Friday, April 24, 2009

Dragon's Bait by Vivian Vande Velde

3.5 stars
R-0
YF

I'd call this a short story, really. I mean, it's over 100 pages, and it took about an hour to read, but it doesn't read like a novel.

It was okay. With some depth, it could have been quite good.

Alys is accused of witchcraft and left tied to a stake to be eaten by a dragon. Except the dragon doesn't seem interested in eating her. Instead, he offers to help her get revenge. And off they go to ruin people's lives.

The moral of the story? Revenge doesn't make you feel better. (I'm not kidding, Alys says it.)

So, yeah, shallow and maybe even a little contrived, but it has potential. If it were expanded into an actual novel-- especially if we got some nice rich character development-- I'd read it.

Would I read the short story again? Probably not. But hey, it only took an hour.

2 comments:

  1. Hmmm usually I like Dragon stories, but this one I'm not sure, although you said it's short so maybe just maybe I'll give it a chance.

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  2. It's definitely not your typical dragon story. But yeah, very short.

    Speaking of dragon stories, Dragon Flight is sitting here waiting for me to read it. :D

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