The Crouching Dragon (Will to Conquer, 1)

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: The Crouching Dragon deals dramatically and effectively with teen weapons and violence. It takes place in France in 1959 when a bunch of kids take over an abandoned castle near the beaches where the Allies landed in World War II. The kids find weapons - some are centuries old, some date from the recent war - and the question is how will they deal with them? The answer given in The Crouching Dragon are not only exciting, but original and provocative. Besides being a terrific story, well told, it throws light on our present problems and offers ideas we can apply to solve them. It's a really important book, which I recommend to kids, parents, educations -- everybody.

Rating:
Summary: The book was well written, for any age group
Review: The crouching dragon is a wonderfully imaginative book, with extremely realistic characters and setting. It kept my attention with every turn of the page, and never ceased to surprise me. The description of the setting paints a very realistic picture of the wonderful landscape of France.

Rating:
Summary: The Crouching Dragon
Review: The Crouching Dragon is an enchanting fable of fantasy, adventure, ancient history, romance and competition . In a small French town in 1959, William and his friends help create a half-fantasy kingdom out of the mysterious castle called the Crouching Dragon. In the castle they help in restoring a hidden Kingdom, discovering real medieval artifacts. The teenagers solve a mystery of puzzling disappearances in their town with the help of the President de Gaulle.

Rating:
Summary: The Crouching Dragon
Review: The Crouching Dragon is an enchanting fable of fantasy, adventure, ancient history, romance and competition . In a small French town in 1959, William and his friends help create a half-fantasy kingdom out of the mysterious castle called the Crouching Dragon. In the castle they help in restoring a hidden Kingdom, discovering real medieval artifacts. The teenagers solve a mystery of puzzling disappearances in their town with the help of the President de Gaulle.

Rating:
Summary: Very interesting. I had a good time reading it!
Review: The story is very exciting. The kids are people I would like to know. It had a very strong female character in it, and I liked that a LOT. I liked the war reinactment in the Dragon's Head. Very realistic!

Rating:
Summary: Great for everyone!
Review: This book is so good it's impossible to describe how good it is with words but I'll do my best. first of all it takes place a while back, that's what makes it unique. it has somthing for everybody who reads it. it has a mild love story. but if you don't like that it has some mystery on the edge of your seat things about it. it also has adventureous parts of the book. this book has many overwhelming things to it but I want to point one out to you, it isn't a fake book when pigs can fly and dogs can talk. no it's all realistic. well I would recomend this book to everybody in the world seeya

Rating:
Summary: Great for everyone!
Review: This book is so good it's impossible to describe how good it is with words but I'll do my best. first of all it takes place a while back, that's what makes it unique. it has somthing for everybody who reads it. it has a mild love story. but if you don't like that it has some mystery on the edge of your seat things about it. it also has adventureous parts of the book. this book has many overwhelming things to it but I want to point one out to you, it isn't a fake book when pigs can fly and dogs can talk. no it's all realistic. well I would recomend this book to everybody in the world seeya

Rating:
Summary: This book was an enjoyable light read.
Review: This book was about a fourteen year old boy in France in the 1950's. He lives in a little town with an abusive father and a mysterious castle that he is determined to find out the history of. I found it was the type of boook you like to read when you are not in the mood for anything too deep. It was sweet and I could relate to it, but I found that the audience it would please the most would be preteen boys. There was some action and adventure, but it was all very realistic, there was no magic or sorcery. Also, lots of history was incorporated into it. I liked how the hero of the story was brave even though he was small and not too strong and young. He was not a hero because he used guns or weapons stronger than he was, as his philosophy states, but because he stood up to something even though he was scared. He also learned something about predjudice and the history of his family. The book was enjoyable and there were hints of deeper issues like predjudice and the beginnings of young love and family bonds, but the book only really scratched the surface of them. Rating this book really depends on who you are and what you are looking for in a book. If you are a young boy (or girl) who likes adventure and doesn't really care about the deeper stuff, this is the book for you. If you are a mature person wanting to read something to fill your soul, go for Angela's Ashes instead.

Rating:
Summary: (drumroll,please)...FIVE STARS!
Review: Upon reading the first chapter of this book I was instantly excited and thirsty for more. Any war, history, or medieval topic lover will devour this in a few hours under the covers after your parents have gone to bed. Unless they are intellectual, readers under 12 years old may find Skipping through and reading the parts about the castle instead of reading the background parts. But if you're like me and enjoy vivid description, you will enjoy the whole thing.

Rating:
Summary: An intriguing story of post-war France
Review: _The Crouching Dragon_ by Len Lamensdorf has a tight yet descriptive prose style, a good sense for movement and pace, and an intriguing story line that compels the reader to follow William with interest.
The book has many of the hallmarks of a young adult book with staying power. The protagonist is confronted with a situation in which he must act independently of parents and other adult authority (and in many cases, in spite of them) he is involved in an alternate world (somewhat removed from any particular time-- keeps the story from becoming dated), and he experiences personal growth.
I look forward to reading _The Raging Dragon_ and _The Flying Dragon_.