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4.0 out of 5 stars
"Be thou ever my friend", April 5 2004
Welcome to Austar IV, a miserable desert planet inhabited by drug-filled weeds, giant dragons, and deadly temperatures. And this is the charming setting of Jane Yolen's Pit Dragon Trilogy. The first book, "Dragon's Blood," is a bit uneven but a solid story about freedom, courage, and friendship.Austar IV was originally settled by criminals, and the place still isn't very inviting. Most of the people are "bonders" (slaves) or prostitutes, and the main source of money is betting on the "pit dragons," who fight for gamblers. And orphaned bonder Jakkin dreams of freedom, and has a secret plan to fill his bag with gold and free himself -- steal a new dragon hatchling and quietly raise it to fight in the pits. At first, a disaster involving a panicking dragon seems to dash his dreams. Then Jakkin finds an uncounted hatchling and spirits it away to the hills. But he soon learns that someone knows his secret -- the pretty Akki, an independent girl who is hiding an odd secret of her own. But even her help may not be enough to free Jakkin from slavery. In "Dragon's Blood," Yolen shakes off the dust of the old Anne McCaffrey stereotypes about dragons and the humans who raise 'em. Though there are a handful of similarities, Yolen's dragons are raised to fight and are actually sort of alien lizards. And there's nothing refined about the world she creates here -- it's gritty, dusty, raw and very dangerous. "Dragon's Blood" doesn't have much of a storyline except raising the hatchling and getting to know Akki, and at times it drags. But Yolen keeps it interesting with plenty of details and interesting characters. Her dragons are particularly good -- they're intelligent but still animals, with individual personalities and strengths. Hey, she even uses them as a curse source. ("Fewmets!") Jakkin is a nice, solid hero, your basic good kid who does something mildly wrong in an effort to free himself. He's not so much a hero as he is a human being who tries to help others, be they dragons or other people. His fellow bonders -- including a vindictive old junkie and the mysterious Akki -- are also nicely done, although relatively little time is spent on the other bonders. "Dragon's Blood" is a solid start to a solid sci-fantasy trilogy. Yolen takes the old cliches about dragons and whips them back into shape. Excellent for dragon fans.
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