Troop, Alan F. The dragon DelaSangre.Penguin Putnam, Roc. 292p. c2002. 0-451-45871-0. $5.99. A The DelaSangres, who live on a highly fortified fortified (fôrt  ´fīd),adj containing additives more potent than the principal ingredient. island off the coast of modern-day Miami, have a secret--they're dragons. Able to assume human shape and long-lived, the elder has gone from being a pirate on the high seas high seas In maritime law, the waters lying outside the territorial waters of any and all states. In the Middle Ages, a number of maritime states asserted sovereignty over large portions of the high seas. to one in the corporate world. Money and balancing cutthroat cut·throat n. 1. A murderer, especially one who cuts throats. 2. An unprincipled, ruthless person. 3. A cutthroat trout. adj. 1. Cruel; murderous. 2. cronies against each other have paid off in a lifestyle where he and his son Peter can reside safely behind the stone walls, then fly at night in dragon form, feeding off lone fishermen and Cuban raft refugees. Only one thing is needed; Peter must find a mate, a "woman of the blood." One night Peter brings home an 18-year-old waitress, Maria, for sex, agonizes briefly about killing her, and then eats her anyway. Insult to injury, he brings her remains to his father who cracks open the girl's bones for the marrow while they chat about Peter's sentimentality Sentimentality Checkers dog given as gift to Nixon; used in his defense of political contributions during presidential campaign (1952). [Am. Hist.: Wallechinsky, 126] Dondi comic strip in which sentimentality is the main motif. about having any doubts at all. Later, while hunting, Peter catches the scent of a dragon female, tracks her down and wins her in battle. After reaching an agreement with her family in human form (plantation owners who use chained human slaves), their wedding is celebrated with his bride's family feasting on drugged humans. Peter's new bride, Elizabeth, is beautiful, headstrong head·strong adj. 1. Determined to have one's own way; stubbornly and often recklessly willful. See Synonyms at obstinate, unruly. 2. Resulting from willfulness and obstinacy. and willing to provide him with stray children to eat. Peter's father has passed away and as they set up married life on the island, trouble begins. The waitress' brother is convinced Peter had something to do with Maria's disappearance and tries to shoot him. Peter's use of murder to keep his business associates in check has begun a chain of revenge and physical attacks are starting to get past the island's defenses. Betrayal and plotting culminate culminate, in astronomy, the maximum height in the sky reached by a celestial body on a given day. At the culminate the body is crossing the observer's celestial meridian and is said to be in upper transit. in a final fight to death where only the most ruthless will survive. The writing is crisp and the concept intriguing but there is a lot of casual people eating in this book. Although there is precedence for a reader's sympathy with the "monster" in novels such as Interview with a Vampire and Frankenstein, the dragons' callousness cal·lous adj. 1. Having calluses; toughened: callous skin on the elbow. 2. Emotionally hardened; unfeeling: a callous indifference to the suffering of others. makes empathy difficult if not completely impossible. (For example, Peter presents Elizabeth with Maria's necklace and she wears it to a meeting with the dead girl's brother.) Liz LaValley, Freelance Reviewer, Mattapoisett, MA |
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