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Dragonhaven Mass Market Paperback – September 30, 2008

by Robin McKinley (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 420 ratings
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Think of yourself out of your comfy chair and your nice house with the roads and the streetlights outside—and the ceiling overhead low enough that a fifty-foot dragon can’t stand on her hind legs and not bump her head—and think yourself into a cavern full of dragons. Go on. Try.

Jake lives with his scientist father at the Makepeace Institute of Integrated Dragon Studies in Smokehill National Park. Smokehill is home to about two hundred of the few remaining Draco australiensis, which is extinct in the wild.

There are five million acres of the Smokehill wilderness and the dragons rarely show themselves. Jack’s never seen one except deep in the park and at a distance. They stay away from the Institute—and the tourists. But dragon conservation is controversial. Detractors say dragons are much too dangerous and much too expensive, and should be destroyed. Supporters say there is no record of their doing anything more threatening than eating sheep, there are only a few hundred of them left at best and they must be protected.

But they are up to eighty feet long (plus tail) and breathe fire.

On Jake’s first overnight solo in the park, he meets a dragon—the thing that he would have said he wanted above everything else in the world. But this dragon is dying—dying next to the human she has killed. Jake knowns this news could destroy Smokehill. The dead man is clearly a poacher who attacked first, but that will be lost in the outcry against dragons. But then Jake notices something even more urgent: the dragon has just given birth, and one of the babies is still alive…
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Previous page
  1. Reading age
    12 - 17 years
  2. Print length
    352 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Lexile measure
    1160L
  5. Dimensions
    4.2 x 0.9 x 6.7 inches
  6. Publisher
    Ace
  7. Publication date
    September 30, 2008
  8. ISBN-10
    044101643X
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0441016433
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A sharply incisive, wildly intelligent dragon fantasy involving profound layers of science and society, love and loss, and nature and nurture.” –Kirkus Reviews

“McKinley renders her imagined universe so potently that readers will wish they could book their next vacation in Smokehill.” –Publishers Weekly

“An exercise in fantasy subjected to the rigors of science, a close psychological portrait of human and alien minds, and a helluva good read.” –Locus

“McKinley offers a seamless, believable world, a self-deprecating narrator whose voice never hits a false note, and a poignant message.” –VOYA

“Robin McKinley has built an admirable career on taking familiar fairy-tale tropes, or long-loved stories, and skillfully combining the architecture of wonder with convincing, realistic detail so that the reader feels she can live inside the story. McKinley has never settled for doing the same thing over and over, but with each new book has experimented with voice, form, and tone, as well as character and plot…[Dragonhaven] is powerful, absorbing, and exquisitely rendered. McKinley makes those dragons real.” –SF Site

“Compelling.” –Booklist 

“Insightful about emotion, biology, language, and the intricate love/hate relationship between science and humanity. Quietly magnificent.” –Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Robin McKinley has won various awards and citations for her writing, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown and a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword. Her other books include Sunshine; the New York Times bestseller Spindle's End; two novel-length retellings of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and Rose Daughter; and a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, The Outlaws of Sherwood. She lives with her husband, the English writer Peter Dickinson.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace; Reprint edition (September 30, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 044101643X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0441016433
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 - 17 years
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1160L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.2 x 0.9 x 6.7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 420 ratings

About the author

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Robin McKinley

Robin McKinley

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Robin McKinley has won various awards and citations for her writing, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown and a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword. Her other books include Sunshine; the New York Times bestseller Spindle's End; two novel-length retellings of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and Rose Daughter; and a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, The Outlaws of Sherwood. She lives with her husband, the English writer Peter Dickinson.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
420 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jay Dominguez
5.0 out of 5 stars The plot is a mess, and I'm loving it!
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2013
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When I look down the comment section for this book, I think I know why there are so many people who didn't like this book. Its because its not a "Robin McKinley" book, as in, its not written in her usual, enchanting style. But that doesn't make it a bad book. I found it funny and engaging!
The story is about a boy obsessed with dragons, mostly because he grew up around people who were obsessed with dragons, who comes across a dying mother dragon and her . . . clutch? litter? . . . what's the proper term for a group of baby dragons? Normally I would say clutch, which is the term you would use for reptiles and birds, but the dragons in this universe are marsupials. You read right, Robin McKinley has done it again. The thing I really love about her books is the way she takes a theme, say dragons, or pegasi, or your average Beauty and the Beast narrative, and changes it a little so that the story becomes new and refreshing. Marsupials, who would have thought it!
But I digress, and that's the other thing I like about this book, the completely disorganized writing style. After our main character takes in the last surviving baby dragon from the . . . clutch/litter . . ., determined to keep it alive, his whole thought process goes out the window and the book becomes a mess of tangled plot threads until it reaches semi coherency at the end. In most books this would be a major problem, but somehow McKinley pulls this off well because there are reasons WHY Jake is disorganized. First, HE IS A TEENAGE BOY. Second being around dragons give people headaches, I wont explain why because I want you to read the book, but if I had a perpetual migraine that NEVER GOES AWAY, my thoughts may be a little disorganized too. And finally, Jake, our cute little teenage hero, becomes a middle aged mom overnight. He changes his whole life around the needs and whims of the baby dragon, like a lot of moms do, and I think the sudden change is hilarious!
In any case, if you like Robin McKinley's masterful way with words this book may not be for you. But, if you love the way Robin McKinley takes boring old tropes and make them her own, you might want to pick Dragon Haven up. Just don't expect a cohesive plot line till the end of the book.
23 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Dragonhaven
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
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A good story but a bit chatty compared to her earlier novels. Still I enjoyed the read. A very good outcome for interspecies communication
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D. Boyken
5.0 out of 5 stars Good as always
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2007
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A new book by one of my favorite YA authors--and hers are few and far between, so that I've had this pre-ordered for months and months now. In this one, we have an earth almost exactly like our present-day earth, except there are dragons, an endangered species. Jake lives with his father at Smokehill, a national park dedicated as a sanctuary and walking a fine line between legislations that make it a crime both to harm a dragon and to actually aid one. Then, when Jake finally gets permission from his father for his first night out camping alone, he comes across a dying dragon and a recently-killed poacher . . . and a near-death baby dragon, which no-one had ever seen before. Ever. And then, of course, everything changed . . . although, there was still that pesky law that saving the life of a dragon was a federal offense . . . It took some time to read through this, since the concepts were so new, but it was enjoyable. Lois was endearing, and the lengths they all had to go through to keep the dragonlet out of sight were impressive. Well told by "Jake."
5 people found this helpful
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Trekkintheplains
3.0 out of 5 stars Because it's McKinley it's still good, but...
Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2008
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I dearly dearly LOVE the work of Robin McKinley. "Sunshine" "The Blue Sword" "The Hero and the Crown" "Spindle's End" and "Beauty" are books I will read continually throughout my life. It isn't just young adult literature - these novels are so amazingly thoughtful, inspiring, thought-provoking and engaging I can find new things within the text each time I read. I am awed, uplifted and inspired with each new reading. All the characters are dynamic, well-drawn and endearing (endearing except of course for the essential bad guy) - but regardless, engaging, dramatic, etc. Her normal storylines are so very clear yet multi-layered. Once you start reading, you can hardly bear to put it down.

In the case of "Dragonhaven," however, this particular version of 1st person gave me a bit of the headache Jake describes from the dragons. "Sunshine" too is written in first person - more like the diary of someone going through something no human has ever experienced before and goes through several months of not knowing what to do about it. This novel is written the same. It's Jake's diary of raising a baby dragon and all the goings-on of Smokehill. And I will say, McKinley's description is, as always, incredibly detailed and evokes wonderful images during the reading. But the frenzied, unorganized, slang-heavy voice of Jake seems to insert a scattered, wordy barrier between the reader and the heart of the story.

On another note, it takes a totally different direction from McKinley's other writings. For one, it's in the voice of a male character. Also, it's in a world very much like our own except for the presence of dragons. This is good, she's branching out, it's new and interesting. I just wasn't as caught up due to the lack of major epiphanies and clear-cut, new found talents that seem to come from a previously-hidden source, etc. Jake is still pretty much just a normal human who did something (raising a dragon and communicating "telepathically") that other humans could learn to do too. It doesn't make him into a new person as wholy as these totally-life-altering situations make McKinley's other characters. It changes him, certainly, and sends his life in a new direction, but I don't see any MAJOR major breakthroughs.

I'll compare it to "Sunshine" a little more as they do have similarities in style and format. Rae definitely has experiences with a vampire no human ever had before, she tends to go off on pages-long tangents in the course of the book, she's never comfortable or confident with her previously-unknown talents or "affinities," and the novel is set in a world of cities, automobiles, phones, computers, etc. BUT, there are HUGE themes of magic, supernatural creatures galore, great personal discoveries, defeat of an ultimate evil, and romance. My favorite story elements, personally. Sure, Jake has some romance in the end, but it's sort of a brief sideline as opposed to a key, hinging element of the whole plot. Yes, intelligent, "telepathic" dragons are certainly supernatural, but in a different way entirely.

Mainly what I'm saying is, there are those books I mentioned at the beginning of the review, and then there's "Dragonhaven" which I doubt I will read again. It was more like trudging through a word-clogged swamp than floating through a rich, colorful, enthralling landscape. Kudos to McKinley for doing the teenage-dialogue so well though! Her description and her talent for dialogue are truly great. Perhaps my biggest issue is that I just don't like listening to frantic, unorganized, hyper teenagers - not even when I was one myself!

Regardless, McKinley is an author of RARE talent and I will continue to return to her works with great anticipation and enjoyment. To use L.M. Montgomery's way of describing people with like-minds, I feel she is essentially a "kindred spirit."
9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Nicolette Stuart-Murray
4.0 out of 5 stars Dragonhaven.
Reviewed in Canada on February 15, 2021
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Loved the story.
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Jane Wolfe Ta Press
5.0 out of 5 stars A superb addition to dragonlore
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2010
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Smokehill National Park in the U.S. is dedicated to protecting dragons, which are an endangered species, but the visitors who come to the park never see the dragons. The park is staffed by dedicated scientists and wardens, but they don't know how many dragons they have or where they can be found. All this changes when Jake, the director's son, inadvertently adopts a new born dragon and tries to raise her. Jake's struggle to keep her hidden, to understand dragon biology and to make sure she is raised to be a proper dragon is funny and touching. He and Lois' inevitible contact with other dragons is the stuff dragon dreams are made of. McKinley is a wonderful writer and this book, which is aimed at young adults, is meant for any reader fascinated by these awesome creatures.
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Good story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 21, 2007
Verified Purchase
This story is written in a slightly different style to most of Ms McKinley's previous ones but once one has got used to the narration style of the main charactor - a teenager, then young adult, named Jake - it flows well. The story itself is both interesting and enjoyable and brings in a range of situations and characters. It's maybe not quite as magical as some other of Ms McK's books but it's still well worth reading and keeping to savour. As a long-time admirer of this writer, I have happily added this to my collection.
14 people found this helpful
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jen
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2015
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Good book
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Sakerfalcon
3.0 out of 5 stars Good story, but tough prose for adults!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 8, 2008
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I wanted to give this 4 stars because it is by Robin McKinley, but I just couldn't because the teenage boy prose style was a continual barrier between me and the world of the story. I really enjoyed the way McKinley used the dragon reserve to highlight issues of species conservation versus human rights, but I couldn't immerse myself in the book the way I do in her other works because Jake's voice was just too dominant. I wasn't sure that a teenager would be quite that over-articulate anyway, and the constant asides and parentheses just annoyed me.

I would recommend reading an extract from this book before buying it, to see if the style suits you. The characters, story and themes are all good as you would expect and deserve 4 stars (because even with a different narrator, this book still would not be Deerskin or The Blue Sword :-))

I've lent my copy to a friend, and shan't chase her if it doesn't come back to me. I'd give it another try, but am not sure I'll finish it a second time ... we'll see.
10 people found this helpful
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