Dragon Mountain: a total ride filled with incredible characters and DRAGONS.
“When 12-year-old Billy Chan finds out his parents are sending him to a summer camp in middle-of-nowhere China he doesn’t know what to expect. There he meets fellow campers Dylan, Charlotte and Ling-Fei and together they stumble upon an age-old secret: four powerful warrior dragons, hidden deep within the mountain behind the camp. They have been trapped since an epic battle with the Dragon of Death and need the children’s help to set them free before terrible evil is unleashed on the earth. Billy and his friends must set off on a dangerous adventure that will take them to the heart of the Dragon Realm. But can they save the dragon and human worlds from destruction?”
I was THRILLED when I heard that Katie and Kevin Tsang, authors of the brilliant Sam Wu series, had signed a deal to write a series featuring dragons and was even MORE delighted when a copy dropped through my door (Katie, you are a star… thank you!). I can’t lie everyone… I dropped the book I was reading so that I could read this and let me tell you, IT IS BLOODY MAGNIFICENT.
Dragon Mountain tells the story of Billy, a young man who is visiting China to be part of a language camp. He’s been sent there to improve and use his Mandarin. When Billy arrives there, he meets 3 other children and they become fast friends. They form a tight bond and it takes them off exploring through the land around the camp. When off exploring, things start to go a bit strange and the end up in the lair of some bloody wonderful dragons. With the dragons and humans bonding, they must go on an adventure to save the Dragon Realm and Earth… but can they do it? Will they manage?
You can’t read this book and not absolutely love the characters. I think everyone will find themselves in the characters. Whether you’re a Billy: a leader, empathetic and strong willed; Dylan: a little bit afraid, a thinker, but brave; Charlotte: gutsy, bold and confident or Ling-Fei: quiet, contemplative and mysterious, you’ll find one of the kids that you associate with. (I’d just like to give a shout out to Charlotte and her love of pockets here… I really appreciated that hah!). I really liked how their dynamic built. Initially, you can’t see how these 4 very different characters can bond, but you see that there’s something that each of them brings to the good fight and they have a brilliant friendship.
There is of course a baddie in this book… but the less I say about them the better because it’s SPOILER-Y. I was always suspicious of them…
So you’ve got the good guys (the kids), the bad guys (spoiler redacted) and that leaves us with the dragons. Oh the dragons. I don’t know what it is with our love for dragons, but I have a proper soft spot for them. Just like the humans in the story, each of the dragons has a very distinctive personality and there’s something about all of them that I love. I can’t wait for you guys to meet the dragons and share with me who your favourite is (I’m a big fan of Spark and Buttons).
The adventure the kids go on is brilliant and it is full of shocks and thrills! I definitely don’t think that I’d be any good to the kids on their quest (but let’s be honest, kids are a lot braver than adults haha!) AND THE ENDING. Obv I can’t tell you what happens at the end… but OH MY GOSH. I NEED BOOK 2 NOW THIS INSTANT.
Can we just take a little moment to appreciate the absolute BEAUTY of the proofs sent out by Simon and Schuster? I am ever so thankful for Katie, Kevin and the absolutely brilliant publicists over at S&S for sending me a copy of this BLOODY MAGNIFICENT book – one of my colleagues has already stolen it from me and I can’t wait to share it with the kids at school. It is sure to be an ABSOLUTE success.
My Goodreads review:
| WELL I BLOODY WHAT. That was incredible. THAT ENDING. I am going to need the next book soon thanks. This is full of adventure, dragons, friendship and awe! I loved getting to know the kids and the dragons. This whole thing was exciting and I didn’t want it to end! I would love to see what my dragon looks like! | |
And that’s it! If you’d like to preorder this book, support your local indie if you can, or check out any of the links below!
Thanks for reading! Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
S x
alittlebutalot 