Bogormen

Title: Dragonsdale
Author: Salamanda Drake
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~6hrs
Date read: February 2011

A stable of dragons to groom, train, and ride!
That's Dragonsdale, a riding school run by Cara's dad. All Cara's friends are busy people preparing their dragons for the Island Championships - even spoiled Hortense, who dumps her hard work on guess who? But Cara doesn't mind. She loves every minute she can spend with the beautiful beasts. Because ever since her mom's terrible accident, Cara herself is forbidden to ride. Against her father's wishes, she trains the wild dragon Skydancer in secret, and dreams of a day when she, too, can take flight.

I have a hard time figuring out what to write in this review. Parts of the book I LOVED! I really liked Cara, Breena, Woney and Sky, and loved reading about their relationships and the details of dragon flying (DRAGONS! What's not to like?). In atmosphere, the book reminded me quite a lot of Anne McCaffrey's "Harper's Hall" trilogy, which is always a good thing :)

But there were also parts of the book that I really didn't like. An unreasonable father who won't let Cara ride a dragon because he's afraid of her falling to her death, but doesn't stop to consider that he's being hypocritical by continuing to ride himself. A horrible and abusive student whom nobody dares do anything about, because she happens to be the daughter of a VIP. And finally a happy ending through disobedience and wish-fulfilment.

At the end of the day I found more to like than to dislike though, so while some of the aspects really bugged me as they occurred, they had no lasting effect on my opinion of the book.