3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
well-told story by a maturing writer, May 9, 2003
Like the author's first book, Prospero's Children, this book begins in rural England, where elements of magic and strange happenings are gradually introduced into an otherwise modern setting. Also like the first book, the main character spends a significant part of the story isolated in a different "world." In this book, however, the author does a much better job of carrying two story lines, and integrating the other world into the main story. The character development and sense of realism are also much improved. I found this book to be a entertaining read, with some interesting ideas and story elements, all very well told. I recommend this book and look forward to reading more of Jan Siegel's work.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read, September 22, 2001
This review is from: The Dragon Charmer (Hardcover)
I have very mixed feelings about The Dragon Charmer. I looked forward to it very much since I read Prospero's Children a year ago. In some ways, it was a let down, in others, it was perfectly fine. I love the character of Fern, and I was really anxious to see how she would grow, change, and mature. She did do so in this book, but not exactly how I hoped. I had hoped this process would leave me more in love with Fern, and while I did not loose any empathy for her, I also was not more devoted to her. Her brother's character, however, was very enjoyable, and changed in all the right ways to make a real character. I also was somewhat dissapointed that the story did not really seam to connect to Prospero's Children. It carried a lot of the same things over, but it seemed like just a seperate adventure with the same main character. I am looking forward to the final book in the trilogy in hopes it will tie the two books together. Even though the story did not really seem to flow from the first book, it was still a wonderful story. I was never bored and was fascinated with Siegel's immagination and descriptions. The story moved fairly slow, and I like that, as long as it does not drag, and it did not. The end/climax moved way too fast for me, however, especially since it was so interresting. I felt that I had spent so much time on the rest of the story that I wanted to spent a equal amount on the end instead of feeling rushed. It was not the sequal I expected, but it was a great read and very enjoyable. I am glad I read it, and I look forward to the next instalment.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Middle book of a darkly imaginative trilogy, September 16, 2007
Jan Siegel (pseudonym for Amanda Hemingway) is also the author of "Prospero's Children" (1999), and "The Witch Queen" (2002), the books that precede and follow "The Dragon Charmer" (2000) in this fantasy trilogy starring magically-gifted, Fern Capel.
These three books need to be read in order if any sense is to be made of Fern's increasingly complicated love life and her growing power as a sorceress. The first novel in the trilogy, "Prospero's Children" starts out as a YA coming-of-age fantasy, populated with evil villains (a witch, an idol, and an art gallery owner) and eccentric good guys (the Watcher, a female werewolf, a house goblin). Unfortunately, the second half degenerates into a standard Swords and Sorcery fantasy about Atlantis. It's almost as if the publisher said, "Okay, Jan, this is a great novel but we need another 100 pages, and why don't you throw in a Lost Continent. Lost Continents are very big this year."
Nevertheless, read the Atlantis bit very carefully, because the following two novels constantly refer back to Fern's sojourn in this ancient, drowned world. If this author has a serious fault, it's her overuse of extended flashbacks. Her greatest strength is her darkly imaginative blend of worlds (excluding Atlantis). The World Tree where Fern spends most of "The Dragon Charmer," is borrowed from Norse mythology and inhabited by nightmarish crones. There is also a savage boar that eats the fallen fruit from the Tree - the regenerated heads of those who did evil in their lives on Earth.
This is my favorite book in the trilogy, even though Fern spends most of it in a coma. Her body is tended by her friends and relatives after she reclaims her paranormal Gift, and her spirit is stolen out of Time by a sorceress who is looking for a new apprentice.
Meanwhile Fern's brother, Will and her friend, Gaynor, with the help of other characters from "Prospero's Children" such as the Watcher and the werewolf, try to solve the mystery of her sudden descent into a coma. Their adventures and Fern's struggle to return to her body from the Land of the Dead and the not-so-dead, alternate to the very end of the book, where all of the story threads are combined into a very satisfying climax involving Fern's most ancient Enemy and the dragon of the title.
Although witches, dragons, and drowned continents inhabit many mundane fantasies, they've been combined into a darkly imaginative sorceress's brew in this trilogy. Not to be missed.
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