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| The Pit Dragon Chronicles, Volumes 1-3: Dragon's Blood/ Heart's Blood/ A Sending of Dragons | 
 enlarge | Author: Jane Yolen
Publisher: Harcourt, Inc.
Category: Book
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 178796
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.7 x 2.7
ISBN: 0152057676
EAN: 9780152057671
ASIN: 0152057676
Publication Date: September 12, 2005
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| Customer Reviews:
Be thou ever my friend January 2, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Jane Yolen gave the old dragon legends a facelift in the Pit Dragon Trilogy, a trio of sci-fantasy novels set on a faraway prison planet. There's nothing fantastical or pretty about the world she creates here -- it's gritty, dusty, raw and very dangerous.
The action takes place on the planet of Austar IV, a miserable desert planet inhabited by drug-filled weeds, slave "bonders" and their masters, giant dragons, and deadly temperatures. The only real recreation is gambling on dragons who fight in the Pits.
In "Dragon's Blood," 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. He 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.
By "Heart's Blood," Jakkin has raised enough gold from Heart's Blood, and is now a free man and a dragon trainer. In theory, that is all he wants. But then he learns that Akki is in trouble, and becomes determined to save her, even though Heart's Blood has just hatched five babies. To help Akki, Jakkin will risk his life in the midst of bloodthirsty freedom fighters...
"A Sending of Dragons" is the bittersweet third volume of this trilogy. Jakkin and Akka have been physically transformed, so that they can communicate with the dragons. Now they are on the run from ordinary humans, and end up running into a lost tribe of degenerate humans, who also are bonded with their dragons... dangerously.
There aren't a lot of original dragon stories -- most are clones of Anne McCaffrey or J.R.R. Tolkien's works. Jane Yolen scratched all that, and creates an almost entirely new kind of dragon -- they're actually not the mythical creatures, but a type of alien lizards.
She also crafts an intricate political system, with terrorists and shady senators, and a dusty desert world where everyone is descended from prisoners (it resembles Australiain many ways). Akki and Jakkin are brought to life in their sensitivity and strength, and Yolen's writing brings the dragons to life. They seem almost like real creatures, animal but close to human beings.
With a fourth volume tentatively scheduled for 2006, it's about time to revisit the Pit Dragon Trilogy. For outstanding stories about dragons and the humans who train them, these books are among the best.
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