Customer Reviews

Dragons in the Waters

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Dragons in the Waters" is a good book. It has a mystery buried in it and you can easily start to like the characters. Madeleine has always been a very good writer and I appreciate her gift of comforting a person through her writing. "Dragons in the Waters" is about a young boy, Simon; a mysterious cousin; and an ancestor of Simon's that has a mystifying past. The book tells of Simon's adventures on a ship called the Orion, where he meets the O'Keefe family. At first things seem quite simple, but the plot quickly thickens and pulls you into the story. A good book to be read by young adults or to be read to younger children and many adults may like it, as well. If you like Madeleine's writing and her other books, I doubt you'll be disappointed with this story.

I "re-met" the O'Keefe's while searching for books for a neice. What a treasure! Expecting to find books aimed for an adolescent (the age I was when last I spent time with the Murray's and O'Keefe's), I was charmed and entranced by the story of Simon, Poly and Charles and their adventure together.

The book is well written and thought-out, with exceptional character development. Each has a complete and interesting history that takes the reader right in; a history that's not dependant upon having kept up with the series (which I have not). I felt perfectly familiar with all of the characters based upon what I was reading and not what I'd read 20 years ago.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, setting and treatment of the subject matter, and wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an adventure, be they first-time or long-time readers of Ms. L'Engle's.

I was pretty disappionted when I realized that their weren't any dragons in this book, but that dissapiontment soon vanished. I found the book to be thick with suspense and description. All the characters were so real, I'm sad to see that Simon doesn't re-enter any other books, and to see how happy Poly was as a child, it was a shock to read The Arm of a Starfish. A wonderful Book.

Poly O'Keefe is pretty much the main character in this mystery. Unlike some of L'Engle's books, this does follow relations of her best known books, the Time Quartet (in which A Wrinkle in Time is found, amoung others), as Poly is the daughter of Meg Murry and Calvin O'Keefe. It is also definetly appropriate for the younger crowd. Yes, some of her books you may want to look at first, although all of them are beautiful and none are crude. She is simply a complex writer who doesn't sugar coat life.

I didn't find any of the characters in this story really came to life. L'Engle told us what they were like, but didn't really show us, it seemed to me, so they remained undeveloped.

The basic plot is interesting, though as developed it tends to morander and jump, meander and jump. A young teenage boy, an orphan who lives with his old grandmother, is taken by a long-lost cousin on a voyage to Venezuala, where his ancestor lived with a mysterious tribe of healers, and his Indian lover. L'Engle manages to combine the "noble savage" tradition with a bit of "capitalist exploitation," without stereotyping too much on either side. One of L'Engle's strengths is her interest in science and the ecology of village life. The story goes at cruise-ship velocity at sea -- slowly, I mean -- and it would be helpful if the characters all wore name-cards, to keep them straight. All the elements for a good story are present, but fail somehow through lack of vivifying detail. Still, L'Engle does tend to see things differently, and that makes the story fairly interesting.

...disappointment with this book. I, too, came to this book with anticipation based on L'Engle's more well-known novels. It was a pleasant enough read but didn't engage me and left me thinking, "That's it?" If this was her only book, L'Engel would not be recognized as the masterful author her other books reveal her to be. Not a waste of time, but not the best read either.

Quite different than most of the books in the O'Keefe-Murray realm... But intriguing none theless.
A great mystery, and something that I couldn't put down.

It's geared towards younger readers, but I still appreciated it alot.

There's some beautiful wording in there, that only L'Engle can manage.

If you're looking for a continuation of the Wrinkle series, you're not going to find it here. However, L"Engle writes as eloquently as always. The Arm of the Starfish comes before Dragons though and it would be good to read it first. Starfish, Dragons, and Lotus are definitely geared toward teen girls in my opinion and would be great for intelligent girls looking for the right answers in this confusing world.

Despite the high hopes I had when I started this book (due to my high regard of L'Engles other books - A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, etc), I was sorely disappointed in this book. THe plot was a little above average, but it just didn't hold my attention. Additionally, L'Engles attempts to write in Southern dialect for the main character's dialogue failed miserably and came off "hokey" and unrealistic.

This book was very good. The plot could be followed easily and the characters were peculiar but great to get to know. I would recomend this book to many readers. A great mystery.