The Dragon Charmer

Jan Siegel (pseudonym for Amanda Hemingway) is also the author of "Prospero's Children" (1999), and "The Witch Queen" (2002), the books that precede and follow "The Dragon Charmer" (2000) in this fantasy trilogy starring magically-gifted, Fern Capel. These three books need to be read in order if any sense is to be made of Fern's increasingly complicated love life and her growing power as a sorceress. The first novel in the trilogy, "Prospero's Children" starts out as a YA coming-of-age fantasy, populated with evil villains (a witch, an idol, and an art gallery owner) and eccentric good guys (the Watcher, a female werewolf, a house goblin). Unfortunately, the second half degenerates into a standard Swords and Sorcery fantasy about Atlantis. It's almost as if the publisher said, "Okay, Jan, this is a great novel but we need another 100 pages, and why don't you throw in a Lost Continent. Lost Continents are very big this year." Nevertheless, read the Atlantis bit very carefully, because the following two novels constantly refer back to Fern's sojourn in this ancient, drowned world. If this author has a serious fault, it's her overuse of extended flashbacks. Her greatest strength is her darkly imaginative blend of worlds (excluding Atlantis). The World Tree where Fern spends most of "The Dragon Charmer," is borrowed from Norse mythology and inhabited by nightmarish crones. There is also a savage boar that eats the fallen fruit from the Tree - the regenerated heads of those who did evil in their lives on Earth. This is my favorite book in the trilogy, even though Fern spends most of it in a coma. Her body is tended by her friends and relatives after she reclaims her paranormal Gift, and her spirit is stolen out of Time by a sorceress who is looking for a new apprentice. Meanwhile Fern's brother, Will and her friend, Gaynor, with the help of other characters from "Prospero's Children" such as the Watcher and the werewolf, try to solve the mystery of her sudden descent into a coma. Their adventures and Fern's struggle to return to her body from the Land of the Dead and the not-so-dead, alternate to the very end of the book, where all of the story threads are combined into a very satisfying climax involving Fern's most ancient Enemy and the dragon of the title. Although witches, dragons, and drowned continents inhabit many mundane fantasies, they've been combined into a darkly imaginative sorceress's brew in this trilogy. Not to be missed.

There is no middle ground when it comes to Jan Siegel's novels: you either love them or hate them. Considering I love them, you might want to take this review with a pinch of salt as you may take my advice to read it and find that it is simply not to your taste. In any case, borrow before you buy and hopefully you'll enjoy these books as much as I do. They are beautifully written, with intriguing ideas and careful plotting, and (in my humble opinion) are among the best books that the fantasy genre has to offer. In a world of Tolkien rip-offs, it is a rare thing to find a fantasy novel that transcends the cliches into something fresh and new, yet resonant with older traditions and mythologies. In the previous novel "Prospero's Children", Fern Capel came into her inheritance as a witch, fell in love, bartered with a demon and travelled back in time to the final days of Atlantis in order to race evil powers for possession of the Lodestone. Now twelve years later she has done everything she can to put that traumatic summer firmly behind her. She wraps herself in a world of respectability, and is about to marry the charismatic Marcus Grieg, a man twenty years her senior. Returning to Yarrowdale with her best friend Gaynor Mobberley (the site of her adventures twelve years earlier) at her financee's insistence, Fern begins to feel ancient powers emerging about her once more. These otherworldly forces are not so eager to let such a powerful witch out of their grasp, and the day before her wedding Fern falls into a mysterious coma whilst her spirit wanders far away. Whilst Fern's brother Will, the ex-wizard Ragginbone and Gaynor attempt to unravel the mystery to Fern's illness, Fern herself finds herself keeping the strangest of company under the World Tree, where the heads of souls bound to purgatory hang like fruit on its branches. The two groups find themselves uncovering a long forgotten story of the dragon-charmers, a family of Atlantis that possessed the power to (obviously) charm dragons - and realise that there is every chance a dragon still exists somewhere in the world, waiting to be hatched. Whoever possesses such a powerful creature will wield a weapon that hasn't been seen in the world for centuries, and there are several parties determined to get their hands on it. There have been complaints that Fern's decision to turn her back on her powers is frustrating after the story arc of the previous story in which she gradually had to come to terms with them. To a point this is true, but I find it much more realistic that Fern would desire to forget the supernatural aspects of her life. Siegel has a good grip on Fern's personality, and the actions of this twenty-something Fern is certainly true to the persona of her teenage-self. The events of "Prospero's Children" were traumatising for a young girl, and it makes perfect sense that the sensible and practical woman she's grown into would reject her powers in day-to-day life - using them only whe

The first time I read this book was in a huge book that included all of the books in this series. The whole thing was titled _The Witches Way_, I believe. You may want to check that before you quote me on it. There were many things I loved about this series. The first is that the protagonist is a woman. The second is that after having read many fantasy books and series, this one seemed to be very well worded gramatically and in its variety of adjectives...I actually learned some new words. The plot is complicated in the sense that it goes back and forth in time... time in general blends in these books. Past becomes future, present becomes past, etc. etc. etc...which is all part of the fun. There is much more than that though.... I personally consider this series one of the best. I lent it out to a relative and she couldn't put the book (whole series in one) down until the last.

ooooh this book was so fun!!!! well...maybe not FUN but it was really exciting. I can't wait to read the third. I had a little trouble with getting into it. I still finished the book in two days. I also hope that Jan Siegel includes yet another poem in the third book of this trilogy. I got The Dragon Charmer when I went to england and she was right about the weather, at least while I was there.I HIGHLY recomend this book for anybody who likes Science Fiction and Fantasy and look forward to seeing and reading the next and last book in the trilogy. I can't wait to see what happens with Kal, at least I hope something happens with him. He seems like a key charactor and wasn't mentioned much in the end but surely he'll be mentioned in the next book.

Over a decade has passed since the horror of PROSPERO'S CHILDREN occurred and all Fernanda Capel wants is to live a normal life. To that end, she buries her witchcraft gift and accepts a proposal of marriage from Marcus even as she admits to her best friend that she does not love him. Fern's efforts to ignore her powers seem futile though she constantly tries because otherworldly omens continually intrude. On the eve of her wedding, Fern falls into a coma and is rushed to a hospital. As she lies unconscious in bed, Fern's soul lies trapped in purgatory. Though the odds are overwhelming against her success, if she can free her soul and reunite it with her body, Fern knows she must war with powerful evils to save the world and her best friend. THE DRAGON CHARMER is a strong fantasy novel because the story line ties the supernatural with the mundane in such a clever way that the otherworldly elements seem everyday and a matter of fact. That element along with a fully developed, authentic feeling cast (in spite of some being not of this earthly plane) makes this a powerful novel that will please fans of Jan Siegel and send new readers searching for the previous tale.Harriet Klausner