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Shapeshifter Dragon Legends #1
The Pygmy Dragon
An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.
Liberated from Her Cage by a Dragon
Stolen from her jungle home and sold to a zookeeper, Pip knows only a world behind bars, a world in which a Pygmy warrior and her giant ape friends are a zoo attraction. She dreams of being Human. She dreams of escaping to the world outside her cage.
Then, the Dragon Zardon kidnaps her into a new life. Pip rides Dragonback across the Island-World to her new school - a school inside a volcano. A school where Humans learn to be Dragon Riders. But this is only a foretaste of her magical destiny, for the Dragon Assassins are coming. They have floated an Island across the Rift and their aim is nothing less than the massacre of all Dragons.
>>Her courage will be tested to its limits, for Pip is the Pygmy Dragon, and this is her tale
Series Note
The Pygmy Dragon is the first book in a companion series to Aranya and Shadow Dragon, the bestselling Shapeshifter Dragon series. Featuring stunning aerial battles and romance, Aranya is a fresh, gripping coming of age tale set in the same world 150 years on, when the Sylakian Empire rules the Island-World from the Rift to the frozen Islands of the north, and Dragons are fast becoming a fireside legend. But one Dragon lives - let evil beware.
Liberated from Her Cage by a Dragon
Stolen from her jungle home and sold to a zookeeper, Pip knows only a world behind bars, a world in which a Pygmy warrior and her giant ape friends are a zoo attraction. She dreams of being Human. She dreams of escaping to the world outside her cage.
Then, the Dragon Zardon kidnaps her into a new life. Pip rides Dragonback across the Island-World to her new school - a school inside a volcano. A school where Humans learn to be Dragon Riders. But this is only a foretaste of her magical destiny, for the Dragon Assassins are coming. They have floated an Island across the Rift and their aim is nothing less than the massacre of all Dragons.
>>Her courage will be tested to its limits, for Pip is the Pygmy Dragon, and this is her tale
Series Note
The Pygmy Dragon is the first book in a companion series to Aranya and Shadow Dragon, the bestselling Shapeshifter Dragon series. Featuring stunning aerial battles and romance, Aranya is a fresh, gripping coming of age tale set in the same world 150 years on, when the Sylakian Empire rules the Island-World from the Rift to the frozen Islands of the north, and Dragons are fast becoming a fireside legend. But one Dragon lives - let evil beware.
361 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 9, 2014
300 people are currently reading
1936 people want to read
About the author
Marc Secchia
59 books574 followersMarc is a South African-born dragon masquerading as an author, who loves writing about dragons and Africa, preferably both at the same time. He's the author of over 40 fantasy books in 5 languages including 10 rip-roaring dragon fantasy bestsellers.
His latest releases are Khyrial and the King, an absorbing Fantasy Romance and the hilarious epic fantasy Call me Dragon which won gold in the 2021 IPPY Book Awards for best Fantasy novel.
When he's not writing about Africa or dragons Marc can be found travelling to remote locations. He thinks there's nothing better than standing on a mountaintop wondering what lies over the next horizon.
His latest releases are Khyrial and the King, an absorbing Fantasy Romance and the hilarious epic fantasy Call me Dragon which won gold in the 2021 IPPY Book Awards for best Fantasy novel.
When he's not writing about Africa or dragons Marc can be found travelling to remote locations. He thinks there's nothing better than standing on a mountaintop wondering what lies over the next horizon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
July 28, 2017
"This week's assignment will be to write two chapters of a young adult book about a Pygmy girl, dragons and special powers."
At least, that's how I imagine The Pygmy Dragon came to be written, because there's no other explanation for the absolute jumble sale of ideas, plots, characterizations and themes. There's exceptions, of course. Clearly the student who was graced with 'Pip's Prologue' only turned in one of her chapters. A couple of over-achievers turned in three chapters instead of two. But I'm pretty certain I've caught on. How else can you explain:
Pip is the Mary Suest of all the Mary Sues, with Extra Special Powers that come out every few chapters. I actually didn't mind the exponential power growth as much as the wildly inconsistent world building that included flying dragonships from Steampunk land, subsistence gatherer Pygmies and a civilization of hundreds of dragons and shapeshifting dragons, all of which are apparently unknown to each other. Don't even get me started on the "island" geography that apparently consists of everyone living on mountaintops above a mystical cloud layer. Thematically, it begins an identity story, then a hero's journey, except the hero gets distracted by wanting to also find soulmates, and suddenly it becomes a Romance With the Wrong Side.
I'm always on the lookout for fantasy that seeks to tell stories from new perspectives. I had thought a short, dark-skinned Pygmy girl might offer a new take. Unfortunately, instead of celebrating difference, it was one long journey to turn Pip into Queen of Marvelous, which doesn't really celebrate difference as much as emphasize differentness, if you know what I mean. I've already read much of this book before, as it has some very strong roots in early Anne McCaffrey, particularly Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, but the jumps around in ages, plotting and world-building makes for a thoroughly head-scratching read. Honestly, I'd give this a pass and dig up the originals.
Major apologies are due to Athena and Naomi, who both read this book with me.
At least, that's how I imagine The Pygmy Dragon came to be written, because there's no other explanation for the absolute jumble sale of ideas, plots, characterizations and themes. There's exceptions, of course. Clearly the student who was graced with 'Pip's Prologue' only turned in one of her chapters. A couple of over-achievers turned in three chapters instead of two. But I'm pretty certain I've caught on. How else can you explain:
Pip is the Mary Suest of all the Mary Sues, with Extra Special Powers that come out every few chapters. I actually didn't mind the exponential power growth as much as the wildly inconsistent world building that included flying dragonships from Steampunk land, subsistence gatherer Pygmies and a civilization of hundreds of dragons and shapeshifting dragons, all of which are apparently unknown to each other. Don't even get me started on the "island" geography that apparently consists of everyone living on mountaintops above a mystical cloud layer. Thematically, it begins an identity story, then a hero's journey, except the hero gets distracted by wanting to also find soulmates, and suddenly it becomes a Romance With the Wrong Side.
I'm always on the lookout for fantasy that seeks to tell stories from new perspectives. I had thought a short, dark-skinned Pygmy girl might offer a new take. Unfortunately, instead of celebrating difference, it was one long journey to turn Pip into Queen of Marvelous, which doesn't really celebrate difference as much as emphasize differentness, if you know what I mean. I've already read much of this book before, as it has some very strong roots in early Anne McCaffrey, particularly Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, but the jumps around in ages, plotting and world-building makes for a thoroughly head-scratching read. Honestly, I'd give this a pass and dig up the originals.
Major apologies are due to Athena and Naomi, who both read this book with me.
August 29, 2017
I wasn't sure what I'd think of this book when I first picked it up, but the fact that I was sneaking time away from my toddler and preschooler to get in a few more pages (screens? How do you say that for a Kindle?) pretty much says it all. I almost never manage daytime reading. The Pygmy Dragon follows the story of Pip (she has an ultra-cool long warrior name, but that's what she goes by for short), a Pygmy girl who is enslaved and taken to... a zoo. Okay, I just want to send Marc Secchia a virtual high five right now. This book is about a person of color, a girl coming of age, someone whose humanity is routinely and disgustingly denied them, and she has to deal with short people jokes too. And you know what? Pip is awesome. She has her low moments, but she's resilient, intelligent, and full of heart. And you keep rooting for her, even more so when you see both her courage and her vulnerability.
The story follows Pip's life at the zoo for a little while, enough so you get a sense of what it was like, how humiliation and de-humanizing a person can break them down, and the hope Pip experienced when a single person begins to interact with her as a human, and then... dragons. Yes! The book just takes off from there, so stick with the story. A whole new plot of dragon intrigue, shapeshifters, and shadowy danger unfolds once the dragons make an entry and whisk Pip away from the zoo...
Note that the prologue is written in first person, and the remainder in third person, which I think works much better. So go give this book a try!
The story follows Pip's life at the zoo for a little while, enough so you get a sense of what it was like, how humiliation and de-humanizing a person can break them down, and the hope Pip experienced when a single person begins to interact with her as a human, and then... dragons. Yes! The book just takes off from there, so stick with the story. A whole new plot of dragon intrigue, shapeshifters, and shadowy danger unfolds once the dragons make an entry and whisk Pip away from the zoo...
Note that the prologue is written in first person, and the remainder in third person, which I think works much better. So go give this book a try!
July 3, 2016
This book was terrible. So terrible. And even worse, I wanted to know how it ended, even though I kept getting angrier and angrier the more I read. But I was pretty far in by the time I decided it was irredeemable. And then I finished it and found out that this book is just part one. There is no resolution. End of Book 1. What the ever loving fuck?
Ignoring the problems I had in the first part of this book, nothing that happens in the second part makes any sense at all.
Also, what audience is this aimed at? The beginning is so incredibly juvenile - like 5-6th grade - and then the second half is a bunch of sex jokes. Jokes that come out of nowhere, but then become a theme for some reason hinted at around 75-80%, as some sort of retcon. Which I never understand in books. Go back and rewrite the beginning! This is still the same book!
There are so many holes in the story. So many scenes that are jarringly skipped. So many things that make no sense at all. So many things that make the main character unbelievable, but I'll only name the most glaring one: She was stolen by slavers while trying to protect her village yet she has no desire return home and see her family.
And there is absolutely no character growth. People keep doing the same stupid shit for some reason that is never explained, then there are consequences, and then they do it again.
I'm not saying this is the worst book I've ever read but for a book with a potentially interesting story and world, this was very very bad. And not in the point and laugh way. In the my eyes hurt now and I wish this was a paper book so I could throw it across the room, walk over, pick it up, rip out each page one by one, set it on fire, collect the ashes into a plastic bag, and take the ashes back to the store for a refund.
Not recommended.
Ignoring the problems I had in the first part of this book, nothing that happens in the second part makes any sense at all.
Also, what audience is this aimed at? The beginning is so incredibly juvenile - like 5-6th grade - and then the second half is a bunch of sex jokes. Jokes that come out of nowhere, but then become a theme for some reason hinted at around 75-80%, as some sort of retcon. Which I never understand in books. Go back and rewrite the beginning! This is still the same book!
There are so many holes in the story. So many scenes that are jarringly skipped. So many things that make no sense at all. So many things that make the main character unbelievable, but I'll only name the most glaring one: She was stolen by slavers while trying to protect her village yet she has no desire return home and see her family.
And there is absolutely no character growth. People keep doing the same stupid shit for some reason that is never explained, then there are consequences, and then they do it again.
I'm not saying this is the worst book I've ever read but for a book with a potentially interesting story and world, this was very very bad. And not in the point and laugh way. In the my eyes hurt now and I wish this was a paper book so I could throw it across the room, walk over, pick it up, rip out each page one by one, set it on fire, collect the ashes into a plastic bag, and take the ashes back to the store for a refund.
Not recommended.
July 4, 2016
I read this based on the title and the glowing reviews … obviously I disagree with the latter. My kids went through the age group this is aimed at, and now my grandchildren are in or close to that age: we've read a lot together and I can say with a fair degree of certainty that this book wouldn't work for that small sample group.
The book is aimed at, approximately, middle schoolers and starts with a strong first two chapters, enough to capture the Kindle Sample audience, then quickly deteriorates into a mess. Every chapter something threw me completely out of the story: for example, the "mean" zookeeper loans Pip a knife(!) for a long enough period of time that she teaches herself to carve a bamboo flute - huh? She gets a visitor who tutors her in the language of her captors in return for learning his language, and his daughter engages Pip in many sentences of back-and-forth conversation … except neither has a common language at this point! Every single chapter has something like this.
Pip is presented as a child and then suddenly she displays adult emotional maturity in dealing with her Ape friends and then she's a kid again. She studies hard while at school and we see the results yet we never, NEVER see her in a class or studying or anything, just the fait accompli of acing tests. Her character is that she's short & from a jungle and her secret literary name is Mary Sue - that's it.
All supporting characters are collections of attributes: tall & wide & tattooed & speaking in an appallingly tedious 'dialect'; young & pointy-eared & wearing a headscarf; young and interchangeably female; young and disgustingly dirty and male; bully male; bully female, and on and on and on.
Even middle schoolers are going to find this book's plot problems, perhaps especially because they are young and tend to pay close attention to the worlds created for them. To engage the audience one first has to respect the audience, and the author also doesn't trust his audience to make associations, everything is TOLD to readers.
The idea behind this world was intriguing, the author is capable of decent writing (witness the first two chapters), he just apparently didn't put much work into the rest of his writing and his editor didn't work the text, just … spell-checked? If Anne McCaffrey, author of Dragonriders of Pern, were to read this book it might be enough to make her regret ever creating the society of dragonriders that clearly influenced this book, it is that badly done.
This is the first time I've regretted 'spending' my Kindle Borrow (1 per month) on a title, and I've read plenty of DNF's on the Borrow plan. Fortunately I read this in a flash group and one member threw herself on the grenade that is Pygmy Dragon, finishing it and letting us know it's not worth the eyestrain.
So now you know, too.
The book is aimed at, approximately, middle schoolers and starts with a strong first two chapters, enough to capture the Kindle Sample audience, then quickly deteriorates into a mess. Every chapter something threw me completely out of the story: for example, the "mean" zookeeper loans Pip a knife(!) for a long enough period of time that she teaches herself to carve a bamboo flute - huh? She gets a visitor who tutors her in the language of her captors in return for learning his language, and his daughter engages Pip in many sentences of back-and-forth conversation … except neither has a common language at this point! Every single chapter has something like this.
Pip is presented as a child and then suddenly she displays adult emotional maturity in dealing with her Ape friends and then she's a kid again. She studies hard while at school and we see the results yet we never, NEVER see her in a class or studying or anything, just the fait accompli of acing tests. Her character is that she's short & from a jungle and her secret literary name is Mary Sue - that's it.
All supporting characters are collections of attributes: tall & wide & tattooed & speaking in an appallingly tedious 'dialect'; young & pointy-eared & wearing a headscarf; young and interchangeably female; young and disgustingly dirty and male; bully male; bully female, and on and on and on.
Even middle schoolers are going to find this book's plot problems, perhaps especially because they are young and tend to pay close attention to the worlds created for them. To engage the audience one first has to respect the audience, and the author also doesn't trust his audience to make associations, everything is TOLD to readers.
The idea behind this world was intriguing, the author is capable of decent writing (witness the first two chapters), he just apparently didn't put much work into the rest of his writing and his editor didn't work the text, just … spell-checked? If Anne McCaffrey, author of Dragonriders of Pern, were to read this book it might be enough to make her regret ever creating the society of dragonriders that clearly influenced this book, it is that badly done.
This is the first time I've regretted 'spending' my Kindle Borrow (1 per month) on a title, and I've read plenty of DNF's on the Borrow plan. Fortunately I read this in a flash group and one member threw herself on the grenade that is Pygmy Dragon, finishing it and letting us know it's not worth the eyestrain.
So now you know, too.
December 31, 2016
I thought I'd already reviewed this after a group read in July ... weird. Disappearing reviews? Anyway:
- - - - - - - - -
Ostensibly a young adult book the author tries much too hard to make this a Harry Potter-esque "YA-to-Adult crossover Smash HIT!" It didn't work.
The first two chapters are the best part of the book, wrapped around an interesting, steampunky-faux-19th century world (to grab the Kindle sampler audience?), but it quickly moves out of that scenario and into, surprise! (not really), a Remotely Located Special School.
Pip, the protagonist, is better identified as 'The Pygmy Mary Sue' and the book quickly devolved into characters randomly doing things solely to advance the plot and the author doing a lot of telling telling telling rather than showing. He clearly doesn't trust his target audience to be participative readers. I DNF'd halfway through: I could neither suspend disbelief nor work up an ounce of caring about anyone in the book.
I get the feeling this is an author who wasn't quite sure what to do with his plot and needed to meet deadline for a book sold to a publisher based on an outline - not good.
- - - - - - - - -
Ostensibly a young adult book the author tries much too hard to make this a Harry Potter-esque "YA-to-Adult crossover Smash HIT!" It didn't work.
The first two chapters are the best part of the book, wrapped around an interesting, steampunky-faux-19th century world (to grab the Kindle sampler audience?), but it quickly moves out of that scenario and into, surprise! (not really), a Remotely Located Special School.
Pip, the protagonist, is better identified as 'The Pygmy Mary Sue' and the book quickly devolved into characters randomly doing things solely to advance the plot and the author doing a lot of telling telling telling rather than showing. He clearly doesn't trust his target audience to be participative readers. I DNF'd halfway through: I could neither suspend disbelief nor work up an ounce of caring about anyone in the book.
I get the feeling this is an author who wasn't quite sure what to do with his plot and needed to meet deadline for a book sold to a publisher based on an outline - not good.
March 26, 2015
You never know quite what you’re in for when you receive a reviewer’s copy of a book. This one was a delight. From the start, which is a somewhat post-modern first person direct address to the reader, Marc Secchia draws you into his tale. It’s a subtle and clever introduction to a fantasy world quite unlike anything else I’ve read. This invitation sets the tone, bonds the reader to the plight of the protagonist, and most of all, gives you the desire to read on.
As I read on, the story reminded me vividly of books like Raymond E. Feist’s Magician, an epic, sweeping fantasy with a voyage of discovery about hidden power and the coming of age. Secchia’s interpretation of this classic storyline is original. The world is fascinating, alien and familiar at the same time; a collection of islands floating above toxic gas, each occupied by different people and creatures. The detail is rich, and the different elements coherent. The characters are well-drawn. The attention to carefully chosen details brings them all to life. The plot is well-paced and engaging. I won’t summarise events, because blurbs exist if you want to read a plot summary.
Secchia writes with a deft touch. His style is deceptively simple in places, punctuated by carefully placed succinct lines which have poetic qualities, although, in my opinion, the standard of editing doesn’t live up to Secchia’s ability. Good writers need equally good editors, and he’s clearly a writer with a gift. I can be a cynical and cranky reader at times, but Secchia made me laugh, feel despair, say ‘Oh no!’ aloud more than once, and run a gamut of other emotions.
Much like Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, this is a first rate book masquerading as YA fantasy, with much more to offer than ‘just another title’ in a popular genre.
What’s left to say? Five stars. And well deserved. I received a free copy in exchange for an honest non-reciprocal review. I’ll gladly pay for the sequel.
As I read on, the story reminded me vividly of books like Raymond E. Feist’s Magician, an epic, sweeping fantasy with a voyage of discovery about hidden power and the coming of age. Secchia’s interpretation of this classic storyline is original. The world is fascinating, alien and familiar at the same time; a collection of islands floating above toxic gas, each occupied by different people and creatures. The detail is rich, and the different elements coherent. The characters are well-drawn. The attention to carefully chosen details brings them all to life. The plot is well-paced and engaging. I won’t summarise events, because blurbs exist if you want to read a plot summary.
Secchia writes with a deft touch. His style is deceptively simple in places, punctuated by carefully placed succinct lines which have poetic qualities, although, in my opinion, the standard of editing doesn’t live up to Secchia’s ability. Good writers need equally good editors, and he’s clearly a writer with a gift. I can be a cynical and cranky reader at times, but Secchia made me laugh, feel despair, say ‘Oh no!’ aloud more than once, and run a gamut of other emotions.
Much like Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, this is a first rate book masquerading as YA fantasy, with much more to offer than ‘just another title’ in a popular genre.
What’s left to say? Five stars. And well deserved. I received a free copy in exchange for an honest non-reciprocal review. I’ll gladly pay for the sequel.
September 1, 2015
This was such an amazing book!! Everything about it captivated and enchanted me.
The story follows a Pygmy warrior girl called Pip, who is kidnapped from her island home and brought to a zoo. She is thrown into a cage with an ape mother and her baby. After a bad start, Pip befriends the apes and tries to survive in this strange place where big people come to stare. She spends years in the zoo thinking she is less than human but eventually gets rescues by a mighty dragon, who spirits her away to a special school. Here Pip learns who she really is and that great things can come in small packages.
Pip was one of the best and most amazing characters I've read in a long time. My heart broke for her so many times because of the way she was treated, but she continually manages to be herself no matter what. She may be small but she has a humongous heart, is selfless and extremely brave. She faces so many trials and dangers but faces them she does!
There are quite a few different characters in this, from the human, to the dragons and an ape as well, and each of them are so very well written and developed that it's hard to find fault with any of them.
The plot, at the start, may not have been very fast paced, but it was richly woven and detailed and immerses you into the fantastic world that the author has created. It also picks up a lot in the second half, and we see more dragons, which is also a big plus!!
In all, this was a fantastic and unique dragon book and one I can highly recommend. I fell in love with the world and the characters and can not wait for more!
Ryan Prizio was absolutely fantastic with the sheer variety of tones and voices he did, but I had a problem with the quality of production. I think it was either chapter 8 or 9 of the audio book, the narrator stumbles, clears his throat, messes up a few times and restarts sentences. It was quite distracting and annoying but I couldn't take a star off from the narrator because he was amazing, and it wasn't his fault that an editor missed a few of the mistakes. But anyway, even with the odd mistake, it's well worth the listen!!
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com.*
The story follows a Pygmy warrior girl called Pip, who is kidnapped from her island home and brought to a zoo. She is thrown into a cage with an ape mother and her baby. After a bad start, Pip befriends the apes and tries to survive in this strange place where big people come to stare. She spends years in the zoo thinking she is less than human but eventually gets rescues by a mighty dragon, who spirits her away to a special school. Here Pip learns who she really is and that great things can come in small packages.
Pip was one of the best and most amazing characters I've read in a long time. My heart broke for her so many times because of the way she was treated, but she continually manages to be herself no matter what. She may be small but she has a humongous heart, is selfless and extremely brave. She faces so many trials and dangers but faces them she does!
There are quite a few different characters in this, from the human, to the dragons and an ape as well, and each of them are so very well written and developed that it's hard to find fault with any of them.
The plot, at the start, may not have been very fast paced, but it was richly woven and detailed and immerses you into the fantastic world that the author has created. It also picks up a lot in the second half, and we see more dragons, which is also a big plus!!
In all, this was a fantastic and unique dragon book and one I can highly recommend. I fell in love with the world and the characters and can not wait for more!
Ryan Prizio was absolutely fantastic with the sheer variety of tones and voices he did, but I had a problem with the quality of production. I think it was either chapter 8 or 9 of the audio book, the narrator stumbles, clears his throat, messes up a few times and restarts sentences. It was quite distracting and annoying but I couldn't take a star off from the narrator because he was amazing, and it wasn't his fault that an editor missed a few of the mistakes. But anyway, even with the odd mistake, it's well worth the listen!!
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com.*
November 18, 2014
"Since when did mere size gauge the worth of Human or Dragon?" This line from the book certainly speaks volumes. Young Pip, a pygmy girl, may be short of stature, but she's big on courage. What an amazing young woman she is! Not only has she survived a raid on her village, she has been taken prisoner, held in a zoo, befriends an ape, and then she becomes a dragon rider! So there's quite a bit to this story from the very beginning. I found this very hard to put down once I got started.
Who wouldn't love to be spirited away by a dragon? Pip quickly forms a bond with Zardon, each learning how to properly care for the other. But the story isn't all smiles and sunshine. Pip by no means travels an easy road. She is probably one of the strongest characters I've ever read about. Despite all that she's been through, she still manages to keep a good heart. A fascinating character and a wonderful story.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
Who wouldn't love to be spirited away by a dragon? Pip quickly forms a bond with Zardon, each learning how to properly care for the other. But the story isn't all smiles and sunshine. Pip by no means travels an easy road. She is probably one of the strongest characters I've ever read about. Despite all that she's been through, she still manages to keep a good heart. A fascinating character and a wonderful story.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
September 6, 2014
Marc Secchia has created a fantastic, intriguing world in The Pygmy Dragon. His writing style is crisp, consistent, and clean. The Pygmy Dragon was well paced and kept my interest throughout with a variety of adventure and romance.
Though the story is set in a fantasy world (and one of admirable depth at that), Secchia does a good job of incorporating an examination of the human experience. Main character Pip goes from being enslaved to a kick ass character with exceptional power. I enjoyed Pip's arc and thought it a good coming-of-age tale applicable to YA readers.
Overall, I enjoyed The Pygmy Dragon for its well-described world and clean style. I'm not a huge fan of YA, but even as an outsider to the genre I can tell that Secchia's work deserves a large readership.
Though the story is set in a fantasy world (and one of admirable depth at that), Secchia does a good job of incorporating an examination of the human experience. Main character Pip goes from being enslaved to a kick ass character with exceptional power. I enjoyed Pip's arc and thought it a good coming-of-age tale applicable to YA readers.
Overall, I enjoyed The Pygmy Dragon for its well-described world and clean style. I'm not a huge fan of YA, but even as an outsider to the genre I can tell that Secchia's work deserves a large readership.
October 14, 2014
Young Pip is a Pygmy warrior. She is stolen from her jungle home and caged in a zoo, her only friend a giant ape. One day, a dragon frees from her prison. Pip's life is forever changed and is presented with a destiny she never imagined.
The Pygmy Dragon is a testament to all of us. A hero can be found in the most unlikely of places. Adversity and challenge are merely the stepping stones to something greater and perhaps, bigger than us.
Everybody can identify with Pip. That's what makes her a wonderful and intimate heroine. I believed I was in the world the author created, felt her fear, anguish and triumph. The dialogue is true to it's characters and adds to reality of the Island World.
The story is filled with adventure and excitement. But it possesses something more important than that. Watching Pip transform before our eyes is the real thrill. The book is filled with mini climaxes that will keep you reading, until the surprising end.
The Pygmy Dragon is a testament to all of us. A hero can be found in the most unlikely of places. Adversity and challenge are merely the stepping stones to something greater and perhaps, bigger than us.
Everybody can identify with Pip. That's what makes her a wonderful and intimate heroine. I believed I was in the world the author created, felt her fear, anguish and triumph. The dialogue is true to it's characters and adds to reality of the Island World.
The story is filled with adventure and excitement. But it possesses something more important than that. Watching Pip transform before our eyes is the real thrill. The book is filled with mini climaxes that will keep you reading, until the surprising end.
August 31, 2020
Dropping down a star. The more I thought about it the more I recognized how awful this book really was.
Before I get into the truly atrocious things let's begin with the basics of what was wrong.
The book is very disjointed. There were moments where I wasn't really sure what was trying to be said. It's starts off with a pygmy girl's village being attacked. Pip is then captured and taken to a zoo where big people gawk at her. She lives seven years here with a primate species called Oraial. Over time she learns to communicate with them and even agrees to be studied by a researcher in exchange for knowledge of the world.
She is then stolen from the zoo by a dragon and brought to a school to learn how to use her apparent gift in magic that she didn't fully realize she had. Although she had speculated.
Instead of the dragon dropping her off and introducing her to the school, she is required to trick and sneak past another dragon guarding the entrance. If it was explained why she had to do this I can't remember and based off of future scenes, it honestly makes no sense.
Of course everyone is freaking out now because there's this random person in the mountain school who is genuinely innocent and doesn't understand.
I feel like this is the start in which the book derailed. It became taxing and boring and on more than one occasion found myself disturbed by the choices made by the characters.
To keep most of it general. She is bullied from day one and throughout the entire book. Even by the people who called her "friend" are constantly picking on her size and calling her a monkey. Which, honestly makes no sense because one of the teachers is a pygmy like her. So...why is it such a big deal? I felt like the author wanted strife but didn't know what to do so pulled the racism and bullying card.
Oh...did I mention that the female protagonist is short and dark skinned? And instead of embracing this (or even, her "friends" understanding her hurt?) is constantly wishing she was tall. That's fine...if later in the book she would have learned to love and accept herself. But that never happens. The people do stop calling her a monkey as some point, which is a plus but never stop with the short jokes.
There's also the issue that a teacher is clearly in love with a student, and even confesses. Should I even mention that Pip, naked after shifting back from a dragon, uses this fact to try and tempt the bad guy? shivers It was so not like her character, she, who had thought nothing of nudity before because of her upbringing...Why would she even think of this as a tactic? Wouldn't reasoning and trying to figure out the villain's motive be better than....that?
And once the villain is captured he questions his motives to be evil because...of her womanly charms?
laughs
To say this book was exhausting is an understatement. The characters never grow and the plot really doesn't make a lot of sense. I didn't take notes while reading so most of this is from memory and I'm sure I've missed a few things. But overall I was really disappointed in this book.
Before I get into the truly atrocious things let's begin with the basics of what was wrong.
The book is very disjointed. There were moments where I wasn't really sure what was trying to be said. It's starts off with a pygmy girl's village being attacked. Pip is then captured and taken to a zoo where big people gawk at her. She lives seven years here with a primate species called Oraial. Over time she learns to communicate with them and even agrees to be studied by a researcher in exchange for knowledge of the world.
She is then stolen from the zoo by a dragon and brought to a school to learn how to use her apparent gift in magic that she didn't fully realize she had. Although she had speculated.
Instead of the dragon dropping her off and introducing her to the school, she is required to trick and sneak past another dragon guarding the entrance. If it was explained why she had to do this I can't remember and based off of future scenes, it honestly makes no sense.
Of course everyone is freaking out now because there's this random person in the mountain school who is genuinely innocent and doesn't understand.
I feel like this is the start in which the book derailed. It became taxing and boring and on more than one occasion found myself disturbed by the choices made by the characters.
To keep most of it general. She is bullied from day one and throughout the entire book. Even by the people who called her "friend" are constantly picking on her size and calling her a monkey. Which, honestly makes no sense because one of the teachers is a pygmy like her. So...why is it such a big deal? I felt like the author wanted strife but didn't know what to do so pulled the racism and bullying card.
Oh...did I mention that the female protagonist is short and dark skinned? And instead of embracing this (or even, her "friends" understanding her hurt?) is constantly wishing she was tall. That's fine...if later in the book she would have learned to love and accept herself. But that never happens. The people do stop calling her a monkey as some point, which is a plus but never stop with the short jokes.
There's also the issue that a teacher is clearly in love with a student, and even confesses. Should I even mention that Pip, naked after shifting back from a dragon, uses this fact to try and tempt the bad guy? shivers It was so not like her character, she, who had thought nothing of nudity before because of her upbringing...Why would she even think of this as a tactic? Wouldn't reasoning and trying to figure out the villain's motive be better than....that?
And once the villain is captured he questions his motives to be evil because...of her womanly charms?
laughs
To say this book was exhausting is an understatement. The characters never grow and the plot really doesn't make a lot of sense. I didn't take notes while reading so most of this is from memory and I'm sure I've missed a few things. But overall I was really disappointed in this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 25, 2015
This is the first book I read by this author, and also the first one featuring a pygmy with special hidden magic, which made this an intriguing read from the very beginning. The author has created a solid and vivid fantasy world of Islands that have several suns and moons, inhabited by dragons, humans, pygmies and shape-shifters. As the story unfolds, the reader quickly becomes fond of Pip the Pygmy because she strives to be human, and has the thoughts and feelings of a human being. The author’s style is easy and enjoyable to read, and he has struck the right balance between action, dialogue, humour and suspense about what will happen next. Although I thought I knew what would happen, I was always pleasantly surprised by how things turned out, and I commend the author on his imagination and skill with the written word. Descriptions and dialogue make the characters come to life and feel real to the reader, and those are surely the elements of well-written book which will inspire readers to read the sequel as well as related books about this world and some of its characters. For a pleasant escape from reality (lasting 345 pages on my Kindle), this book is highly recommended.
September 9, 2014
The Pygmy Dragon is a sweeping and majestic fantasy story that gives the reader a front row seat to a world full of one of fantasy's all-star creatures: Dragons. As a lover of dragons and most things related, I've read my share of Dragon-related books, and this is a gleaming brush stroke in the Dragon-mosaic.
Dragons aside, the reader is along for a unique journey following main-character Pip; a pygmy warrior who is imprisoned at a young age, completely unaware of the rich world around her that she is destined to explore.
From a critical standpoint, the technical work is excellent. No distracting typos, or grammatical issues (a breath of fresh air). There are a few odd parts in the story (a barrel full of sugar bamboo sap? A few unusual social interactions etc.) that I think must simply be a cultural difference, and still not much of a detractor. Otherwise the characters were rich, unique, and a lot of fun. I got a few good laughs and plenty of other emotions from this book, along with some very endearing portrayals of friendship and love.
The book finished abruptly, but with great strength and a fair measure of surprise. As a reader I definitely feel incomplete without the second book to finish the story - which bodes well for the sequel. Excellent work in these pages. 4.8 stars rounded up to five.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in order to provide a non-reciprocal review.
Dragons aside, the reader is along for a unique journey following main-character Pip; a pygmy warrior who is imprisoned at a young age, completely unaware of the rich world around her that she is destined to explore.
From a critical standpoint, the technical work is excellent. No distracting typos, or grammatical issues (a breath of fresh air). There are a few odd parts in the story (a barrel full of sugar bamboo sap? A few unusual social interactions etc.) that I think must simply be a cultural difference, and still not much of a detractor. Otherwise the characters were rich, unique, and a lot of fun. I got a few good laughs and plenty of other emotions from this book, along with some very endearing portrayals of friendship and love.
The book finished abruptly, but with great strength and a fair measure of surprise. As a reader I definitely feel incomplete without the second book to finish the story - which bodes well for the sequel. Excellent work in these pages. 4.8 stars rounded up to five.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in order to provide a non-reciprocal review.
December 8, 2015
I'm picky about dragon books--I've read a lot of books where the dragons were written badly, or simply not there. The Temeraire books became my high water mark for dragon books, and this book has achieved that high ranking.
Of all the things which excited me about this story--islands above a poisonous sea of clouds, dragon ships, intriguing cultures unique to each island--was that the heroine is a Pygmy. Hard to get much more diverse than that! She even starts the book locked in a zoo with a couple of giant apes.
The writing is detailed and rich, on par with Robin Hobb. Any time I thought the book would get boring, it threw a new twist into the mix.
It ends on a good note, but with lots of things unresolved for book 2. I await it with excitement!
Of all the things which excited me about this story--islands above a poisonous sea of clouds, dragon ships, intriguing cultures unique to each island--was that the heroine is a Pygmy. Hard to get much more diverse than that! She even starts the book locked in a zoo with a couple of giant apes.
The writing is detailed and rich, on par with Robin Hobb. Any time I thought the book would get boring, it threw a new twist into the mix.
It ends on a good note, but with lots of things unresolved for book 2. I await it with excitement!
January 15, 2017
It was so good!! SoOoOoOoOoOo GoOoOoOodddddd XD I loved the main character! It was interesting!!! It was freaking cool! The main character was dumb sometimes, but hey people aren't perfect! I didn't find the characterization completely even, either, but still AWESOME on the whole!!!
October 27, 2020
This one was a vaery mixed batch for me.
I hated teh start and would never have kept readig if it wasn't for SPFBO and so I had a goal of reading at least 20%. The start is written like a kids book, in a tone and voice that grated badly for me, and it was a chore to get past.
One I did get past and the stly changed I did like it well enough. It went from what felt like a kids story to a very YA like tone and voice, and I could handle that much better. I actually enjoyed the next bit, and thought it an easy and quick read that swept me along nicely, even igf it lacked in depth and just felt a bit too easy.
But then for a book that felt like YA it had way too much sexual innuendo. That again really grated on me. Like one scene when the main character find her clothes stolen after a bath (she herself doesn't really mind nakedness so takes it more or less in stride) slight spoiler for just that one scene, not the whole book here
Or a relationship between a (young!) student and a (really old!) master. That just had me actually gag a little.
This scenes were frequent enough to really annoy me, but not so many it would have ruined the book for me. It definitely changed it from a very easy and light read that I would recommend for Ya audiences to a "not nearly complex enough and lacking depth book for adults" as I wouldn't give a teen a book with that sort of content.
If it was full YA it would a good enough entertaining and quick read. As it isn't suitable for teens in my eyes, but not complex enough for adults I have a hard time recommending it to any audience, even though I did read the whole book and thaought it read quick enough despite its flaws... So 2,5*
As this was another SPFBO Semi finalist, here's the link to the full review on the Fantasy Hive:
https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2020/10/th...
I hated teh start and would never have kept readig if it wasn't for SPFBO and so I had a goal of reading at least 20%. The start is written like a kids book, in a tone and voice that grated badly for me, and it was a chore to get past.
One I did get past and the stly changed I did like it well enough. It went from what felt like a kids story to a very YA like tone and voice, and I could handle that much better. I actually enjoyed the next bit, and thought it an easy and quick read that swept me along nicely, even igf it lacked in depth and just felt a bit too easy.
But then for a book that felt like YA it had way too much sexual innuendo. That again really grated on me. Like one scene when the main character find her clothes stolen after a bath (she herself doesn't really mind nakedness so takes it more or less in stride) slight spoiler for just that one scene, not the whole book here
Or a relationship between a (young!) student and a (really old!) master. That just had me actually gag a little.
This scenes were frequent enough to really annoy me, but not so many it would have ruined the book for me. It definitely changed it from a very easy and light read that I would recommend for Ya audiences to a "not nearly complex enough and lacking depth book for adults" as I wouldn't give a teen a book with that sort of content.
If it was full YA it would a good enough entertaining and quick read. As it isn't suitable for teens in my eyes, but not complex enough for adults I have a hard time recommending it to any audience, even though I did read the whole book and thaought it read quick enough despite its flaws... So 2,5*
As this was another SPFBO Semi finalist, here's the link to the full review on the Fantasy Hive:
https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2020/10/th...
April 19, 2017
this is precisely what I was in the mood for and yet...
I think anytime there are sentient dragons in a story it runs the risk of being compared to mccaffrey but this author managed to make an engaging world of his own (though still clearly inspired by pern). While I was disappointed not to have more about the technology that was teased at, I appreciated the classic Hero's Journey. I'm not generally a fan of overpowered characters, but Pip's struggles with who and what she was redeemed that a bit for me.
this story has some issues though. Her ape friend veered too close to Noble Savage territory for my comfort. there was an accent written that made me cringe a little. The author periodically seemed to lose the reins of the story. For every good element of Pip there was an annoying Mary Sue esque one (not a spoiler, just a long tangent) . There were also some... interesting choices made in regards to dynamics.
ETA: I slept on it before taking a star away to let the story and cringe soak in in order to determine which was stronger. The answer was cringe.
I think anytime there are sentient dragons in a story it runs the risk of being compared to mccaffrey but this author managed to make an engaging world of his own (though still clearly inspired by pern). While I was disappointed not to have more about the technology that was teased at, I appreciated the classic Hero's Journey. I'm not generally a fan of overpowered characters, but Pip's struggles with who and what she was redeemed that a bit for me.
this story has some issues though. Her ape friend veered too close to Noble Savage territory for my comfort. there was an accent written that made me cringe a little. The author periodically seemed to lose the reins of the story. For every good element of Pip there was an annoying Mary Sue esque one (not a spoiler, just a long tangent) . There were also some... interesting choices made in regards to dynamics.
ETA: I slept on it before taking a star away to let the story and cringe soak in in order to determine which was stronger. The answer was cringe.
August 22, 2024
I got this book PURELY because of the gorgeous cover. It's been on my TBR for a while, and I was in the mood for a good dragon book.
Let me tell you, Pygmy Dragon did not disappoint.
The book brought me back to more classic coming of age epic fantasy, and I was all here for it. Pip, as we're told by the back of the cover blurb, starts life by getting kidnapped from her jungle home at the age of 7, and put into a zoo. And not only is she in a zoo, but they put her, a Pygmy, in with a massive Ape and his violent Ape mother.
I'm not going to go into the rest of the plot at all, because secrets unfold nicely and I think they are better left a surprise. But I was in love with Pip's character development arc throughout the book, and it really transformed into a new story several times, in unexpected, delightful ways.
The setting was FANTASTIC. I am a sucker for good and unique world-building. The world is the Island-World, with islands poking up out of the deadly Cloudlands, which I thought was a unique take on a fantasy realm. Each of the islands also has unique characteristics.
Also.... there's Dragons ;)
I'm itching to pick up the next book already, and explore more from Marc Secchia!
Let me tell you, Pygmy Dragon did not disappoint.
The book brought me back to more classic coming of age epic fantasy, and I was all here for it. Pip, as we're told by the back of the cover blurb, starts life by getting kidnapped from her jungle home at the age of 7, and put into a zoo. And not only is she in a zoo, but they put her, a Pygmy, in with a massive Ape and his violent Ape mother.
I'm not going to go into the rest of the plot at all, because secrets unfold nicely and I think they are better left a surprise. But I was in love with Pip's character development arc throughout the book, and it really transformed into a new story several times, in unexpected, delightful ways.
The setting was FANTASTIC. I am a sucker for good and unique world-building. The world is the Island-World, with islands poking up out of the deadly Cloudlands, which I thought was a unique take on a fantasy realm. Each of the islands also has unique characteristics.
Also.... there's Dragons ;)
I'm itching to pick up the next book already, and explore more from Marc Secchia!
May 6, 2020
A bit of a slow start but a thoroughly enjoyable tale.
November 15, 2020
Review on The Fantasy Hive for SPFBO 6 - https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2020/10/th...
January 13, 2015
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.]
I have to say that I fell in love with Marc Secchia’s writing just a few pages into the first book of The Shapeshifter Dragons series, Aranya. So when he took me up on my open submission announcement, I was so excited to begin the spin-off series, Shapeshifter Dragon legends. In Aranya we heard passing tales of a pygmy dragon while Aranya was learning about dragon lore in general, but the story of that singular occurrence was never fully fleshed out. In The Pygmy Dragon, we get to see the Island World several decades before Aranya’s birth, when dragons roamed free and shapeshifters were respected.
Into this totally alien world to the readers of the original series is Pip, a Pygmy girl taken from her home island at a very young age to be placed in a zoo with dangerous apes that she eventually befriends. The squalid conditions, the dehumanizing behaviour of the ‘people’ that come to the zoo to see her are all horrific and Marc Secchia shows that horror without belabouring the point. We get a very, very clear picture of her suffering and desperation until a regular person begins to talk to her to learn about the Pygmy culture. He treats her like a real human being and they learn from each other until the dragon Zardon whisks Pip away to a new life as a dragon rider.
You really can’t help but cheer for Pip the whole way through. From her horrible treatment in the zoo to the bullying and tormenting she finds at the Dragon Rider Academy, you’d have to have a heart of ice not to feel for her. Despite everything, she works so hard to prove herself every bit her fellow students’ equal and in some ways, surpasses many of them. It’s there at the Academy where she discovers a secret that she never expected she had: she’s a Shapeshifter Dragon. A Pygmy Dragon to be exact. And because of her hidden power, she’s now flying around with a giant target on her back. All of the dragons are as a war begins to brew between the different factions.
As always, Marc Secchia’s world-building is second to none. The Pygmy Dragon can absolutely be read as a stand-alone novel, but for those of us that read Aranya before reading the spin-off series, it expands upon what we’ve learned. We even meet some of Aranya’s friends, the unrepentantly lecherous Nak and the love of his life, Oyda. I love how Marc Secchia finally let us see the mysterious gigantic original dragons that created all of the regular dragons. And how he gave Pip the special power that would make her a legend. I don’t want to give too much away, so I can’t gush as much as I would like, but needless to say you won’t find any better world-building out there in YA right now.
He also includes some pretty powerful themes without beating his readers over the head with a stick. The theme of freedom is so central to the whole story and it makes you really appreciate just how good you really have it. No matter how bad your life gets, you’ve never been locked up in a zoo, treated like an animal and forced to befriend animals that were once your natural enemies. There’s also a theme of redemption throughout the novel. Not everyone who appears to be evil is and sometimes truly bad people can be redeemed. The little subplot with the Silver Dragon Pip meets is just one such example of that.
Marc Secchia has a beautiful writing style. He’s able to write highly emotional scenes without getting too sappy and he can describe things beautifully without going overboard. His descriptions of the dragons and the flourishing dragon culture at the Academy made me both happy and sad because so much of that is lost by Aranya’s time. His characters are so vividly sketched out that you expect them to just come up and walk off the pages. And the amount of thought he put into dragon anatomy and the descriptions of their powers, language and emotions is just amazing.
Basically, if you’re going to read any book about dragons, read The Pygmy Dragon. I seriously can’t recommend it enough.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
I have to say that I fell in love with Marc Secchia’s writing just a few pages into the first book of The Shapeshifter Dragons series, Aranya. So when he took me up on my open submission announcement, I was so excited to begin the spin-off series, Shapeshifter Dragon legends. In Aranya we heard passing tales of a pygmy dragon while Aranya was learning about dragon lore in general, but the story of that singular occurrence was never fully fleshed out. In The Pygmy Dragon, we get to see the Island World several decades before Aranya’s birth, when dragons roamed free and shapeshifters were respected.
Into this totally alien world to the readers of the original series is Pip, a Pygmy girl taken from her home island at a very young age to be placed in a zoo with dangerous apes that she eventually befriends. The squalid conditions, the dehumanizing behaviour of the ‘people’ that come to the zoo to see her are all horrific and Marc Secchia shows that horror without belabouring the point. We get a very, very clear picture of her suffering and desperation until a regular person begins to talk to her to learn about the Pygmy culture. He treats her like a real human being and they learn from each other until the dragon Zardon whisks Pip away to a new life as a dragon rider.
You really can’t help but cheer for Pip the whole way through. From her horrible treatment in the zoo to the bullying and tormenting she finds at the Dragon Rider Academy, you’d have to have a heart of ice not to feel for her. Despite everything, she works so hard to prove herself every bit her fellow students’ equal and in some ways, surpasses many of them. It’s there at the Academy where she discovers a secret that she never expected she had: she’s a Shapeshifter Dragon. A Pygmy Dragon to be exact. And because of her hidden power, she’s now flying around with a giant target on her back. All of the dragons are as a war begins to brew between the different factions.
As always, Marc Secchia’s world-building is second to none. The Pygmy Dragon can absolutely be read as a stand-alone novel, but for those of us that read Aranya before reading the spin-off series, it expands upon what we’ve learned. We even meet some of Aranya’s friends, the unrepentantly lecherous Nak and the love of his life, Oyda. I love how Marc Secchia finally let us see the mysterious gigantic original dragons that created all of the regular dragons. And how he gave Pip the special power that would make her a legend. I don’t want to give too much away, so I can’t gush as much as I would like, but needless to say you won’t find any better world-building out there in YA right now.
He also includes some pretty powerful themes without beating his readers over the head with a stick. The theme of freedom is so central to the whole story and it makes you really appreciate just how good you really have it. No matter how bad your life gets, you’ve never been locked up in a zoo, treated like an animal and forced to befriend animals that were once your natural enemies. There’s also a theme of redemption throughout the novel. Not everyone who appears to be evil is and sometimes truly bad people can be redeemed. The little subplot with the Silver Dragon Pip meets is just one such example of that.
Marc Secchia has a beautiful writing style. He’s able to write highly emotional scenes without getting too sappy and he can describe things beautifully without going overboard. His descriptions of the dragons and the flourishing dragon culture at the Academy made me both happy and sad because so much of that is lost by Aranya’s time. His characters are so vividly sketched out that you expect them to just come up and walk off the pages. And the amount of thought he put into dragon anatomy and the descriptions of their powers, language and emotions is just amazing.
Basically, if you’re going to read any book about dragons, read The Pygmy Dragon. I seriously can’t recommend it enough.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
September 23, 2014
Welcome to the realms above the Cloudlands, where an archipelago of floating volcanic islands loops across the expanse of the stratosphere, and where there are dragons, humans, and those special individuals who can be both….
This was my first introduction to Marc Secchia’s writing, and to his fully-realised fantastical realm, which I believe is the setting for others of his novels. Little did I know what a treat was in store! Epic dragon-battles against beautifully described landscapes; ancient magic and mysterious lore; the warmth of genuine relationship and the wretched loneliness of being different; the bitter sting of betrayal; the power of forgiveness; the wonder of finding that we are loved.
Secchia’s writing is literary and his vocabulary is erudite but his evocative prose is never allowed to arrest the pace of the action - which is, at times, quite breathless. His setting is palpably described, culturally rich and topographically tangible, comfortably achieving what so many writers of fantasy attempt but fail; the breath-takingly believable. He has the gift of being able to conjure for the reader a vast, teeming canvas as well as to embroider intricate details within it. The reader is whisked across this landscape at dizzying heights and breakneck speeds, but we are never allowed to miss either the grandeur or the detail of it.
Best of all Secchia manages to succeed where so many fantasy writers fail - through his carefully wrought make-believe world, he reflects the best and the worst of real life.
Pip is a Pygmy girl cruelly taken from her native forest home and transported to a zoo where humans come to gawp and point; she is different, and she is made to feel it brutally. It is within the crucible of this terrible situation that her resourcefulness and resilience are honed and where she discovers her innate and game-changing powers. These, as well as the abject loneliness she experiences, form her character for what is to come. On a purely narrative level, this makes for exciting potential which the remainder of the plot does not fail to utilise and resolve. But what I especially liked about it was the important message which clearly came through for us here, below the Cloudlands, where it is so relevant. Anyone - but especially the young - who faces periods of adversity, abuse and discrimination may find themselves ultimately strengthened by it but their scars - issues of trust and personal identity - are for others - for us - to heal.
This story is written for young adults - as well as older ones - and describes a group of young people. To my ears the relationships amongst them, the banter, the spats, the jokes and idiom all came across as spot-on. I identified completely with their fierce loyalties, their sudden black moods, their optimism and their crippling awkwardness. Teenagers being teenagers they are drowning in hormonal soup, and Secchia does not shirk the issues of developing sexuality which necessarily beset them as they cope with the over-powering realities of physiological awakenings and the emotional complications of first physical love. However he balances this very beautifully with the almost courtly romance which exists between dragons and their riders. The poesy of their language towards one another summons up an age of chivalry long past. The heady but of course platonic love they share is, in its way, as attractive and erotic as the hectic and charged couplings of the students. The unwritten but clearly expressed impression is that ideal love is something which amalgamates the two; surely an invaluable message for us all.
This was my first introduction to Marc Secchia’s writing, and to his fully-realised fantastical realm, which I believe is the setting for others of his novels. Little did I know what a treat was in store! Epic dragon-battles against beautifully described landscapes; ancient magic and mysterious lore; the warmth of genuine relationship and the wretched loneliness of being different; the bitter sting of betrayal; the power of forgiveness; the wonder of finding that we are loved.
Secchia’s writing is literary and his vocabulary is erudite but his evocative prose is never allowed to arrest the pace of the action - which is, at times, quite breathless. His setting is palpably described, culturally rich and topographically tangible, comfortably achieving what so many writers of fantasy attempt but fail; the breath-takingly believable. He has the gift of being able to conjure for the reader a vast, teeming canvas as well as to embroider intricate details within it. The reader is whisked across this landscape at dizzying heights and breakneck speeds, but we are never allowed to miss either the grandeur or the detail of it.
Best of all Secchia manages to succeed where so many fantasy writers fail - through his carefully wrought make-believe world, he reflects the best and the worst of real life.
Pip is a Pygmy girl cruelly taken from her native forest home and transported to a zoo where humans come to gawp and point; she is different, and she is made to feel it brutally. It is within the crucible of this terrible situation that her resourcefulness and resilience are honed and where she discovers her innate and game-changing powers. These, as well as the abject loneliness she experiences, form her character for what is to come. On a purely narrative level, this makes for exciting potential which the remainder of the plot does not fail to utilise and resolve. But what I especially liked about it was the important message which clearly came through for us here, below the Cloudlands, where it is so relevant. Anyone - but especially the young - who faces periods of adversity, abuse and discrimination may find themselves ultimately strengthened by it but their scars - issues of trust and personal identity - are for others - for us - to heal.
This story is written for young adults - as well as older ones - and describes a group of young people. To my ears the relationships amongst them, the banter, the spats, the jokes and idiom all came across as spot-on. I identified completely with their fierce loyalties, their sudden black moods, their optimism and their crippling awkwardness. Teenagers being teenagers they are drowning in hormonal soup, and Secchia does not shirk the issues of developing sexuality which necessarily beset them as they cope with the over-powering realities of physiological awakenings and the emotional complications of first physical love. However he balances this very beautifully with the almost courtly romance which exists between dragons and their riders. The poesy of their language towards one another summons up an age of chivalry long past. The heady but of course platonic love they share is, in its way, as attractive and erotic as the hectic and charged couplings of the students. The unwritten but clearly expressed impression is that ideal love is something which amalgamates the two; surely an invaluable message for us all.
April 29, 2022
The more I think about this book, the lower the rating gets. The writing was decent enough to keep me reading, but there were some huge issues with it. One is the racism/bigotry towards people like Pip--this is a fictitious world with dragons. But the pygmies in the book are obviously modeled on the real Bayaka people. The racism is such that a large number of people in this world don't believe that her people are human or capable of intelligence/emotion, and she is kidnapped and displayed in a zoo for 7 years. Again, something that happened to real Bayaka, and the insults used to Pip are insults and slurs used towards them. The problem is, once she gets free and goes to the school. Her new friends make little to no effort to understand her; they display very little sympathy for her village having been slaughtered and her years of captivity, where she was displayed in a cage with giant apes; no allowance made by anyone at the school that her behavior or lack of understanding about social norms were due to her entire formative years having been spent in a cage with no one but apes to talk to for most of it. And the book doesn't ever really bother to examine that racism and deliberate ignorance or misunderstanding by other characters towards Pip. Oh, she gets mad sometimes, and one character apologizes to her (but then immediately goes back to teasing her about having been in a zoo. Some friend.) but the text never explores that further, and pretty much never do any teachers/adults or anyone else ever says that's wrong or stop being a bigot (the exception is the man who taught her his language and how to read). And then Pip herself is obsessed with her shortness and views big people as better and just wants to be like everyone else. Like, seriously obsessed--about every other page (possibly more) there's something about her cursing her height and desire to be "human" or a "big person." And again, the text doesn't explore that beyond an incredibly shallow and offensive "you still have value even if you are a pygmy."
And then there's the romance.
And then there's the romance.
August 10, 2015
Pip is a young female Pygmy Warrior. She is not in the village when it is attacked. When she returns in the middle of the battle she is captured and then sold in a different land to a zoo. The people who bought her believe she is a monkey as she is wearing no clothing and is very hairy. She is placed into a cage with a giant ape and they become friends. They learn to communicate and help each other. She preens him and at night he keeps her warm. She dreams that change is coming. She tries to warn her friend. One night their cage is damaged and a dragon named Zardon kidnaps her. She insists that her ape friend must go with her. She is fighting and arguing with the dragon and he finally agrees to bring the ape. Zardon is a few cards short of a full deck. In a new territory he drops the ape off in a forest near a volcano and takes Pip into the volcano. Inside the volcano is a school for warriors and they raise dragons to be used in battles. Pip is accepted into the school. She is thrilled to be able to keep her warrior skills sharp. But she is always in trouble. They expect her to be dressed and she doesn't see why she should. She also sneaks out to visit her ape friend which not only gets her in trouble but those who are guarding the volcano who didn't catch her. The school is warned that they and their dragons are in danger. They go to visit another dragon rider school that has dragons ready to choose drivers. Pip is kidnapped (again). This time it is by the enemy in the form of a beautiful silver dragon. When Pip turns into a dragon she becomes the stuff of legends. Her school wants to protect her and the enemy wants her. She and her fellow warriors must fight for their dragons, for and with Pip, and their way of life.
I loved everything about this book. Pip is small but lives a big life. She is fiercely loyal. She is a misfit as a pygmy among all taller people, yet she makes close friends. Becoming a dragon is a shock. All of the characters are very well defined and interesting. I have bought the 2nd in this series, but this can be read as a stand alone.
I loved everything about this book. Pip is small but lives a big life. She is fiercely loyal. She is a misfit as a pygmy among all taller people, yet she makes close friends. Becoming a dragon is a shock. All of the characters are very well defined and interesting. I have bought the 2nd in this series, but this can be read as a stand alone.
July 21, 2019
It is time to abandon ship me mateys! I am abandoning more books this year then usual. Sad. Perhaps that is because I am trying new things. In this case, this involved an old love – dragons! By all rights I should have loved this book. And I did sort of like it . . . up to a point.
I made it to the 63% mark before calling it quits. The novel is split into two parts – before dragons and after dragons. This is the story of a pygmy girl named Pip who is captured from her island and taken to be an exhibit in a zoo. I absolutely loved the majority of the section in the zoo. While in the zoo she makes friends with the creatures in her enclosure. Her friendship with Hunagu was the highlight. I loved Pip’s tenacity, intelligence, loyalty, and grit. Her growth was lovely to watch. She is small but fierce like me! Arrrrr!
The problem occurs when the dragons enter the story. I know crazy right? I adore dragons but from the point of Pip’s leaving the zoo, the story started to go downhill for me. I believe some of this is due to the structure of the novel. The zoo is a small world where the scenery doesn’t really change so all of the focus was on the characters and their relationships. I loved this character-driven section.
When Pip leaves the zoo, it is to enter the wider world. The focus on character relationships is mostly removed and the story shifts to the overall arcing politics of the world which I simply didn’t care for.
Pip ends up in dragon school and discovers her own nature. Hunagu disappears from huge parts of the story. We don’t even get to delve in the nitty-gritty of the school. It almost felt like it turned into a different book altogether at this point. While I love dragons, I didn’t love the dragons in this book or the dragon culture. Ah that’s saying something. So I stopped there.
Side note: The prologue of this novel was not good at all and felt kinda horrible with cliches of jungle people and Pygmies from Australia in particular. I should have stopped there maybe but I wanted to see how the dragons were displayed. Sigh.
Check out me other reviews on https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordp...
I made it to the 63% mark before calling it quits. The novel is split into two parts – before dragons and after dragons. This is the story of a pygmy girl named Pip who is captured from her island and taken to be an exhibit in a zoo. I absolutely loved the majority of the section in the zoo. While in the zoo she makes friends with the creatures in her enclosure. Her friendship with Hunagu was the highlight. I loved Pip’s tenacity, intelligence, loyalty, and grit. Her growth was lovely to watch. She is small but fierce like me! Arrrrr!
The problem occurs when the dragons enter the story. I know crazy right? I adore dragons but from the point of Pip’s leaving the zoo, the story started to go downhill for me. I believe some of this is due to the structure of the novel. The zoo is a small world where the scenery doesn’t really change so all of the focus was on the characters and their relationships. I loved this character-driven section.
When Pip leaves the zoo, it is to enter the wider world. The focus on character relationships is mostly removed and the story shifts to the overall arcing politics of the world which I simply didn’t care for.
Pip ends up in dragon school and discovers her own nature. Hunagu disappears from huge parts of the story. We don’t even get to delve in the nitty-gritty of the school. It almost felt like it turned into a different book altogether at this point. While I love dragons, I didn’t love the dragons in this book or the dragon culture. Ah that’s saying something. So I stopped there.
Side note: The prologue of this novel was not good at all and felt kinda horrible with cliches of jungle people and Pygmies from Australia in particular. I should have stopped there maybe but I wanted to see how the dragons were displayed. Sigh.
Check out me other reviews on https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordp...
February 20, 2016
The Pygmy Dragon is Pip's story about her journey since she has been kidnapped from her home and island. Pip is a pygmy warrior. During the raid on her island, she was captured and sold to a zoo as part of the wildlife exhibit. Due to her size, she is placed with apes and monkeys.
When the ape that Pip befriended falls ill and able to die, something in Pip, was awaken to stop her ape friend from dying. Since that moment, Pip could see shadow dragon coming and going which prompt the Dragon Zardon to kidnap her to a dragon rider school within a volcano.
Even in her new found place to be finally be a human, Pip is still treated as an outcast for being imprisoned as a primate. Her schoolmates tried every way to humiliate Pip. Her last draw was being accused of cheating on an exam. She was going to run away.
Pip returned to the school when she saw the shadow dragon and Zardon instructed her to warn the school. For doing a good deed, Pip ended up in a disciplinary hearing among dragons. Pip can't help being honest. She informed the dragons that she understood their language. This brings Pip to a possibility that she might be a dragon shifter.
For a pygmy warrior, Pip started her journey from captive to someone who might save the school of dragons and dragon riders.
The Pygmy Dragon incorporates a story about bullying and that even the shortest, strange, or unique person could surprise those who believe that they are entitled. It is a very good story for teenagers who are trying to discover who they are and if there is place in their environment to fit in.
The narrator, Ryan Prizio, delivered a wonderful performance for Pip. As for the school headmaster, the voice could have been a more masculine. It did give the school headmaster, a recognizable voice.
I was given this audiobook by the author via Audiobook Blast in exchange of an honest review. I was not compensated or influenced in any way for writing this review.
When her
When the ape that Pip befriended falls ill and able to die, something in Pip, was awaken to stop her ape friend from dying. Since that moment, Pip could see shadow dragon coming and going which prompt the Dragon Zardon to kidnap her to a dragon rider school within a volcano.
Even in her new found place to be finally be a human, Pip is still treated as an outcast for being imprisoned as a primate. Her schoolmates tried every way to humiliate Pip. Her last draw was being accused of cheating on an exam. She was going to run away.
Pip returned to the school when she saw the shadow dragon and Zardon instructed her to warn the school. For doing a good deed, Pip ended up in a disciplinary hearing among dragons. Pip can't help being honest. She informed the dragons that she understood their language. This brings Pip to a possibility that she might be a dragon shifter.
For a pygmy warrior, Pip started her journey from captive to someone who might save the school of dragons and dragon riders.
The Pygmy Dragon incorporates a story about bullying and that even the shortest, strange, or unique person could surprise those who believe that they are entitled. It is a very good story for teenagers who are trying to discover who they are and if there is place in their environment to fit in.
The narrator, Ryan Prizio, delivered a wonderful performance for Pip. As for the school headmaster, the voice could have been a more masculine. It did give the school headmaster, a recognizable voice.
I was given this audiobook by the author via Audiobook Blast in exchange of an honest review. I was not compensated or influenced in any way for writing this review.
When her
Read
June 16, 2016The Pygmy Dragon is the first book in the Shapeshifter Dragon Legends series (planned for 2 books), the companion series to Aranya. The setting is the same Island-World but 150 years earlier. This uplifting teen/YA fantasy tale chronicles the time when Dragons disappeared from the world, a time of tumultuous events, great dragon-battles, and the emergence of a new power in the Island-World.
Foremost, it is the story of Pip, a Pygmy warrior born in the jungles of the Crescent Islands and raised by apes in a zoo. The pivotal moment is the night the wise old Dragon Zardon kidnaps her from her cage in the zoo and introduces Pip to her new destiny - which is greater, and more terrible, than even he imagined. For Pip has a power that will place her at the centre of the battle for the very existence of all Dragons. The assassins have floated an island across the Rift from Herimor. The Dragon of Shadow stalks the Island-World, driving Dragons to their doom. And a new power has risen, a power rooted in one of the most ancient of Dragon legends.
Dragons! Snarling, ripping battles! Shapeshifters and romance. A tale about the very core of the Human experience - Pip, who has been treated as an animal for as long as she can remember, must find and embrace her humanity, make friends, and negotiate the ambitions of those who would abuse her power for their own gain. A tale of no small courage, where the smallest of Dragons must face her destiny, and the fate of all Dragons will rest in her paws.
Foremost, it is the story of Pip, a Pygmy warrior born in the jungles of the Crescent Islands and raised by apes in a zoo. The pivotal moment is the night the wise old Dragon Zardon kidnaps her from her cage in the zoo and introduces Pip to her new destiny - which is greater, and more terrible, than even he imagined. For Pip has a power that will place her at the centre of the battle for the very existence of all Dragons. The assassins have floated an island across the Rift from Herimor. The Dragon of Shadow stalks the Island-World, driving Dragons to their doom. And a new power has risen, a power rooted in one of the most ancient of Dragon legends.
Dragons! Snarling, ripping battles! Shapeshifters and romance. A tale about the very core of the Human experience - Pip, who has been treated as an animal for as long as she can remember, must find and embrace her humanity, make friends, and negotiate the ambitions of those who would abuse her power for their own gain. A tale of no small courage, where the smallest of Dragons must face her destiny, and the fate of all Dragons will rest in her paws.
September 4, 2015
"Enjoyable"
What made the experience of listening to The Pygmy Dragon the most enjoyable?
The story line is full of drama. From pip being caged in a zoo, she was a hero at times and very lovable through out the entire story.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Pygmy Dragon?
The first time she flew on the back of a dragon. I thought that sounded exciting. I also thought when she was first made aware of her magic was so intense.
Which scene was your favorite?
Pip and her friend are being attacked by an angry dragon. She saves her friend by using magic for the 1st time.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I had allot of OMG moments. I thought it was terrible the was she was treated. Locked up in a zoo, people treated her like she was an animal. Her kind heart was unbelievable. You really feel allot of emotions through out the book. Little pip goes through allot. You really feel sorry for her often in the 1st half of the book.
Any additional comments?
The narrator was great. Ryan really brought the book to life for us the listeners.
I received the audio book in exchange for a honest review. Thank you!
What made the experience of listening to The Pygmy Dragon the most enjoyable?
The story line is full of drama. From pip being caged in a zoo, she was a hero at times and very lovable through out the entire story.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Pygmy Dragon?
The first time she flew on the back of a dragon. I thought that sounded exciting. I also thought when she was first made aware of her magic was so intense.
Which scene was your favorite?
Pip and her friend are being attacked by an angry dragon. She saves her friend by using magic for the 1st time.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I had allot of OMG moments. I thought it was terrible the was she was treated. Locked up in a zoo, people treated her like she was an animal. Her kind heart was unbelievable. You really feel allot of emotions through out the book. Little pip goes through allot. You really feel sorry for her often in the 1st half of the book.
Any additional comments?
The narrator was great. Ryan really brought the book to life for us the listeners.
I received the audio book in exchange for a honest review. Thank you!
September 9, 2015
This book is amazing. The young pigmy girl, Pip, was stolen from her home at a young age and took to a zoo. During this story, we see her grow in so many ways. She gets rescued by a dragon and taken to dragon island because unknowingly to Pip, she has magical powers and the dragon who finds her felt her power. While at the dragon riding school Pip gets bullied and picked on by most everyone. No one thinks that she can do anything and even Pip starts to believe this. Dragons are in a battle for their lives and only Pip can save them, but how can a tiny pigmy girl do this? This author takes you to a world unlike any other and keeps you glued to it all the way through until the last page. If you like any story about dragons, this one it for you. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a fantastic job. There were a couple chapters that had some repeats but that didn't takeaway from the story.
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com.*
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com.*
February 21, 2024
The Pygmy Dragon is a fantasy story that defies categorisation. I would have difficulty placing this within any other genre, and can't even classify it as being for children, young adults etc. For me, this was just a pure Fantasy that flew me away on dragon wings to a world unknown. The prologue was written by Pip in the first person, whereas the rest of it is in the third.
With an intricate story to tell, we are carried along as Pip tries to find her way in a world that is harsh to her. She does find friends though, although some seem to leave a bit to be desired (Maylin anyone?). With the balance of their world in peril, and treachery coming from every angle, The Pygmy Dragon is an action-filled story that gets richer the more intricate it becomes.
An amazing fantasy and I have also one-clicked The Onyx Dragon, which is book 2 as I am not prepared to finish Pip's story just yet. Definitely recommended.
* Verified Purchase - August 2016 *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Aug 15, 2016
With an intricate story to tell, we are carried along as Pip tries to find her way in a world that is harsh to her. She does find friends though, although some seem to leave a bit to be desired (Maylin anyone?). With the balance of their world in peril, and treachery coming from every angle, The Pygmy Dragon is an action-filled story that gets richer the more intricate it becomes.
An amazing fantasy and I have also one-clicked The Onyx Dragon, which is book 2 as I am not prepared to finish Pip's story just yet. Definitely recommended.
* Verified Purchase - August 2016 *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Aug 15, 2016
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