I think I'm well on my way to becoming a big Cornelia Funke fan. I really enjoyed the Inkheart trilogy, and I really enjoyed Dragon Rider. There are more than enough dragon books out there, but Dragon Rider still manages to be unique, adventurous, and well worth the read.
The characters are very colorful. Although, (and maybe it's just me) Sorrel the brownie did remind me an awful lot of Elinor the bibliophile from Inkheart. Anybody else who's read them both who can give an opinion? Not that I minded too much. It must be hard to be a writer and always have to come up with unique personalities who act and speak differently than all the other ones you've written.
The characters are very colorful. Although, (and maybe it's just me) Sorrel the brownie did remind me an awful lot of Elinor the bibliophile from Inkheart. Anybody else who's read them both who can give an opinion? Not that I minded too much. It must be hard to be a writer and always have to come up with unique personalities who act and speak differently than all the other ones you've written.
In the same vein of commentary, I did find it a little strange that all of the characters in Dragon Rider should use the phrase, "Oh come off it!" It seems a very British thing to say, and as this was translated from German into English (no doubt by a Brit) I can see how that would happen. Although if it were me, I'd try to make my characters sound more unique. Especially since they come from such different backgrounds: evil dragon who's lived in isolation for thousands of years, good dragon who's lived with a small group of dragons in hiding for years, small man who's been enslaved all his life, dwarves who've never left their mountain, genius professor guy plus wife and daughter who travel constantly, orphan who's wandered alone for most of his life . . . you get the idea.
Anyway, anyway, it's really only that minor complaint that I have. Everything else about this book is fantastic!
