Rating: 
Summary: Fewmets.
Review: When I first looked at "Dragon's Blood", I wasn't so sure it would be a good book. I'm a fan of Jane Yolen, but, well, it just didn't look interesting. I was wrong. "Dragon's Blood" is an amazing work of fiction. Though I was, at first, strongly reminded of Anne McCaffrey's Pern, the society described in this book took on it's own identity. Yolen creates an amazing planet and culture that arises in the future. While the people do have technology, it is not spectacular. Instead, we are introduced to a charming, though struggling, society built by criminals, a world based on an economy where dragons are raises to fight one another. The story revolves around Jakkin, a teenage boy, who is, unfortunalty, a bonder (basically a paid slave) He was born free, and his dream is to pay off his bondage and return to freedom. To do this, he steals a dragon hatchling. he plans to raise this dragon into a pit fighter, and thus earn his freedom. I was impressed with Yolen's vivid desciption and emotion. The story kept an enjoyable balance between light-hearted entertainment and deep meaning. The characters were strongly devoloped and realistic, adding more to the tapestry of the novel. Like many readers have said, this book may not be suitable for children, for there are subtle references to prostitution. Some may find this shocking, but it fits well with the book's society. Besides, the references are subtle, so a younger, naive child would probably read past these references without a second thought. Overall, "Dragon's Blood" is a rich, vivid, imaginative novel, and a worthy tribute to Jane Yolen. I am looking forward to reading the book's two sequels. P.S. My review title is a delightful little cussword used in the book. I'll probably be using it often.
Rating:
Summary: A very good peice of literature
Review: Jane yolen is a very accomplished author. this book takes you into Jakkin's world, where he is is a bond boy looking to buy his way out of bondage. Jakkin was not born a bond boy, but free, his father was a master, but was one day killed by a dragon he was training. Years later, when he is 15, he decideds to steal an egg, with a dragon in it. But due to certain inconvinences, he ends up stealing a hatchling. The story goes throught telling about the bond between Jakkin and is dragon, all the obsticals, ups downs, friends, and Jakkin's dragon's first fight.
that's all i will tell you, for you need to read the book. I'm looking forward to reading Heart's blood, the next one in the trilogy. i hope you all found this review helpful!
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Summary: A beautifully written, thought-provoking book
Review: The young dragon turned its black eyes toward him and Jakkin felt as if he could see strange constellations being born in the endless night of its eyes. "Be thou ever my friend," Jakkin whispered. The dragon answered him with a weak trickle of smoke through its nose slits. It was no more than a patch of light fog, then was gone. But that it was smoke, the first conjurings of the fire of a fighting dragon, Jakkin was sure. Fifteen-year-old Jakkin is a bond servant in Master Sarkkhan's dragon barns. Jakkin longs to be free. His only hope of obtaining enough money to free himself seems to be to steal a dragon to train secretly as a fighter. His best bet is to steal an egg, for all hatchlings are accounted for at birth. Unfortunately, a high proportion of eggs are infertile and Jakkin doesn't get the opportunity to take one, so his only option is to steal a hatchling. And finally fate seems to be on his side ... But what if he is caught? Worse still, what if he finds he doesn't know enough to train his dragon well enough to become a true champion? While repelled by the idea of creatures being pitted against each other in the fighting ring for the profit (or pleasure, come to that) of their human owners, I still found this novel, book one in The Pit Dragon trilogy, a thoroughly engrossing read and look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. As so often happens, the publisher of this edition makes no mention of the other books in the trilogy. It isn't as though there is no room on the last page to list them. Worse still, however, is the omission on the cover of the fact that this is part of a trilogy. Since this novel was originally published in 1982 and this is a 1996 edition, I find the omission particularly unforgivable.
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Summary: A Review of _Dragon's Blood_
Review: In this classic, humans have long since colonized the planet Austar IV, where "dragons" are one of the native creatures. Dragons are raised here in nurseries because they had almost reached the brink of extinction in the wild. Young Jakkin was born into a life of labor under one such place, Sarkkhan's Nursery. Each laborer wears a pouch around their neck, and can only become free when that pouch is full. Jakkin's is hardly full, and at Sarkkhan's Nursery there is only one way to do that: steal a dragon's egg and raise it to be a fighter at the Pits.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This was more difficult a task than it may appear, for most of the dragon eggs would not hatch, and only an adept could tell the good eggs from the bad. Likewise, the eggs are not counted, but the hatchlings are. Jakkin is lucky and is able to snatch a small hatchling that was unaccounted for. He takes it to the desert and raises it as a fighter with the aid of Akki. And the dragon turned out to be more than it had first appeared ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I loved this book. I read it a few years ago, but the story is still fresh in my mind. The story was great, and I was turning pages all the way through. The character's goal to win freedom -- and with a dragon at that -- enlightened my own spirit when I read it. A charming and wonderfully written book that deserves to be bought and placed on the shelf to be read again in the future. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _Dragon's Blood_ is the first book in the Pit Dragon trilogy. It is followed by _Heart's Blood_ and _A Sending of Dragons_, which are quite readable, though I felt they did not live up fully to the first book.
Rating: 
Summary: "Be thou ever my friend"
Review: Welcome to Austar IV, a miserable desert planet inhabited by drug-filled weeds, giant dragons, and deadly temperatures. And this is the charming setting of Jane Yolen's Pit Dragon Trilogy. The first book, "Dragon's Blood," is a bit uneven but a solid story about freedom, courage, and friendship. Austar IV was originally settled by criminals, and the place still isn't very inviting. Most of the people are "bonders" (slaves) or prostitutes, and the main source of money is betting on the "pit dragons," who fight for gamblers. And orphaned bonder Jakkin dreams of freedom, and has a secret plan to fill his bag with gold and free himself -- steal a new dragon hatchling and quietly raise it to fight in the pits. At first, a disaster involving a panicking dragon seems to dash his dreams. Then Jakkin finds an uncounted hatchling and spirits it away to the hills. But he soon learns that someone knows his secret -- the pretty Akki, an independent girl who is hiding an odd secret of her own. But even her help may not be enough to free Jakkin from slavery. In "Dragon's Blood," Yolen shakes off the dust of the old Anne McCaffrey stereotypes about dragons and the humans who raise 'em. Though there are a handful of similarities, Yolen's dragons are raised to fight and are actually sort of alien lizards. And there's nothing refined about the world she creates here -- it's gritty, dusty, raw and very dangerous. "Dragon's Blood" doesn't have much of a storyline except raising the hatchling and getting to know Akki, and at times it drags. But Yolen keeps it interesting with plenty of details and interesting characters. Her dragons are particularly good -- they're intelligent but still animals, with individual personalities and strengths. Hey, she even uses them as a curse source. ("Fewmets!") Jakkin is a nice, solid hero, your basic good kid who does something mildly wrong in an effort to free himself. He's not so much a hero as he is a human being who tries to help others, be they dragons or other people. His fellow bonders -- including a vindictive old junkie and the mysterious Akki -- are also nicely done, although relatively little time is spent on the other bonders. "Dragon's Blood" is a solid start to a solid sci-fantasy trilogy. Yolen takes the old cliches about dragons and whips them back into shape. Excellent for dragon fans.
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Summary: even if you don't like fantasy books...
Review: I've always liked fantasy movies; Labrynth, Dark Crystal, Legend, Neverending Story; but I haven't thought much of most fantasy books. I did read A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a child but overall I haven't had much of an interest. My husband talked me into reading this one. He told me it was more of a children's book but the story was good and kept moving (I've found that most fantasy books stall out before the story gets good.) I really enjoyed this book. It opened the door for a lot of other fantasy books that I would never read. I never would have picked up Harry Potter if Dragon's Blood hadn't been so good. I never thought I would enjoy a story about training dragons. I really came to care about all the characters and enjoyed the way Jane Yolen gave the dragons so much personality without making them humans in dragon costumes. This is a great read for any age.
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Summary: The best book I have ever read!
Review: This is a book made for those people who like the book Eragon. It is full of adventure, love, and action. Jakkin is a 15 year old boy who loves dragons. He is what they call a bonder(slave) who works in a dragon nursery. Everyone says that he has a real talent with the dragons, and they know that he is the most likely to become a dragon master. He has waited his entire life to get a dragon, when he steals it from the hatchery he takes it far away to an oasis and has to hide it from dangerous predators and other people. He has to sweep all his tracks and get back before the cold of night kills him. When he sneeks out at night people become suspicious at why he is so tired and keeps ending up in the nursery hospital. HIs challenge begins when he has to train the dragon and get it to a fight. The challenge is is how is he going to train it and get it there without being caught by the owner of the nursery.
Rating:
Summary: Dragon's Blood
Review: This was the best I mean BEST book I have ever read. Jane Yolen, I think is one of the best authers, she has a talent for writing books. you'll like this book if you are really into dragons, so GET THE DRAGON BOOK at Amazon.com!!
Rating:
Summary: "Fewmets!"
Review: A fascinating, funny and charming story of slavery, love, hard work and success that walks the line between science fiction and fantasy and will intrigue readers of any age. The world and society Yolen creates is just outlandish enough to keep things interesting while its inhabitants stay decidedly human. Topics such as drug abuse, crime and prostitution are handled competently.
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Summary: A Dragon of His Own
Review: Dragon's Blood is the first novel in the Pit Dragon trilogy. Austar IV has been used as a dumping ground for convicts in the past. It is a metal-poor desert planet with only one notable feature: its dragons. These warm-blooded flying animals are raised for their meat and leather, but are also the star attraction of the many gambling arenas, or pits, that form the major industry on the planet. In this novel, Jakkin is a bond boy who is determined to steal himself a dragon and train it into a champion, the traditional way to become a master. His father had been a trainer before being killed by a feral dragon, but Jakkin knows nothing more of such techniques than is common knowledge. He has found a small spring in the dunes and planted it with reeds, blisterweed and burnwort for his snatchling. Then he waits for the eggs to begin hatching. While he is waiting, the bonder Likkarn finds that Jakkin has left behind a bath brush after bathing Blood Brother and comes after him in anger, beating him with the brush. All this hostility arouses Blood Brother to a manic state and the dragon rushes out of the stall, walking over both Jakkin and Likkarn. Likkarn struggles up and uses the extinguisher set on Kill against the dragon. The master, Sarkkhan, breaks Likkarn to a stall boy for that deed. When Jakkin fully wakes a week later, the hatching is already over; nonetheless, he checks the new hatchlings and finds one that has not been counted. Now he has his snatchling. For the next year, Jakkin trains his dragon in secret. He is forced to accept Akki, a bond girl, into the secret, because she has discovered and protected it on her own even before he became aware that she knew. At first Jakkin is slightly jealous of how well the little dragon accepts Akki, but soon the three become close friends. It is Akki that arranges a first arena fight for Jakkin's Red. This story is a tale of a penal colony much like Botany Bay after the second or third generation. Very few convicts remain, but the colony is no lush agricultural garden spot and life is harsh. Most of the population are bonders, indentured until they can pay back a bag of gold coins and go free. Sarkkhan is one of the few who have managed to gain more than freedom and become masters, holding the bonds of others. This story also relates the close relationship between a dragon and his trainer. Jakkin can communicate mentally with his Red and receive emotional tones and colors in return. The reader witnesses the exchange of thought and emotion between the pair, becoming almost a part of the relationship. The dangers of the planet are vividly revealed when Jakkin helps hunt down a carnivorous drakk female and her brood, eaters of dragon eggs and hatchlings. Later the male drakk finds Jakkin with his Red and he has to fight the flying hunter with a table knife. Another time he almost freezes to death in the Dark-After before he can reach shelter. Highly recommended for Yolen fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of human-animal bondings, exotic cultures, and strangely foreboding planets.
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