View source for Dragon Whisperer: Flight to Dragon Isle by Lucinda Hare

{{infobox2
|title=Dragon Whisperer: Flight to Dragon Isle
|author=Lucinda Hare
|reviewer=Ali Baker
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=A thrilling adventure in a wonderful fantasy world. Quenelda's father and his army have been betrayed by the treacherous use of Maelstrom Magic. Can Quenelda, and her squire Root, harness her powers to save the Seven Sea Kingdom, and her beloved dragons?
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=368
|publisher=Corgi Books
|date=August 2011
|isbn=978-0552560238
|website=http://www.dragonsdome.co.uk/thedragonwhisperer.html
|video=_7CsgmqPHxI
|aznuk=0552560235
|aznus=0552560235
|cover=0552560235
}}

Quenelda DeWinter is the twelve year old daughter of Earl Rufus DeWinter, the commander of the Stealth Dragon Services. As a member of the nobility, Quenelda should be at Grimalkin's College for Young Ladies and learning how to curtsey properly, like her jealous brother Darcy's fiancee, the ladylike Armelia. However, Quenelda is a dragon whisperer, and can communicate both telepathically and through dreams with dragons, and her ambition is to enrol at the Stealth Dragon Services Battle Academy at Dragon Isle.
 
The SDS are engaged in a war against the hobgoblins, under the leadership of Earl Rufus, the Dragon Lord, and word comes of the death of the hobgoblin leader. Just one decisive strike against them could win the war. However, there is a treacherous plot against the SDS, and the invocation of wild Maelstrom Magic, long outlawed in the Seven Seas Kingdom; the SDS forces are smashed, many dragons are killed and Quenelda's father goes missing, also presumed killed. Can Quenelda and Root Oakley, her gnome squire, survive a long and dangerous journey to prevent further treachery?
 
This is without doubt one of the best books I have read all year. The sequel to [[The Dragon Whisperer by Lucinda Hare|The Dragon Whisperer]], I can see this becoming a wildly successful series, appealing I should think to both boys and girls. The dragons are charmingly named, and the stable sections would certainly have appealed to me as a pony story-loving 9 year old, but the high fantasy and battle aspects are excitingly told as well. There are just a couple of repetitions that I feel should have been picked up through editing, but these are minor points, and I look forward to reading more about Quenelda, Root and the dragons.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
 
Further reading suggestion: The magic, flying and child protagonist fighting evil is very reminiscent of [[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J K Rowling|Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone]] and sequels; the high fantasy aspects might lead to [[The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien|The Hobbit]], and readers who enjoy the technical aspects of dragon flight might enjoy [[Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer|Artemis Fowl]] and sequels.

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