head
COMICS   •   MOVIES   •   MUSIC   •   TELEVISION   •   GAMES   •   BOOKS
Book Spotlight: Dragon Rider: The Griffin’s Feather By Cornelia Funke
  |  @   |  

The Griffin’s Feather
Dragon Rider Book #2
Hardcover | Kindle
Sequel to Dragon Rider Book 1
Written & illustrated by Cornelia Funke
English translation by Anthea Bell
Publisher: Chicken House | Scholastic
Release Date: July 31, 2018

With the imminent threat of human invasion, the silver dragons must relocate to a safe haven in Cornelia Funke‘s children’s fantasy novel Dragon Rider, originally released in the U.S. in 2004 by Scholastic’s Chicken House. In this first novel in the series, reissued by the publisher this year, one young brave dragon named Firedrake teams up with Ben, a lonely young boy, on a fantastical journey to find a mythical safe haven for the dragons that’s threatened by an evil dragon hunter.

Now, the German author, best known for her best-selling Inkheart series, reunites Firedrake and Ben for a new adventure in The Griffin’s Feather. This time around, the boy and his dragon volunteer for a mission to Norway and beyond to help three orphaned Pegasus foals who need a griffin’s feather to stay alive. Unfortunately, a griffin’s feather is not too easy to come by — and going after one is a dangerous feat.

Once again, Funke creates all the illustrations throughout the 432-page children’s novel, with the black and white line drawings providing the perfect accompaniment to this endearing tale.

The Griffin’s Feather begins with a map, and then each chapter opens up with a quote from a famous person, such as playwright Eugene O’Neill, the Chinese philosopher Confucius, and Beatles musician John Lennon. An Acknowledgements section at the back of the book provides all the citations for these quotes. The back matter also contains a “Who’s Who” cast of characters legend that’s divided up by Human Beings, Nonhuman Beings, Fabulous Beings, Other Fabulous Beings and Mythological Creatures, and Ordinary Animals, as well as Places.

The Dragon Rider books are recommended for children ages 8-12, but these are also suitable for adults who enjoy the innocent charm of a smart, well-written children fantasy book such as The Hobbit and the Harry Potter series. (Funke’s editor is Barry Cunningham, who was the UK acquiring editor of the first Harry Potter book.) Although I’m used to reading high fantasy and tend to shy away from most children’s books these days, I know that 10-year-old me would have eaten these up! I had the chance to review uncorrected proof for both books, and was surprisingly immediately drawn into the stories and didn’t want to put them down.

I highly recommend checking out Cornelia Funke’s Dragon Rider series. While starting at the beginning is most beneficial, you can definitely jump into the sequel and enjoy it as a standalone story. You can read excerpts from both books over at Scholastic, and listen to the author read from The Griffin’s Feather (reading comes after the interview portion).

The Griffin’s Feather is out in Hardcover and for Kindle on July 31, 2018 from Scholastic imprint Chicken House.

Watch the official book trailer here below for the Dragon Rider series.

It’s now been two years since Ben and Firedrake defeated Nettlebrand and rescued the silver dragons. Both boy and dragon have finally found homes, but they must live hundreds of miles apart and can only see each other every once in a while.

During one such visit, news reaches Ben, the Greenblooms, and their friends that the last Pegasus in the world has been discovered. The legendary horse has three unhatched eggs with him, but the only way they’ll ever hatch — and continue the survival of this incredible magical species — is to place them under a griffin’s feather. But griffins are the most dangerous creatures in the world, and their mortal enemies are dragons…

Ben has vowed not to tell Firedrake about his quest, to protect him. But as he and the Greenbloom team set off for a remote island where the terrible griffins are rumored to live, he may just need the help of his best friend and dragon…

Trailer

The DRAGON RIDER Books by Cornelia Funke | Official Series Trailer


The adventure soars again in “The Griffin’s Feather” (Dragon Rider #2), the thrilling sequel to the #1 NYT bestselling modern classic, “Dragon Rider” by Cornelia Funke!

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram!

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

Previous Article
Next Article
«
»
You may have noticed that we're now AD FREE! Please support Geeks of Doom by using the Amazon Affiliate link above. All of our proceeds from the program go toward maintaining this site.
2023  ·   2022  ·   2021  ·   2020  ·   2019  ·   2018  ·   2017  ·   2016  ·   2015  ·   2014  ·  
2013  ·   2012  ·   2011  ·   2010  ·   2009  ·   2008  ·   2007  ·   2006  ·   2005
Geeks of Doom is proudly powered by WordPress.

Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press

Geeks of Doom is designed and maintained by our geeky webmaster
All original content copyright ©2005-2023 Geeks of Doom
All external content copyright of its respective owner, except where noted

This website is licensed under
a Creative Commons License.
About | Privacy Policy | Contact