Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

Banished to Wilde Island, a disgraced splinter of the English royal family rules in constant fear of bandits and man-eating dragons. Merlin foretold the prophecy that the twenty-first queen of Wilde Island would restore glory to the family name and Wilde Island, as well as end a war. Therefore, the twentieth queen is desperately ruthless in making her daughter Rosalind, the future twenty-first queen, as perfect as she can be.

But there is one major problem. Rosie had been born with a dragons claw instead of a normal finger on her left hand. Horrified from her daughters birth, the queen makes Rosie wear golden gloves all the time, so no one finds out about her shameful secret, a secret so terrible that, if known by anyone else but the two of them, would surely mean the end of Rosies social acceptance. The queen will do anything in order to ensure that Rosies secret remains that way...even murder.

However, Rosies dragon claw has a lot more to do with the prophecy than anyone thinks. It becomes a sort of empathic connection between her and the last few remaining dragons in the world. It also saves her life when she is taken by the dragon Lord Faul to Dragons Keep in order to play nursemaid to his children. There, Rosie is subjected to the most disgusting of chores, and she grows to be almost as wild as the dragons, and learns a few startling things about herself as well. Maybe Merlins prophecy is not exactly as everyone has interpreted it for six centuries. Maybe her dual dragon and human blood can help her save herself and her people.

DRAGONS KEEP is a fairly satisfying light fantasy read. I would have liked more about Rosies relationships between other people, such as her best friend, Kit, or her love, Kye. But overall DRAGONS KEEP is a good choice for middle school fantasy lovers.