Review Comparison: Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey

Review Comparison: Dragon's Keep

Review Comparison is a new feature I'm trying out where I am pulling out the pros and cons of the featured book mentioned in my review and other bloggers' reviews. Please let me know how you like this new feature and if you have any suggestions on how to make it better. Do you prefer this as a separate post, or in the same post like the first review comparison? I'm still playing around with the format.

Click for my original review: 

Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey

The following bloggers kindly allowed me to include their reviews in this feature: 

Violet Crush

Falling Off The Shelf

Bewitched Bookworms
Wands and Worlds

Please click on the links to read their full reviews.  

~Conclusions~ 

 


Every reviewer noted the beautiful writing, though three of the four also mentioned the slow pacing (particularly in the first half). All cited an emotional response evoked by the book, though feelings are mixed about the characters, romance, and ending.  



 

·       

 ~Writing~

• Writing is beautiful, even poetic (Violet Crush) 
• “Beautiful writing style” (Bewitched Bookworms)
• Loved the “language it was written in” (Falling Off the Shelf)
• Beautifully written (Small Review)

  ~Characters~

• Took a while to connect with the main character (Bewitched Bookworms)
• Main character seemed genuinely kind-hearted (Falling Off the Shelf)
• Evocative, well-developed characters (Small Review)

 ~Plot~

•  Second half is amazing (Violet Crush)
•  Has everything a fairy tale should have (Violet Crush)
• “A wonderful fairy tale” (Falling Off the Shelf)
• “Filled with a rich history” (Bewitched Bookworms) 
• “Heart wrenching moments that made me cry” (Bewitched Bookworms)
• Tragic, “I even cried at one point” (Small Review)
• “Extremely unique story” (Bewitched Bookworms)
• Beautiful and intense, but dark, book (Wands and Worlds
• Dreary (Small Review)
• Good plot twists and revelations (Wands and Worlds)
• “Thought-provoking” (Wands and Worlds)
• “Strong story, exciting, and enjoyable” (Wands and Worlds)

~Pacing~

• First half is a little slow (Violet Crush)
• “Story dragged at times” (Bewitched Bookworms)
• Slow pacing (Small Review)

~Romance~

• “Love story was sorely lacking” (Bewitched Bookworms)
• Overly-convenient, poorly developed romance (Small Review)

~Ending~ 

• Fitting, dramatic, and happy ending (Violet Crush)
• Thrilled with the outcome (Falling Off the Shelf)
• Rushed ending (Bewitched Bookworms)
• The issues were solved in a way that left a “strong psychological impact” (Wands and Worlds)
• Predictable (Small Review)

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Book Review: Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey

Forget Me Not is a meme created by Steph from The Thoughts of a Book Junky where slightly older but still great books are shared. This Tuesday, I am going to feature an older book that enjoyed.

Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey
Release Date: February 22, 2011
Publisher: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster
Pages: 320
Received: Library
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars 
Goodreads Page

Summary

Goodreads description: 

Far away on Wilde Island, Princess Rosalind is born with a dragon claw where her ring finger should be. To hide the secret, the Queen forces her to wear gloves at all times until a cure can be found, so Rosalind can fulfill the prophecy to restore the family to their rightful throne. But Rosalind’s flaw cannot be separated from her fate. 

When she is carried off by the dragon, everything she thought she knew falls apart. The dragon sees beauty in her talon where her mother saw only shame, and Rosalind finally understands what her mother has truly denied her. Carey has written a stunning portrayal of the complex relationship between a mother and daughter in a lyrical novel sure to thrill readers who love fantasy—and those who don’t.

Review

This is one of those books where the payoff is good, but the journey is only so-so. I’m glad I read this book—I like the story very much and the author did a great job in capturing the feel of an Arthurian tragedy—but…the actual reading process was a little difficult for me.

I like fast-paced books, and this was not a fast-paced book at all. There is very little edge-of-your-seat action, with the plot instead unfurling slowly across Rosalind's life. For people who don’t mind a slower-paced book, this will probably be appealing because the writing is very nice.

For me, I enjoyed what I was reading (even though I didn’t always like Rosalind), but I was a little frustrated that things weren’t happening as quickly as I would have liked. To put things in perspective, Rosalind doesn’t get taken by the dragon until about halfway through the book. I’m always a little annoyed when you have to read a significant portion of the book just to get through the jacket blurb.

With the mention of Merlin and the fact that Rosalind is a descendant of the Pendragon line (King Arthur’s family), I had expected this to be an Arthurian tale. That really isn’t what we get here though. Outside of the prophecy’s connection to Merlin, no one else from the legend appears. I felt this was unnecessarily reaching—an original wizard could have made the prophecy just as easily as Merlin and the family connection did not need to be Pendragon. The resolution of the prophecy was also pretty obvious early on.

Then there’s the romance. I always like a little romance in my books, but I also don’t want it to be the focal point of the story. That is the case here, but, well, it’s a little too absent. I felt like it was supposed to be this deep love, but Rosalind only met with him a few times. To me, that made her come across more like a girl with a little crush than some epic love. His presence felt contrived and overly convenient. His personality also wasn’t very consistent. Romance fan that I am, I actually still would have preferred if this character had been left out completely.

I liked and loathed the dragons in the book. Janet Lee Carey made her dragons different from any other fictional dragon I’ve encountered. They are clearly a species different from humans. They’re horribly cruel, but I enjoyed reading about them nonetheless.

Dragon's Keep is a well-written story with evocative characters that, while not entirely likable, lingered in my mind long after I finished the book. Unlike the love interest, all of the other characters were clearly and strongly drawn. This book is saturated with sadness, suffering, and internally conflicted characters. They are desperate, confused, twisted, obsessive, craven, and suffer repeated losses. In this regard, Janet Lee Carey did a phenomenal job in capturing the essence and feel of an Arthurian tale. I even cried at one point.

While oftentimes predictable, the book is written beautifully and the story is strong enough to compensate for the drawbacks. Months after having read this book, I still find myself thinking about it. My lower rating mostly comes from the fact that I tend to prefer faster and less dreary books. I do recommend Dragon’s Keep, particularly to those who enjoy Arthurian tragedies or are looking for a beautifully written dragon book that is different from the norm. 

 Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key  

Click here to read the Review Comparison

Looking for another book about twisted mother/daughter relationships?
You might like: 
The Twin's Daughter, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted 

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