Moon

Dragon Prince, Book 1

By: Aaron Ehasz, Melanie McGanney Ehasz

Narrated by: Adrian Petriw

Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

War is coming...

Four full moons past, humans crossed into the magical lands of Xadia and committed an unspeakable crime: They destroyed the only egg of the Dragon King and Queen. Now, a young Moonshadow elf assassin has been sent on her first mission; she will make the humans pay for their heinous act.

But before she can complete her task, she and two human princes make an astonishing discovery - a discovery that could change everything.

And so, the three reluctant allies set off in a desperate attempt to stop the coming war. Their journey won't be easy, but the trio soon learns that the most serious threat to their quest can't be fought with magic or physical strength. Can these young heroes overcome the long-standing hatred between humans and elves and restore peace to their world?

Written by Aaron Ehasz (co-creator of The Dragon Prince and head writer of Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Melanie McGanney Ehasz, this first canon novel based on the Netflix original series finally gives fans the full story.

©2020 Scholastic (P)2020 Scholastic Inc

FANS OF THE SHOW WILL UNDERSTAND THE CHARACTERS MORE DEEPLY, NEWBIES ARE IN FOR ONE OF THE GREAT FANTASY STORIES OF ALL TIME

I've made it no secret on my social media that I consider "The Dragon Prince" to be the greatest animated show of all time and that I consider Wonderstorm, the studio that created it, to be the American Studio Ghibli. But that doesn't mean that I can't be objective about this book co-written by "The Dragon Prince" creator/writer Aaron Ehasz and Melanie McGanney Ehasz. And I found this book a delight.

Fans of the show are treated to a deeper dive into the minds and motivations of the characters, which are revealed to be even more morally conflicted and compelling than in the show. I was impressed at how the authors managed to communicate those complexities so economically and in prose that even beginning readers could understand. There are also a number of lovely grace-notes and poignant exchanges in the book that are not in the show. Thus, while the book tracks the show closely, I was left with a deeper understanding of the characters, their motivations, and their inner conflicts.

For those who are new to "The Dragon Prince", you are in for one of the great fantasy stories of all time. This is storytelling on par with "The Hobbit", and I don't make that comparison lightly. Though the worldbuilding draws on familiar Western fantasy elements, the treatment of them is remarkable. This is a story that truly feels like a kid-friendly "Game of Thrones" because it is all about the human heart in conflict with itself. Or the elven heart. No heroes. No villains. Just real, recognizable people responding to their circumstances, doing what they feel they have to do to be true to their values. The story reminds us that in every war, there are heroes on both sides. Despite the very serious and important themes, the story is full of hope. One of the chapters is entitled "The Fellowship of the Egg", and that pretty much sums up the entire story. Three enemies, united to save something small and precious that could annihilate the world or save it. It's also bust-out loud funny. I have zero sense of humor so if something can make me inhale my drink, it's got to be supernaturally funny.

The prose, pacing, voice, and POV-pivots are all admirably unshowy and invisible. Even though the book clocks in at about twice the run-time of the season of the show that it tracks, and expands considerably on the inner emotional lives and thoughts of the characters, the storytelling is so fleet-footed that it always feels swift and urgent.

Also, I noted that unlike most middle grade novels, in which the author goes through contortions to infodump the characters' physical appearance as early as possible in the book so we can locate them on a race spectrum, "The Dragon Prince" does something highly unusual. For the most part, it entirely eschews physical descriptions of any of the characters. The pitfall of that is that readers of books written in English and published in the West could fall back on a default assumption that the characters are all white, especially since this is high fantasy. This is where the relationship with the show creates something special and beautiful. As fans of the show know, the characters and the cast of "The Dragon Prince" represent a broad spectrum of diversity. Prince Ezran, King Harrow, Corvus, and several other characters are not white. Not even the elves are racially homogenous. The idea that a young fan of the show could pick up the book and fill in the identity of the characters with something other than the white default, or that a young reader of the book could go and discover the show afterwards and have assumptions challenged, is exciting and kinda fills me with a very welcome sense of optimism.

Finally, the audio version features a lovely, enthusiastic performance from one of the voice actors on the show who breaths personality into the characters without resorting to flat-out impressions of the other actors’ takes on these characters.

In short, I think this is a book that is poised to please both fans of the show and newbies. It’s a rollicking, hilarious, thrilling adventure tale, but one that looks unflinchingly at some of the most important questions. Is it wrong to hate people just because they don’t look and live like we do? How do we reach across the divide and find commonality with the people we think we hate? How do we break the cycle of hate and revenge? It asks the most important questions but does so in a way that is filled with fun and hope. It’s not only the kind of book that you’d want kids to read for moral nourishment, it’s the kind of book that they would pick up on their own.

Amazing narration!

The narrator was incredible! He really captured the voices and accents of each character perfectly. Amazing!

BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE AND STORY

I really liked how the reader did a good job putting a specific tone of voice for each character; Rayla’s accent, Ezran’s small voice etc. The story was generally good itself and I really liked it.

Amazing!!!

This book is so amazing there is also at tv show but the book tells you so much more.

Amazing Book for any fantasy adventure fans

I had watched this on netflix and it was just like it. It went into more depth on what happened and im excited for the graphic novel and the next addition to this series

A great book by Aaron Ehasz

Great addition to The Dragon Prince series. I liked all the extra thoughts and dialogue not seen or heard in the show. Looking forward to the next books and season 4 through 7. The narration was pretty good. Wish more of the characters could have been voiced by the original voice actors. I do like and appreciate the attempts for sound effects. Makes it that much better, even if some were pretty funny. Good job by everyone involved in this project.

Woo GOOD

I stoped listening to this and then I got back into it so soon WHO ever likes Fantasy and music are sure in for a treat

Absolutly loved it, a superb adaptation!

The amazing story of The Dragon Prince now in book form! With some extra bits and more in-depth explanations it's definitely worth checking out even if you've already watched the first season more then once!

Dragon Prince Fans

I sought to listen to this audiobook since I am a fan of the Netflix animated series. kudos to the author, I love the story. Huge round of applause to Adrian Petriw, his inflection and mannerisms that he crafted for each character was pure artistry. His narration was an absolute delight to listen to. This audiobook was beautifully produced. I highly reccomend listening to this audiobook.
I know I will have it on repeat as I eagerly await the second audiobooks release.

Great story

I love this story. Full of detail and has an amazing story line! Check for it at Netflix, is an awesome show! You will not regret watching it. Hope to listed the other books.