Review: Voices of Dragons by: Carrie Vaughn

Title: Voices of Dragons
Author: Carrie Vaughn

Published: March 8, 2010
Publisher: HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS
Format: Hardcover ($19.99 CDN)
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: E Copy personal purchase

From the Publisher: 

On one side of the border lies the modern world: the internet, homecoming dances, cell phones. On the other side dwell the ancient monsters who spark humanity's deepest fears: dragons.

Seventeen-year-old Kay Wyatt knows she's breaking the law by rock climbing near the border, but she'd rather have an adventure than follow the rules. When the dragon Artegal unexpectedly saves her life, the rules are abruptly shattered, and a secret friendship grows between them.

But suspicion and terror are the legacy of human and dragon inter­actions, and the fragile truce that has maintained peace between the species is unraveling. As tensions mount and battles begin, Kay and Artegal are caught in the middle. Can their friendship change the course of a war?

My Review:

Ever since I was a little girl I have been in love with dragons.  It started with my father reading me The Hobbit and singing to me Puff The Magic Dragon, it continued as a teenager with The Dragon Nimbus series by Irene Radford, made permanent by a dragon tattoo on my hip when I was a teenager, and renewed two days ago by Carrie Vaughs new young adult novel, The Voices of Dragons.

In this novel the young protagonist Kay Wyatt lives in a world living exactly like our own except one dragon sized detail.  Just outside of the town she lives in, is a boarder separating the human world from a vast expanse of land devoid of human life but filled with dragons.  One day Kay has an accident while rock climbing along the boarder and is rescued and befriended by a dragon named Artegal. 

Carrie Vaughn brings the reality of humans and dragons co-existing on the earth to life in a unique and believable way.  Her writing style was smooth, quick paced and had me staying up late into the night engorging on the written word. Throughout the novel I experienced an array of emotions ranging from excitement, intrigue, curiosity, sadness, frustration, suspense, and urgency all related to the characters and plot.  As the clock on my nightstand read 1:30AM I told myself, "just one more chapter" but at the end of each one I was compelled to turn the page to find out what happened next.  My only criticism of this entertaining read is that I wanted to know more about the dragons.  Why were they in hiding? How long have they existed? What is their society like? 

Overall this is an excellent novel for young adults and adults who enjoy reading Young Adult Fiction.  There is some dialogue regarding sexual activity within the novel but it is written and handled by the characters in a age appropriate, realistic, and ultimately mature way. I hope you get the chance to read this novel in the future and I hope even more that you love it as much as I did.

For a novel written in the Young Adult Fantasy genre I give Voices of Dragons a rating of: