The first thing, that I feel I must say about the book The Last Dragon by Silvana De Mari, is that the title is misleading. I expected a book about dragons, and while the book does have a dragon character, the book is really about the last elf.
Although I had to amend my expectations a bit, I found the story riveting. I was not entirely satisfied with all the pieces of the story, because, as I have mentioned before, I prefer completely happy endings (as unrealistic as that is). Still I don’t think that the book could have ended any other way from the perspective of the story itself. And I’m getting a head of myself…
A baby elf, called Yorsh for short, meanders into the path of a vagrant woman and then a hunter, both who take compassion on this naïve being. After several amusing incidents, the trio, disguised as a small family, wander into a human city searching for food and shelter, but they find trouble instead and are imprisoned. The townspeople figure out that Yorsh is not a baby but an elf, and elves are outlawed. Will the hunter and woman’s alliance with him be their ultimate undoing?
As they are trying to escape, the three come across a prophecy about the last elf and the last dragon saving the world and something about a girl. As Yorsh begins putting the pieces together, including that he is the last elf referenced, he begins his search to find the dragon in the prophecy. When he meets the dragon, he realizes that things are not going to be as easy as he thought.
The larger portion of the story takes place 13 years later, still following the elf, Yorsh. He has spent the intermediate time brooding on a dragon egg and then trying to (but failing for the most part) raise the dragon. On one of their excursions together, Yorsh chances upon an orphan girl. In an effort to impress the girl, he rescues all the orphans from their labor camp and attempts to guide them to safety. Will they survive the perilous journey? Will they figure out and fulfill the prophecy? Is this the girl?
The author did a great job of not creating your average dragon tale. It had a few sad parts but not scary or violent. The ending was surprising but managed to wrap all the pieces neatly together.
The book seemed to be exploring the idea of sacrifice – a realistic idea in an unrealistic setting. Even I could handlle that, so all in all, I would recommend this book.
In terms, of reading level, I feel that most moderate readers could handle it. The vocabulary and sentence structure were simple enough to be able to suit most. The story could’ve moved along a little faster but maybe that was a result of it being originally in Italian.
Kate
The Last Dragon
(c) 2007 Disney-Hyperion
Publisher Reading Level: 9-12 Yrs
ISBN: 1423104056
368 pages
I’m on the second half of the first book now, and trying to decide if I like it. The title definitely is misleading! And there is a whole of crying when something needs to be done. The little elf is kind of hard to resist though.