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Dragonhome #2
The Slayers of Dragonhome
The long-awaited sequel to "The Secret Of Dragonhome". Melayne is back and in trouble, as usual. Her dragons are growing and so is her family. Raiders are trying to kill her, slayers are hunting her dragons and there's a mad god on the loose.
- GenresFantasyYoung Adult
318 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 2011
10 people are currently reading
249 people want to read
About the author
John Peel
350 books165 followersJohn Peel is the author of Doctor Who books and comic strips. Notably, he wrote the first original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Genesys, to launch the Virgin New Adventures line. In the early 1990s he was commissioned by Target Books to write novelisations of several key Terry Nation Dalek stories of the 1960s after the rights were finally worked out. He later wrote several more original Daleks novels.
He has the distinction of being one of only three authors credited on a Target novelisation who had not either written a story for the TV series or been a part of the production team (the others were Nigel Robinson and Alison Bingeman).
Outside of Doctor Who, Peel has also written novels for the Star Trek franchise. Under the pseudonym "John Vincent", he wrote novelisations based upon episodes of the 1990s TV series James Bond Jr..
He has the distinction of being one of only three authors credited on a Target novelisation who had not either written a story for the TV series or been a part of the production team (the others were Nigel Robinson and Alison Bingeman).
Outside of Doctor Who, Peel has also written novels for the Star Trek franchise. Under the pseudonym "John Vincent", he wrote novelisations based upon episodes of the 1990s TV series James Bond Jr..
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 29, 2015
I am giving this book 4 stars because I love the world in which Dragonhome exists, I enjoyed the story, and because I have great respect for the first installment in the Dragonhome series and for the author. With that being said, I am so disappointed with this book. (Which is the reason I'm not giving it 5 stars.)
The Secret of Dragonhome has been my favorite book since I first read it in 1998. Over the last decade and a half I have re-read the story so many times praying that a sequel would be written. So I was beyond ecstatic when I learned that at last a sequel had been written. Maybe it was because my expectations were set too high, but this book was such a let down.
I did enjoy the story that was being told but I kept being pulled out with the writing and the editing that was done (or not done) on this book. It felt like it was a rough draft that got rushed into publication. Not only were there spelling and grammatical mistakes, but different chapters conflicted with each other and sometimes sequential paragraphs conflicted with each other. Not to mention, a lot of the second book conflicted with the first. It felt like The Slayers of Dragonhome was an after thought and The Secret of Dragonhome hadn't been set up for it. There was potential for Kander to reappear since he had been such a mystery in the first book but his role in this story just felt too contrived. He being the reason the Raiders attacked Melayne in the very beginning, and then again as Melayne and Sander had found refuge on the island of Far Holme. For me, his part would have been more substantial had the raiders not been involved. I'm not even sure why if he was in such a fervor to reunite with his sister, why he wouldn't just go to his home and talk to her himself and let his parents know that he was still alive. Sparing the lives of his parents that were killed and Melayne and Sarrow running into all the obstacles they faced in Secrets. True, there never would have been a Secret of Dragonhome had that happened, but it would have made more sense than Kander being behind the Raider attacks since they never seemed to listen to him.
In the early part of Slayers it's found out that a dragon had been buried on the property of the house Melayne and Sarrow lived in before it was attacked by Raiders. Sander then speculates that is probably the reason that family has produced such strong Talents. However, in both books it's stated that a child BORN on a property that had dragon scales will develop a Talent. Neither Melayne or Kander were born at that house. So, for me, that felt like useless dialogue. I guess it could always resurface in any future book, but it was something that bothered me in this one. Then there is the whole part of both of Melayne's brothers going "insane" and trying to get to her. I use insane in quotations because just about every other thing throughout the entire 317 pages of this book was described as insane. I'm going insane from the amount of times insane was used.
Many things were repeated throughout the book which is why I stated that it felt like a rough draft. "Insane" and "would-be" were completely overused as were most of the descriptions. The background of characters were overly repeated. Melayne's concern for her husband, children and the dragons was also constantly brought up. And I'm talking just about every other paragraph. There were also incidents where once a word had been used, you'd see it again a half dozen times by the end of the page. One example of this that happens early on; "Corran was curious about this. Melayne was from Stormgard, one of the Five Kingdoms. It had been at war with Farrowholme, where he had been born, ever since he had been born." Yes, it's not several times in this example, but it's a time when a thesaurus would have been very useful.
When the dragons are speaking, half of the time their dialogue is captioned by asterisks, half the time it's quotations marks. In Secrets, the population seems to be monotheistic always saying "the good God" while in Slayers they were polytheistic ("the gods,"). Except in the last two chapters they seemed to have reverted back to believing in only one god again. And while Sarrow's Talent is Persausion, he's referred to having Compulsion at one time.
The poor writing constantly took me out of the story. I originally thought that maybe it had been written as a children's or young adult story as Secrets had been. But after seeing "bitch", "bastard", and "damned" multiple times I realized that was not the case. Not to mention that 50% of Slayers was about sex. Not just the people were consumed with it but so were the dragons. The constant solicitations of Poth towards Sander were so unnecessary. It added nothing to the story and it made both characters seem weak.
All of the characters were poorly developed. Sander proves not to be the strong Lord that he originally starts off as. Constantly breaking under what little pressure he is put under. Melayne is annoyingly stubborn and believes she is Queen of the world. Devra….well, the book would have been better off without Devra. Her entire purpose is to argue with Melayne and then make stupid jokes at inappropriate times. Corri is depicted as a stupid blonde. Poth is only concerned with bedding Sander. And Margone has been trained his entire life to hate dragons, after all he is a dragon slayer. But after spending a couple days with Tura he completely changes his mind. I would have understood the transformation more had it taken several weeks or months, even. But it just doesn't seem practical that a life long point of view was completely reversed in just a couple of days. Melayne's Talent was in play here, but she says herself that she can only show the person their wrong ways and it's up to the person to change.
The name selection was also poorly chosen. I know this one is really picky but they were just so unoriginal and often times confusing. Corri and Corran. Sander and Kander. Batten and Bantry. Two Falma's and two Cassary's (which were constantly being distinguished from one another so why bother?).
It was so hard to believe that this was written by John Peel. It felt like it was written once and then never read through again. I am still glad I read the book and I am waiting for the third. But I really hope it's not such a struggle as this one was. There were some really good parts, story wise. I was overly joyed when Greyn came back. And I loved the reunion with Ysane's family and Melayne (although I had hoped for more from Falma). And I feel awful having to write such negative things about the book. When I originally bought it I couldn't wait to read it and "knew" I was going to love it no matter what. So maybe, despite all the bad things I had to say, that's why I still gave it 4 stars. I really do love Dragonhome.
(I've never written such a long review, and I probably won't again, but I care so much about this series.)
The Secret of Dragonhome has been my favorite book since I first read it in 1998. Over the last decade and a half I have re-read the story so many times praying that a sequel would be written. So I was beyond ecstatic when I learned that at last a sequel had been written. Maybe it was because my expectations were set too high, but this book was such a let down.
I did enjoy the story that was being told but I kept being pulled out with the writing and the editing that was done (or not done) on this book. It felt like it was a rough draft that got rushed into publication. Not only were there spelling and grammatical mistakes, but different chapters conflicted with each other and sometimes sequential paragraphs conflicted with each other. Not to mention, a lot of the second book conflicted with the first. It felt like The Slayers of Dragonhome was an after thought and The Secret of Dragonhome hadn't been set up for it. There was potential for Kander to reappear since he had been such a mystery in the first book but his role in this story just felt too contrived. He being the reason the Raiders attacked Melayne in the very beginning, and then again as Melayne and Sander had found refuge on the island of Far Holme. For me, his part would have been more substantial had the raiders not been involved. I'm not even sure why if he was in such a fervor to reunite with his sister, why he wouldn't just go to his home and talk to her himself and let his parents know that he was still alive. Sparing the lives of his parents that were killed and Melayne and Sarrow running into all the obstacles they faced in Secrets. True, there never would have been a Secret of Dragonhome had that happened, but it would have made more sense than Kander being behind the Raider attacks since they never seemed to listen to him.
In the early part of Slayers it's found out that a dragon had been buried on the property of the house Melayne and Sarrow lived in before it was attacked by Raiders. Sander then speculates that is probably the reason that family has produced such strong Talents. However, in both books it's stated that a child BORN on a property that had dragon scales will develop a Talent. Neither Melayne or Kander were born at that house. So, for me, that felt like useless dialogue. I guess it could always resurface in any future book, but it was something that bothered me in this one. Then there is the whole part of both of Melayne's brothers going "insane" and trying to get to her. I use insane in quotations because just about every other thing throughout the entire 317 pages of this book was described as insane. I'm going insane from the amount of times insane was used.
Many things were repeated throughout the book which is why I stated that it felt like a rough draft. "Insane" and "would-be" were completely overused as were most of the descriptions. The background of characters were overly repeated. Melayne's concern for her husband, children and the dragons was also constantly brought up. And I'm talking just about every other paragraph. There were also incidents where once a word had been used, you'd see it again a half dozen times by the end of the page. One example of this that happens early on; "Corran was curious about this. Melayne was from Stormgard, one of the Five Kingdoms. It had been at war with Farrowholme, where he had been born, ever since he had been born." Yes, it's not several times in this example, but it's a time when a thesaurus would have been very useful.
When the dragons are speaking, half of the time their dialogue is captioned by asterisks, half the time it's quotations marks. In Secrets, the population seems to be monotheistic always saying "the good God" while in Slayers they were polytheistic ("the gods,"). Except in the last two chapters they seemed to have reverted back to believing in only one god again. And while Sarrow's Talent is Persausion, he's referred to having Compulsion at one time.
The poor writing constantly took me out of the story. I originally thought that maybe it had been written as a children's or young adult story as Secrets had been. But after seeing "bitch", "bastard", and "damned" multiple times I realized that was not the case. Not to mention that 50% of Slayers was about sex. Not just the people were consumed with it but so were the dragons. The constant solicitations of Poth towards Sander were so unnecessary. It added nothing to the story and it made both characters seem weak.
All of the characters were poorly developed. Sander proves not to be the strong Lord that he originally starts off as. Constantly breaking under what little pressure he is put under. Melayne is annoyingly stubborn and believes she is Queen of the world. Devra….well, the book would have been better off without Devra. Her entire purpose is to argue with Melayne and then make stupid jokes at inappropriate times. Corri is depicted as a stupid blonde. Poth is only concerned with bedding Sander. And Margone has been trained his entire life to hate dragons, after all he is a dragon slayer. But after spending a couple days with Tura he completely changes his mind. I would have understood the transformation more had it taken several weeks or months, even. But it just doesn't seem practical that a life long point of view was completely reversed in just a couple of days. Melayne's Talent was in play here, but she says herself that she can only show the person their wrong ways and it's up to the person to change.
The name selection was also poorly chosen. I know this one is really picky but they were just so unoriginal and often times confusing. Corri and Corran. Sander and Kander. Batten and Bantry. Two Falma's and two Cassary's (which were constantly being distinguished from one another so why bother?).
It was so hard to believe that this was written by John Peel. It felt like it was written once and then never read through again. I am still glad I read the book and I am waiting for the third. But I really hope it's not such a struggle as this one was. There were some really good parts, story wise. I was overly joyed when Greyn came back. And I loved the reunion with Ysane's family and Melayne (although I had hoped for more from Falma). And I feel awful having to write such negative things about the book. When I originally bought it I couldn't wait to read it and "knew" I was going to love it no matter what. So maybe, despite all the bad things I had to say, that's why I still gave it 4 stars. I really do love Dragonhome.
(I've never written such a long review, and I probably won't again, but I care so much about this series.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2016
Who are these people and what did they do with the characters I grew up loving? Who edited this book? I'm so disappointed with this story and it's sort of soured me on the original story. I waited a long time for a sequel and it really didn't do the original novel any justice. From the horrible cover to the typos and story that didn't make any sense. There was zero character development in this book and I actually think they sort of went backwards. I just don't know how this is an actual book.
November 23, 2015
After more than a decade, the unexpected sequel to The Secret of Dragonhome returns us to the same world we knew, following the story of the characters we know and love. Picking up and building on elements from the first book, while introducing those which were only hinted at, The Slayers of Dragonhome is indeed a worthy sequel.
It even, to my pleasure, reads the same as the first book, which is no mean feat after ten plus years.
Overall, I enjoyed the new book and will certainly keep an eye out for the upcoming third. I did have some issues with being able to see certain plot points quite early on and I'd really like to understand more about the dragons, but for the moment I'll simply enjoy the story I got and hope that some of my questions are answered in the next.
It even, to my pleasure, reads the same as the first book, which is no mean feat after ten plus years.
Overall, I enjoyed the new book and will certainly keep an eye out for the upcoming third. I did have some issues with being able to see certain plot points quite early on and I'd really like to understand more about the dragons, but for the moment I'll simply enjoy the story I got and hope that some of my questions are answered in the next.
July 29, 2017
I've just finished "Slayers" after years of waiting for this sequel and I must say, I was not disappointed. Falling back into Melayne's, and Sander's, story was such a comforting feeling. Melayne is just as wonderful as I remember and it's very interesting getting to read from Sander's perspective as well.
I am looking forward to the next book... that ending has me at the edge of my seat! :D
I am looking forward to the next book... that ending has me at the edge of my seat! :D
June 14, 2024
Long review incoming.
I am very mixed about this book. The sequel to my favorite book, there was positive and negative for me. I want to end on a positive note, so I'll start with the negative.
Was this book edited at all? There are several moments where I'm completely pulled out of the book. The biggest is definitely when Melayne and the animals speak. Constantly flipping between astericks and regular quotes, sometimes on the same page, is really jarring.
The Far Isles. Apparently, they aren't very far. Sure, dragons are much faster than boats. But it doesn't take the Dragon Slayers too horribly long to get there. Or, if it actually did take a couple of weeks, the book does not explain that well. How did they find the Far Isles with no issue? And since when are they a day's flight away from the coast of Stormguard?
I was very mixed about many of the characters and plot points. Kander's plan is completely illogical. When the raiders failed and killed his family the first time, he should never have sent them to the Far Isles, let alone doing it twice. Sander, though emotionally broken, was a competent lord in the first book, creating the plan to go to the Far Isles. He's not totally butchered here, but when he says multiple times he's worthless without Melayne. Sarrow's heel-turn back to Melayne's side feels way too sudden. Also, since Melayne and Kander were born before their family moved close to the dragon corpse, why were they so ridiculously powerful?
Now the good. Greyn is back, and I love him as much as the last book! The dragon mating ritual being intoxicating to dragons, to the point of becoming almost beast-like their first time, is interesting. A bit strange, but interesting! Kander himself was actually kind of fun, and his insanity on full display was intimidating. Sarrow's fear and self-preservation to send Dragonslayers felt in character for him, and his absolute panic when everything went wrong was satisfying. I loved dragons being able to bond with humans, and the personalities of the dragons was interesting. The drawback of Melayne speaking to a person's soul has the potential to drag her down with them, and how she feels directly responsible for Kander's suicide was really good writing (even if she got over it quickly and it's never addressed again).
All in all, there was good and bad to this book. It hurts the original, and I've honestly kind of accepted this book to be a weird "What-if?" scenario, and leave the original as stand alone. Between all three books, Slayers is definitely the weakest. That being said, I did still enjoy it!
I am very mixed about this book. The sequel to my favorite book, there was positive and negative for me. I want to end on a positive note, so I'll start with the negative.
Was this book edited at all? There are several moments where I'm completely pulled out of the book. The biggest is definitely when Melayne and the animals speak. Constantly flipping between astericks and regular quotes, sometimes on the same page, is really jarring.
The Far Isles. Apparently, they aren't very far. Sure, dragons are much faster than boats. But it doesn't take the Dragon Slayers too horribly long to get there. Or, if it actually did take a couple of weeks, the book does not explain that well. How did they find the Far Isles with no issue? And since when are they a day's flight away from the coast of Stormguard?
I was very mixed about many of the characters and plot points. Kander's plan is completely illogical. When the raiders failed and killed his family the first time, he should never have sent them to the Far Isles, let alone doing it twice. Sander, though emotionally broken, was a competent lord in the first book, creating the plan to go to the Far Isles. He's not totally butchered here, but when he says multiple times he's worthless without Melayne. Sarrow's heel-turn back to Melayne's side feels way too sudden. Also, since Melayne and Kander were born before their family moved close to the dragon corpse, why were they so ridiculously powerful?
Now the good. Greyn is back, and I love him as much as the last book! The dragon mating ritual being intoxicating to dragons, to the point of becoming almost beast-like their first time, is interesting. A bit strange, but interesting! Kander himself was actually kind of fun, and his insanity on full display was intimidating. Sarrow's fear and self-preservation to send Dragonslayers felt in character for him, and his absolute panic when everything went wrong was satisfying. I loved dragons being able to bond with humans, and the personalities of the dragons was interesting. The drawback of Melayne speaking to a person's soul has the potential to drag her down with them, and how she feels directly responsible for Kander's suicide was really good writing (even if she got over it quickly and it's never addressed again).
All in all, there was good and bad to this book. It hurts the original, and I've honestly kind of accepted this book to be a weird "What-if?" scenario, and leave the original as stand alone. Between all three books, Slayers is definitely the weakest. That being said, I did still enjoy it!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2017
This book is an absolute mess. Ordinarily I'd give it one star, but it read as though the author didn't give a single fuck what happened, which made it kind of enjoyable.
December 30, 2025
A continuation of the universe set by the first book. The characters and the writing style still leave something to be desired but the universe overall is compelling.
June 4, 2016
This was just awful. Like many other readers, the first book was a childhood favorite and I spent years obsessively checking library catalogues to see if a sequel ever appeared. I didn't go back and reread the first book before starting this one, which I think tempered the disappointment a little.
Peel desperately needed an editor, or a better one. All the flaws of the first book are magnified to a nearly unbearable level. Every character incessantly reminds us how perfect Melayne is, incredibly messy emotional situations are resolved instantly by characters lecturing ponderously at one another, and the writing is overly verbose. The whole book is a nearly lethal dose of tell vs show in every possible way.
Peel desperately needed an editor, or a better one. All the flaws of the first book are magnified to a nearly unbearable level. Every character incessantly reminds us how perfect Melayne is, incredibly messy emotional situations are resolved instantly by characters lecturing ponderously at one another, and the writing is overly verbose. The whole book is a nearly lethal dose of tell vs show in every possible way.
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January 31, 2016Melayne and the dragons find themselves being attached my raiders and she must find out why. There are many adventures happening and all come together to make one fine story. Love this am looking forward to book 3: The Siege of Dragonhome!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews