Book Review #69: Song of the Ovulum by Bryan Davis

Song of the Ovulum
by Bryan Davis

Genre: YA Christian Fantasy
Ages: 12 and up
Book 1 in the Children of the Bard Series.
I received and advance e-book copy of this from NetGalley to review.

SPOILER ALERT! Do not read any further if you have not read the Dragons in Our Midst Chronicles and the Oracles of Fire Chronicles.

Publisher's Description:
It has been fifteen years since Billy and Bonnie Bannister helped repel the demonic assault on Heaven. Now they and Ashley Foley sit in a maximum security prison where the authorities conduct experiments on them to learn the secrets of long life. Earlier, the world’s acceptance of dragonkind crumbled, and the Enforcers took the infant twins born to Billy and Bonnie and stole Excalibur, hoping to develop a weapon to battle the dragons that are sure to try to rescue their allies. All the while, a great secret from the past is being revealed to Bonnie through a dream. Joran and Selah, teenaged children of Methuselah, have been trapped in a strange world for centuries, yet still able to manipulate certain events in our world during that time.

Walter Foley finds the Bannisters’ son and hopes to use his dragon traits to help him rescue the prisoners. In the meantime, an ancient demon locates the Bannisters’ daughter and plans to use her to help him discover the hiding place of the most powerful ovulum in the world and squelch its protective song. With that ovulum in his possession, he will be able to conquer and control both Earth and Second Eden.

The fate of two worlds now rests on the Bannisters’ two teenagers who must use their dragon traits and their innate courage to battle demons, a sorceress, and soldiers in a military compound in order to rescue parents they don’t even know.

My Review:
My first reaction to the beginning of this book was, What! How did that happen? When? What??? And then I leaned in closer and kept reading to find out. I went through the nearly 500 page book in a just a few hours and then wanted to bang my head against the wall. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate cliffhanger endings when I have to wait for the next one? Well, I do. And Song of the Ovulum, lovely a book as it was, has a terrible cliffhanger ending. And I, silly person that I am, read an advance review e-book. Which means that I have to wait until July before the book is even out, and then who knows how long before the next one is released!

I liked Matt and Lauren, but they were a little too much like a miniature Bonnie and Billy. The rest of the cast of characters was mostly made up of old friends and enemies that, if you have read Bryan Davis's other novels, you have met before. I found Joran and Selah's storyline to be a little confusing at times, but still interesting and enjoyable.

It seems that all of the books I am reading lately turn out to have cliffhanger endings. Bother. Well, this book was quite lovely and entertaining with good plot and characters. I would recommend it to anyone else who has read and enjoyed the other works of Bryan Davis.

Content Ratings: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).

Profanity:
I give this a 1.10 for some insults.

Sexuality:
This book gets a 2.10 for references involving a prostitute.

Violence:
I rate this book a 6.10 for murder, battle and torture.

                           Lieder Madchen

Book Review #56: Raising Dragons by Bryan Davis

Raising Dragons
by Bryan Davis

Genre: YA Christian Fantasy
Ages: 10 and up
Book 1 in the Dragons in Our Midst Series.
Billy Bannister has lead a fairly normal life, except for the fact that his breath is impossibly hot, which sometimes gets him into trouble and led to the nickname of "Dragon Breath." But what if it isn't just a nickname? Billy is shocked when his father reveals that he is a dragon, making Billy a half-dragon.

Bonnie Silver has led a less than normal life. At school, she constantly wears a backpack. No matter how much the other students tease her, she never takes it off. If she did, they would see her wings.

The dragons changed into human form centuries ago in order to escape the slayers. Now, the slayers are back and targeting the Bannister family and Bonnie.

This book is a bit predictable, but still good. Billy and Bonnie are likeable, interesting characters. I like that they do not have the modern, exaggerated teen-age attitude of so many books. Billy is the doubtful one, always questioning, while Bonnie's faith is so strong you can almost taste it. The secondary characters were also good, particularly Professor hamilton and the Foley family.

This is the second time I have read this book, and I actually like it better now than I did then. The first time, I thought it was a little stiff, but on my second read-through I noticed no such thing.

I am a huge Arthurian fan, so I liked that this book had some of those legends mixed in. I cannot resist a book that has both Merlin and dragons.

I would recommend this book to kids who like fun, adventurous, wholesome reads. Raising Dragons is the first in a long series and you will have to read them all. You are warned.

Content Ratings: Profanity, Sexuality, and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).
Profanity:
There is no profanity in this book.

Sexuality:
There is the tiniest hint of sexuality, so I give this book a 1.10.

Violence:
There are several scenes of violence in this book, including murder, attempted murder, and serious injuries. I rate it a 6.10.

                                Lieder Madchen