I love L'Engle, she's one of my favorite writers. And most of her novels are quite good. So when I rate this one three stars, really it is in relation to her other works, not that it is actually a mere average book. It simply isn't as good as her other ones.Dragons in the Waters introduces us to Simon. Having lived with his 90 year old great aunt for several years, Simon has grown used to being poor, but rich in education as she is a very smart lady. But now she's releasing him to go on a trip with a cousin who has bought an expensive heirloom painting from them. Simon doesn't trust the cousin much, but he'll get to experience a little bit of the world and have some adventure. Along the way he meets Poly and Charles O'Keefe who will be traveling on the same boat. They become fast friends which is fortunate when dangerous things and murder start happening on the boat. Simon is in trouble, but being stuck at sea there really isn't a lot he can do about it.Simon was ok as a character. It was hard to connect to him compared to L'Engle's other characters in her books. He was likable I guess, just not relatable. Poly was a little better. She was a bit of a show off and just seemed like one of those really good friends you roll your eyes at once in awhile. Charles, like most of L'Engle's characters named Charles, was just a bit different with a "gift" of sorts. All I can say is, whoever the real Charles was must have been a very special person. The bad guys weren't around much in this book. They stayed in the back story and as such weren't as menacing as they could have been.This book kind of drug on a little bit. Sure there was some excitement, but a lot of things were just implausible. For instance, I never really could figure out why the cousin even wanted to take Simon along. And the explanations in the book just didn't really cover that well. The dialogue between all the characters was just a little more stilted as well, although I love how L'Engle has the children talk like real people with a brain in their heads. It's refreshing. The plot was decent, it involved a lot of intriguing facts and ideas that aren't commonly used in books. I appreciate the uniqueness of it.Not a bad book by any means but not one of L'Engle's better ones. I still enjoy reading anything by her though.Dragons in the WatersCopyright 1976330 pagesReview by M. Reynard 2012 More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
Dr. O'Keefe's lab has moved, but he is still doing super-secret research. In addition, his assistance has been requested in the analysis of pollution in a South American bay, and he takes two of his children on the boat trip there: Poly and Charles. For the second volume, our narrator is yet another young man, this one an American southern boy haunted by his family's past. Simon was raised by his grandmother on a pitiful remnant of their family's once fine Southern home, and I was drawn by the detailed description of her gardens and their poor but cozy life. In fact, I was delighted to find that the Southern grandmother has a prominent role in the story, even showing up in South America.Fantastical elements here are Charles' usual abilities, along with the ability of a native tribe to "see" events in the past, present and future and to heal others (recalling Dr. O'Keefe's regeneration projects from the last book, although the two do not appear to be linked).And here's a wonderful detail for you on this novel: its genre utterly defies classification. There are elements of Southern Gothic, Fantasy, Science Fiction...but in truth, the overarching plot of this novel is a good, old-fashioned murder mystery that the kids help solve. That's right, Scooby gang!Enjoy.
What do You think about Dragons In The Waters (1982)?
Having been a bit disappointed with the first book in this series, I hesitated to start this one. This time however, I found the characters much more 'present' and involved. Similarly to the first book, the main protagonist of this book (Simon) was rather introspective and inclined to doubt himself. This time however, a number of other characters were much more actively involved, bringing along their own strengths, weaknesses and quirks to enliven the story. The synopsis presented the book as a murder mystery, which it was, but really this just provided a setting to present a more complex story exploring the grey areas that fall somewhere in between man's actions, his intentions, and the impact of his actions on others. I particularly enjoyed the use of family legend and history to tell this story, including the gradual unveiling of connections and cross-connections within the main group of characters. I would recommend this as a quiet but satisfying read.
—Anne Seebach
I found this in the "throw away" pile at school last week. Really? How could anyone throw away a Madeleine L'Engle book? Since it was one I hadn't read as a kid I gave it a few pages and suddenly I could not put it down. This is a "who-dunnit" with an underlying story of how we all come to terms with our ancestry and who that makes us, with a little bit of "respect others who are not like you thrown in for good measure. Following the second generation of O'Keefes and a few new characters, we take a ride on a freighter ship for a week and watch as the young kids develop relationships and the adults work on resolving theirs. Fun for all ages.
—Karen
Dragons in the Waters doesn't stand out for me quite as much as it should. It's quite different from the others in the chronos and kairos sequences, being a murder mystery and starring Simon Renier, who in many ways lives in the past. Mr. Theo, Canon Tallis, and the O'Keefes make appearances, with Poly and Charles O'Keefe playing the largest roles beside Simon.Mystery isn't really L'Engle's forte; she's not very good at giving clues to help the reader get the answer as well. (The goal when writing a mystery is to provide enough clues that the reader figures it out shortly before the characters do. Too late, and the reader either feels dumb or decides the book is a cheat; too early, and the reader gets annoyed with the characters for not realizing something obvious.) So mostly you're just along for the ride with Poly and Simon and Charles. It's a fun enough ride, but somehow, the book just feels derivative. I don't know if it's the fact that she's used cruises before, or the fact that she's used the Important Ancestor storyline before, or what, but somehow, Dragons just doesn't stand out.
—Kathryn
