Manga Maniac Cafe For the Geek in all of us

May Contain Spoilers

From Amazon:

Unlock the secret of the gold dragon…

When the blue dragon Lazuli threatens to destroy Sandon’s village of Hartfall, Sandon vows to locate the legendary gold dragon, once Hartfall’s sworn protector, and convince it to return. Sandon finds the gold dragon’s lair–only to stumble on a secret that throws everything he thought he knew about his home and his family into question. Filled with everything readers love about dragons–power, action, and intrigue–this tale shows what one boy can accomplish when he finds the strength of a dragon lies within himself.

This next installment of the series inspired by The New York Times best-seller A Practical Guide to Dragons shows just how much a young boy can do when he realizes that the strength of a gold dragon may lie inside himself.

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this book.  I was expecting a fantasy setting teaming with action, adventure, and dragons.  While not exactly swarming with the mighty winged beasts, Gold Dragon Codex does offer up a fast-paced tale of boy’s determination to save his home from an evil dragon.  When you are only fourteen, that is a lot harder than it sounds, but once Sandon has made up his mind to act instead of sitting idly by while his subjects are terrorized by a blue dragon, he never backs down.  It is Sandon’s stubborn refusal to give up, even in the face of such overwhelming odds, that made me keep turning the pages.  I could not wait to discover if he would be able to keep pushing against all of the closed doors that he encountered, to finally achieve his goals.

Sandon’s father is the Baron of Hartfall, but his holdings have fallen on hard times.  There is a dragon demanding a monthly tribute that has all but bankrupted the kingdom, and the people are on the verge of starvation.  If they don’t hand over the tribute, the dragon will have the few fertile fields left scorched and ruined.  Bandits are preying upon the populace, and things are tough for everyone.  When a scruffy soldier is mistaken for a bandit, Sandon has his father grant him succor.  It is Kine’s arrival that finally pushes Sandon into action.  He believes the man is a knight, and that together they can rouse the slumbering gold dragon who has protected the barony for generations.

The story took off for me after Sandon and Kine try to awaken the dragon.  There’s a huge uptick in the action, and the stakes become very, very high as Sandon tries to protect his people and also tries to puzzle out the mystery behind his mother’s death.  Lives hang in the balance, and through it all, Sandon finds the courage and the resourcefulness to remain true to his goals.  He remains steadfast, even as he watches his world crumble around him.  It is his bravery, amid the ever increasing chaos, that will stay with me long after finishing this book.

While I wasn’t terribly disoriented by picking up the series near the end, there were times when I was a little confused about the framework the story is built around.  Some of the background details about the dragons and the world they live in weren’t totally clear to me.  It looks like the other books in the Codex series are stand alone adventures, so I wonder if the world building and background details are contained in A Practical Guide to Dragons?

For a quick read full of mystery and suspense, Gold Dragon Codex offers up action, danger, and a very likable protagonist.

Grade: B-

Review copy provided by publisher