I wish I could give this book a higher score. Robin McKinley is one of my all-time favorite authors and I was hoping for more from this book. The story is pretty good, but I just never really got attached to the characters, and I wasn't a big fan of the writing style. It's told in first-person almost like a stream of consciousness and I just felt it was too repetitive. Like, I GET that dragons are big and that the boy has a headache. Stop already. Having the story told by teen probably didn't help me like anyone either. She wrote him pretty well, but teens aren't particularly likable and they don't really like anyone besides themselves. It was a pretty decent story, but it's not something you have to go right out there and read.