**Grand Prize Winner of the 2012 California Book Fiction Challenge
Henrietta,
the legendary Dragon Slayer of the Kingdom of Bleuve, can't stomach the
thought of one more kill.
Yet, in order to save her dying mentor, she
must go on one last quest. But will misfit companions, seasickness, and
an ego maniacal king derail the quest for the healing stone?
And will
she be able to cut past her conscience and kill the dragon?
My review
Even though the action is slow to
build, the story will quickly suck you in. The plot in short:
Henrietta has slayed many dragons in her short life and has resigned not
to take any more jobs. But then a pushy knight named Franc implores her
to follow him to his Islands of del Oro in purpose of slaing Mimoto the Emerald Dragon. She sick from killing she refuse to come,
until she learns her mentor, Master Chen is sick. Only the Dragonitas
from Mimoto can save his life.
The team (Each person has a distinct personality and I found myself
really liking them all) in this quest consists of . :
Henrietta, premier Scout of Rafania, Sergeant de Bleuve, known as Henrietta de Rafania - She's a smart, strong, independent young woman. And she can also hold her own in a fight and a fiery warrior
woman with a sharp tongue and stubborn attitude. Henrietta is also, a very private, solitary person.
Henrietta is a fascinating character - At 17, she's served in the army,
gained renown as a dragon slayer, and walked away from it all. Now,
she's made a habit of isolating herself, and while she's an excellent
warrior, she balks at killing. She acquired a group of companions she would much rather do without in time. But till the end she will learn to love them all, in her own way.
There's plenty of tension--Henrietta is one big ball of
tension--and as the story progresses, you begin to understand her more
and more. Henrietta is old before her time - she's tired, she's alone, and she's lost her purpose, drifting by from
town to town and singing her own adventures to earn her keep. She is also afraid of sailing, which is a problem as the dragon live on an island.
Sir Franc de Plumare de’Oro - is an arrogant foreign knight who demands from Henrietta to accompany
him back to his king, who has need of her dragon-slaying services and he isn't taking no for an answer.
Jaxter Renaldo the bard /the jester - who wants to go an adventure with the hero whose songs he sings. Surprisingly, discovered as a very good cook. Very likeable character and he who keeps the group together.
Witch-girl in training Paulette- Dreamy, quiet and mischievous. A girl who needs to be escorted home in return for the witch's favor. Henrietta helps Paulette become more mature and causes her to think
before she acts a little bit more. Paulette shows Henrietta that it's
okay to care for people and to let them in.
Henrietta The
Dragon Slayer is fluid, easy to read and reads well. There is no
swearing and no sexual content, there is a little action but no blood fests.
Overall this is a fun book with all the essential elements of a YA quest adventure. Though it says 'dragon slayer' in the title, you wont see
Henrietta fighting , we only hear of her exploits in Jaxters tales.
In the base of the story - The quest and the journey are symbols for how a person , must face his own dragons. Also, the writer put strong emphasis on friendship and trust and team working.
What I miss ?
Something in that type of writing that appear in the Short Prequel. It is more lyric. For example her meeting with the guardian of the crystal. :
"In the next instant three masked fighters surrounded her, short weapons in hand, pointed at her. By thunder, they’d moved too quickly even for her birding eyes. Their totally black garb was strange, unlike anything she'd ever seen on the battlefield. A brilliant slash of red startled her and seemed to move even as they did not. A shiver of fear riveted down her back. Magics were afoot. She hated magics.“Who are you?”
In double-time she unsheathed her sword again. It cut through the air. Dead leaves lifted with the wind of her movement. She crouched into her battle-ready stance and took a step back to make sure that all three fighters were in her peripheral vision.
“Guardians of the Crystal,” said the one on her left, in a voice that sounded nasal, flat, and foreign. She couldn't place from where. The knives in his hands pointed at her was at odds with his flat tone. His dark eyes gleamed with an eery focus. ...
...A deep sense of dread dropped like a stone in her belly. With both hands on the hilt of her sword, its tip pointed at the center warrior, she snorted a breath to calm and waited for the answers to unfold. This wasn’t the best time to ask questions. If a fight was what they wanted, she could face all three at once. Sure. She was warmed up. Yet, she reminded herself, defense was almost always the best offense. ....The trees crackled in the wind, and the birds had resumed their chatter. She took the calm moment, before whatever storm might be coming, to study them. She didn’t recognize the fighters’ markings or their garments—a black full-body sheath hat seemed to absorb the light, like their daggers. Masked faces, only their dark eyes remained visible, hard as flint.
She’d only ever seen one other person with eyes as dark as those, that of her once-master blacksmith, Master Chen. Awareness jolted through her. These fighters could be from that same faraway land, an island nation off to the west. She’d never thought of her once-master as a foreigner. She’d been
different; he’d been different. That was all that had mattered.
“You killed Blue CaveDragon?” the same fighter said, interrupting her thoughts. She kicked herself for letting her attention stray. ..
...“And killed the Dragon of Britham’s Deep?” The black-clad fighter moved not at all that she could detect, a feat she could not even accomplish. His dark eyes bore into her, his mouth covered in his black mask. It was unnerving to not see his mouth move as he spoke.
...A dark shadow from her dream place crossed her vision. She shoved it away. The wind chilled the back of her neck. A bad omen?
“Now you kill dragon?”
“No one has hired me, if that’s what you mean.”....
“Mimoto."
“Who? What are you talking about?” Patience wasn't her strong suit today.
“Mimoto,” he repeated. “She awaits. By next moon, you must face your dragon, and do the Ritual of Completion. Or the heart of the crystal crumbles. And all will be lost until the next age.” It sounded like a poor translation, but she figured she understood the message....
“Mimoto. Sacred beast. Ancient dragon of light, in your words. You are our last best hope,” the fighter repeated....
“The fate of Five Kingdoms and blood on your hands. You must. By next moon.”...
How she prepare for her performance:
....Henrietta straightened the brim of her forest hat and brushed down her leathers. She pulled her gloves from her sack and tugged them on, pulling on the fancy gauntlets, first the left, then the right, firmly shoving her fingers in
against the smooth thick hide. With her right palm resting on the pommel of her encased blade, she swaggered into the tavern.
Showtime ....
“My dear good citizens of—” Henrietta began. “Where am I?”
“Zenovan,” whispered Jaxter.
Ah. As in xenophobia, as in we don’t like strangers much. But Henrietta didn’t feel like this crowd was particularly unfriendly, only showing a bit indifference. She would change that. Always did. Yet she knew how they could turn in a blink of an eye.
But, in for a beer, in for a bed, she liked to say.
She took a deep breath and puffed her chest out. A twinge stabbed at her side. She dismissed it. Must be she ate too fast.
“My dear good citizens of Zenovan, from the inside out, from the start to finish, I will tell you a true tale of danger and daring, peril and deprivations.
Indulge me your ears and your coinage.”
They laughed, warming to her. That was a good sign.
“For it is I, Henrietta the Dragon Slayer, who walked into the lair of the Fire Dragon and walked back out again.
...“In the dead of my night, me and my trusty companion, Styiphell—we come up in the ranks together in the king’s army—packed up out travel mules and head for Britham’s Keep.”
The crowd oohed with delight and dread.
Britham’s Keep had been a mine back in the days of our great-greats, but had been overtaken by the dreaded fire dragon who loved the heat of the ancient stones.
“We slipped into the cave unnoticed, mules left at the entrance for our escape. Styiphell took rear guard.”
I stood. “A long dark tunnel led to the dragon’s cavern. I tiptoed past the bubbling smell tar pits.” I showed what I meant by rising on my toes. People nodded.
“I ducked to avoid the bats that swooped in the darkness.” I raised my hands above my head.
The crowd smiled.
...In a voice pitched low, she continued. “I’d passed the dangers of the long dark tunnel. I still had to get across the dragon's cavern. Any step I took would have clanged against the treasures collected there over centuries and would have awakened the beast. How he snored! His every breath shook the
cavern floor and seemed to rattle the cavern walls.” Henrietta gulped her ale.
“Speak up. I can’t hear ye, young lass,” the well-dressed old man
...“I jumped into action, literally, and slashed at his legs, like this and this.” One foot on her stool, Henrietta demonstrated her sword thrusts and grunted at each lunge. She saw only the Fire Dragon, his sooty scales, his grimy treasure. “You know, he was three stories tall.”
The words tumbled out without thought. The story recited a hundred times knew its path, even if her stomach wasn’t cooperating with her tonight...
...Moments before, my trusty companion had tied a blindfold over the sleeping dragon’s eyes. So nimble, she was, that one. Now I faced an angry, wounded and blinded dragon.” The sword jabbed in an invisible uppercut.
“I thrust again at his belly and rolled out of the way. A flood of green fluid spurted onto the cave floor hat soon became a smelly, gooey marsh.” Quick
as a snap she sheathed her sword and, from off her belt loop,
snatched her rope.
“I swung my grappling hook up, like this—” She swung the rope twice and let it slip like water through her fingers. Metal connected with wood as the hook dug into a ceiling joist.
“And secured it on his back.” Hand over hand, Henrietta pulled herself up off the floor, relishing the muscle burn in her shoulders. It was better than what was in her gut. Unsheathing her sword, she swung it one-handed through the air in controlled swipes. The blade whistled. Her muscles remembered.
“I rode the scaly dragon and slashed at his neck. His head flailed from side to side. He was trying to shake me off!” Her voice broke, an effect of the
ale.
“But I held tight with my legs and struck again. This time I plunged my sword with all my might deep into his neck. Like this!” Henrietta demonstrated the plunge. “I pulled out my sword and swung half way down the rope.”
She shimmied partway down the rope, and in one fluid movement, wrapped her ankle around it and hung upside down.
“I slashed and sliced at the underside of his great neck. And then for the final blow, I thrust my blood-soaked sword up. Like this!” Defying gravity and all common sense, but she cared not, Henrietta thrust the blade upward with both hands, leaving her legs wrapped around the rope to balance her in an half upside-down position...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Based
in the San Francisco Bay Area, Beth Barany has been making up fantasy
and adventure stories all her life. It only took her thirty years to
actually start writing them down, then grit and determination to whip
them into shape. She writes to empower girls and women with her kickass
heroines who are faced with saving the world against great odds. In
her off hours, Beth enjoys cardio kickboxing, stick yoga, reading and
watching movies with her husband, author and musician Ezra Barany, and
two cats, Kitty and Leo. For school visits and presentations, Beth
Barany can be contacted through her site at www.bethbarany.com. She loves to hear from her readers at beth@bethbarany.com
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