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| Alta
by Mercedes Lackey check out website: www.dawbooks.com
He receives some advice from a desert mystic to stop thinking of himself by his slave name Vetch and truly take possession of his true name Kiron - Dragonrider - or people would continue to treat him as Vetch. He gets plenty of opportunity to practice being his new self shortly after arriving in Alta after a series of fortuitous events and a display of personal bravery on Kiron's part lands him right in the heart of the establishment.
Tia and Alta are at war. A war in which the dragons and their 'Jouster'
riders are right on the front line. Due to the virtually unique way in which Kiron
raised Avatre, she has a considerable edge against the conventionally trained,
rather dangerous, dragons. Therefore, Kiron quickly finds himself training
up a new cadre of riders and dragons in an attempt for Alta to finally regain
an edge in this long running war. As Kiron is adjusting to his sudden
elevation in status and adapting from being an isolated slave boy to being in
the centre of a new-found circle of friends, he slowly realises that the situation
between Tia and Alta is perhaps not as black and white as it initially appeared. There is a good mix of action, intrigue and character development in the
book. I particularly liked the fact that the main characters aren't safe - too
many books have a 'Star Trek' approach where only the redshirts ever get hurt
or die. The possibility of bad things happening makes the book much more interesting
and means you care for the characters more as well. It isn't an exceptional
book and there are definitely some minor niggles with it, like Kiron's attitude
to slaves and slavery. It was bad whilst it was happening to him, but he doesn't
feel anything is wrong with the concept or have any kind of empathy towards Tians
held by Alta as slaves. Just seemed slightly odd and discordant with the rest
of the character. But except for a couple of minor things like that,
the story rattles along nicely. It's got a sound story stocked with well-drawn
characters and a good holiday type book. An entertaining way to pass a few hours,
but not a book you'll still be thinking over in a month's time. The ending sets
it up for a sequel, but it's still a proper ending and could be read as a stand-alone
book. Rachel Broome
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OTHER REVIEWS - August 2004
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This book starts with Vetch, an escaped Tian slave, and
his dragon Avatre about to reach the border of his homeland Alta. Vetch is caught
between feeling a fierce possessiveness and pride in Avatre and her abilities
and feeling like an impostor - a dirty little slave who has no right to something
as wonderful as a dragon.
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