If you want a decent book for a young child, perhaps between 8-10, this is a good book to start with. Dragons in the Clouds gives the reader a sort of “Princess Bride” type story in which a dad comes home after a long business trip with a stuffed dragon for his daughter, her favorite toys. The dad goes into the story about where he bought the toy, at some eclectic toy shop in London from a mysterious old man, and proceeds to relay the beginning of thunder, lightning, and tornadoes.
In the simple storyline, dragons once roamed the land and they were separated into two groups – the meat-eaters and the plant-eaters. People were in fear, as many people, including some of the King’s royal knights are carried off, never to be seen again, by the meat-eaters. King Arturus (I suppose a reference to King Arthur) gives the order for all dragons to be killed; but the powerful wizard, Merlinius (another Arthurian reference) goes against the King’s orders and determines to find a way to protect the plant-eaters. He casts a spell over them, allowing them to live among the clouds and come down at night under the cover of darkness to fill their bellies with plants.
Merlinius has an apprentice, a greedy good-for-nothing man seeking power who steals the same spell and uses it to befriend some of the meat-eaters, allowing them to take refuge among the clouds, as well.
One of the plant-eaters, a small dragon named Rago is best friends with a human boy named David. They are thrown into the chaos of a battle between the King’s order and a Wizard’s disobedience, between the fierce meat-eaters and the plant-eaters soaring in the clouds, and the jealousy between Merlinius and Odious, the apprentice. Magic is unleashed into the world, and the dragon’s battle fills the clouds with fire-streaking bolts, thunderous roars, and a vortex of unimaginable wind and colorful rays swirling into an epic tornado and wreaking destruction from the blast of the dragon’s wings.
A dad’s story to his little girl as she falls asleep at night cuddling her toy dragon.
While not historical fiction per se, I suppose you might classify this as “historical” fantasy... or just outright fantasy for a child or young adult. I thought the premise was clever and as I said in the opening, it has a very “Princess Bride” feel to it using the same technique of a narrator telling a story to a child who is falling asleep. The use of the Arthurian characters adds some ‘history’ to the narrative, and is a unique fairy tale for any youngster wanting to know where storms come from.
For me, the negatives overshadow what might have been a perfect tale for anyone, young or old. While most children reading the book might overlook the sentence structure or the continuous no-no of ‘telling instead of showing’, as an adult reading this book the vast times I highlighted these errors almost made me put the book down. So many times I cringed at the sentence structure, the overuse of certain words and phrases, lots of repetition, and use of words like ‘incandescent lamps’. An electric light with a heated wire filament is completely out of the time period needed for the book. One other place that was a definite ‘faux pas’ was the reference the apprentice made to a very Disney-esque scene of magic brooms and mops mopping up floors all by themselves. I am sure the author meant to be clever and cute, but originality is the hallmark of a first-rate storyteller instead of borrowing from already established fantasy stories. Walt would not have taken too kindly to this scene-grab.
Yet, in all this, I understand where the author was wanting to go with the story, but I would have loved more connection between the ‘fantasy’ story and the relationship between the ‘modern’ characters, perhaps even connecting a storm in the modern-day to the storm in the past. I think this could have played up the historical aspect if the father was coming home from war, perhaps something like WWII. But again, that being said, I’m not sure any of this will matter to a younger demographic who love dragons, knights, wizards, crumbling castles, and tornadoes threatening the existence of everyone living.
On the positive, this would make a good animated movie for a youngster, a sort of “How to Train Your Dragon” with “Princess Bride” with “The Sorceror’s Apprentice”, and I feel that must have been the train of thought on the author’s mind as he developed and wrote this story.
As with any book, so much time and effort goes into writing any story, and when the last words are written on the last page that is a moment of accomplishment. Stories are meant to be written down and told, so in that, I applaud Mr Blair for taking the time and effort to mold the words in his mind into a novelette. Writing a novel is not an easy feat, so reaching 101 pages is worthy of praise. I’m sure there are plenty of kids out there right now just waiting to hear the story of this little dragon the next time they are frightened beneath the covers of their bed by a flash of lightning and a grumble of thunder.
Dragons in the Clouds by David Blair is awarded 4 stars from The Historical Fiction Company for Children’s Historical Fantasy
Buy Links: https://amzn.to/3DBMjiT
Author Bio:
I am the creator and writer of the original story, ''Dragons in the Clouds'' My most favorite and influential writer would be Rod Sterling, of the fame television show ''The Twilight Zone''. Also Charles Dickens, ''A Christmas Carol'' to this day has a place in my heart. I was captivated watching that show. All my work has a paranormal feel too it. I recently worked as a production supervisor for EnterAktion Studios. I started my story telling at the young age of 14. A student film called ''Destination Destiny''. I am so grateful to have this opportunity .
Follow the Author: https://www.amazon.com/David-Blair/e/B07R4K983N