Customer Reviews

The Search for the Red Dragon [With Earbuds] (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a wonderful story by a fabulous author! The Search for the Red Dragon had me on the edge of my seat several times! It is also laugh out loud funny in parts. I LOVED it! I thought the first book was amazing, little did I know Mr. Owen was just setting us up for a Really wild ride on the Red Dragon...a ride no lover of a great fiction or science fiction stories should miss. Don't be put off because the book is classified as Young Adult....I haven't been young in a few decades but this book made me feel young.....Bravo James Owen for giving us such a wonderful story that we check every day to see when the next installment will be out so we can devour all of it's delicious twists and flavors.

And he stands tall. This book is a masterpiece of fantastic literature that has something to please everyone.

A perfect merge of his own storyline with history, mythology,and prominent fantastical and science-fictional litearure will make this book a delight for anyone who picks it up, child or adult.

As an adult, you will feel compelled to brush on your literature, as the great masters of universal storytelling are referenced time and again. And you will find children interested in many classic authors, opening their horizons considerably. These books will make kids go back to Cervantes, Dickens, Verne and many more, and do it joyfully.

This is an absolute recommendation for anyone who loves fantasy, literature, and good stories in general. Be sure to read the whole story and pick up "Here, There be Dragons", book one of this fabulous Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica Series.

I cannot wait for part three to come out.

Search for the REd Dragon" is a wonderful second installment in what is shaping up to be an incredible series that is worth keeping on the shelf for re-reading.
Once again we are wisked away into fantastic adventure with CSLewis, JRR Tolkien and Charles Williams, who are caretakers of a wonderful book that details the layouts and holdings of imaginary lands now seperated from "reality."
The book is full of a good mystery, plenty of colorful characters and interesting lands. This time we are trying to figure out why all of the children of the Archipelago and the Underneath have gone missing. With wonderful allusions to Greek Mythology and a strong tie to Peter Pan tales of old, this racing plot will leave you turning pages.
I must warn you though, dont step away from the book too long. The plot twists and amount of characters is a hefty sum. I came back to it after miss placing the book month ago and it took me chapters to make sense of anything again. And this is my only qualm with the book. I love all the allusions and tie-ins that Owen makes with classic literature young and ancient, but in this volume they are so numerous and the mystery so ravelled that you find yourself racing through a world you wish you could enjoy more carefully and at the end, you are satisfied but wondering a little bit of "how did we get here?"
A great book that leaves me eager to continue the series. I only hope Owen slows down to paint a richer story and weave a deeper tale....

In "The Search for the Red Dragon" James Owen continues to show readers, young and old, the fantastical landscape of the Archipelago of Dreams through the eyes of the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica.

Owen writes about characters and stories anyone might remember from their own from childhood, weaves in figures from classical literature folklore and mythology, then applies his trademark spin to the lot and presents you with something new and captivating.

I devoured this book! In a single sitting I read through 103 pages. The illustrations were the proverbial icing on the cake, my favorite dealt with a certain scarecrow fans of "Here There be Dragons" will recognize.

This book has earned a place of honor in my library, next to its predecessor and 4 other masterpieces of word and illustration, all signed, by James A. Owen

This sequel doesn't come up to the standard set by the first book in the series, "Here There Be Dragons". It starts off in a promising way, but then falls flat. The author is so caught up in creating a pastiche of myth and literature that the story never really comes alive. Okay, so he ties in Greek mythology and Grimm's fairy tales, but who cares? Let's hope the next book in the series is as good as the first one was.

I haven't finished it yet but so far so good. I really like the blending of the imaginary world and the real, the intertwining of characters I know in new ways. Read it.

As was the first one, this book is excellent.
It goes for every character that we read as children.
It's actually better than the first one, because it goies deeper in this world and with that all the mistery that circles around is amazing.
The author gives a different perspective on the main characters and a more psicological view of them, also on the companions.
The use of the world he created and the literature that is it base on, is really well done.
I just want to read the other books t complete the adventure!

Thanks for this stories!

This book is really fun for not only young adults but for those of us "young at heart" but older in body. If you like Fantasy Fiction this is for you.

Like with the first book, I waited a little to do this review. This was better then the first book, but still felt like an exercise in name dropping and like the author was trying to do way to much in too short a space. Was he just lazy? Didn't want to give the plot and the characters the page time they were worth? I don't know.

This book, even more then the first was a lot about how well read the author was. Not that I didn't like the book - but I had a number of issues with the writing here too. First, I had a lot of trouble with some of the dialogue and following who was saying what. I was also very confused for a while by the fact that a number of the characters are referred to by various names. It took considerable effort to keep reading some of the chapters. How Pan and Barrie ended up mortal enemies is really still a little beyond me. One might think I didn't pay much attention to the book based on how poorly I followed it sometimes, but I really did. After reading the first book, I made a conscious effort to try to unearth the clues and figure out things with our characters. However, every time I thought I figured something out it would either be wrong or I would discover that it wasn't important enough to the plot for the author to ever get around to telling us.

Aven's relationship with Pan... seemed to come out of the blue. Again, this was light on the character development and more about the plot. Was a little more tolerable here then in the first book. Like the first book (and not quite as badly as in the third book) this, I felt the author was trying to do way too much in too short a book/timeframe and as a result the execution was a little shaky. Bringing Barrie into the picture was nice, but some of the weaving together of the mythologies with Peter Pan and "The Pan" just wasn't given enough development. And I still don't know how the Winter King's shadow survived (and how the heck is the Winter King Hook? I totally missed the links with that one) and how the problems in this book really started.

It was funny to me to see where C.S. Lewis' wardrobe came from in this world. I loved the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe as a kid and it was fun to see what might have been the inspiration for it. I also really love the badgers.

There is still this idea that the events of the Archipelago effect the real world (and vice-versa) but it still isn't explained or demonstrated. So, I feel like something's missing. It took some doing for me to understand the real significance of the Red Dragon - and frankly, I think the Red Dragon is more important to the plot of the third book then this one.

I also felt like we never really got a very good understanding of "the Crusade" or a number of details. Again, more evidence that the author only half-delt with much of what he set up. I still don't know if that is laziness - or maybe setting up for the next book?

It was interesting for those who can tolerate large leaps in plot, lots of name dropping, hints/nods to other books and authors - all tied together by a little magic and a little bit of dragons.

All in all, if you want to read what is probably the best book in the series (admittedly, I haven't read #4) - which is #3, you need to read this one (even more so I think then the first book) first. But otherwise, take it out from your library - don't spend the money buying it.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series, I found this book to be too confusing to follow. Without a thorough knowledge of Greek mythology and early 20th century fiction, many of the elements of the plot are difficult to decipher. The characters in the book are constantly referring to older stories, but making it more confusing is that the stories as written in our world are not 100% correct. And sometimes the names are different, and sometimes the names just change. The end result is that it is far too confusing without constantly looking up the references. Instead of simply assuming the reader is familiar with these various stories, it would be nice to give more information about these stories while they're being talked about, or maybe having an appendix which summarizes the myths and stories relevant to the book.

Throw time travel into the mix, and it becomes even more confusing.

Outside of my issues with the plot elements, I found the characters very entertaining. It's hard to say how accurate the personalities for the real life characters are, but they are entertaining. It was also fun to see how the true history of the world is revealed layer by layer through the adventures of these three scholars. The references I do recognize are fun to spot, and that adds to the book.

It may be advisable for the publisher to include a list of recommended reading, maybe on their website, that can be reviewed or referenced while reading the book. It could include a brief biography of the real characters, and summaries of the referenced myths and stories.

I'm still looking forward to reading the third book. I may have to make more of an effort to do some research in order to fully enjoy it next time.