Dragon's Keep
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Dragon's Keep

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3.63 of 5 stars 3.63  ·  rating details  ·  1,772 ratings  ·  298 reviews
Far away on Wilde Island, Princess Rosalind is born with a dragon claw where her ring finger should be. To hide the secret, the Queen forces her to wear gloves at all times until a cure can be found,t.
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published April 1st 2007 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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(showing 1-30 of 2,875)
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Jennifer Wardrip
Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com

Rosalind's fate was written in the stars, read by Merlin, some 600 years before she was born. A direct descendant of the Pendragon line, her ancestor, Evaine, was the younger sister of King Arthur. Evaine married an outlaw and was banished to Wilde Island and erased from family history, setting Rosalind's destiny in motion. Three things are said of the twenty-first queen of Wilde Island; "She shall redeem the name Pendragon. End wa...more
Celia Powell
This was a lovely YA fairytale - the version I read in Australia was actually called Talon. Princess Rosalind, of Wilde Island, was the subject of a prophecy many generations before her birth. She would restore the glory of Wilde Island, and end a war. However, the Princess was born with a dragon's claw instead of a ring finger on one of her hands, and wears gloves at all times to hide this terrible flaw. However, when a dragon carries her off, the claw is the least of her worries.

...more
Adriana
I will be the first to say that I am not into the fantasy books, but this one was very enjoyable. I might even say that I will probably read a lot more fantasy because of it. Rosalind is a Pendragon Queen but there is only one problem: she has a dragon's claw where her left ring finger should be. No one but her mother the Queen knows, and incidentally anyone who sees it meets an untimely death. Rosalind is both ashamed and fascinated by her "deformity". It will impede her becoming...more
Elizabeth
Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: fantasy
Rosalind’s mother knows that her daughter has been born for great thing. Merlin himself fortold a prophecy whereby the twenty-first queen of Wilde Island, which is plagued by dragons, will do three great things. "She shall redeem the name Pendragon. End war with the wave of her hand. And restore the glory of Wilde Island." Rosalind is to be that queen, but -- there is one little hitch. She was born with a finger that looks exactly like a dragon's claw. They do everything they can to t...more
Smaileh
Dragon's Keep is a lovely little dragon fantasy set in an actual historical period--the English civil war between Queen Matilde and King Stephen. The setting is an island apparently off the coast of England and ruled by descendants of the Pendragons--the royal house of Arthur. The book can be divided into three parts. The first part takes place in the castle where Rosalind leads a pampered and priviledged life. The second is in the dragon's keep, where Rosie, renamed Briar by the dragon, car...more
Miss Clark
Well, I liked the dragon aspects of the book, esp. as they were not the fun, endearing, yet noble and powerful creatures of most of the series that I like. These dragons are far more the wild monsters that appear in legends and the scary, if still majestic animals that everyone is out to kill. And they are not all wrong in that inclination to eliminate such a threat. Which made our heroine's time spent with these creatures and the relationship that she builds with them all the more vital and int...more
Sarah
Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars
Shelves: ya-fiction
So cheesy! I read this because it was unanimously chosen by the teens in my book group. It is about dragons and far far away places where they say things like “whilst” and “abide my time drinking mead”. The princess is cursed with a dragon claw b/c her mom is possibly crazy and a heroin addict (poppy potion!) and she has to reunite the kingdom. The main character is the dimmest girl on the planet and while sort of perky, pales in comparison to say, Coraline. I will be interested in what the grou...more
Mandy
Mandy rated it 2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: no one really...
This is about princess Rosalind and her family rules Wilde Island. What is so unique about Rosalind is that her ring finger is all scally and has a talon. Her mother makes her hide it with golden gloves and no one else knows her secret except her mother. Merlins prophecy involves her because it speaks of the twenty-first Pendragon queen. She is suppose to be living up to the prophecy, but with her cursed finger, nothing seems as possible as she wants it to be. If you seemed interested in this (w...more
Hnasman
I picked this up because the premise seemed cool -- a princess "cursed" with a dragon part -- and just as I suspected, the talon was a sort of metaphor for her sexuality and feminine mystery. It was kind of reminiscent of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" in some respects.

But there I'd have to say that the coolness ends. The villain, "Sir Magnus," is a generically priestly advisor, who smacks of largely of a eunuch. He's fat, and wears gloves like a qu...more
Kristen
I had originally picked it up "Dragon's Keep" because it has to do with dragons … and I LOVE dragons.

It’s set in the old days, with kings and castles and whatnot. The time period isn’t really my bag to begin with, but I thought I would give it a chance anyway.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Carey weaves a really interesting story. It seemed like a fairy tale. This book tells the tale of the princess Rosalind that was born with a dragon claw instead of...more
Natasha Superville
This was an excellent read. I just pulled it offthe library shelf because the cover looked interesting. Glad that I did. The main take-away for me from this book was Princess Rosalind's triumph. Her mother's one track mind to fulfill what she thought Rosalind's life should be was relentless. However, Rosalind comes into her own to decide what she wanted with an unexpected twist. If you had the choice, would you choose duty over your hearts desire? Given the time period in whch the story i...more
112 Maura
112 Maura rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Anyone who likes a good book.
This is a riveting book by Janet Lee Carey. It has adventure, stunning grammar that really puts the picture in your head, and it has Mystery. I love this book because it has a great story line about a young girl around 14-15 and her adventure with her terrible curse. She is trying to find out where it came from and how to cure it. Only her and her mother know about her dreaded secret that keeps beautiful hands from ever seeing the light of day. She is also fending for her life, her mothers life,...more
Small Review
3.5 stars

This is one of those books where the payoff is good, but the journey is only so-so. I’m glad I read this book—I like the story very much and the author did a great job in capturing the feel of an Arthurian tragedy—but…the actual reading process was a little difficult for me.

I like fast-paced books, and this was not a fast-paced book at all. There is very little edge-of-your-seat action, with the plot instead unfurling slowly across Rosalind's life. For people who don...more
Angela
Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars
Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, ya
Part of Adventures in Reading post on Bewitched Bookworms.
I read five books. In five days. This was one of them. =)

http://www.bewitchedbookworms.com/2010/0...

Princess Rosalind would one day become the 21st queen of Wilde Island, a queen meant to end a war and bring honor back to her namesake. However, she was also born with a curse.
One of her fingers is a dragon's talon. Her life has been spent hiding her shame from everyone save her mother. A mother hell bent on h...more
Emma
"Read" it says. Endured is more like it.

Often times, first impressions are wrong. My first impression of Dragon's Keep was that it was boring. But after I read it, I learned I was wrong; it was boring AND disgusting.

Boring, because the author had all these details in there that you think might be important, but aren't in the end. They're either vaguely followed up so you're not really sure, or just dismissed all together, and never mentioned again. Like that lit...more
Paige Y.
Rosalind, princess of Wilde Island, is almost perfectly beautiful. She has a lovely face and will have a beautiful shape when she is a woman. But she is not perfect. The ring finger of her left hand – the finger on which she should wear her wedding ring – is not a finger at all but a claw, a dragon’s claw. Nobody but Rosalind and her mother are aware of her deformity – she always wears golden gloves to hide it. If anyone finds out, she will no longer be a princess – will perhaps be thought ...more
Emily
Emily added it
Recommends it for: fantasy, dragon
Shelves: book-club
This was an amazing book that I recommend to fantasy/dragon lovers. It's about this Princess who was born with a 'Devil's Mark', or a Dragon Claw. Her and her mother have been hiding this secret since she was born and haven't told anyone, not even the King. Until one day when she has a dream about her dear friend, that died from a dragon attack, shows her a healing lake which can heal her Cursed Mark. So she tells her mother and she feels depressed when Rosalind tells her. She wonders why in cur...more
Steph Su
Banished to Wilde Island, a disgraced splinter of the English royal family rules in constant fear of bandits and man-eating dragons. Merlin foretold the prophecy that the twenty-first queen of Wilde Island would restore glory to the family name and Wilde Island, as well as end a war. Therefore, the twentieth queen is desperately ruthless in making her daughter Rosalind, the future twenty-first queen, as perfect as she can be.

But there is one major problem. Rosie had been born with a dr...more
Nafiza
Nafiza rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2010, ya-fantasy
We all know what it's like to grow up with expectations that you will somehow be great (okay fine, some of us more than others) and Carey's heroine suffers more than others due to Merlin's visions 600 years prior to her birth. She is supposed to be great - save the world great - and her mother is determined that she live up to the predictions. Never mind the fact that she is born with one claw (a dragon talon) on one hand due to Mama dearest stealing (and slurping) a dragon egg to quicken her ag...more
Radio Darkness
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Sarah
Meh. I'm a sucker for Arthurian spin-offs, and who doesn't like a Merlin prophecy about a once and future Queen, but this one is more than a wee bit predictable. With little character depth, lots of didactic relationships, and an obvious ending, there's not much special here. Princess Rose's main characteristics seem to be worry about people discovering her cursed body part (bet you can't guess which one), and angst over her loneliness. It picks up a bit when the promised dragons enter the s...more
Falling Off The Shelf
This review was originally posted on my review blog : Falling Off The Shelf.

Princess Rosalind has lived her life in shame of the dragon claw she was born with. Every day she must don her golden gloves to hide her mark in order to be seen as the rightful heir to the throne of Wilde Island. Her mother, Queen Gweneth, is the only living soul who has seen the claw upon Rosie's finger, and she wishes to keep it that way. She will do anything in her power to keep the throne to Wilde Island...more
Pricky
Pricky rated it 2 of 5 stars
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Lucy
Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars
Surprisingly, REALLY good, considering it takes place in the early 1000s, AD (I just don't normally enjoy books having to do with knights, royalties, the Renaissance, and such).

Princess Rosalind Pendragon is born with a curse, or that's what she thinks of it anyway. Her left ring finger is replaced with a dragon talon, and always has been. Other than her, only her mother, the Queen, knows about it. Rose does a fine job hiding her hands with golden gloves, but sometimes she slips up....more
Chris
Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars
Shelves: young-adult
I read this book because the cover art (displayed in an illustration exhibit at BYU) inspired me to begin writing a story of my own. Therefore, my reading was colored by constant critiques of "How would I have written it?" That approach inevitably gave me a lot to disapprove of, but there were a lot of good things, too. Most of all, I was taken with the sad life of dragons that can never cry except in death.

With good research, Carey created a largely historical setting; the...more
Meredith
I am struggling with this audio book. I'll keep on with it, but if the audio I'm waiting for comes in first, I don't know if I'll finish it. The story is fine, and there's technically nothing wrong with the reader. I don't know. It just hasn't grabbed me yet.

Finally starting to get into it! It took 4 discs, but I'm in! Honestly, it's a good thing those other books I wanted were checked out, or I might have given up.

So, I'm done. And I did end up liking it. I susp...more
Vincy
My expectations when I brought home this book were far from the reality of it. I thought it was going to be an exciting adventure-type story with magic and dragons. Yes, there is some adventure...and lots of dragons. Yet it was more soft spoken than I expected, people were passive when I'm used to action. This is not to say it was bad. It was actually quite good. I'm not into historical fiction, but this is written in the manner of most historical novels, so the characters' actions did not feel ...more
Melissa Bennett
I love dragon stories of all kinds. This one lived up to it's expectations. It was about a girl named Rosalind (Rose) who was filled with shame. She was born with a dragon's claw instead of a finger. Her mother made her wear gloves in order to conceal the claw and sent healer's to try to fix the problem. This just made her feel even more shameful until one day she is whisked off by a true dragon. She is made to take care of the 4 babies he has since her "kind" killed their mother. Ther...more
Vanekallie
Princess Rosalind lives on Wilde Island, an island close to England. Rosalind also has a flaw that no one but her mother, the queen, knows about. She has a dragon’s claw where her left ring finger should be. Because Rosalind’s mother doesn’t want anyone to know about it, she makes Rosalind wear golden gloves, at least until the cure is found for her dragon finger. The queen also keeps Rosalind from marrying. Then one day, the dragon that terrorizes Wilde Island kidnaps Rosalind and takes her to ...more
Brooke The-Book
This book is amazing!
One of my favorites!
One thing I really really really love about this book is the choice of names - Merlin, Rosalind, Gweneth, Marn, Kit ... how does Janet think of these!? They're so fun to say and to read about.
Janet Lee Carey is an amazing writer - there is no doubt in that. She is very nice, and someday, I want to meet her in person - that would be a dream come true.
Thank you Janet for writing such great books - I'm really enjoying this one! :)
...more
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Janet Lee Carey is the award-winning author of eight Children's and YA novels. Her YA fantasy is critically acclaimed: "Verdict: This is quite simply fantasy at its best–original, beautiful, amazing, and deeply moving.” School Library Journal starred review. Janet links each new book with a charitable organization empowe...more
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