Book Review: A Threat From The Past

A unique, imaginative and quirky tale of dragons who play football.
Well, not exactly football to be precise, but Laminium Ball. Almost the equivalent of football, but with a touch of Quidditch if you ask me.

I kid you not folks, this game is awesome - 'pitching dragon against dragon in unmatched, adrenaline fuelled, jaw dropping action.' Dragon teams competing against each other and using their tail to dribble, slap, roll, slam, tackle, intercept as well as perform tricks with the ball. - AMAZING with all caps and perhaps my favourite part of this tale.



But back to the book, because I digress, A Threat From The Past is a fun filled and quirky family fantasy adventure that will appeal to both young and old and would probably make for a badass movie.

It all starts with the 'true story of George and the Dragon' and later unfolds in our present day world, in which dragons live side by side with humans, blending in with them by using human shapes and trying to fulfil their sworn pledge of guiding and protecting.
Their homes are below ground, an underground dragon domain that's absolutely fascinating and it is there that all dragons can freely roam around in their dragon shape.

Thrust into a life away from the underground dragon domain, disguised in a new, awkward human form in an effort to guide and protect humanity just like the rest of his race, a young dragon called Peter Bentwhistle must uncover and thwart a diabolical scheme long in the planning.
With the help of his two young friends, a master mantra maker and a complete dragon stranger with more than a little history attached to him, Peter must brave the past to save the present.

This has been the pick of the wheel for my weekly random review draw program and it's one of the books I found it most difficult to review.

The premise is great, the characters are wonderful and the setting is amazingly detailed and downright wondrous. Different from anything I've read until now and hat's off to the author's imagination for that.
There were however a few things that didn't work for me.
The pace is very slow at times, and often seems to drag because of the lengthy detailed descriptions. They say sometimes even a good thing may become too much and this is exactly the case here. Less would have worked much better.
And then there are the dragons. As a huge dragon fan I love everything draconic and these dragons here didn't appeal to me. They seemed more human than dragon most of the time and that was a major drawback in my book. I want my dragons to be dragon-like. I want to see them as dragons when I read. I want dragons that feel like dragons and have their little draconic quirks that always make you keep in mind that they are dragons! All that is missing from this book here.
But then, that's just me and a preference as personal as it gets. And that is also the reason for which I chose to NOT rate this book.

It's not a bad book by all means. It's quirky, imaginative, fun-filled and unique.
It's just that, it isn't really my cup of tea.

Check out this book and more of Paul Cude over at http://www.paulcude.com