Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not too deep, but enjoyable, April 20, 2004
I read both Alta and Joust (Volume 1 of this series) over the weekend. So I obviously enjoyed the books! I think that some of the other reviewers have fairly characterized the books as a little light (for young readers), but that doesn't mean they're not a fun read.Alta picks up almost exactly where Joust ended (give or take a couple of months). Vetch is getting ready to leave the desert and enter his homeland of Alta. He gets some final advice from the "Mouth" of the desert nomads that he should start thinking of himself as a dragon rider instead of a serf or he'll lose his dragon. So right from the start Vetch becomes Kiron. The novel is all about his first year or so in Alta. The dust cover would have you believe that he faced all kinds of difficulties, but in truth his reception is pretty smooth. The story is fairly linear without too many twists and turns. No great surprises. The characters are pretty interesting, but they're not too fleshed out. There's eight boys who make up Kiron's finding squad, and although you're introduced to each, they don't all really come alive in the story. The violence and challenges that Kiron faces are about the level of a Harry Potter book (i.e. you're never really worried that anything too bad will happen to Kiron or that he won't ultimately succeed). Overall though I'd like to stress that this is a fun enjoyable read. Fairly light perhaps, but every novel you read doesn't need to be ultra dense with all kinds of political maneuvering. You don't absolutely have to read the first book (Joust), but you'll have a much greater appreciation for the relationship between Kiron and Avatare if you do. Plus it will give you a lot of beneficial background.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, but simple, March 18, 2004
I've always liked books that went into the day to day details of life in a fantasy world, so I enjoyed the first book in this trilogy, Joust. It was a little fluffy -- despite all the obstacles in Vetch/Kiron's path, there was rarely any sense that he was in danger. Still, I could read about the care and feeding of dragons without getting bored for quite a long time, so an afternoon with this book was not ill-spent. The sequel Alta is more of the same. All those worries at the end of the Joust about what Kiron's reception might be when he flits back into Alta with a dragon? Waved away. Before you know it, the teenager is in charge of training a whole clutch of dragons with the remarkable new philosophy of actually taming them from birth rather than drugging them into submission. We're to believe that up till now there has only been one other person in the two warring countries who's willing to go to the bother, which seems absurd, given that the tamed dragons are exponentially easier to control and handle. I don't think I'm giving away much if I say that of course Kiron is right about everything. This book is not exactly tense and exciting. It's hard to fear the bumbling Magi, who can be scared away when a gay man swishes at them. Even the inevitable scene where Kiron ends up opposing Ari in battle doesn't get my pulse moving. We're two-thirds of the way through the trilogy and I've never even been slightly worried about Kiron's fate. But I've still enjoyed the dragons, and that's what I came for, so I am not unhappy with the books. I do have some stylistic issues: it's classic Lackey, so if you don't enjoy her Valdemar books chances are slim that you'll like this one. The font of the book is highly distracting, and I wish Lackey would rein in the italics already... but heck, dragons. They're portrayed as moderately intelligent animals (I'd like a little less "hmm, I think they're a little less smart than a really bright dog, they act rather like hawks, or maybe like horses crossed with..." etc etc analysis in the text -- just show us how they act, and we'll decide how smart they are), and much to my relief they don't talk, not even to the girl who has the "gift of animal speech." I did enjoy more of the human characters this time around, though there were at times simply too many names to keep straight with all the humans and dragons populating the story. It doesn't help when you've got Kalen, Kaleth, and Kiron in the same room. Backstory is amply provided, but it would still make sense to read Joust first. Or you may want to check out Jane Yolen's Pit Dragon trilogy -- or at least the first book of it -- for a quite similar and rather better-done story. But if you're into tame dragons, new books don't come along every day, and this is a decent place to get your fix.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For dragon lovers, March 2, 2004
The war between Tia and Alta continues because of the Jousters and their dragons, the first line of offense on the borders. Although Tia has more Jousters and dragons Alta has the magi which sends bad weather into Tia so that the dragons cannot fly. Kiron, a former serf made dragon boy to jouster Ari and his dragon Keshet discovers that he is the only one who besides Ari who does not have to drug his dragon to get him to obey him. In a daring move, Kiron steals an egg, empresses the dragonet when it hatches, trains it and flies back to Alta to try to end the war.He believes he can show the Altan Jousters a better way of fighting with the undrugged cooperation of their dragons even though his country men have less trained jousters. Kiron is accepted on to Altan training grounds and has eight youngsters impress their dragons and the nine become one wing united in their love for their dragons. There is a powerful shadow group in Alta who doesn?t want the war to end and will use horrific methods to achieve their goals. Kiron and his followers must prepare for the day that the enemy will want the Jousters dead. In JOUST, the prequel to ALTA, readers are shown the culture of Tia and how the ongoing war affects the conquerors, the serfs and the Jousters. ALTA shares the viewpoint from the other side and how one escaped serf gives hope and a plan of action to the demoralized Jousters. Mercedes Lackey, one of the great fantasists of our time, writes a coming of age story that is memorable and enjoyable. Harriet Klausner
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