Dragon's Green

A different childrens magic story

Interesting story, characters and world. Comparisons to Harry Potter are far off the mark though.

The writing is sometimes not the best and the character jumps between chapters can be jarring at times. The strength of the book though is in the world building and the story taking some unexpected turns.

It does get a bit dark and parts like girls "liking" a dragon can be a bit weird for a childrens book.

Narration is ok but i found the lack in variety in the voices a bit confusing.

The production is not great with the time between lines cut too short. readers have to catch our breath too!

16 of 16 people found this review helpful

Scarlett Thomas on top form

Best children's book we've listened to in ages. Other worlds, magic, nicely pictured, dark enough without being scary.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

An okay story but poorer narrator

the narrator talks very slowly at times, as though he's reading and emphasising to very young children. It's a shame as it comes across as giving some characters very patronising voices. Also, Audible, the recordings need to be fixed, each announcement of the be t chapter starts the instant the last word was spoken to the extent it sounds like both words are spoken at the same time. It's jarring at the end of every chapter.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

Riveting

Got this for my 10 & 8 year old boys. They are mad for it. They just cannot get enough of it. Had to immediately get the second book for them - I hope there is a third coming otherwise they will be devastated. Fascinating story and characters that all children can relate to. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Promising start

This story is very well done, I can't wait to listen to the second book. I loved the world building and some of the character detail (Effie's father and Gryffin Truelove in particular). Some of the other characters are a little bit under-developed, but I have great hopes that this will be remedied in the next installment. The main characters felt a older than 11. The narator was very good.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Good story, good foundation for a series

A good story, which gets better as it goes and draws you in.

My only real gripe is that there is no gap between the end of the chapter and Roger telling you it's now chapter x. This is really annoying as it jars and stops you getting lost in excellent narration

7 of 9 people found this review helpful

Enjoyable story

If you could sum up Dragon's Green in three words, what would they be?

Interesting and enjoyable

What about Roger Allam’s performance did you like?

Good clear narrative. I enjoyed his reading of the book very much.

Any additional comments?

A very good story, well paced and very well written. I am looking forward to book 2.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

Hmm a few somewhat familiar scenarios…

This title was purchased due to it being on a couple of book lists recommended as books for “What To Read After... Harry Potter”.

In our house we are a family of huge Harry Potter fans (maybe not quite Potterheads but close enough) so we know what we like when it comes to ‘magical fantasy’. My grown up daughter has been compiling a new book list for 2018 so I suggested ‘Dragons Green’.

I think it is important here to note that this book is aimed at the mid-schooler age 9-12 (or so it states on various bio’s) however my daughter is over 20yrs old and so not really easy to shock– therefore as I was looking forward to listening to the book myself I was surprised and disappointed to hear her view on Dragons Green that “well it has quite a few unsavory bits, I think it would give some kids nightmares especially the opening pages & what the teacher says!”.

So I gave it a listen and she is right, it is fairly graphic but not necessarily in a good way and I would not recommend this for bedtime reading.

I then played the opening to my husband and also a few other bits and he said “some children would not sleep after that!”.

The story itself is a fairly good premise but does not particularly flow that well and most certainly Harry Potter this book is not, however if you are familiar with this genre of books/ children’s books it soon becomes apparent that several of the scenarios within the plot line are very, very similar to other books in the same vein specifically ‘The Secret Country’ (Secret Country Trilogy) by Jane Johnson.

There are other well-loved books that I recognise ‘very similar’ plot descriptions from including: ‘The Lives Of Christopher Chant’ (The Chrestomanci Series) by Diana Wynne Jones, ‘Stardust’ by Neil Gaiman and even ‘Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief’ (*the Lotus Casino scene) when it comes to the arcade part with the children and adults that ‘have been playing the games for many years and not moved…’.

All in all I am surprised that the publisher did not pick up on much of this and it just seems a mish-mash of ‘borrowed’ ideas.

Not worth a credit and not worth the price of a hardback copy or kindle.

If you want true fantastical worlds and characters read Diana Wynne Jones, Jane Johnson, Neil Gaiman or even better re-read Harry Potter in all its Hogworts glory again!

14 of 21 people found this review helpful

Simply Magical

Another beautifully crafted story from Scarlett Thomas and wonderfully delightful narration by Roger Allam. Left me wanting more!

Loved the whole package.

Really loved this. I bought it when it was an Audible daily deal just after Christmas. Roger Allam, who I love from Cabin Pressure, really swung the purchase. I bought it for his voice but the book made me stay. It is a perfect combination.

I do remember thinking I could listen to it with my children but they are permanently welded to Youtube these days so I started it without them. They have seriously missed out.

It doesn't feel like a book for children because it doesn't patronise in the way many "kids'" books do. It's dryly, very witty in places much like Pratchett's Tiffany Aching or Fforde's Dragonslayer ones. It all hung together very logically in a way that connected with other literary/ magical ideas but added to them. It did also take me back to all the amazing books I read when younger which had real peril and the children getting up to the sort of things that would make any decent parent very very nervous.

I got to nerd out at all the literary references and I rather connected with Mrs Beathag-Hide - although obviously I'm not as evil and tend not to make small children cry (at least not intentionally).

Issues: I agree that the girls fancying the dragon was a little strange but they were clear that it was not relevant until she was older so in some ways it was a good issue to raise. The gaps between the chapters were also to short - almost like no spacers had been added. Plus I'm not wildly sold on the cover. I would not have bought it based on the cover. It does the book no favours and looks dated. Still, this may be what was intended - to hark back to that older style of literature.

Otherwise a great book. I have since bought the ebook and the next one on Audible. Fingers-crossed it's as good.