DRAGON CHAMPION (Age of Fire,Book One) by E.E Knight(2008).
© Roc
Title: Dragon Champion
Sub-title: Age of Fire (Book One)
Author: E.E Knight
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 371
Price: $14.00
DRAGON CHAMPION: Age of Fire
By: Nadia OxfordDate: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Despite being published four decades ago, Richard Adams' Watership Down remains the most beloved fantasy book of all time. Several fantasy authors have since made attempts to pen their own survival epic using other animal leads in the place of bachelor rabbits (we're holding out for the harrowing tale of a family of Sea Monkeys left too long on a hot window ledge). E.E. Knight's Dragon Champion, an Adams-inspired story about a young orphaned dragon, is particularly recommended.
Whereas many animal-hero novels have a tendency to lose focus or turn silly, Knight never loses touch with his protagonist's struggle. Auron is a young grey dragon, the champion of his brood. Lacking the scales that weigh down his siblings, he's quicker in mind and body than most dragons. His wits serve him well when his parents' lair is plundered by slave-trading dwarfs and he flees for safety with his sister. After the two are quickly seperated, Auron sets out to find answers in a hostile world that's rapidly culling his own kind.
Dragons are a staple of fantasy novels, leading for the species to be experimented upon by writers with mixed results. Auron, as well as the other dragons in Knight's Age of Fire series, is not a simple-minded reptile existing merely to be slain by a hero, but neither is he a glorified winged pony to be tamed and ridden upon by humans—not without a struggle. The brood champion offers a dragons-eye view of the world he travels, and the reader is treated to the thoughts and actions that are expected of an intelligent creature fighting for its survival. Auron forms alliances with humans, dwarfs and elves as he matures, but if needed, he'll kill them without sympathy. In one instance, he stalks and kills a human child to set a human mob on a nearby male dragon who refuses to allow him in his territory. Auron rarely pauses to sort out morals during these moments, nor should he. Intelligent though he is, the thought process of a dragon should differ from a human's.
Dragon Champion carries an intense sense of danger through the first half of the novel, when Auron is most vulnerable. Dragons are usually penned as infallible creatures, but Auron's barely older than a hatchling and has yet to grow his wings. His winning battles and food depends on his speed and his wits. Dragon Champion's killing scenes are more descriptive than most fantasy novels, which are content to mention a “killing stroke” and not the guts that fall out thereafter.
Dragon Champion does have one patch of soft underbelly, and that's its pacing. The story flows well through most of the novel, but drags considerably when Auron travels with a dwarf friend. Alternatively, the most interesting part of the novel, Auron's trip to a forbidden island, is visited and resolved far too quickly.
It should be noted that Dragon Champion is one book of several in the Age of Fire series; three have been published already, each starring one of the dragon siblings who got separated during the initial raid on the nest, and more will follow. Unfulfilled moments like Auron's trip to the island may well be expanded upon in future books. Whatever the outcome, Dragon Champion is a great read for fans of fantasy, dragons and animal heroics. It retails for $14.00.
