Dragon Rider Funke Series
Maral Mende
Dragon Rider is about a dragon (duh!). Young dragon Firedrake embarks upon a quest to find the Rim of Heaven, the mythical home of all dragons. He is accompanied by the brownie girl Sorrel and the human boy Ben. It turns out to be quite a dangerous journey during which they meet terrible foes like Nettlebrand, the Golden One, but also make new friends, like Professor Greenbloom and his family. But Cornelia won't give away any more . . .
The dragon spread his shimmering wings and took off. Holding his breath, Ben clung tight to the spines of Firedrake's crest. The dragon rose higher and higher. They left the noise of the city behind. Night enfolded them in darkness and silence, and soon the world of men was no more than a glitter of lights far below.
Besides, the book goes back to some ideas I used for my very first book "Die grosse Drachensuche". Someone wanted to make a series out of it and asked me to make the story a little longer. Well, you can't just make a story longer and so I decided to write it anew and in a slightly different way. While I wrote that new story I didn't feel like turning it into a TV series anymore and so now there's just the book.
And there was one more reason to write Dragon Rider. I wanted to draw dragons and all the strange creatures that live with them. I can still smell all those mushrooms brought by children who knew how much Sorrel likes to eat them. And then there is Twigleg, the manikin. Of all the creatures I invented he is still one of my favourites. And I had so much fun drawing the sea serpent.
While writing the third book of the Maidstone Chronicles, Into the Maidstone, we spent considerable effort researching other book series about dragon riders. We wanted to explore the feasibility of a human riding a dragon.
I let my DD11 read the first trilogy but am hesitant to allow her to continue to read through the series without some input. Are the remaining books appropriate for this age group? The reading level isn't a concern. :)
Beyond that, I would say no. I read all the Pern books as a teen and loved them, but as an adult I realized that they have really creepy sexual dynamics. In particular, there is a scene where a major character rapes another major character and it makes her fall in love with him. It's presented as being incredibly romantic.
There's a fair amount of sexual content that I wouldn't be comfortable letting an 11 year old read. At the same time, I started reading them at age 14 and I'd be comfortable letting my kids read them at that age, I think, so YMMV. The main problem, as I recall, is that some of the most explicit content is in the first book or two of the series; there are a few of the later ones with very little sexual content, but who wants to read out of order?!? :D
Other than the sexual scenes, which aren't that frequent and are mostly very "fade to black," I can't remember anything objectionable. Not in Anne's books, anyway. Todds books are horrible and should be avoided like the plague.
I agree - Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums are fine. I would not let a kid that age read the others. Let's just say that when the dragons mate, their riders do too (even if they don't much like each other).
If you're concerned w/sexual content, then I probably wouldn't go beyong the Dragonsong/singer/drums trilogy. I had read pretty much all of the books available in that series when I was 11, and I turned out fine. The sex scenes didn't really make an impact on me. It just depends on what you're comfortable with.
My DD has read Dragonflight, and Dragonquest. Dragonflight was listed as YA by our library system. I did look up the Harper Hall trilogy and ordered those, they are listed as Adult fiction. :001_huh: I can see I will not be able to trust their listing anymore.
The first Dragonrider book does have a brief but steamy s*x scene. So does Dragonsinger (not steamy, though), and the White Dragon has a fair amount, too. I would probably not have allowed an 11yo to read them, but what's done is done. :-) There's nothing worse in any of the others.
I wouldn't. In the books when the dragons mate their riders mate, like it or not, because the emotions of the dragons take over the riders. The dragons are not monogamous, so the riders are not. Plus a rider can be either the same sex as the rider, or the opposite. There are a couple of times where she puts two dragons together, and both riders are male. It isn't detailed and I had to re-read it about 10 times to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong. It might go over a child's head, but they might also just get it.
Moreta has a moderately detailed gay sex scene (two male riders are being intimate when they are attacked by a wild animal, and one is killed). This is more than I would want my child to read at that age.
I have told my 10yo some stories from the Pern books, but she is fully aware that she will not be allowed to read anything but Dragonsong/Dragonsinger/maybe Dragondrums and the short story collection A Gift of Dragons until she is at least 16yo. (Though I started reading them at 14yo and came to no harm. I may reconsider when she is that age.)
I do have to say, though, that I honestly didn't register any of the sex stuff in Pern when I first read them at age 11-12-13+. It wasn't until I read them as an adult that I found my eyes bulging out of my head in a few places.
I read the Harper Hall books first and loved them (those three are clean) - I must've been 14 or so? I read the rest a bit later at 15 or so, but I was a fairly innocent teen. Apparently I was old enough that it didn't go over my head, but young enough not to be blas about it. I was a bit upset to find s*x scenes in my nice little dragon books.
I put Christy aside when I put Core 100 on the shelf, so I would rather her not have read these books as a sixth grader, but as someone said, what's done is done. I have the first two of the Harper Hall books coming. I told my DD I will have to read them myself before she is allowed to continue with the series.
The Aurelia Curse is the first book in the Dragon Rider series that you have written straight into English. How did that affect the process of writing for you? Did it present any particular challenges?
Yes! The first scene in New Zealand probably gives away how much I love those islands and how deeply moved I was by them. Then there is of course always Scotland, as the dragons come from there and I always have the dream to one day have a house there (maybe near the Mainstreet Trading Company, one of my favorite bookstores and Hawaii, where 500 children chanted in Hawaiian for me and I heard the sea in their voices. The longer I write books the more I try to honor my readers all over the world and the enchantment I felt meeting them and the places they live in. When I write a story I always feel like travelling with all my readers to a new adventure.
I am currently working on THE GREEN KINGDOM a book about a girl who one day finds 10 letters a blind girl wrote to her sister 50 years ago, each letter talking about a plant she encountered travelling with her father, who was a British botanist. I work on this with the help of an ethno botanist, Tammi Hartung, and I am having so much fun with Dandelion and Nettle, but also Bamboo and Jasmine.
Real and mythical creatures take center stage with their human counterparts. Dragon rider Ben is back, along with a few new characters. An additional twenty plus pages was added as a glossary with descriptions of the people and places in the story.
Enjoyed your description of the worldbuilding in this story. What a thrilling adventure for kids. I particularly like that kids learn about other parts of our world. This book interests me. Believe I saw it in the book store.
I love dragons! When I first saw the cover, I thought it was a Wings of Fire book ? With over a decade wait, that almost makes it even more fun to read because you had all that time to imagine what happens next ? Great review!
Firedrake, a young dragon, receives a frightening warning one night: Humans are planning to destroy the valley in which he lives! All the dragons must flee. Their only refuge is a place above the clouds called the Rim of Heaven - which may not even exist.
Firedrake boldly volunteers to go ahead first. As he embarks on his journey, he meets Ben, a runaway boy. Together, the boy and dragon make their way toward the Rim of Heaven, all the while running a step ahead of Nettlebrand, a monster who will stop at nothing to hunt down Firedrake. Their quest will truly become an adventure like no other.
Firedrake, a young dragon, receives a frightening warning one night: Humans are planning to destroy the valley in which he lives! All the dragons must flee. Their only refuge is a place above the clouds called the Rim of Heaven - which may not even exist. Firedrake boldly volunteers to go ahead first. As he embarks on his journey, he meets Ben, a runaway boy.
The last winged horses are on the brink of extinction. At a sanctuary for threatened creatures, the home of a young dragon rider and his silver dragon, three foals lie curled up in their eggs. The foals are in great danger, and the only cure seems to be the sun-feather of a griffin. But griffins, creatures with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion, are a dragon's fiercest enemy, and they live far across the world in the sweltering jungle. A dangerous and exciting adventure begins....
CF: On the big books I do research and preparation for about half a year. Then I write the first draft for about 8-1o months and then I do another three drafts, so in all it takes about 2 years.
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