The Dragons of Ordinary Farm by Tad Williams and Deborah Beale
| The Dragons of Ordinary Farm by Tad Williams and Deborah Beale | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A strange farm with unusual animals make for a distinctive summer break for two siblings. And once the slow set-up gets out the way there is meritable drama to be found. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 416 | Date: August 2009 |
| Publisher: Quercus | |
| ISBN: 978-1847248213 | |
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Tyler and Lucinda are not looking forward to the summer holidays - while their single mother goes away, they get packed off to a strange farm owned by a distant branch of the family. They expect nothing much out of the name - Ordinary Farm - or its locale - Standard Valley. We can expect a little more than that, as we've read this book's title - there are animals on this farm they certainly didn't predict. But as magical as these seem, for real magic they might just have to look elsewhere.
It's a pity that the summary of the opening pages is so short, when the pages have been so many and so long. There is a very slow-seeming introduction for us when it comes to this series. There is nice attention to detail - before they go Tyler panics about the chance of playing and recharging his GameBoss, and to mystery - both get puzzled by a guidebook they receive before they leave home, which seems to suggest, with some heavy Tippexing, fire-belching cows. But we don't have much to get us into the dramatic swing of things for a long time.
Once on the farm things get are certainly getting weirder. Rooms are fully hung with empty picture frames. All the farmhands seem to come from a different, exotic part of the world. The boy already living there, Colin, seems to be particularly belligerent - why?
Don't get me wrong - the book is pleasant throughout, but I think when gunning for an audience of, I think 9 to 12, there should - and certainly could - be more of an early hook than a list of odd people, quirky facts about the farm and its buildings, and a few nice (and not so nice) encounters with fabulous animals.
Give the book breathing room, however, settle back into the fact that this is the first of a hefty five volumes, which will have to cover a lot of school holidays for the heroes, and you can eventually be enjoying something meatier. Truths are revealed, secrets posited for future adventures, and some strong fantasy action is evident towards the end - which should be no surprise given the career of the male half of this husband and wife writing partnership.
Overall the book has a lot of pleasant magical mystery for the right reader, a strongly visual style throughout, a proper ending that will not disappoint those of us who dislike the cliff-hanger, and some impressively realistic character development for the hero and heroine. I would like to feel more confident in recommending it than I am, however, which I boil down to the loss of attention-grabbing action in the first quarter.
I must thank Quercus for the Bookbag's review copy.
For me, a lot of this book was done with more brevity, wit and exuberance in Werewolf Versus Dragon by The Beastly Boys. More regular dragon fantasy can be found in the series beginning Dragon Orb by Mark Robson.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Dragons of Ordinary Farm by Tad Williams and Deborah Beale at Amazon.com.
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