicles, these two are Wizard Fenworth and Librettowit, only younger. Apparently, they have crafted a gateway that ends in Lady Peg's closet in an effort to reach the farthest ends of the earth. However, the stone they anchored the gateway to was used by Verrin to sculpt three statues. Now the gateway has gone awry and threatens to destroy anything it gets its hands on. Therefore, they must set out to find the three sculptures before it is too late.

Several things are to be expected in Donita K Paul books-good characters, a quest, and new creatures. All three are satisfied with Donita's latest novel. Because Fenworth is younger, he is a better character than he was in the later Dragon Keeper chronicles. All the new characters are realistic as well, each one having flaws and personalities. This has become a staple in Donita's books.

The idea behind the book is very original and ingenious. Donita has taken her creativity to a new level by using her own creative ideas in new ways. However, the problem with the plot is that there is only one end it could have-and that entails having the characters find the statues.

But there are many surrounding aspects that make this book Elite. Besides good characters, there are several plot twists, including a very original villain. Even though the plot follows along the same lines as the other quests she has written, she at least has made this one fresh with her original villain.

Tipper has a watch of minor dragons-two of them are healing dragons. Donita is creating her own brand of Literary Trash already. She needs to stray from this path in her next book before it becomes too predictable.

But other than these minor problems, Donita still holds true to her reputation of the best modern fantasy author.

4 stars

DragonFire by Donita K Paul

Amara is in trouble. Paladin is on his sickbed. Crim Cropper and Burner Stox are wreaking havoc on Amara with fire dragons. The quiss are threatening to rampage the countryside. Wizards have come together in a conclave in order to decide a plan of action. Kale and Bardon, now married, are ready to do whatever it takes to save Amara-as long as they are together. But things get interesting when they hear they are going to be separated.

While Bardon stays behind to defend the land against quiss using a strategic plan, Kale and her father, who she barely knows, travel around Amara, in search of dragons to use for war. As Cropper and Stox build their army to destroy Amara, they must work quickly to save their land.

Dragon Fire

is the best chronicle yet because it is not full-fledged quest. It is an abnormally complex plot for an alternate world, one filled with ambiguous characters so that not even the reader knows who is good and who is bad. None of them are perfect, and most have personalities. The superb character development has set Donita K Paul apart from other fantasy authors, however, she has yet to write a five star ending.

Near the middle of the book, things start to look toward the five star direction, as it was in Dragon Knight. However, ends are not Donita's strong point because she fixes too many things. Several realistic things happened that ended up being fixed in the end. I became frustrated because this book had so much potential. Only one aspect of the plot is unresolved, but never fear; there is a fifth book.

The best part about the plot is the three villains-Burner Stox, Crim Cropper, and the Pretender. None of them are typical villains. Stox is overconfident, Cropper is lazy, and the Pretender is exactly like his name. He acts just like Paladin in many ways, making him my favorite villain ever. This is realistic because even Satan masquerades himself as an angel of light.

Although I have enjoyed every Dragon Keeper book so far, I don't want Donita to fall short of five stars any more. She needs to go ahead and take the leap into complete originality.

4.5 stars

Dragon Knight by Donita K Paul

When Bardon is called into the service of Paladin to train as a knight, Sir Dar gives him his first assignment-to go live in solitude in a cabin on the shores of a lake. Bardon looks forward to this because he craves solitude. But when he arrives, he finds that Dar left out some important details-three women already live in the cabin. However, Bardon forgets about his frustration when he hears that they have a common goal with him-to find the sleeping knights of Paladin that were enchanted by Risto. Using the journal of a famous Amaran explorer, they search for the cave at all costs, for they need the knights in order to defeat Crim Cropper and Burner Stox.

Dragon Knight

is divided into two unequal parts. The first part is five stars because it's realistic without Fenworth, Cam. Lyll, Kale, and her entourage of dragons to get anyone out of any pinch. Bardon and the others actually have to work to do certain things instead of having someone make it using their "gifts". However, in the second part, Kale and company reappear to make life easier.

The characters remain to be realistic, complete with imperfection and personalities. Donita also goes against one of her own cliches and makes an emerlindian granny imperfect. Bardon, in my opinion, is a better lead than Kale because he doesn't have so many tools to get him out of scrapes.

Even though this book is another quest, Donita is getting more and more professional and mature with every book. She has stayed true to her setting and has resisted the impulse to create more and more fantastical tools and powers as some authors would. She does add new creatures with every book, but the glossary in the back is very helpful.

The location method of the sleeping knights was one of the more original I've ever read. It's more realistic than simply walking right into the cave. And even when the knights are located, there is still more work to do.

But the Dragon Keeper series does still have more work to do, even though Donita keeps writing Elite books. I have a feeling she has a five star somewhere in this series.

4 stars

DragonQuest by Donita K Paul

Kale has been called by Paladin to come and serve as one of His dragon keepers in The Hall. There she tries to begin training as a warrior, but after a summons from Wizard Fenworth, she goes to become an apprentice wizard and to help Fenworth train a meech dragon named Redigor. Bordan, a warrior she does not like, comes along with her, as well as Dar and several other new characters.

The plot eventually turns into a quest to find a meech dragon the evil wizard Risto stole and brainwashed. I'm not sure whether the Dragon Keeper series needed another quest or not.

The longer the book drags on, the more characters Paul invents. By the end of the book, there are so many characters, the reader is confused as to who is who. The cast of characters in DragonSpell was better because Paul could give each character the personal attention they needed to become complex. In DragonQuest, the characters are half-heartedly developed because there are too many to give proper attention to each one. Kale, Dar, and Fenworth aren't near as interesting as they were in DragonSpell.

There is really no point to this book whatsoever. Where the quest of DragonSpell was unique, this one is mediocre. It seems like the same thing happens in every chapter-the characters encounter a new location and fix a problem there. Kale is visited by her so called "mother" nearly everyday during which the two of them carry on nearly the same conversation about how Kale puts too much affection on her "pets". The book is quite repetitive, to say the least.

The best thing about the book is the explanation behind the power of the wizards. Paul makes it so that they are not simply magical people. There is a detailed process by which the wizards use their powers. This elevates the setting of the Dragon Keeper series to an even higher level than it already was because it shows that Donita actually thinks through what she writes. She writes fantasy with purpose. She makes her world of Amara seem as real as our world with her descriptiveness. This aspect of the book keeps it from being rated lower.

I know that the third book is this series follows Bardon instead of Kale, and I'm glad. Having a dragon hatch all the time was getting silly. Plus, Bardon's character has the potential to be interesting.

I see great things in Donita K Paul's future.

3 stars