Customer Reviews

Dragon Keeper

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

`Dragon Keeper' is the U.S. debut novel by highly successful Australian author, Carole Wilkinson, that has already won many prestigious Australian awards. It tells the wonderful story of a Chinese slave girl named Ping and her perilous journey to save the last imperial dragon, Long Danzi. In the beginning, Ping is a slave for the cruel, current Dragon Keeper, who neglects his duties and in so doing so causes the death of the second to last imperial dragon. In a startling amount of courage, Ping rescues Danzi and they set off for the Ocean which Danzi mysteriously insists on traveling to for the sake of a beautiful purple stone which he holds most important to the sake of all dragons. Wilkinson is a master of words, painting amazing scenes and the emotions of Ping as effortlessly as the artists of the beautiful traditional Chinese pictures that don every chapter opening. Ping was a three-dimensional, interesting main character. She realistically makes and learns from her mistakes, and therefore by doing so is relatable to all readers. The dragon Long Danzi was my favorite character. His riddles of wisdom hold lessons that Ping must take importantly if she is to outwit the many villains that chase them throughout the course of the novel and they also provide comical relief. Anyways, Ping's transition from a scared slave girl to the confident Dragon Keeper was a highly believable journey that left me on the edge of my seat. This novel is full of humor, lessons to be learned and shared, adventure, and sheer enjoyment that I'm sure it will also bring to eager readers everywhere. Highly recommended.

The year is 141 B.C. and a young girl with no name works as a slave at the desolate Huangling Place located on the edge of the Han Empire in China. The young girl serves a cruel master named Lan who is the Imperial Dragon Keeper. Master Lan's job is to feed and take care of the Emperor's imperial dragons, but he is lazy and makes the girl do his job instead. The slave is afraid of the two strange creatures that live in the dark pit, but puts aside her fears and tends to the dragons each day.

Then one day, one of the dragons dies. The girl feels guilty because the day before she had eaten a bowl of fresh food with her pet rat Hua that was meant for the dragons. She is then horrified when Master Lan decides to get rid of the dead dragon by pickling it. The girl knows that the pickling of an imperial dragon would mean death if the absent Emperor ever found out.

A couple of weeks pass, and while searching the Palace, the girl is greeted with the unexpected visit of the Emperor and his court. She accidentally ends up secretly watching an imperial banquet and overhears the Emperor making a deal with a greedy dragon hunter named Diao. She witnesses the Emperor and his wife unknowingly taste some of the dragon pickle. The girl reveals herself and tells the stunned court the horrible truth. She rescues the remaining imperial dragon and, along with Hua, is taken on a journey as the elderly dragon flies them away from the Palace.

The girl discovers that the dragon is named Long Danzi and that her own name is Ping. Ping joins the wise Danzi on a quest that will introduce her to a magical and dangerous world far greater than she has ever known. The only question is whether of not they will survive and complete their quest before it's too late.

DRAGON KEEPER is a unique and wondrous adventure that intermediate readers will want to continue and that will leave them believing in themselves.
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Dragon Keeper is the tale of a young orphan girl who serves a cruel master who is meant to care for the emperor's dragons. Though at first she gives little thought to the dragons, the death of one and the mourning of the remaining dragon make her reconsider. She realizes that she is the dragons' only chance at safety and freedom. Together they embark on a journey that is full of challenges and discovery.

Wilkinson paints a clear picture of Ancient China which helps make the story feel real and believable. The set up is strong and engaging. The orphan girl is sympathetic.

Despite this, I couldn't get myself invested in the story. Most of it felt slow and plodding and I just wanted SOMETHING to happen. I love dragons and I love strong heroines and still it did nothing for me. The dialogue feels unnatural and forced. There was a nice little surprising piece of information at the end but it isn't enough to make me want to read the next book to find out what happens to the dragon and the orphan.

I started reading the book and it only took three pages to make me read more than an hour a day. I was readin walking home, in the car, at dinner (to my mom's disliking) and everywhere between events. The ending will probably leave you leave you disappointed though.

I think this is a great book. Carole Wilkinson did a great job spinning the tale of Dragon Keeper. Her words almost made me feel like I was standing right next to Ping through out her journey to Ocean.

Ping is an ill-treated 12-year-old slave living in Huangling Palace in ancient Northern China. Her job as a slave is to take care of an imperial dragon along with other livestock. One day the dragon, Danzi, escapes, taking Ping and her pet rat, Hua, with him to avoid being butchered by an evil dragon hunter. Together, the three of then set off to Ocean, along with a mysterious dragon stone.

Ping, as a true dragon keeper, is one of the few that can understand the speech of the dragon. She and Danzi become such great friends that they risk their lives for each other many times.

They encounter many people along their journey, including the dragon hunter, an old friend of Danzi, the new Emperor (a young boy), and a necromancer. While becoming the Emperor closest and only friend, Ping knows that the only way to complete her mission is to break the Emperor's friendship and help the only imperial dragon escape.

I really enjoyed this book; it kept me excited to go on to the next chapter. I was eager to read the next books in the series. Dragon Keeper was that good.

This book, Dragon Keeper, was overall a pretty good book. The scenes were so well written that I could feel myself soaring over the Huangling Mountains with talons peircing into my shoulders. Another thing that I liked is that I could kind of relate to Ping, the main character, because she was about my age, yet we have so many differences. Ping starts out as a chinese slave girl who's only friend is a rat, can't count past ten, and doesn't even know her name. She serves a cruel master until one of the two dragons he is supposed to take care of, dies. She is then taken away by the dragon's mate and comes with him on a journey to take his "dragon stone" to the ocean. This book follows their adventures and hardships as they try to hold on to the stone and their lives. The book is good, except for two things. First, I figured out the "surprise" of the story, at the very beginning. The second was that the end was pretty disapointing. Some books leave you hanging, but this ending felt like it was just cut off and that was that. I recently heard that the book has a sequel, and if the beggining is written well, it will save the end of this one completely. I would recommend this book, but don't get your hopes up for a great ending.

O.A.

This book is vibrabtly illustrated with immense detail and you never want to put it down. But, it has a cliche and cliffhanger ending. However, It does leave room for a sequel to snap it right into that place of perfection. A defininte must-buy.

hi i read the book dragon keeper.If you like fantasy books and adventure books you should read it because it can keep your attention. I do agree with the reviews i readb because they said that it would make you keep reading and see what happens because it can be suspensful in some parts of the book and thats why you want to keep reading.

Hi,
I'm 11 years old and when I read this book I was pulled into it (mentally).
I felt like I was there watching as everything happened. I thought it was a magnificent book. I can't wait to read garden of the purple dragon which was suggested by the school librarian to be a great follow up.

My names Bethany and I'm 13 years old. I think this book was amazing! I took it everywhere, to school, to my swimming training, everywhere. The only bad part was that it was that it ending so quickly. I wish I could have kept on reading and reading and redaing. But it was a good book and I realy liked it.