The Gift of Charms by Julia SuzukiMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This charming tale of a young dragon’s coming of age, his trials and tribulations through dragon school and eventual adventure has it all - a fabulous cover, an interesting map and an intriguing plot.
Yoshiko is the young dragon at the centre of the story, which seems to be aimed at children around the age of 9 to 12, and his growth from an egg to a confident young dragon, who eventually meets a human, is pitched so very well. Julia Suzuki weaves much of the story of Yoshiko’s development using dialogue which I think works and found believable. His relationship with his parents is handled with sensitivity and obvious awareness. I liked the main character, Yoshiko, as well as Guya, a kind of grumpy hermit who becomes Yoshiko’s mentor. I greatly enjoyed their discussion about humans and the contrast with dragons – particularly their physiology! We also meet Igorr the bullying dragon from a rival clan and I detected lessons from the author about tolerating differences between individuals. I wondered was she ever a teacher?
One is tempted to compare it with the works of J K Rowling, Terry Pratchett and maybe Tolkein, but my feelings are that those authors were writing for a slightly older audience. This is a new author with a great fantasy adventure to be enjoyed by pre-teens in my humble opinion. This book is an introduction to a dragon series but could be read as a separate children’s story, though the ending seemed a little rushed and left me feeling a bit high and dry. It is very well written with strong character development against an intriguing story of a background world of dinosaur/dragon “evolution”. Ms Suzuki's first book shows originality and a talent for writing that I am certain will attract many new young readers, and among them for sure will be my own grandchildren.
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