The Dragons of Chriril

“Harrumph! I wouldn’t mind missing this question.” Fentworth scowled and the emerlindian artist caught the glare full on. “Uncomfortable, long, full of frustration.” He let out a dramatic sigh, and the stiffness of his shoulders fell away as he nodded toward his protégé. “But Verrin Schope here is in a fix, and we must put personal comfort aside.” Liberttowit held his hand before his mouth and spoke in solemn tones. “There is that detail about the world crumbling.”

Book: The Dragons of Chriril by Donita K. Paul, Waterbrook Press, 2011 (Originally published as Dragons Of The Valley in 2009)

Genre: Fantasy

Target Audience: Girls and Boys 12+

Subjects: God’s existence and written Word

Summary: When Tipper’s father goes missing for years and randomly turns up one day with a wizard and a librarian from another part of the world, they come with strange news: there’s a thing called a gateway that’s attached to her father’s statues and until all of the statues are found and put back together, her father will continue to mysteriously disappear and perhaps, eventually, the whole world with it! It’s up to Tipper, her father, the Grand Parrot who helps manage their estate, a wanta-be artist and these two mysterious characters from the other part of the world to save the day! They begin a quest that will completely change Tipper’s life.

Notes: This story presents a world in which God is not known and the people have attempted to explain what is obvious to them: Someone or Something must have created and be managing this world they live in. Tipper has grown up with the fairy tales of Boscamon but knows nothing of Wulder. When her father appears with Fentworth and Liberttowit, he claims to be a believer in Wulder and he and the other two begin to teach her a bit about him. Her father teaches her how Wulder’s words contain wisdom in the form of simple saying about every day life.

This is the first in the Chiril Chronicles, a series that takes place before the Dragonkeeper series in the same world with some of the same characters but in a different part of the world.

Recommendation Scale: 4.5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Romans 1:20 – For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.