de Mari, Silvana. The last dragon.de MARI, Silvana. The last dragon. Hyperion. 361 p. c2004. 0-7868-3636-9. $16.96. JS The difficulty with this quirky quirk n. 1. A peculiarity of behavior; an idiosyncrasy: "Every man had his own quirks and twists" Harriet Beecher Stowe. 2. fantasy novel translated from the Italian is that its author hasn't quite decided whether it's a satire of the fantasy genre or a fantasy that takes itself entirely too seriously. In the beginning, Yorsh, a very young elf, is making his way through a nearly drowned world. The rains have flooded out all of the areas where elves Elves A slang term for guests appearing on the PBS television show "Wall Street Week." Notes: These technical analysts attempt to predict the direction of the market in the coming months. were forced to live, and he is the last elf left. Yorsh, whose full name is one of those long unpronounceable strings of letters some authors find amusing, has a disarming disarming removal of the crown of the canine teeth in primates. Includes denervation of the pulp cavity. way of doing or saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, leading to a series of less than agreeable adventures. He also stumbles across a prophecy that indicates he should find the last dragon, which he does. In the second part, years have passed and Yorsh finds that the feeble dragon with whom he has been living is not, in fact, the last dragon. That would be the hatchling the dragon leaves behind. Yorsh must raise it and train it and ultimately save the land from the vicious and greedy tyrant tyrant, in ancient history, ruler who gained power by usurping the legal authority. The word is perhaps of Lydian origin and carried with it no connotation of moral censure. who rules it. There are a number of subplots twisting through, and the narrative is uneven because the tone changes in so many ways. One minute, for example, the humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was is dry and subtle; and next Yorsh is up to his armpits in guano guano (gwä`nō), dried excrement of sea birds and bats found principally on the coastal islands of Peru, Africa, Chile, and the West Indies. It contains about 6% phosphorus, 9% nitrogen, 2% potassium, and moisture. and fewmets. Yorsh is one of the most annoying characters I have ever encountered, and I wonder why his traveling companions didn't stuff him down a rabbit hole. By the end, he does get a grip and his character grows up. Erbrow, the dragon, is delightful, if a tad predictable, as is Robi, a clever orphan girl. The strangest thing about The Last Dragon is that in spite of its patchwork construction, it still works. True, some scenes sparkle while others fall flat, but the reader will still want to know what happens. The satisfying, poignant ending does not disappoint dis·ap·point v. dis·ap·point·ed, dis·ap·point·ing, dis·ap·points v.tr. 1. To fail to satisfy the hope, desire, or expectation of. 2. . This title will appeal to the dragon-hungry, and it would be interesting to pair it with Christopher Paolini's Eragon for discussion. Donna Scanlon, Libn., County Lib., Lancaster, PA J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers. S--Recommended for senior high school students. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion