Kira

Shadow of the Dragon #1

by Kate O'Hearn

Under no circumstances are girls EVER to be allowed anywhere near dragons. THE PENALTY FOR ANY GIRL CAUGHT BREAKING THE FIRST LAW IS DEATH. Kira is twelve, and strong willed. The daughter of a retired dragon knight, she yearns for adventure and dreams of following in her father's footsteps astride her own magnificent mount. But this can never happen. According to the 'stupid laws' of the kingdom, she must be married by thirteen. Kira hates it, but being a girl she has no choice. Then Lord Dorcon arrives, in a whirl of destruction and fire and Kira knows the real fight is just beginning. To stand a chance of seeing her family again, and to protect the life of her younger sister, she will need every bit of willpower she can find. Let the battle commence.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Adventure, Childrens, Magic

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Kate O'Hearn was born in Toronto Canada, but raised in the heart of New York City and has lived in many places throughout her life. These days, she calls the south coast of England home. She has 3 brothers, no sisters and is passionate about animals and their causes and has many animal friends. (Pets)

Over the course of her life she has had several careers before finding her real love, writing children's books. Being the only girl in family of boys, she grew up a true tom-boy and always loved books with high adventure. But one of the problems she discovered was a lack of female leads in these adventure books.

When she started to write, Kate decided to address this imbalance and now writes high fantasy adventures with strong, compassionate and adventure loving girl heroes. There are plenty of boys in the story to keep it interesting and challenging, but she believes that a girl hero can be as brave, strong and adventurous as a boy.

She insists that adventures are for everyone!

So come and enjoy a few adventures with her...

Reviews

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Creo que retomar libros desde el punto en que los abandoné no es bueno...

Prácticamente había olvidado la mayor parte de la historia transcurrida anteriormente, pero necesitaba terminar ya este libro si o si.

Para ser un libro infantil/juvenil el ritmo de lectura me pareció muy pesado, leía dos páginas y ya sentía la necesidad de abandonarlo.

La idea me sigue pareciendo muy buena, simplemente no consiguió atraparme.

La verdad no creo continuar con el segundo libro.

[Xime García · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reseña Sombra de Dragón 2 - Elspeth

2.5

Este libro fue publicado en 2008. Por lo tanto varios de sus conceptos pueden haber sido novedosos en su momento, aunque hoy caen en clichés y lo vuelven trillado. Se trata de un reino en donde existen la magia y dragones, y también la primera ley, una serie de códigos machistas que tornan a la mujer inútil y un apéndice del hombre con el que conviven. Esta es una ley sostenida por generaciones, de rey a rey, que acérrimamente parecen detestar al sexo femenino (kinda gay if you ask me). Nuestra protagonista es Kira, una niña de doce años que solo quiere volar en dragón, lo cual lo tiene prohibido y penado por esta primera ley.

El libro se inclina mucho más hacia el género middle grade que young adult. Por lo que es de esperarse que si en un YA el worldbuilding chato y la mano que guían son pan de cada día, en este lo son mucho más. No me molestó tanto porque entiendo el público al que va dirigido y porque no repitieron la misma información un centenar de veces. En ese aspecto me parece mejor armado que los últimos YA que leí incluso. Sin embargo, la narración es bastante playa, no hay descripciones (tanto que imaginé a Kira morocha 2/3 del libro... Hasta que me dicen que es colorada de ojos azules, ok??) y los diálogos son todos iguales para todos los personajes de diferentes edades y estratos sociales. El rey es malo por ser malo, y me cuesta creer que alguien tan tirano logre mantener el poder por tanto tiempo sin que el pueblo se subleveve, pero supongo que su crueldad y falta de oposición son funcionales a la trama.

Es una lectura muy ligera. Me lo leí todo de una sentada a pesar de sus 300 y pico de páginas. Es inofensivo y el mensaje ala Mulán que quiere dar es positivo, aunque como dije antes, algo trillado ya. Tiene ideas originales, como la de los dragones inteligentes y con dos colas. También me gustó ver que Kira no es la única protagonista: su hermana menor Elspeth y hermano mayor Dane ocupan grandes capítulos de la novela.

La edición muy linda por fuera, pero dejó mucho que desear por dentro. Falta de tildes, de rayas de diálogo y de puntos aparte no intencionales hicieron que me saliera de la lectura varias veces.

Termina en un cliffhanger tremendo. Por suerte tengo la secuela ya. Me dan ganas de ver cómo sigue, aunque sea para distenderme.

[Mags · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book. It shows the true power of family and team work. This book is just amazing.

[Ryan Grundvig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is easily one of my top ten favorites of all time! It was the summer before 5th grade. I told myself I had to read at least one book before school started. I optimistically chose to read the Help... yeah, like that happened. I had about one week left until summer was over, and I still had not read a single book! I finally just picked this book at random. It was one of the best random choices I've ever made! I fell in love with this book from the beginning, and stuck with it till the very end. I barely finished this book the day before school began. That one week was the best week of my whole summer! With every turn of a page, I felt a thrill I'd never experienced before; it was called reading. This one story is what truly started my fondness of books. I owe all my literature joy to this one novel. Thank you "Kira".

[Whiteraven191 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Short spoiler-free thoughts: This book wanted to be a girl-empowerment novel and failed hard. Tamora Pierce does this sort of novel 1000 times better.

Cover: It looks like the cover to a terrible, low-budget, direct-to-DVD movie. Which isn't entirely inaccurate I suppose. The thing that bugs me the most about it is the girl. This novel is set in generic medieval fantasy Europe and the character spends half the novel living in a cave in the mountains. Why does she look like she has died her hair?

Plot:
-The plot has way too many things just conveniently happen: Kira conveniently finds a knife, then she and her sister conveniently find a cache of food, then they conveniently find a fox that Elspeth can conveniently talk to and find out when bad guys are coming.
-There's a war on, but we never find out why or what the kingdom they're invading is called or even what the kingdom the novel's set in is called. Also, the king drafts pretty much every able-bodied young man into the army and drags all the other peasants to the castle, which means no one is harvesting any crops, and all the peasants just kind of awkwardly end up sitting around the castle not doing anything.
-The kids who've been drafted to be dragon knights have all been forcibly dragged from their homes, and many of their homes were burned by the king's men, but they're being given Dragons.
Obviously there's no way that can go wrong.
-The book would gloss over important character moments sometimes. For example, Dane has been nervous about dragons and flying on dragons the whole novel, but the scene where he flies for the first time is only about a sentence long.
-The author uses the phrase "the balance of" instead of "the rest of", as in "the balance of the day" instead of "the rest of the day". Dictionary.com and my parents assure me that it's grammatically correct, but it still makes my eye twitch every time I see it.
-The dragons don't breathe fire. What is even the point of having dragons in your story if they don't breathe fire.
-The villains are cliche, mustache-twirling stereotypes. A piece of cardboard has more unique personality than these guys.

Characters:

Kira:
-Her temper tantrum about being forced to marry at the beginning of the novel just feels wrong.
It feels like how someone from our world would react to being told they need to be married by age thirteen, not how someone from a country where this has been the law for generations would react.
This unfortunately makes Kira come off like a whiny brat in a scene where the audience should feel sorry for her.
-She always calls her little sister Shadow because Elspeth always follows her around like one.
I don't know why, but it just bothered me for some reason that Kira never calls her sister by her real name. She'll call her other siblings by their names, so why not Elspeth.
-At one point, she goes to observe some wild dragons fighting off the king's dragon knights even though the last time she saw this wild dragon, it tried to eat her. Sure enough, the scene ends with the dragon trying to eat her.

Elspeth:
-She's supposed to be seven to eight years old. Sometimes she manages to sound like a little kid, but a good chunk of the time, she sounds a lot older.
-She can talk to animals. It's never really explained beyond "it's magic!". If the magic system was properly explained in the novel, I wouldn't mind nearly so much. But it's not, so it just comes off as Elspeth having the power of plot convenience.
-Her ability seems much more useful in controlling their dragon than anything Kira contributes.
I'm not sure why the two sisters weren't just folded into one character.

Dane:
-He's just sort of generic. His only real purpose in the majority of the novel is to let the reader see what's happening with the bad guys. He's basically a non-entitiy.

Paradon:
-He's supposed to be a wizard whose powers are unreliable, but his powers only ever seem to malfunction when the book needs some wacky comedic hijinks. The girls need a blizzard to attack a prison? He conjures a blizzard. They need some sort of magical communication device?
He makes one.
-That magical communication device I mentioned? The girls can never remove them for the rest of their lives, according to Paradon. I would remind you that Elspeth is eight and now a grown man can hear what she's doing every second of the day.
-His big plan to rescue the girls being held in a horrible prison because they aren't married is to send the thirteen-year-old and the eight-year-old armed with bows to go murder all the guards.
I'll repeat that; he sends an eight-year-old girl to murder people. He turns the girls into child soldiers, and he's supposed to be a likable character. He's supposed to be one of the good guys.
I want him to die in a fire.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun story and it will be a great series. Young readers will like it 5th- 8th grade especially. **stop here for spoilers*** Our heroine has grown up in a world where girls are not allowed many rights. We find out later that it is because the King heard a prophecy that a girl riding a dragon would kill the King, This made the King not let girls go to school, learn how to ride dragons, and they can't choose their own husbands, as well as they have to be married at a young age. This was well written and the plot moved along. A fun fast read. Our girl hero has a sister who can talk to animals, and she will become important in future books in the series. Here the sisters save the sister who was locked in a prison. They battled the King's men there and won. In the end a big battle is forming and the wizard helps them escape with time travel. So-- it wasn't resolved. I didn't like the ending-- too quick and not satisfying. I'm sure that questions will be answered in the next book. This is a book I could book talk for my students.

[Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The beginning started out a little slow, but by the time I finished, I couldn't put it down. I had been reading 1-2 chapters a night before bed. I got to the last 4 or 5, and I stayed up until 1 am just to finish it!
I can't wait for the second book in the series to come out.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a similar type genre to Brisingr and Eldest but I thought it was a much easier read and more enjoyable. Great for pre-teens on up. www.kidswantbooks.com

[Arminzerella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kira’s country is ruled by a tyrant who has made it very inhospitable to girls. Because of a prophecy foretelling the downfall of the monarchy, the king has decreed that girls must be married by the age of 13 – or else (one of a series of laws restricting girls’ and womens’ rights). When Lord Dorcon arrives to draft Kira’s family for the war effort he intends to take her and her sisters to Lasser – a prison for unmarried girls (and other criminals). Kira and her younger sister Elspeth escape and flee to the Rogue dragon’s mountain. They are aided by Onnie, a fox-like creature, who takes a liking to Elspeth (who can speak to animals). While on the mountain, Kira rescues one of the Rogue’s offspring and raises him as her own (Jinx). The King and his men continue to hunt the girls and they are able to escape (once again) with the assistance of the wizard, Paradon. Paradon teaches the girls to defend themselves and arms them that they might rescue their sister, Kahrin, and the other women imprisoned at Lasser. They are successful, but must keep moving to stay out of the King’s clutches. Paradon opens up a gateway to send them into the future, but the story ends with a cliffhanger and it’s not clear where they end up or what will happen…stay tuned for the next installment!!!

This story has some potential, but it’s bogged down by its flaws – convenient plot devices, overly simplistic characters, lack of details. It was ultimately unsatisfying. Despite its flaws, the story moves pretty quickly and may be a good pick for kids/teens who like James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series.

Specifically, there were a lot of things that bothered me:
1.)Kira’s temper tantrum in the beginning when she learns she’s going to be married – I’m not opposed to her defying the King’s laws, but she’s been aware of them her whole life, so they shouldn’t be such a shock to her now.
2.)Kira’s supposed to be the girl in the prophecy, yet, it’s her sister, Elspeth, who seems more instrumental (she’s the one who can talk to animals) to their success.
3.)Paradon has this mysterious background that’s only hinted at – and I have a feeling that that’s all we’re going to get.
4.)The bad guys have NO redeeming qualities. They’re bad because they can be – they have all the power and they don’t need a good reason to use it. Even learning about the existence of the prophecy doesn’t mitigate their badness. The King doesn’t even do us the courtesy of appearing himself – he just acts through his minions.
5.)I was hoping the dragons would be more interesting, but they’re just creatures like other creatures and don’t seem to have any more intelligence.
6.)Kate O’Hearn has no problems killing off any of the characters who get in her way, and she’s got the girls killing soldiers like war veterans right from the beginning. It’s a little off-putting because you would think – given their ages and innocence – that they’d be more affected.
7.)I doubt any of these concerns will be addressed in subsequent installments. This has the taste/feel of a series that will just continue along in this vein.

[Lucía Colella · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 estrellas.
Me gustó mucho este libro.
Es una historia middle grade, con una protagonista de 13 años y su hermana de 8.
El hecho de que haya dragones tal vez influenció en que me gustara jajaja pero no tiene mucho que ver. Fue una historia bastante sencilla, muy lineal, pero muy divertida al mismo tiempo. Es una historia llena de injusticias, de lucha, de valor y de fuerza. Tiene una gran influencia de la magia como también una participación activa de los animales, cosa que me gustó un montón.
A veces sentí que las situaciones a las que se enfrentaban eran demasiado duras para unas niñas tan pequeñas y que respondían con una madurez mucho mayor a la edad que tenían. Sin embargo, está lleno de acción y te hace olvidar por un rato la realidad para hundirte en la historia.
Terminó de una forma muy abierta, así que estoy muy ansiosa de leer la continuación.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book one of the best ive ever read love the bit when she gets her own dragon. Lord dorcon is so evil and lasser commons sounded horrible. Really recommend it!

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One word. Niiiiiice.

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[Damianga3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: really good book, but when it falls it falls hard.
Username: the meow-tain.
Stars: 4
The reason that I say that is because there are very interesting parts like when the the sisters Kira and Elspeth are living on the rogue's mountain and the dragon knights go to try to kill the girls and in the process the dragon knights get killed by the rogue, but then there are the parts where the story is very bland and boring, like when at the beginning of the book where Kira is arguing about she getting married. I still think that the book was really good and I do recommend that people read this book to people that liked “wings of fire” and the “harry potter” series because the story is heavily based on magic and dragons, and to people that compelled by strong characters who stand up for themselves and the ones they care for. They kind of remind me of the books “wings of fire” because the main theme of dragons. That was the review of “shadow of the dragon Kira” I hoped you liked it and I hope you got what I meant by the title.

[Carter W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate O’Hearn is a amazing author that rights good fantasy books. This book really got me into reading her books, her books explain important details in life, “A girl can do anything in life a boy can do”. This got from my personal thoughts about this book.
The book really get you going on deep emotional thoughts. This book is about a girl named kiri, and her little sister elspeth. In the beginning her mom died by murder by lord dorcon. Her dad goes to the palace and trains dragons for a living but he tries to kill the king but he dies too. The two sisters
} go to try to save another sister in lesser commons. Lord dorcon comes but never make it to lesser commons. Parodon helps them by using spells of protection but sometimes he messes up into a bad situation.
The book really got me going into fantasy. This book wasn’t confusing. It really explained a life lessen. I now like kate o’hearn boo

[Abigail Dyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book like always with Kate Ohearn books. this book so amazing and action packed filled with the adventure that kept you on your toes and she made it as addicting as potato chips. Kira is so amazing I look up to how she cares so much for her siblings that she would risk her life to save them she has such a kind heart and fights with courage. Elthspeth (Kira's sister) is also brave kind hearted and cares for her family I wish I was like her having the gift to talk to animals would be awesome and she does not take advantage of it instead she uses it for doing good. Kahrin is strong she went to Lasser Commons survived with being tortured starved without anything to live on yet she made it and now is with her sisters trying to live a normal life. Jinx is another important character he was left by his family and then got taken care of by Kira and Ethspeth and their young dragon is so loyal and fights with Kira and her sisters through thick and thin . I love this book and am anxious to read the next one.

[Minyard Girl ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

No me gusto. La protagonista no tiene personalidad. La historia es patética más allá de que la idea está buena. No fue de mi agrado, de hecho fue como leer un libro de hace 100 años por el lenguaje y el libro es del 2009. Lamentablemente tengo que leer el 2do ya que lo compré re barato y lo tengo en casa.

Este no fue mi tipo de lectura pero si a ti te gustan los libros infantiles con un lenguaje complicado léelo, es mi opinión personal. Más allá de eso la idea está buena, pero no es más que eso, aparte tiene mucho relleno y partes sumamente innecesarias y extensas que pudieron haber sido más simples.

Mi calificación final: 2,5 estrellas porque de algo me ayudó con el lenguaje fantástico, pero sepan que no me agradó en lo absoluto. Las estrellas son de pena no más

[Judging Aroace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know many people liked this book. But I, for one, did not. The writing was...choppy...to say the least, and just didn't quite flow right. And of course the usual nerd nitpicks: 2-tailed dragons would be terribly unbalanced in flight. Overall, so much convenient stuff happened and I felt little to no attachment to the characters. The wizard just seemed like such a plot device and it'd have been better if he did not exist, because he removes so many struggles.
The deaths aren't sad, because again I feel no attachment to these characters. Onnie irritated me, as well.
Only thing I can say I like about this is the concept and lack of romance

[Rachella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rarely pick up middle grade books, but I'm glad that I did with this one. I liked the alternate storylines between the sisters and their brother who is in the palace training to be a soldier. The sisters are great compliments to each other. My favorite part was the sisters connection with the animals. Onnie and Jinx play a vital part in their survival and therefore the story. How well Elspeth relates to the animals is just magic. I enjoyed following this journey, but I felt that the ending was a bit rushed and not as satisfying as I hoped it would be.

[Crimson Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was epic full of unexpected twists and turns here and there that could somehow be a bandit or your friend or even a dragon! Like the other books by Kate 'o' hern this book was full of adventure and time together with faith with us as we gather around the nervousness and sadness and herded it away from me. From us.

[Julie Nichol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel the need to be blunt about this book. I would have enjoyed it more if they weren't so young. I realize that that is the point, but I, as a feminist, felt that it was ridiculous to expect a child to overthrow a kingdom at the age of 13. She was still definitely a kid, and that ruined it for me. I liked the character development and the family relationships, but the age was a problem for me.

[Kassie Simler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book soooooooo much I can't believe how much this book amazed me I love this first book and I can't wait to read the second but I am really sad that the author of the book couldn't have made a third. I really hope that everyone can love this book as much as I do.

[Ruth Platt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The storyline was interesting. However, this book should probably be in the children's section of the library as opposed to the youth section. The vocabulary used in this book was on an elementary school level.

[Cathy or Gabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

I can easily see why so many people say that this is as good as the Pegasus books. I can't believe just how addictive this book is and I can't wait to read the next.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it so much but I do like the next book better than this one.

[Amanda Barrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughly enjoyed this little book.

[Eliana Castillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very descriptive and amazing book.
Didn't want to end it.

[Chris Mullenhour · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best boom I've ever read,

I love this book, it's one of the best books I've ever read!!! You definitely need to read this book!

[Nicolas Samur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Está bueno, sigo dudando si presentarle esta historia a un público más chico, pero no deja de ser una buena historia de fantasia. Este es el primero de una duologia.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book.
Kira and her sister escape from the king who imprisoned the rest of her family.
They learn to survive and live with dragons and they plot to save there family.
A good book.