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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beware People Whose Eyes Light Up, April 1, 2007
This review is from: The Dragon Pool (Hellboy (Pocket Star Books)) (Mass Market Paperback)
Take a folksy red demon, his ex-girlfriend, and a friend who prefers to live in water. Mix this with suspicious Chinese officials, and archeological dig in Tibet and the accidental awakening of a dragon that has been asleep for 1000 years, and you have most of the plot of The Dragon Pool. Archeologist Anastasia Bransfield knows that she is looking for the ancient temple of the Dragon King, who terrorized Tibet long ago until put asleep by a very angry dwarf, but she doesn't expect to run headlong into a tribe of the dragon's heir -- shape changing humans who have desperately kept the secret so that they would never have to resume sacrificing children. In the resulting confrontation she calls for help, and, just as you might expect, it's Hellboy to the rescue.
Being back around Anastasia puts Hellboy in a tizzy, but he gets to work and hammers out an arrangement with the local village (a rare moment of diplomacy for a guy who usually hits first, and then hits second). Unfortunately, the real damage is done. Even as Hellboy makes peace and saves the life of a young girl the bottom of the dragon pool shows unexpected signs of life. Soon the problem is a really cranky dragon trying to toast everything in the neighborhood. Despite help from both the BPRD and the Chinese government the dragon seems invincible, and the team is left digging for legends to find a way to set things right.
Chris Golden (noted for an unending supply of good horror and Buffy novels) once again does a great job of capture the action and Hellboy's somewhat sarcastic self-reflection. Hellboy is a human in most ways, but he is also the resident of a demon's body, with many unusual powers. Stacy and he still love each other, but the relationship is doomed not by their conflicts, but because the world isn't ready to accept the relationship. When your huge, red, and tailed, most folks tend to think the worst, and the couple must deal with the consequences. They are a good working team, though, and there's a great deal more action and fun than there are maudlin moments. One can't help but relish a pure occult adventure story like this. Go for it.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
The Water's Fine!, December 22, 2010
This review is from: The Dragon Pool (Hellboy (Pocket Star Books)) (Mass Market Paperback)
The Dragon Pool was my first Hellboy novel (I selected them at random), and I was not disappointed. Hellboy's personality comes off perfectly, and this is also one of the few stories we see where Professor Broom is still alive, and part of the plot. Abe Sapien is in here too, although he's more of an investigator here than part of the action, but it's forgivable.
The highlight here is Hellboy's relationship with Anastasia. Anastasia is CG's baby in the Hellboy verse, and Hellboy's ex. Don't let the ex part fool you, the two still have strong feelings for one another, as this book shows. It flashes back to various points in their relationship, giving you the why and how without distracting you from the main plot.
The main plot itself is rather simplistic, but the way it's told is done beautifully. The one spoiler I'll let slip a little is that not all of the creatures in here are bad, and the BPRD is faced with the challenge of getting China, whose human rights record is sub-par to put it nicely, to see them as people in need of protection. There's not a lot of action, but when it happens, it's done very well. It's also nice to see Hellboy not have to pound his way through everything in order to solve the problem.
Overall, the Dragon Pool is very much on par with what Hellboy fans want, and then some.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Super Reader, May 2, 2008
The Dragon Pool is not up to the standard of the more recent entries in the series. The writing is not as good, particularly earlier on, and it seems a little sketchy for 350 odd pages.
Hellboy has more than one girlfriend that likes to dig up old monsters, it seems, and having discovered something not human this one asks him for help after discovering here be dragons (one big Chinese worm one, lots of smaller instances of the zombie variety).
Liz is taking some time out, so it is Big Red, Abe, the Professor and some grunts that get to go and play with monsters, and cover Chinese military types, as well as a village of dragonish people.
(call it 3.25 perhaps)
3 out of 5
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