Tuesday 22 April 2014

Yoshiko and the Gift of Charms by Julia Suzuki (a review)

Several months ago I received a message on Twitter asking if I would consider reviewing a YA/ Middle Grade novel featuring dragons as the main characters. I considered this for all of 2 minutes and (thankfully!) said yes . The result of this conversation was an envelope popping through the letterbox a week or so later with this gem of a book in it.

So, the story - In the Land of Dragor, over the mountains live  7 Dragon Clans. The great war is over and the dragons are separated from mankind. In her cave the dragon Kiara lays a 'strange egg'. The strangeness of the egg is that it is multi-coloured not the usual 1 colour egg.

From the off-set it is clear that Yoshiko is different. As you would expect from this kind of story, when Yoshiko goes to Fire School to learn the craft of being a dragon he finds both friends and enemies. He is not the most confident of dragons and at times is bullied by others. Again though, as you would expect, Yoshiko has a secret destiny which may lead to him becoming a great dragon.

This book stands a lot of comparison with the likes of Harry Potter (Fire School is more or less Dragon Hogwarts) but it is also its' own story. Younger people will love Yoshiko and I think older people will too. I see this as the sort of story parents will read to kids and then carry on reading for themselves once the littlies are asleep.

I also have to say the book itself is a really well produced thing. There are certain books it is a pleasure to own and I have to say this is one of them

4/5 stars (with an extra star for the physical book itself)

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