Ping is an appealing heroine (once she gets a name) whose dilemmas and decisions and dangerous circumstances make for good reading. The Chinese setting adds interest (although in that sort of "here is an exotic setting adding interest to this fantasy story" way- such that quotation marks are called for around "Chinese"). In short, it's a rather engaging "girl with special gifts on journey with dragon" story. And at last, after doubts and dangers, the secret of the Dragon Stone is revealed. But they journey together, outwitting the bad dragon hunter who's still after them, and meeting sundry other folk (including the new young emperor), and the dragon teaches her to develop the power of her qi (which is formidable, and magically efficacious) and shares Taoist bon mots with her. And Ping finds that the dragon is taking a rather bossy tone with her, assuming she'll be there to look after the mysterious Dragon Stone that is his chief treasure, and it's a bit hard for her to trust him entirely. So Ping, her rat, and the dragon head off toward the mythical ocean (on foot, because of the wounded dragon wing). For another, the dragon doesn't want her too, and is rather insistent that they do things his way. For one thing, the dragon hunter is after them, and has spread the story that she is a witch. The dragon tells her her name, Ping, and though Ping had thought that maybe she'd simply return home, this is not in the cards. Now the Emperor wants to be rid of the last of them.but the slave girl, who does not at this point even know her name, saves the dragon from the hunter charged with killing it, and the dragon (though wounded in the wing) flies off with her (and her pet rat). He is a nasty piece of work, and the slave girl and dragons are cruelly neglected, to the point where all but one of the dragons have died. It's the story of a girl in the time of China's Han Dynasty who is the slave of the Imperial Dragon Keeper. This is the question I was forced to ask while reading Dragon Keeper (originally Dragonkeeper), by Carole Wilkinson (Hyperion, 2003 winner of Australia's Aurealis Award for best YA novel, but it's really middle grade). Question: Can one really recommend a book about a Chinese dragon in which the dragon has wings? Or does that throw the whole story so off kilter that all that is good gets overshadowed?
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