Here is Jude, watching the dragon attack, the descriptions remind me of a paper lantern: It is a swift moving creature of air and fire, not a clanking beast. The dragon in this story is more like a Chinese dragon than a European one. The dragon, faced, is no longer a monster, but retains its mystery. The heart of this story is the act of looking clearly at that which one fears, and so to rob it of its power. Fear that feeds on itself and grows in the imagination while you refuse to face its source. For me, the dragon in this book was a way for Sherryl Jordan to write about the crippling influence of fear. They are often a symbol of the unknowable, or of the corruption of power or of greed. They play many roles, and usually have a strong metaphorical presence. She is crippled by her bound feet, but has enough will power for both of them.ĭragons are interesting creatures.

She is delicate and graceful, a small girl – but hard as nails and fierce. His sweet, gentle nature is gradually revealed through his interactions with the people around him. Because he is telling the story himself it is as though you cannot ever see him clearly “from the outside”. He is a big boy, but a coward if you like. It is framed as the story that Jude tells a monk scribe, and every chapter starts and ends with his remarks to the monk – and gradually we learn more about Jude and how he came to be telling this story. I’m a sucker for dragon books as it is, and this one is lovely. What I thought: This is a wonderful book. Jude is torn by guilt and fear, but Jing-Wei is more than willing to force him to turn and face his past, to hunt the last dragon. He meets tiny, fierce Jing-wei, crippled by her bound feet and trapped in the life of the freak in a travelling show.

So how could an entire village be burnt to the ground, all its occupants killed in a night? Young Jude survives, homeless, friendless and terrified. The last of the dragons was killed almost a generation ago. The plot in Short: It’s Britain in the 14th century.

The Last Dragon by Silvana De Mari