Rate this book

Dragon On Trial (2014)

by Tui T. Sutherland(Favorite Author)

4.24 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

006221683X (ISBN13: 9780062216830)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

HarperCollins

series

Menagerie

review 1: This book begins immediately after the last one ended. Pelly, the menagerie's golden goose, has just supposedly been murdered, and the prime suspect is Scratch, but Zoe, Logan, and Blue are sure he is innocent. Pros: I like how they made Miss Sameera not exactly evil, just misguided. Also the twist with Marco's wereroosterness was pretty cool. The Sutherland sisters did a good job adding extra details, which are sometimes absent in books for this age range.Cons: It was a bit annoying to have to decipher through the dragons' little dialect. Also, I would have enjoyed kind of a wrap-up chapter, instead of the book ending on a cliffhanger, just like the last one.
review 2: I enjoyed the first book in the series enough to immediately move on to this, the second. ... moreUnless the authors really drop the ball with the larger storylines in the final book, the entire trilogy will be worth reading. Some readers will likely be frustrated by the second cliffhanger ending in as many books, especially with the unresolved story arcs being the same ones that remained unresolved in book 1. Again the small plotlines of book 2 are wrapped up well before the end, but with book 3 so far unpublished, it's a bit frustrating to have moved essentially only an inch forward in the big mysteries. The characters are truly no closer to figuring out the larger questions than they were when this book started, even though those issues are discussed and brought up and worried over repeatedly in this sequel. It feels like more should have been revealed at this point. However, I can't truly judge that until the final book is published, it could make sense for the structure of the trilogy. Definitely a good choice to start this book immediately after the end of the previous one (as in, probably a few minutes). Sometimes sequels will pick up after some time has passed and everyone has adjusted to what happened in the first book, which would not have worked as well here. There would be too many questions and it would feel too neat, too convenient. As it is, Logan is able to continue to be the reader's guide in the world of the Menagerie. What the reader probably doesn't know, Logan also doesn't know, and so in explaining it to him, characters are providing exposition without slowing the story. Logan's adjustment from being lonely at school to having people who enjoy his company is shown, which is important and necessary. As Marco is introduced, he takes some of Logan's role on, which is likely to be helpful for book 3, as there's only so much that Logan can be oblivious of without it getting dull and repetitive. Additionally, even kids who hate books would, in Logan's shoes, be Googling and heading to the library, trying to find out as much as they can, so with a few weeks of being part of this world of mythical creatures, Logan would be picking things up all over the place. Marco being new to it, especially with his specialist perspective, helps that issue. Again, quite a few things that I thought were circled in neon flashing lights 'this is suspicious!' or 'this person is up to something!' or similar, and I always seemed to be several steps ahead of the characters at the very least. It's always hard to know if that's because I'm an adult reader, because I'm a prolific reader, or because it's really that obvious. I'm also frankly pretty ticked off that SNAPA has been written as being so very horrible. I keep waiting for them to be shown for what most of these agencies in the world truly are: bureaucratic, annoying to deal with, represented sometimes by really awful people, but not inherently evil as an organization. Instead even the agent who seems to be the best example they've got is a pretty amoral person who doesn't try at all to do the right thing, breaks the agency's own rules for no given/good/apparent reason, etc. And the others are all basically painted as bad human beings. I had assumed that Zoe's perspective on the agency was skewed by her age and her anxiety issues, which would likely stem from the idea that her parents would have a far better sense of reality and wouldn't realize that she was overreacting to everything and seeing a bog-standard protective agency as essentially minions of the devil. This would also explain why they seem so calm about the things that freak her out, and are able to simply go on with their day to day lives while she's wanting to scream at them for their equanimity. Instead, it's Zoe's view that keeps being shown to be accurate. Which, I'm sorry, just isn't realistic. Settings, characters, creatures, and the Menagerie itself continue to be true-to-life and thoughtfully drawn. Characters make assumptions about other people and what they're thinking, hiding, what they know, which are false but which make sense for the character to believe. It's an enjoyable read that falls right into place with the first book, and I look forward to the final installment. less

Download links for: Dragon on Trial

Advertising