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The Dragon Queen (2002)

The Dragon Queen (2002)

Book Info

Genre
Rating
3.81 of 5 Votes: 5
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ISBN
0345443993 (ISBN13: 9780345443991)
Language
English
Publisher
del rey

About book The Dragon Queen (2002)

Although I liked this tale overall, there were pieces of it that bogged the story down for me.The Dragon Queen is yet another entry into the tales of Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table. For those who love their Arthurian legends with Merlin as the big bad- then this book's for you. For those who don't-then Run away!TDQ centers around Guinevere, the warrior queen of Arthur and in Borchardt's version she is indeed a warrior. Guinevere, has the beauty of previous Arthurian tales, but in TDQ she's not the sweet little misguided star-crossed lover of Lancelot that we usually see her portrayed to be. Courageous and bold she has power in her right hand where ferocious fire emanates (grand super power that!), and healing in her left. Moreover, arrows flyout her bow as if an extension of her arm, she communicates with dragons- as well with the dead- displays prophetic abilities, and audaciously defeats asundry of evil beasts that Merlin flings at her.The story begins with Maeniel, Guinevere's soon to be foster father. Maeniel, otherwise knows as the Gray Watcher, is a shapeshifting man/wolf who has personally felt the destructive powers of Merlin. Deciding that being a wolf was much preferred to living with the humans, he escapes to the wilds and begins a family. It is during his time with the wolves that Guinevere falls into his care, and the Gray Watcher, along with the sorcerer Dugald- who Merlin chased into hiding long ago- take up the charge of raising her. The Gray Watcher's wolf mate nursesGuinevere from the time they find her left on a cliff and later a woman joins them who will teach her the ways of her people- a people she never knew.As a child, Guinevere helps her village to defeat a marauding group of seafarers- and it is here where we see her potential for greatness begin to come forth. Guinevere grows in stature, wisdom and power and, though still only a young teen through much of the story, she quickly finds herself thrust into peril. Merlin wants her dead, and though the author details many things in TDQ, I never quite got the gist of his motive for seeking to destroy her so passionately. The only thing I can figure is that she must be the one who either precipitates or actually carries out Merlin's eventual destruction.Many other side characters show up to aid or engage her in battle. There are all kinds of fantasy creatures- including mythological gods- that she meets up with and, eventually, she meets her future in the boy of Arthur.Arthur is just as strong as she- and closer to her age then what I've seen portrayed before. Set long before Camalot, he's young and only discovering who and what he's eventually going to be. Much of the middle of the book is from his POV, where he meets the Lady of the Lake. I was disappointed however, that at the end of TDQ, he and Guinevere do not meet up again. (I suppose that will come in later installments.)The jumping around of POV's was rather confusing for me and the author lost me a bit until it began to pick up again toward the end. The book is full of detailed descriptions of the world Borchardt has created and some of it became overwhelming. To me her descriptions dragged the story down and lost me for most of the middle of the book. But, as I said before, by the end I was back with her.This is definitely sequel bait- the story is far from over. I'm interested to see where the author- who was Anne Rice's sister, btw- will take it.

Right now, I'm struggling to get through The Dragon Queen. It started out great. The author is very descriptive. Unfortunately, I'm running into a problem. The author is one of those that writes from the perspective of multiple characters, and each of them has different things going on. This isn't that bad when they're sharing a scene, but when they're each in their own scene, the author likes to jump from one to another without any notice to the reader. She also doesn't give very many clues about which character you're reading about and it'll take a few pages before you've caught up to not only what's going on, but which character it is. It's annoying. While I liked the book in the beginning, now I find my enjoyment dissipating just for that reason. I'm determined to finish the book, but I doubt it'll get more than 3 stars from me.Now that I'm finished...I wouldn't be able to read this book a second time. There was no real storyline that I could figure out, other than Arthur and Guinevere going through some struggles. The ending was rather confusing and I couldn't really figure it out. The last few chapters, I just found myself reading faster so I could get it over with and go to bed. It's not that the book wasn't interesting, because it was a little bit. The author was very descriptive. I just don't think this was her best work by far. About 3/4 of the way through the novel, I figured out she was bouncing back and forth between Guinevere and Arthur. Up to that point, I struggled to figure out which character she was talking about as the chapters changed. Sometimes the characters changed in the middle of the chapter, which really threw me off for a few pages until I caught up to what was going on. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, but if you're into descriptive novels that don't really go anywhere, give it a whirl and see what you think. If this is your first time reading this author's work, start with The Silver Wolf before diving into The Dragon Queen. The Silver Wolf was good and will make you want to pick up more. The Dragon Queen will make you never read her again.

Do You like book The Dragon Queen (2002)?

Maybe some day I'll come back to this book, but I just don't think I can read this book. I find myself wondering if I'm not following something of if this book is just beyond my reading. The writing is in a way that makes it seems like, wow we want the read to think this author is just so descriptive and great. Only it becomes confusing and bored. If you aren't familiar with the story of Guinevere then there is no point in reading it because nothing is explained and you are just sitting there wondering what the heck is going on.
—Cindy

Gwyndd, you wouldn't have enjoyed reading this book even if you finished it because it was this first book of what was supposed to be a trilogy but Ms. Borchardt died before the third book was finished. The second book in the series, Raven Warrior, isn't that good either. I found them both to be very dark and depressing. Now if you want to read a good book about Guinevere and Arthur then you want to read Queen of Camelot by Nancy McKenzie. It also is the first of a trilogy: Grail Prince, & Prince of Dreams are the last two in this series.
—Gwyndd

It is always disconcerting to read a fresh telling of well known tales. I find myself straining to make the story fit, or emphatically not fit, or I must disassociate it from my memories of the other versions I have read and heard. How can I disassociate Guinevere and Arthur? Especially when their haunting similarities and vibrant differences are matched by an equally new Merlin, and Igraine, and Morgana. Not to mention Gawain, and Cai, and Balin. The dissonance rings out, and then recedes, and I am left to enjoy this marvellous new creation. But always there is this low, off-pitch hum. This sense of, but---wait, that's not how it REALLY happened. It is impossible for me to judge truly if the resonances of the long familiar stories influenced me to up-score this title, or if the distraction pulled my score down. It is shorthand, and therefore laziness, to present Guinevere and know that your reader will feel all the baggage that goes along with her destiny. But, make no mistake, this is a new story. I enjoyed it tremendously. I anticipate, and that is the power of these characters. I already grieve, and in this world it hasn't happened yet. And perhaps never will. I am glad I have the next one.
—Joanna

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