Dragon Rider (Book One) Review

 Hello Everyone!

Today I'm going to be reviewing the book Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. A little history on this book is that it was originally published in German in 1997. Then there was a translation created in English, published in 2004 in the UK and the US. The publishing house was different based on where the book was published. Cornelia Funke is an author popular for this book and the Inkheart series, which is also very good.

The book is about a boy who meets a dragon and some other magical creatures and go on an adventure to find a safe haven for dragons in the Himalayas. They meet tons of great characters along the way, all while racing to beat an evil dragon named Nettlebrand to the safe haven for dragons, as he wants to wipe out all the other dragons for his own cruel purposes. The characters cross the world in their travels, and travel across multiple different countries/geographic areas such as Europe and India. 

The book is written for ages 9 to 12, middle grade, and is in the fantasy genre. I like a good middle grade fantasy book, and this book series is very reminiscent of Fablehaven by Brandon Mull (see Fablehaven review for more information). 

I think in terms of the readability of the book, it is very easy to read. The font of the edition I read (which I found at Value Village for the very low price of $3.99!!!) is easy on the eyes and the translation is very good, reading quite seamlessly. As well, there are little illustrations throughout the book, detailed black and white pictures at the start of every chapter and as the story goes on. The pictures help the story along and help give faces to the characters. I really think the book is young reader friendly. 

As well, the themes of the book are very wholesome. The one I'm going to focus on is "family." Family is important in the book but not in the way that you think it would. The boy, Ben, is an orphan, and he finds family in his friends instead of a biological family. He finds the closest of connections in Firedrake and Sorrel. As well, in the professor he meets along the way, who ends up adopting Ben and taking him into his own family. This gives Ben a new and welcoming family to be apart of. This gives the young reader the message that family doesn't necessarily need to be the people that you're related to, but the people who love you. This is something I live by, myself, so I really appreciate that it is apart of Dragon Rider. 

Overall, the book is really great. It's one of my favourite books as I find it so comforting, even though it is for younger readers. I like the pictures, I like the writing, I like the whole thing. I'm also a fan of the other two books in the series, which I plan to reread again soon. You can find this book on all major book retailers. I found it on Indigo's website for pretty cheap ($12.99), and I found the entire series on Amazon for pretty reasonable as well ($32.83). If this isn't an option, check your local library for Dragon Rider!

Read and Enjoy!!

PS. The images I've included into my blog post are the different covers of Dragon Rider over the years. The first picture I've included is the cover of the edition I have!