What do You think about Tears Of A Dragon (2005)?
Incredibly cheesy, shallow, simplistic, unrealistic, and condescending (in a lighthearted sort of way). With flat characters, patronizing dialogue, and meaningless villains and death, nothing in this book can be taken seriously.Medieval sorceresses and hellish demons that say things like "Enough chichat!" or "Oh, don't play dumb, my little brainiac." or "I know you're up to something," or "What do you think I am, your tour guide? I'll shake this plane so hard, you'll hear your own bones rattle!" The protagonists spout things like "Right! The black stuff nailed her!" or ramble off jokes like "the dragon slayer vacuum cleaner" at the most inappropriate times, essentially killing any worthiness/seriousness in the action.Every character in this series speaks in the exact same way, with no distinction made between teenagers, middle-aged adults and centuries-old knights. Davis tries and fails to bring in some fancy-sounding words, but because his world is so shallow, his ideas fall flat. No modern teenager writes or talks like Bonnie Silver does, (I don't care how gifted or smart they are) such as when she conveniently writes a letter explaining the plot in the previous books. Davis just inserts his own explanations of what's going on into any character's mouth, with little regard for the characters themselves.Not only that, but by book four, the kids' voices should have changed by now, yet there's no discernible growth or maturity to be seen. Davis just tells the reader things have changed. In fact, some characters seem to regress in this book, like Bonnie, who takes a backseat to the action while "Billy the king" gets to take part in the plot. All Bonnie does is pray and give encouraging looks, sitting there in her pretty dress and fake halo to be Billy's muse (offering emotional support because apparently that's all girls can do in Christian fiction, nowadays). Davis shoves hollow morality down the reader's throat by portraying the job of girls to be that of inventing useful stuff and healing people, so others can wrestle with demons -- there's no portrayal of women in this book overcoming anything more serious than their own silent fears.Everything is far too convenient, and therefore meaningless. We've got Ashley magically spewing healing laser beams out of her eyes, and, wouldn't you know it, there's no time to explain. Walter's father Carl suddenly knows how to use the magic properties of a sword right at the last moment. Merlin warns that Devin's spirit will disintegrate without a body, but the bodiless Professor can chat for several pages without going anywhere. Billy claims he has no idea what to do, but somehow he knows that he needs to disintegrate himself with a light-saber sword, to travel through a gemstone, to an in-between Purgatory place for dragons, to make un-dead dragon souls step through a theater screen at 3 o'clock, which is a gateway to earth powered by the prayers of faithful people... Ugh. I won't go on. It's just way too ridiculous to say aloud.Several people also die and/or are fatally wounded in this book, but there's no moments of real grief, and they're back on their feet again within the same chapter. Does Davis just kill characters whenever he feels like it? And then at other times the fighting is delayed just enough so a character can ask a question, notice something pretty, or display an emotion. Davis tries to make a big deal out of doubts about death or missing family members, but he solves every problem too easily, so it's all inconsequential. Horrifying things are going on in this book, and all the characters can do is make jokes about it.See this good review for the only other negative critique of this book on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...All the young kids reviewing this book are SO excited about the action and seemingly intricate plot full of names, but this book doesn't really tackle the hard questions head on. It just mentions them through patronizing jokes, disguised in shiny dragon scales, propped up with a cardboard backstory. I would trade this stereotypical Christianese fiction for some Narnia -- heck, even some Harry Potter -- any day.
—Kris
I finally finished the series. What a rush! I got emotional as usual, but now I'm sad. It was a good ending, but I'm still not satisfied! I wanted to read an epilogue of Bonnie and Billy getting married.. To answer my curiosity. Do they have children? Are they, too anthrozils? and most importantly, Does. Bonnie. Have. Wings? Also, I'd like to hear about Ashley, Walter, Karen, and Thigocia's adventures! I did enjoy Ashley teasing and joking around. Haha, she finally caught Walter's contagious pun
—Selena
Imagine for a moment you are a huge, fire-breathing, immortal, wise, ancient dragon. Who can fly! If someone offered you a 'chance' to become a human, would you take it? Maybe I'm in the minority, but if I were a dragon, I would stay a dragon. And that brings me to my next question, if you could fly with awesome dragon wings, but still be human, or if you could breathe fire, but still be human, would it even cross your mind to want to give it up? Again, why on earth would you give up these wonde
—Lauren
