Dragon Champion | ||||||||
E.E. Knight | ||||||||
Narrated by David Drummond | ||||||||
Tantor Media, 13 hours 52 min | ||||||||
|
A review by Nicki Gerlach
All of that changes on the day his cave is invaded by murderous dwarves. Auron's parents are driven off or
killed, and Auron must venture out into the world -- first with one of his surviving sisters, and then later
alone. His first goal is survival, but a meeting with an elf maiden opens his eyes to the real problem: it's
not just Auron's survival that's at risk, but the survival of his entire species. For dragon numbers have
been decreasing for years, while the two-legged species -- elves, dwarves, blighters, and especially men -- have
been increasing. Auron makes it his mission to find out why. Along the way, he makes some strange friends,
faces some fierce and dangerous enemies, and must find a way to become the champion for which his parents named him.
There's a long tradition of animal stories in fantasy (although relatively few from the point of view of an
animal.) Their point is to show us the world through an unfamiliar set of eyes; by making the
alien familiar, we are then forced to re-evaluate all of the elements we take for granted as
unobjectionable. For this to work, we have to find a connection with our animal narrator, some common ground
on which to build a base of sympathy. However, when a book opens with its protagonist disemboweling and eating
his newly-hatched brother in a battle to the death, and when that same protagonist matter-of-factly mentions
crushing the skulls of human children he's seized for a snack… well, let's just say that I found it somewhat
hard to empathize with him.
My lack of connection with the book's main character -- and thus, with the book itself -- may be a question
of audiences. This book felt like it was aimed at 12-13 year olds. In and of itself, that's not necessarily
a problem -- there's plenty of fantasy out there for mid-grade readers that can also be enjoyed by
adults. However, Dragon Champion felt like it was specifically written for mid-grade boys, with lots of
emphasis on the fighting and adventure aspects. Having never been a 12-year-old boy, I can't comment on how
well they are likely to enjoy Auron's story, but I suspect many of them will love it. For me, however, it
didn't quite make the jump into being a true crossover success.
That's not to say that there weren't elements I enjoyed. Knight's world-building description is excellent. Even
though he's using pretty standard fantasy elements and races, the way they interact felt new, and I really
enjoyed seeing each species's perspective on the origin of the world and its current state. Some of Auron's
adventures were also very interesting -- I particularly got a kick out of his brief sojourn with a wolf
pack. (Also fun in this part was listening to David Drummond, who was otherwise quite good, try to narrate
their howling dialogue.)
The problem with single-protagonist stories like Dragon Champion is that their success is entirely dependent
on how strongly the reader empathizes with the main character. When it works, it's great, and readers who
empathize with Auron are likely to find Dragon Champion to be an exciting fantasy adventure
story. For those of us who don't particularly care for Knight's leading dragon, however, it becomes very
hard to stay involved in the story.
Nicki Gerlach is a mad scientist by day and an avid reader the rest of the time. More of her book reviews can be found at her blog, fyreflybooks.wordpress.com/. |
If you find any errors, typos or anything else worth mentioning,
please send it to editor@sfsite.com.
Copyright © 1996-2014 SF Site All Rights Reserved Worldwide