Rating: 
Summary: Obnoxious, self-satisfied
Review: You can get an idea about the kind of book this is by reading the back cover, especially the passage about "kicking tail." That gives some idea of the quality of this book. With mediocre settings, stereotyped characters, and a ridiculous heroine, this is barely worth the paper it's written on. Only good supporting character manages to save this novella from the trash heap.The unnamed Dragonslayer has a new apprentice: a cocky girl called merely Jackie, the first female dragonslayer apprentice ever. Together the two of them travel through the land, dealing with dragons and vicious birds, self-proclaimed witches and idiot villagers. But the Dragonslayer has some suspicions about the background of his capable new apprentice. There's not much plot in "Apprentice," as the characters just amble from one undistinguished town to the next on their little jobs, all of which are done with no blood, injury, death or real effort. A more complex or well-defined plot might have saved the book from the mediocre characterizations or generic medieval world. But the world is a generic one: There's no way to tell where this is,k or whether it's 1000, 1900, or any time period in between. There's a spattering of little kingdoms with little kings, and a lot of idiot villagers straight out of a Monty Python sketch. The dragons seem about as dangerous as garbage trucks. The book's most glaring flaw is Jackie. She's essentially a rich kid with a big mouth, who ran away to be a dragonslayer because she didn't like the cliched superficial people in the king's court. A comparable situation would be a socialite running away to be a sewage worker, and so Jackie's reasons are ludicrous at best. Jackie's lack of basic manners, civility, and her know-it-all attitude won't endear her to readers in a hurry. The Dragonslayer is the saving grace of the book, smart in a quiet way, with some moments of genuine wit. If only Calder had given the poor guy a name. The writing style is the worst example of "telling not showing" that I have ever read. Calder frequently informs readers of what the various characters are saying or discussing, but he never bothers to include those little chit-chats in the form of dialogue. The landscapes, villages and people are rarely, if ever, described with any real detail. "Dragonslayer's Apprentice" is a good read for someone recovering from major surgery, and perhaps taking large doses of painkillers. Anyone else will be too disgusted to finish.
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