Dragon Rider

Book Description

Firedrake, a young dragon, receives a frightening warning one night: Humans are planning to destroy the valley in which he lives! All the dragons must flee. Their only refuge is a place above the clouds called the Rim of Heaven --- which may not even exist. Firedrake boldly volunteers to go ahead first. As he embarks on his journey, he meets Ben, a runaway boy. Together, the boy & dragon make their way toward the Rim of Heaven, all the while running a step ahead of Nettlebrand, a monster who will stop at nothing to hunt down Firedrake. Their quest will truly become an adventure like no other.

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It's a fantasy, it's long, and it's got dragons in it. Dragon Rider is bound to be another hit book from Cornelia Funke! Ever since the popularity of bestselling fantasies The Thief Lord and Inkheart went global a few years ago, legions of fans have demanded more books from the German author than she can reasonably hope to write each year. So, re-discovering this hefty, earlier novel from 1997 was a logical development--and her keenest readers will devour it as before.

Aimed at slightly younger readers than her previous novels, despite its massive five hundred pages, Dragon Rider is about a brave young dragon called Firedrake who embarks upon a dangerous journey to the Rim of Heaven in the Himalayas--a magical place where silver dragons can rest easy, free from the threat of destruction by mankind and their only hope of sanctuary. The key to its location is a map rendered by a rat who is a master cartographer.

Firedrake is joined on his quest by Ben, an orphaned boy, and Sorrell--a wise-cracking Brownie that is an odd, but ingenious, grumpy kind of fairy. Their journey is not a straightforward one by any means. Created by an alchemist called Petrosius Henbane in 1424, Nettlebrand (a malevolent creature covered in impenetrable gold plates) is their biggest threat--he is intent on destroying them. Nettlebrand is aided by Twigleg, a homunculus who has stowed away in Ben's bag and who is feeding reports on their progress back to his master.

Their exciting encounters are many... It is easy to forgive the narrative's excessive length when readers are gorging on such a wonderfully inventive and readable story from an author who has her readers in the palm of her hand on every page. (Age 9 and over) --John McLay

Customer Reviews:

Now THIS is a WRITER!!.......2007-10-10

WOW. WOW. WOW. We read tons and tons of books. Lately, due to driving to a far away school daily, we have been going through a new audiobook every few days. None have even compared to the caliber of Dragon Rider. The vivid imagery, the use of language, the character development, the magical storyline... I could go on and on!

I saw this in the past but thought my child might be a little bit young. He is 8 now and we probably could have read it even a year or two ago. We are going to get everything this author has ever written. (NO, really, I'm not a relative of hers! I am just so sick of wasting money on children's books that are hopelessly boring and poorly written).

Good.......2007-10-06

A great fantasy book a real thrill of events. A dragon and a boy and brownie set out to find a paradise for the fellow dragons of the world. on the way they meat tons of mysterious characters life dwarfs and a wicked dragon who is also searching for the paradise. I thought the book was kind of dull at some points could have about 50-100 pages shorter. Funke did a great job of describing the characters and terraine. It was good I would recomend it for young aldults.

enchanting!.......2007-09-24

I enjoyed this story one hundred percent! I own both the book in hardback, as well as the audio version read by Brendan Fraser. While I enjoyed reading it, listening to it is even better thanks to the awesome voices Fraser does for each character. Tgus us definitely a story everyone in your family can enjoy, and the audio version is great for plane or car rides!!!!

Great book for kids... good book for adults.......2007-08-27

This book is a wonderful story about a colony of dragons that are about to be overrun by human construction. A dragon by the name of Firedrake and his brownie buddy Sorrel start out on a journey to find the Rim of Heaven, a place it is believed that the dragons escaped to 300 years earlier. On the way they met a homeless boy named Ben who is to become the Dragon Rider.

This book is very entertaining, has some very imaginative characters and situations and is a wonderful book for kids between the ages of 7-15 ish, which is the intended audience. If you're a little older than that the book will feel a little young but it is still very enjoyable.

The only negative I would say with this book is that some of the characters, Sorrell especially, are very onery and negative (which is their character) and kids who read this could possible pick up some mean langauge etc. from reading it but nothing real bad.

Overall a great book!

Great read........2007-08-01

While the intended audience is "young adult", this book is a wonderful read for all ages, from the young to the young at heart!

The Chronicles Of Conan Volume 9: Riders Of The River-Dragons And Other Stories (Chronicles of Conan (Graphic Novels))

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The Missing Story Arc from this Volume:
The early adventures of Conan and Belit on the Black Coast
The Chronicles Of Conan Volume 9: Riders Of The River-Dragons And Other Stories
DEEPEST, DARKEST HOWARD AFRICA

The Chronicles Of Conan Volume 9: Riders Of The River-Dragons And Other Stories (Chronicles of Conan (Graphic Novels))
Roy Thomas , John Buscema , and Val Mayerik
Manufacturer: Dark Horse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1593073941

Book Description

From the turbulent seas to the deepest, darkest jungles, the barbarian Conan moves ever closer to his destiny as king and conqueror. Allied with the deadly she-pirate Belit, Conan journeys further into the most savage and untamed Hyborian lands, and into his own heart of darkness. It's Sword and Sorcery at its finest!

Customer Reviews:

The Missing Story Arc from this Volume:.......2007-05-20

Just to clarify what is missing from Chronicles of Conan Volume 9: As Roy Thomas points out in his notes at the end of the book, Conan #66-68 were left out of the Dark Horse book apparently because Dynamite Publishing had secured the rights to the Red Sonja character who appears in the story. For anyone interesting in tracking down the missing part of the story, it should be pointed out that Conan #67 was actually continued not in Conan #68 but in in Marvel Feature (Presenting Red Sonja) #7, which then leads into Conan #68. Marvel Feature #7 is reprinted in the recent trade paperback "The Adventures of Red Sonja Volume 1" published by Dynamite Publishing. If you didn't know anything was missing you probably wouldn't even notice it, as it is only alluded to very briefly. The story with Red Sonja sort of went off on a tangent not really necessary for understanding anything that happens before or after it.

The early adventures of Conan and Belit on the Black Coast.......2006-08-15

At some point Roy Thomas must have figured out there was a finite number of Robert E. Howard stories to adapt for the "Conan the Barbarian" comic book. Thomas was using most of Howard's original Conan stories for the slightly larger and longer venue of the black & white "Savage Tales"/"Savage Tales of Conan" and taking pretty much anything Howard wrote about other characters and turning them into Conan stories. But when Thomas got ready to adapt "Queen of the Black Coast," the Conan story about the she-devil Belit, he had a masterstroke and decided to create a comic book epic. Belit was introduced in "Conan the Barbarian" #58 and did not meet her death until #100. The breakdown of "The Chronicles of Conan" reprinting these Marvel comics written by Thomas and drawn (with one exception) by John Buscema means that with Volume 9, "Riders of the River-Dragons and Other Stories" we have just missed the introduction of Belit. But we do have the first multi-part Conan and Belit adventure and clear evidence that we have entered the pirate stage in the history of Howard's barbarian warrior:

In "Riders of the River-Dragons" (#60) the pirate ship "Tigress" travels up the river Zarkheba to take her rightful tribute from men who ride on the back of huge crocodiles. When the riders take Belit, Conan agrees to lead the local tribe, the Watambis and the Black Corsairs to get her back. "On the Track of the She-Pirate" (#61) includes a two-page splash panel of the women Conan has loved as he pursues Belit through the jungle, but the pirate queen is now dealing with a giant killer moth. "Lord of the Lions" (#62) is Amra, the Tarzan like figure who was shipwrecked as a boy and was raised by a pride of lions, the companion of Sholo, a cub whose fur was dark as the shrouding jungle night. Amra wants to make the goddess Belit his queen, which does not make Makeda, mistress of the Lair of the Lions, happy. In "Death Among the Ruins" (#63), Conan finally catches up with Belit and Amra as they are fighting a horde of the unbound ones. At that point, we have the fight to the death between Conan and Amra. This four-part story is a good indication of how Thomas and Buscema were taking their time telling stories because Conan and Belit are separated for over two issues and it works just fine.

"Fiends of the Feathered Serpent" (#65), freely adapted from Howard's "The Thunder Rider," again has the "Tigress" stopping for supplies and discovering the seven-foot giant Ahmaan the Merciless, pygmies wearing brightly dyed feathers, and Tezcatipoca the self-proclaimed Mist-Lord. Val Mayerik is the illustrator (along with The Tribe) on "The Demon Out of the Deep" (#69), adapted from Howard's "Out of the Deep," which is actually a flashback story the Conan tells Belit about making his way back to Cimmeria after the events in "Conan" #2, when he was captured by a Vanir war party. "The City in the Storm" (#70), based on Howard's "Marchers of Valhalla," welcomes back Ernie Chan (formerly Chua) as embellisher-in-residence. The storm swept "Tigress" comes upon the great-towering city of Kelka. Although Conan and his comrades defend the city from Argossean pirates, they are betrayed the priest Akkheba, to be sacrificed to the great goddess Ashtoreth. "The Secret of Ashtoreth" (#71) is discovered by Conan and Belit, who meet the "goddess" face to face. What is nice about this one is that for once the sorcery part of the equation is pretty much gone and it is just the sword part.

The missing issues are a reprint in color of "The Secret of Skull River" from "Savage Tales" #5 and a cross-over story from "Red Sonja" (in which King Kull appears as well), which explains why the "Conan" issues are not reprinted here. There is nothing in these eight reprinted comic books that is a true Conan classic, but they are almost all above average, which is enough to justify rounding up on this volume. Besides, this was the point where the comic book was getting back to the level it was at in the Barry Windsor-Smith days. By this time I had really come to like the way Buscema was drawing Conan, especially when Chan came back as inker. Thomas and Buscema would spend over four years with Conan and Belit raiding ships and kingdoms up and down the Black Coast creating a true comic book epic.

The Chronicles Of Conan Volume 9: Riders Of The River-Dragons And Other Stories .......2006-04-01

Book was very entertaining and was delivered in timely manner.

DEEPEST, DARKEST HOWARD AFRICA.......2006-03-10

First off, let me say one of the greatest things to happen to Conan in recent years was Dark Horse getting the rights to reprint the Conan the Barbarian comic originally published by Marvel Comics. The character had begun to languish at Marvel and thankfully Dark Horse stepped up to the plate to take him over. Volume 9 of the series "Riders of the River Dragon and Other Stories" reprints issues 60 - 63, 65, and 69 - 71 of the original comic series with all new re-mastered coloring on slick paper. While some have been critical of the re-mastered color, I think it looks fantastic. People seem to forget just how dull looking those comics looked under the old printing process and on newsprint. Just pick up and issue and compare it.

I'm showing my age but I read and used to own all the comics in this most recent volume. Thirty years later I'm amazed at how the memories flooded back as I first recalled reading these as a kid. Credit for this goes first to Roy Thomas, probably the finest Conan writer outside of Robert E. Howard himself. More than any other modern day writer, Thomas understood the character so well. Roy knew that Conan need not face some all-powerful wizard in every issue or some demonic monster. Some of Howard's best Conan Stories were those that involved very little if any magic in them such as "Beyond the Black River" which is a wilderness adventure story at it's finest. Roy has demonstrated this in Volume 9 as Conan and Belit, the she-pirate, travel with her corsairs throughout the southern jungle lands of the Hyborian lands, REH's version of Africa.

The first multi-part story finds Conan and Belit entering a village who normally pays tribute to Belit and her crew with gifts of ivory but on this occasion they have none to give, as its been plundered by the dreaded Dragon-Riders, warriors who ride upon large alligators as mounts. Belit is soon kidnapped as she sleeps off the effects of a drug, and taken by the Dragon-Riders to be the mate of their master Amra, Lord of the Lions. In Amra, we get Roy's influence by Edgar Rice Burroughs in creating a red-haired version of Tarzan. Thomas provides a lengthy essay at the books conclusion as he explains his love for ERB and the creation of Amra. Conan gathers the rest of the crew and gets on the trail of the Dragon-Riders, climaxing in a battle to the death between Conan and Amra.

Robert E. Howard was perhaps the most pragmatic pulp writer that ever lived. If Howard had a Kull Story rejected, he would often turn around and re-write the story as a Conan adventure. Similarly he would re-use Conan stories in other genres. The story "The Black Stranger" was rewritten into a pirate story for his character Black Vulmea. Roy Thomas often employed the same strategy in the comics. He would adapt other Howard stories and turn them into Conan yarns. There are a couple of examples of this in volume 9. In "Demon out of the Deep" Conan relates a story to Belit from his youth. He was captured by a tribe of Vanir and taken to their village along the Western Sea. Soon several members of the tribe turn up dead and Conan has to confront the horrid thing behind the killings. In the final story, Thomas adapts the Howard story "Marchers of Valhalla", a historical adventure, into a Conan story called "City in the Storm" that finds Conan, Belit, and their crew locating a mysterious island city.

Of course the other person who deserves credit for these great Conan Stories is penciller John Buscema. Because of the hundreds of Conan stories that he did on the regular Conan Comic, King Conan, and the black & white Savage Sword of Conan magazine, perhaps no artist, other than maybe Frank Frazetta, is more associated with Conan than Big John. As always, John's pencils were embellished by his long-time inking partner Ernie Chan. Val Mayerik does the pencils on one issue and fills-in magnificently.

I always loved these Conan tales taking place in those dark jungle kingdoms as it was a nice change of pace the other Conan stories. Excellent work as always from Dark Horse.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

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Dragon Rider

El Jinete Del Dragon/dragon Rider
Cornelia Caroline Funke
Manufacturer: Siruela
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 8478447008

Customer Reviews:

Dragon Rider.......2006-12-24

I own this book in English and my sons and I read it several times. It is great. I bought it in Spanish for a friend of mine whose son does NOT like to read. I am hoping he is going to love it. It is a great book.

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke Hardcover ISBN 0439853451

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Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke Hardcover ISBN 0439853451
Cornelia Funke
Manufacturer: Scholastic Chicken House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0439853451

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The Dragon Rider Chronicles
Arturo Von Eder
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1413780989

Book Description

The Dragon Rider Chronicles is an accounting of events that have transpired in a world not so different from our own. It is a history that parallels our world, but instead of the horse being the main steed of iron-clad knights, dragons are given that distinction. Yes, dragons! There are tales of battles between dragon riders and the evil demon hordes, and of riders who use their dragons as their getaway vehicles after committing crimes of murder and thievery. Come face to face with the oldest, wisest, and meanest dragon. Learn of the bonding between dragon and rider, of the skills they learned and demonstrate during the annual games, and of heroes and villains as they clash in the skies. You'll feel the fright and tranquility of dragon flight. You may laugh and cry as you read some of these events. You may even find yourselves dreaming of flying on the back of your own dragon.

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leaves you hanging
Action & Adventure in Old Los Angeles
Great Zorro Read!
Zorro can make any story good.

Zorro and the Dragon Riders
David Bergantino
Manufacturer: Forge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812567684

Customer Reviews:

leaves you hanging.......2005-09-12

This is a fun Zorro read, although it seems to be a sequal to Zorro and the Jaguar Warriors which I should have read first. Zorro is up to his swashbuckling skills and wit and the introduction of Japanese villains is interesting, if a bit far fetched for the time, but it was frustrating that the main villain issue is not really resolved, leaving hope for a sequel which i dont think will be written as this one came out in 1999 and the jaguar book in 98.
a fun read for any zorro fan if only to spend a little time with our hero.

Action & Adventure in Old Los Angeles.......2001-04-13

Zorro & the Dragon Riders is a good read. In the beginning it almost felt like an episode of the Disney Guy Williams TV show but then it got better with the introduction of the Japanese samurai. I liked the themes of honor and commitment throughout the book. Zorro has his code of honor where he does not kill and wants to save the people from harm while the Dragon Riders have their own code that is tarnished under the service of the Aztec villian. I don't know if this book was a continuation of another novel but it felt that way because Zorro was out of action in a small section of the story. It was a good story with elements of action and humor.

Great Zorro Read!.......2001-04-11

Also known by title as, Zorro and the Shadow Riders, is in a series of Zorro paperbacks by Tor/Forge.

Great Zorro read - hard to put down!

Hope Tor/Forge comes out with a new Zorro paperback this year, 2001!

Z forever!

Zorro can make any story good........1999-06-20

Zorro and the Dragon Riders is a very detailed novel. Everything is adventerous and thrilling. The story was somwhat confusing now and then because it did not have a solid plot. This is only my opinion though. Zorro can make any story good............................................

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Dragon Rider

Manufacturer: Scholastic, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0439543428

Product Description

A Boy. A Dragon. A Quest. Firedrake, Ben,and their furry friend, Sorrel, are in search of the mythical place where dragons can live in peace forever. Together they embark on a journey that takes them to magical lands where they meet marvelous creatures-and one ruthless villian. Along the way, they will discover allies in odd plalces, courage they did't know they had and a hidden destiny that changes everything.

Read at Home: More Level 3C: Dragon Danger (Read at Home Level 3c)

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Read at Home: More Level 3C: Dragon Danger (Read at Home Level 3c)
Cynthia Rider
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

Read at Home is the best-selling home reading series designed for young, beginner readers. It features all the popular Oxford Reading Tree characters in exciting stories specially written for parents to support their children's reading at home. These entertaining stories, with real life and fantasy adventures, are carefully graded across 5 levels, and contain built-in progression and vocabulary repetition throughout. Stories provide clear parental support within and beyond the book: BLa"Tips for Reading Together" page, giving parents practical ideas for helping with their child's reading BLa "Think about the Story" page providing stimulating ideas for parents to talk about with children when they are discussing the story BLa"Useful common words" panel to highlight high frequency words used in the story which have a close correlation with the requirements of the National Literacy Strategy. Dragon Danger is Level 3c for children Becoming a Reader - those children who can recognize 10-20 words by sight, can read simple sentences, and know all the initial letter sounds. The story is written with a simple sentence structure and vocabulary repetition with two to three sentences per page. This book is at the same reading level as The Spaceship Approx ORT level: Stage 3

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The Dragon Riders
Christie Dickason
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Dragon Rider

Manufacturer: The Chicken House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0439685133

Book Description

The field of econometrics has gone through remarkable changes during the last decades. The earlier focus on testing macroeconomic theories has been widened considerably. It has turned into a discipline concerned with the development and application of statistical methods for any kind of economic data.
Contributions to Modern Econometrics represents a collection of recent economic applications of modern econometrics and methodological developments. It converse topics such as:

-Effects of data quality on monetary policy,
-Empirical comparison of alternative monetary aggregates,
-Empirical tests of theories for the term structure of interest rates,
-Financial econometrics for heavy-tailed returns,
-The transformation of the Polish economy,
-Labor economics,
-Econometric modeling of household and investment decisions,
-modeling with limited dependent variables,
-testing for units roots,
-Alternative smoothing algorithms,
-Latent-variable models with error in variables.

Contributions to Modern Econometrics is of interest to researchers and students in economics as well as practitioners in business, industry and public institutions who want to learn about recent developments in the field of econometrics.

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This is the latest offering from the Tom Connor and Jim Downey parody factory, the team responsible for last year's successful pair Is Martha Stuart Living? and Martha Stuart's Better Than You At Entertaining. This time their target is the ubiquitous Smith & Hawken gardening catalog: "English Gardening Staff Discipline Paddle. The English have a long tradition of spanking one another when things go wrong, and, historically, servants and gardeners have been foremost on the receiving end."

This effort is better, slicker certainly, than the Martha Stuart parodies. Every page sports some of the most meticulous photo work I've ever seen (kudos to J. Barry O'Rourke), admirably coupled with Connor and Downey's solid prose. If you know people with green thumbs and senses of humor, buy them this book. They'll thank you for it--and may even stop throwing dirt at you.

Book Description

The "diggerati", as Time magazine christened the '90s gardeners in a recent feature story, "do not really want to garden; they just want to have a garden, which means they're more willing to spend money than time outdoors." For these diggerati with more greenbacks than green thumbs, the Smith & Hawken Gardening Catalog is the undisputed king of catalogs. Mailed out to more than 18 million customers, its lavish, four-color spreads hawk everything from outlandishly expensive tools and gardening fashions to "river stones."

Here to skewer the bible of pretentious gardening are Tom Connor and Jim Downey. Yes, the bad boys of parody are back, and this time they're out to get their hands dirty. Born from a hugely successful two-page spoof they did for Mirabella last summer, this hilarious catalog parody features a whole range of items that are only just slightly more ridiculous than Smith & Hawken. How about a 24-foot-wide rake? With one swipe, the lawn's done. There's a portable divining rod for those hard-to-find water sources in the garden. Then there's "Happy Landings", a narcotic birdseed guaranteed to keep your avian friends grounded. Or how about your very own English Gardening Couple for a mere $98,500?

Filled with the cutting wit that made their previous parodies so successful, Smyth & Hawk'em is the perfect gift for today's diggerati and everyone else who loves parodies.

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Smyth & Hawk'Em: A Gardening Parody
Tom; Downey, Jim Connor
Manufacturer: Perennial Currents
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Parodies | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OEXK3Q

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Smyth and Hawk'em: A Parody
Tom Connor , and Jim Downey
Manufacturer: Perennial (HarperCollins)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Parodies | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0060952482

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