Saving the Last Dragon

By: Joe Broadmeadow

Narrated by: Fred Wolinsky

Duncan Emeris loves to write. His imagination creates a world of dragons, wizards, and magic. His writing helps him cope with the reality of his world. When one of his stories draws the interest of Merrill Templar, his English teacher, Duncan discovers that the world of his imagination has become a reality. Saving the Last Dragon becomes Duncan's quest. He finds himself facing dangerous mythical creatures bent on stealing the dragon's egg to wield its power. Accompanied by a real dragon named Balinor and assisted by his two friends, Kathy Craigendoran and Jamieson Howarth, Duncan must find the egg and save the lives of his friends. The quest to save the last dragon leads Duncan on a wild ride through a world of magic and deception, testing his resolve, as he becomes the Dragon Seeker.

©2015 Joe Broadmeadow (P)2015 Joe Broadmeadow

A predictable, comfy fantasy story.

Young Duncan Emeris has a fairly normal life. He has a dog, two parents, and is required to go to school. But then he starts writing fanciful tales. In fact, the story seems to come to him in his dreams and seems to be almost writing itself. Pretty soon, he learns that his story isn’t just a story and he’s swept into the hunt for the last dragon egg, pitted against determined foes, but joined by stalwart friends.

This story was OK for me. It was your pretty standard kid’s fantasy quest. There’s our young hero, Duncan, a possible love interest, Kathy, the old sage who guides the young hero, Professor Templar, and a comedic companion, Jamieson. Toss in an old dragon, Balinor, and some side characters that provide additional help, and you have the winning team. Opposing them are some sneaky bad guys that can shape shift and one treacherous backstabber. The hunt is on for the last known dragon egg. Whoever possesses the egg can’t harm it, but they can influence the tiny being inside for good or evil. The bad guys are easy to spot and the good guys always refuse to kill even when it would be smartest to do so. Pretty predictable plot, but much like comfort food.

I did like that the author threw in some languages for fun. There’s some mostly made up dragon language (which sounds like a Germanic derivative), and then some German, some Latin, and a smidge here or there of some other tongue. As a person who once upon a time studied languages, I found this fun. Alas, it was also a small plot defect at the end. The traitor has a name that points to their true nature and none of our language buff characters caught it, which seemed unlikely. Setting that little criticism aside, I definitely liked the inclusion of the languages as part of the world building and part of the clues that help our hero.

Speaking of our hero, he’s in a wheelchair. Hooray for diversity in children’s fantasy! And his dog isn’t named Tripod for nothing. Both get around with ease and are useful characters throughout the story. I also liked that the genders were well balanced, there being a roughly equal number of ladies and gents on the two opposing teams.

So my biggest criticism is that the plot is predictable, which made this book a little boring for me. That’s OK. It won’t be boring for everyone, and again, it was a bit like comfort food. My second criticism is that the author kept using the terms toxin, poison, venom, all the same way along with ‘infected by’. Sigh. The biologist in me kept slapping my forehead on this one. They do not mean the same things and they don’t act the same way. A quick internet search on each terms would clear that right up. Still, we all get the point for the story’s sake.

Over all, I think kids or folks just dabbling in the fantasy genre will enjoy it.

I received this book free of charge from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.

The Narration: Fred Wolinsky did a great job with this book. Each character had a distinct voice and he portrayed the age ranges and the gender differences quite well. His mastery shows in how fluent he sounded in the made up dragon language. Well done!

Great Story!!

This is a great story that will appeal to both kids, teenagers and adults that like fantasy. The main character, Duncan, has a story that is coming to him in dreams. It turns out his story is true and he finds out he is the dragon seeker and he has a mission to save the last dragon. I love that the main character is in a wheel chair, it shows that all things are possible!!

I have listened to a few books narrated by Fred Wolinsky and I think this is the best book he has ever narrated. There were lots of different voices that he did an awesome job with keeping them all unique!

Fun for the whole family

Would you consider the audio edition of Saving the Last Dragon to be better than the print version?

Since I only listened to the audio version I will say yes because it was awesomely narrated but I am sure the book is very good too.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved when Balinor said when they finished with the quest he would come back and kill disease for Duncan. That was AWESOME!!!

What about Fred Wolinsky’s performance did you like?

The different voices for each character and the way he made the old language seem so easy to speak, no way glad I didn't have to do it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES!!!!!

Any additional comments?

This book was awesome great for everyone and showed great diversity that we are just now starting to see show up in books, especially for children. I have a friend with a grandchild that has MSA and I plan on gifting them a copy as soon as I get the money.

Dreams of dragons come to life

Any additional comments?

Duncan Emerys has been having the most vivid dream of a society of dragons whose very existence is being jeopardized in a war against humanity and a handful of magical creatures. He writes his dreams into a story for his English class and it’s so entertaining his professor encourages him to press on and make a book of it. As the tale is revealed to him in dreams, Duncan begins to see that parts of his fantasy world are actually real.

I really enjoyed the cross-over between reality and fantasy. It was reminiscent of the Neverending Story. Both stories also start with one boy and his journey into an imaginary place, but then end in our hero’s discovery that somehow, both places are a reality.

It was cool to read about a protagonist that was confined to a wheel chair. It created a whole different set of rules. Duncan faced the adventure without letting his disability prevent him from rising to the challenge. I think children with disabilities might find encouragement in Duncan’s adventure.

I received a free copy in exchange for a review. Any review. That fact that it’s a good one is because the book is good. Which has nothing to do with how awesome I am. You’ll have to find that out for yourself @S_Shane_Thomas on Twitter.

I listened to this audiobook over a month’s worth of dad taxi duties with my nine year old son. I know he really enjoyed it because he asked me to take him to school just about every day! Fred Wolinsky narrated the story and had some very amusing voices for the antagonists. My son got pretty good at his Principal Core impersonation.

I think this would make a good series based on how it ended.

A great listen for all ages

Duncan's imaginary story becomes real, and he becomes the hero who is the only one who can save the last dragon. The author creates a fascinating hidden world of magic, dragons, and fantasy creatures. All the characters - real and fantasy - are well drawn and it is wonderful to see a boy in a wheelchair as the hero.

The narrator does an excellent job of bringing each character to life with a unique and recognizable voice, and moving the story along with the right kind of emotion and pacing. I didn't want to stop listening.

I think this story will appeal to younger and older teenagers, as well as adults who love fantasy. While the story does have an ending, it seems like there will be continuing adventures. I look forward to listening to the next book!

My god....The narrator......

What disappointed you about Saving the Last Dragon?

The narrator.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most interesting? The story itself.

Least interesting? The way in which it was narrated.

Would you be willing to try another one of Fred Wolinsky’s performances?

No.

What character would you cut from Saving the Last Dragon?

The narrator.

Any additional comments?

Get this book in physical form or on the kindle, or nook, or whatever. Do not get the audiobook. I don't mean to be rude, but the narration of this book is so awful, I can not even begin to describe it. I tried to make it through the book, but only got about halfway through before the narration was to painful to listen to. I can handle bad narration if it seems like they are actually trying, but not this time.....Nearly every sentence was read like it was the last sentence of the book.

I didn't mind his voice, or some of the character voices. It was just the way he read the book that got on my nerves.