*The Dragons of Chiril* is the first book in the second *Dragon* series by Donita K. Paul. It takes place before the popular *The Dragonkeeper Chronicles*. This was an exciting read for me, because it was the book previous to *Dragons of the Valley*, which I greatly enjoyed. It was fun, to be sure, getting to read the background of that novel.
The story begins with a young woman named Tipper. She is managing her household in the absence of her father, Verrin Schope, who disappeared many years before. She must deal with many problems, including her mother, Lady Peg's, apparent insanity. At least, she thinks her mother is insane. Her mother is eccentric and naive, to be sure, but Lady Peg is neither stupid or insane, as Tipper soon finds out.
Tipper is certain that her mother has cracked under stress when Lady Peg insists that she talks to Verrin Schope at times. Then, after Tipper has a young artist paint a portrait in the vein of the vanished artist's style, her mother points out how it isn't her husband's, but the young man's work. Tipper is puzzled over how her mother figured it out, until her father appears to her.
Tipper learns that Verrin Schope disappeared due to a strange series of happenings involving a wizard and his librarian on another continent. Verrin and the strangers are preaching a strange faith (to her) about a Deity named Wulder. Wulder is much more caring and loving, and more authentic-feeling, than Chiril's (Tipper's country's) god, Boscamon, who is a trickster in whom most people do not believe.
With the help of Wulder, Tipper, Verrin, wizard Fenworth, the librarian Libbretowit, the young artist Bealomondore, Dragon keeper Prince Jayrus, and the grand parrot (and Tipper's advisor and caretaker) Sir. Beccaroon; launch onto a quest to save her father and the world. Tipper, in her father's absence, needed to sell much of her father's artwork, including three statues (whose significance she did not know of) her father made by mistake from special stones. Now, the three statues must be found and reunited, or else both Verrin and the world itself will be destroyed.
The theology of Wulder (who is unapologetically based on the God of the Bible) is not as systematic and ironed out in this novel as it was in *Dragons of the Valley*, but I still found myself better understanding and appreciating the philosophy here. Quite simply, the two books build upon each other, and understanding the background of the characters, places, events, and philosophy helped me to better understand the overall picture.
I can't really say much critical, except that the book seemed to rush a bit without proper explanation, and I found myself kind of clueless as to where two important events came from in the last hundred pages or so. It all seemed to come out of left-field, and that was annoying, to say the least. I prefer a methodical build up, instead of having plot points suddenly thrown into the mix. I think that most of the plot points made sense and are less inexplicable if one has read the previous series which takes place later in the timeline. This series is sort of a prequel of sorts, though on a different continent than the events of the other series. That said, I doubt that I am the only one who read this series first, and a bit more exposition might have helped somewhat.
That said, the novel was incredibly well-written. The characters were compelling, except for Prince Jayrus, but he was better fleshed out in the second book, as was Bealomondore. In fact, the character arcs in the two books are compelling, and show a wonderful development of faith on the parts of the various characters.
The greatest plus to the book is how well Paul explored the Christianity-based religion of the fictional world's Wulder. Many authors seem to try to push an overtly Christian fictional setting and faith. To say that they are unsuccessful, would be an understatement. They fail *miserably*.
The fact that Paul succeeded where most authors fail, is an incredible achievement for her, which only makes the book all the more enjoyable and invigorating a read. I can't praise it enough. If you want to find a great fantasy modern (other than *The Chronicles of Narnia* or *The Lord of the Rings*, which are two of the other very few works to be great truly Christian fantasy) novel that expounds a Christian worldview, please read this book and *Dragons of the Valley*.
Wonderful characters and settings, a detailed and well-written Christian worldview, and a plain fun story, *The Dragons of Chiril* has all of it. Highly Recommended.
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I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers. I am obligated to read it and give a review on my blog and on a commercial web site such as Amazon.com. Waterbrook Multnomah emphasizes their desire for honest reviews, whether positive or negative, in order to help them create a better product. The opinions above are my honest viewpoint. I want to thank Waterbrook Multnomah for allowing me to review this book, and thank you all for reading this.
