Warrior (Dragons of Starlight)

Title: Warrior

Series: Dragons of Starlight

Year: 2010

Author: Bryan Davis

Summary: For years, tales of DRAGONS from another world kidnapping and enslaving humans have been circulating in Jason Masters' world, while for a slave girl named Koren, the stories of a human world seem pure myth. Together, these two teens will need to bridge two planets in order to overthrow the draconic threat and bring the lost slaves home.

The Dragon Prince Has Hatched 

The stakes are raised when the foretold prince is crowned. While Koren and Jason race to the Northlands of Starlight to find the one person who can help them free the human slaves, Elyssa and Wallace strive to locate Jason and assist his quest. Soon, all four discover that the secrets of Starlight extend much further than they had imagined. Meanwhile, Randall and Tibalt have returned to Major Four and find themselves teamed with the dragon Magnar, who has arrived to help thwart the governor.

No one knows how the prophecy will be fulfilled, but one thing is clear: more than ever, the survival of the dragons depends on humankind, and they will do anything to prevent the slaves from escaping.

Review: Things are definitely getting more complicated in the world of dragons. Jason and Koren flee to the Northlands to find help, and Elyssa and Wallace try to find them while also trying to help some of the slaves out. Randall and Tibalt find themselves teamed up with an unlikely pair of dragons, and Jason faces some of the hardest tests he has to date. With the dragon prince/king, Taushin, now hatched and taking over, Koren has to make some difficult decisions with where her loyalties lie. Taushin will apparently stop at nothing to get the Starlighter under his control.

I'll gladly go on record saying this was a good addition to the Starlight series. However, compared to the first book, I felt that it dragged just a little bit. The first book kept you on your seat with lots of action and danger, but things slowed down a lot in this book. There's still action and danger, but there's also a lot of talking and walking and secrets and hints at prophecy. Doubtless all setting up for the climax in the following books, but pretty slow; that's my take on it anyway. Looking forward to finishing the tale with the other books, though. I don't think things slowed down too much to make me lose interest.

To be honest, I think Wallace was my favorite character. He didn't appear too often, sadly, but he had a nice presence, plus some humor to add to the story. The characters in this book, as a whole, felt a lot more preachy than they did in the first book. While I think it's good for a Christian book to exhibit good Christian morals and principles, I think Bryan Davis was forcing it almost too much.

Advisory: Fantasy violence/fighting/death. Nothing over the top, and I thought that was all well handled.

Since the dragons use the humans as slaves, they are not viewed as real humans. There are a few mentions of how the dragons force unwed women to procreate with random men chosen by the dragons. The bond between Taushin and Koren is an interesting point, too; Koren firmly believes that the love he demands in service is not true love, but he still persists on trying to seduce that loyalty/love/service from her. To me, submission to Taushin felt a little sensual, but nothing inappropriate happens or crosses Koren's mind.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars