The Dragon Master

Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen
Reviewed by David Goldwyn


Imagine this: you are seven years old and have a life most kids simply dream about. Your mother is out with your father in the desert sands training wild dragons. You are at home with your housekeeper, without a care in the world. Suddenly, your mother bursts in through the door. She is holding your father's body in her arms and she is covered in blood. That night your mother tells you that your father died in the process of training a "feral" dragon. Later, your mother sells the both of you into bond to provide food and clothing. Grief stricken, your mother goes into depression and soon dies. You are alone!

This happens to Jakkin Stewart in Jane Yolen's Dragon's Blood. Jakkin lives in a dragon nursery on Austar IV. Originally it was a penal colony known as KK49, but the climate was not suited for ore mining which had been the original purpose. So, after KK49's first ten years or so, it stopped accepting more inmates.

Austar IV is known for its dragons, which vary in type and size, and for its vast deserts. The planet thrives on pit fighting dragons. Raising these dragons is the only source of income.

During the story Jakkin starts out as a boy, a bonder, and ends as a man, a master. To do this his bond mates say that killing a Drakk, a type of dragon, is the most common way to pass from a boy to a man. It was considered honorable because Drakks kill baby hatchlings and are threats to nurseries all over the planet. Once Jakkin takes part in the killing of a Drakk nest he doesn't quite feel the way he thought he would. Jakkin realizes that he must chose the path he takes and that will lead him to where his manhood will begin.

Jakkin finds this path when he steals a dragon baby, a crime punishable by death, and trains it to become a pit fighter, thus earning enough money to pay for his freedom. Little does he know that stealing the dragon will complicate his life. A lifelong friendship with the dragon starts the complications, and romance with one of the bond girls, who's moods change as quickly as the desert sands, further complicates things.

One thing that really jumped out at me was that I could see the landscape as if I had been there before. Here is an excerpt from the book describing the landscape in great detail:

The warm spring rose out of nowhere and disappeared as quickly, a bright ribbon of blue-white water running east to west a scant ten meter. It had no rocks or faults in the bed to make it bubble, and so it moved quietly the length of its run. Yet it shimmered against the sand unexpectedly, like dragon scales in the sun. The western end was rimmed with sand-colored Khan reeds (pg. 8).

This part gives such a clear picture of the landscape that you can almost touch it!

Overall, Dragon's Blood is a superb book and makes great reading for all ages. This is the best fantasy book I've ever read and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy!

Back to Index of Book Titles