With the third book in her Dragon Keeper Chronicles, author Donita K. Paul has given us one of the most enjoyable fantasies around. DragonKnight opens three years after DragonQuest, the previous book, ends. Bardon has completed his training and is almost ready to be sworn in as a knight in Paladin's service. All that remains before this event is for him to spend some time alone in contemplation. He heads for a remote cabin thinking he'll take a year-long sabbatical. He needs the time because he's not sure he wants to be a knight. He has come to realize that to serve Paladin means he must serve the unwashed masses. And he's not, after all, a people person.

The author then uses Bardon's internal conflict--his desire to serve Paladin while at the same time he desires to stay away from people--to dump him into an external conflict. Oops, the remote cabin is already occupied. And the occupants are of the worst sort--a noisy, nosy girl and her two older, female chaperones. To make matters worse, they want Bardon to take charge of a dangerous quest. Lives are at stake, there's a ticking clock--this book has the tension that I thought Paul's earlier books lacked.

Still, the author managed to hang on to her rich, descriptive style. I found the characters and the scenery to be lavishly developed. The increase in tension didn't take anything away from Ms. Paul's beautiful writing, it simply worked to suck me into the story early. I think the urgency of the quest might have even been brought out a bit more without hurting the book. The stakes could have been higher. As is, though, they were high enough that I never felt bored in four-hundred pages.

My one complaint has again to do with Paladin, and in this volume also Pretender. These characters come and go without explanation. I can't figure out what motivates them or why they show up in one place and time and not another. I don't feel like I know them.

That didn't bother me as I read, though--it was only as I later dissected the work that I came to believe that these two characters were weak. I didn't notice as I read because I was too busy enjoying the other strong characters and their wonderful interaction with one another. Paul's sense of humor really comes out in DragonKnight. These characters have just the right mix of serious and playful interaction. The bantering between Bardon and the meech as they fight side by side, the comical conversations between Bardon and his dragon, and Bardon's amusement as he looks at all the other characters, all make him loveable. He is amused by the granny, the granddaughter, and the girl's protector, while he still loves them and is committed to serving them. This is heroic.

The granny emerlindian is a fantastic character with her compassionate nature and her trust in Wulder. I would love to live with her contentment in all circumstances--oh, to just do each day what the Lord set before me--but the granny is also just flaky enough to be real and endearing.

This level of characterization is not only given to the granny and one or two others. Paul takes the time to round out all her characters. It is only possible to present characters this way if you've studied human nature. I suspect that Paul, like Bardon, has learned to be amused, rather than offended, by the people God loves. This enjoyment of people in all their shades, shapes, and sizes, serves the author well and makes for an interesting slew of characters for the reader to enjoy.

Provocation? There is much. Paul touches on contentment, trust, prejudice, serving with the strengths you're given, and who knows how many others. None of it preachy--all of it comes out of the characters' daily lives. Even Bardon's constant spouting off of the principles of Wulder is fun and fresh and it makes perfect sense for him. To spend time with Donita's characters is to spend time thinking about God--how he sees us and what he desires from us. But it is all so interesting and entertaining. Paul's gems, like the ones in Granny Kye's pictures, are easily visible without being out of place or intrusive--they blend in well. In this regard, I would say this book is very much like any of the books from The Chronicles of Narnia. This is the best kind of entertainment. There is fun, tension, and spiritual depth on just about every page.

Donita K. Paul just keeps getting better and better. I will not be surprised to see her hitting the best-seller lists very quickly.

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Copyright © 2006 Sally Apokedak