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The Dragon Slayer's Son
They said Dad was a dragon slayer. They were wrong. Now I'm following in his footsteps.
When Nathan's dad goes missing, presumed dead, Nathan is whisked away to the Alexandra School of Heroic Arts to train as his replacement.
At school, Nathan and his new friends soon learn:
Dragons are not what they thought.
Neither is the schoolmaster, Claus Drachenmorder.
And Nathan's dad might not be dead ... yet.
Nathan and his friends decide to follow in his father's footsteps. Their goals: save the dragons and find Nathan's dad. To succeed, they need to escape from Drachenmorder's watchful eye and evade his henchmen. They also need to survive the dangers of the mountains, seek the aid of the dragons, and unravel an international ring of wildlife smugglers. If they fail, neither Nathan's dad nor the dragons will survive. And neither will they.
This action-packed novel, the first in the Dragon Slayer series, has a diverse cast of characters that appeal to tweens and teens. If you like adventure with a dose of fantasy, this is the book for you.
Buy The Dragon Slayer's Son and start soaring with dragons!
When Nathan's dad goes missing, presumed dead, Nathan is whisked away to the Alexandra School of Heroic Arts to train as his replacement.
At school, Nathan and his new friends soon learn:
Dragons are not what they thought.
Neither is the schoolmaster, Claus Drachenmorder.
And Nathan's dad might not be dead ... yet.
Nathan and his friends decide to follow in his father's footsteps. Their goals: save the dragons and find Nathan's dad. To succeed, they need to escape from Drachenmorder's watchful eye and evade his henchmen. They also need to survive the dangers of the mountains, seek the aid of the dragons, and unravel an international ring of wildlife smugglers. If they fail, neither Nathan's dad nor the dragons will survive. And neither will they.
This action-packed novel, the first in the Dragon Slayer series, has a diverse cast of characters that appeal to tweens and teens. If you like adventure with a dose of fantasy, this is the book for you.
Buy The Dragon Slayer's Son and start soaring with dragons!
254 pages, Paperback
Published February 27, 2017
3 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Robinne Weiss
25 books5 followersOver the course of my career, I have been pleased to call myself an educator, entomologist, heritage interpreter, and an agroforestry extension agent, among other things. Through it all, I have written stories and poetry for my own pleasure. I published my first writing as a child in the 1970s, and used to confound my science teachers with poetry, scribbled at the end of essay questions. Now, after completing several novels, and having a number of short stories and poems published I'm happy to call myself an author.
My first love was the natural world, and it plays a large part in most of my stories. I have been fortunate to be able to explore the outdoors in much of the eastern United States, Canada, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, and New Zealand. I currently live near Christchurch, New Zealand with my husband, two children, four goats, three chickens and one evil cat.
My first love was the natural world, and it plays a large part in most of my stories. I have been fortunate to be able to explore the outdoors in much of the eastern United States, Canada, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, and New Zealand. I currently live near Christchurch, New Zealand with my husband, two children, four goats, three chickens and one evil cat.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 25, 2017
I found this YA/MG story fresh and well executed. The New Zealand setting was well conveyed - not only the landscape, but cultural references, and the generally cooperative and helpful vibe among the characters. Not that there weren't antagonists - there definitely were, and there was conflict and tension, and conflict even within the team at times - but the general feeling was that any new person you met was more likely to be friendly and helpful than not. Also, the main character wasn't ever formally appointed as the leader, and for a long time the group didn't appear to have (or need) a leader, making decisions by informal consensus. This is very much Kiwi culture.
I appreciated that the kids, even the boys, didn't feel the need to be emotionless and staunch, and that the losses they'd all suffered were treated realistically and shown to matter. The central group were well drawn, clearly distinct from one another, and all brought important contributions to the table; all of them stepped up when needed, even whiny Ella. I also appreciated that there were two girls in the core team, who were very different from one another, and two people of non-European ancestry.
The kids were believable as kids, and the actions they took were also believable as things (unusually heroic and sensible) kids could and would do.
There were a couple of big challenges to my suspension of disbelief, but I don't know if they'd bother the main target audience of middle-grade readers. Firstly, that the existence of dragons up to 30 metres long has been successfully hidden up to the present day, and secondly, that dragon-slayers only get trained once their parents die (and are sent to training as soon as their dragon-slayer parent dies). The latter seemed to be in there not because it made any sense as a rule in itself, but simply to set up the scenario of the dragon-slayer school and the characters being sent there. But everything else was so well done and flowed so well that I was willing to overlook that one.
The ecological thread is strong and clear without being preachy. Overall, highly recommended.
I received a copy of this book for review through the SpecFicNZ review programme.
I appreciated that the kids, even the boys, didn't feel the need to be emotionless and staunch, and that the losses they'd all suffered were treated realistically and shown to matter. The central group were well drawn, clearly distinct from one another, and all brought important contributions to the table; all of them stepped up when needed, even whiny Ella. I also appreciated that there were two girls in the core team, who were very different from one another, and two people of non-European ancestry.
The kids were believable as kids, and the actions they took were also believable as things (unusually heroic and sensible) kids could and would do.
There were a couple of big challenges to my suspension of disbelief, but I don't know if they'd bother the main target audience of middle-grade readers. Firstly, that the existence of dragons up to 30 metres long has been successfully hidden up to the present day, and secondly, that dragon-slayers only get trained once their parents die (and are sent to training as soon as their dragon-slayer parent dies). The latter seemed to be in there not because it made any sense as a rule in itself, but simply to set up the scenario of the dragon-slayer school and the characters being sent there. But everything else was so well done and flowed so well that I was willing to overlook that one.
The ecological thread is strong and clear without being preachy. Overall, highly recommended.
I received a copy of this book for review through the SpecFicNZ review programme.
May 24, 2018
This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title: The Dragon Slayer’s Son
Author: Robinne Weiss
Star Rating: 4 Stars
Number of Readers: 16
Stats
Editing: 8/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Content: 9/10
Cover: 5/10
Of the 16 readers:
12 would read another book by this author.
5 thought the cover was good or excellent.
14 felt it was easy to follow.
12 would recommend this story to another reader to try.
10 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
6 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
14 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
12 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
‘I loved the New Zealand setting. Most adventure books seen to be set in the US or in a castle in Scotland. This was different.’ Boy, age 12
‘I liked all the characters. I liked the way they worked stuff out and battled for what they wanted. Also, the dragons were cool.’ Boy, aged 14
‘So much happens in this fantasy adventure. The kids work hard to overcome the problems facing them e.g. Drachenmorder – although he reminded me a bit too much of Snape. There is a Harry Potter feel to this: dragons, a school, etc. but it was a really good story. I thought the cover was poor. I looked a bit amateurish.’ Girl, aged 13
‘Silly cover, cool story. Any dragon book has my vote.’ Boy, aged 12
‘The kids were very different. I liked how they developed in the story. Everybody seemed to play a part in the adventure. The girls too.’ Girl, aged 12
To Sum It Up:
‘A fast-paced fantasy adventure.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Title: The Dragon Slayer’s Son
Author: Robinne Weiss
Star Rating: 4 Stars
Number of Readers: 16
Stats
Editing: 8/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Content: 9/10
Cover: 5/10
Of the 16 readers:
12 would read another book by this author.
5 thought the cover was good or excellent.
14 felt it was easy to follow.
12 would recommend this story to another reader to try.
10 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
6 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
14 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
12 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
‘I loved the New Zealand setting. Most adventure books seen to be set in the US or in a castle in Scotland. This was different.’ Boy, age 12
‘I liked all the characters. I liked the way they worked stuff out and battled for what they wanted. Also, the dragons were cool.’ Boy, aged 14
‘So much happens in this fantasy adventure. The kids work hard to overcome the problems facing them e.g. Drachenmorder – although he reminded me a bit too much of Snape. There is a Harry Potter feel to this: dragons, a school, etc. but it was a really good story. I thought the cover was poor. I looked a bit amateurish.’ Girl, aged 13
‘Silly cover, cool story. Any dragon book has my vote.’ Boy, aged 12
‘The kids were very different. I liked how they developed in the story. Everybody seemed to play a part in the adventure. The girls too.’ Girl, aged 12
To Sum It Up:
‘A fast-paced fantasy adventure.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
December 15, 2018
This book was great fun and I imagine both boys and girls of around 8-13 years would really enjoy it.
The book starts with Nathan finding out that his dad has died and that he has inherited his position as a dragon slayer. He is then bundled off to the School of Heroic Arts to learn everything about the dragons he has only just discovered existed. There he meets some great characters, both students and teachers, including a very creepy headmaster. When things take on a very serious turn, Nathan realises that he has to be the one to lead a group of students to save both humans and dragons alike! The adventure was realistic (in the hiking and travel), educational, fast moving, and well written.
I loved the characters, especially Oliver and farty Rata. The dynamics of the student rescue team were very realistic and reminded me of many soggy, blister filled hours of DofE! The book is set in New Zealand and uses language and terms that are not in the UK (such as 'a chuck of four-by-two'), but I really enjoyed how that added to the realism of the setting and the terms were very easy to look up and learn.
I must admit I struggled a bit with the first few chapters of the book. They were lacking in detail which sometimes made me stop reading to try to fill in the blanks. Examples were not explaining the nature of the school, for example that it was boarding. I was confused that it was a boarding school yet he didn't have any sort of emotional goodbye to his granny. Surely the idea of living away from home would have been pretty scary and exciting and a big change!
Then I was confused about how the title of dragon hunter was hereditary. I suppose it's a high risk job enough to explain how none of their children were adults and I assumed they would wait if the children were under ten, but I was confused how some children had come with their siblings (making me think that all (male) children inherited the role) but then some talked about siblings left at home (for example Ella came but not her sister (p77)). Was that because she was a girl?
I would have appreciated more details at the beginning to help me settle into the world, rather than trying to piece it together in a way that made sense.
However after the first few chapters, the details come in a plenty, the world feels real and solid and there were two big twists in the first half that were excellent and enjoyable. You certainly never get bored!
Over all I would highly recommend this book. It is definitely worth getting through the first chapters as the adventure picks up quickly and is expertly narrated!
The book starts with Nathan finding out that his dad has died and that he has inherited his position as a dragon slayer. He is then bundled off to the School of Heroic Arts to learn everything about the dragons he has only just discovered existed. There he meets some great characters, both students and teachers, including a very creepy headmaster. When things take on a very serious turn, Nathan realises that he has to be the one to lead a group of students to save both humans and dragons alike! The adventure was realistic (in the hiking and travel), educational, fast moving, and well written.
I loved the characters, especially Oliver and farty Rata. The dynamics of the student rescue team were very realistic and reminded me of many soggy, blister filled hours of DofE! The book is set in New Zealand and uses language and terms that are not in the UK (such as 'a chuck of four-by-two'), but I really enjoyed how that added to the realism of the setting and the terms were very easy to look up and learn.
I must admit I struggled a bit with the first few chapters of the book. They were lacking in detail which sometimes made me stop reading to try to fill in the blanks. Examples were not explaining the nature of the school, for example that it was boarding. I was confused that it was a boarding school yet he didn't have any sort of emotional goodbye to his granny. Surely the idea of living away from home would have been pretty scary and exciting and a big change!
Then I was confused about how the title of dragon hunter was hereditary. I suppose it's a high risk job enough to explain how none of their children were adults and I assumed they would wait if the children were under ten, but I was confused how some children had come with their siblings (making me think that all (male) children inherited the role) but then some talked about siblings left at home (for example Ella came but not her sister (p77)). Was that because she was a girl?
I would have appreciated more details at the beginning to help me settle into the world, rather than trying to piece it together in a way that made sense.
However after the first few chapters, the details come in a plenty, the world feels real and solid and there were two big twists in the first half that were excellent and enjoyable. You certainly never get bored!
Over all I would highly recommend this book. It is definitely worth getting through the first chapters as the adventure picks up quickly and is expertly narrated!
March 29, 2022
The Dragon Slayer's Son by Robinne Weiss introduces The Dragon Defence League Series. In this things-are-not-as-they-seem introduction, Nathan attends the Alexandra School of Heroic Arts, where he discovers his dad might not be dead and dragons are not the worst monsters. Nathan is a likeable character with an open mind and the ability, for the most part, to determine who he can trust. While thwarting the efforts of an international ring of wildlife smugglers, he and his friends encounter life threatening danger. A highly recommended first book to the series, which promises ongoing adventures with Nathan, his friends, and the intriguing world of dragons.
June 6, 2017
A clever and engaging tale with a familiar setting: the South Island of New Zealand. Robinne uses her zoological knowledge to create fascinating cryptozoological beasties to hide in our ecosystem. humour, twists and tension abounds! Highly recommended. I'd love to see an illustrated version! Inspires me to design my own Aotearoa dragons.
July 6, 2023
I enjoyed the book and think it should do well with young people. To me the main characters were well developed and stayed in character through the whole story. I'm looking forward to reading the remaining books in the series.
October 10, 2017
This is an excellent young adult story of murder and intrigue, adventure, and teenaged dragon slayers who want to save the dragons. Well done!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews