Oldies But Goodies
{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review
"The Ice Dragon" by George R. R. Martin
by Karen S. Wiesner
Beware potential
spoilers! Latter editions of George R. R. Martin's "The Ice Dragon" saw it becoming a children's fantasy novella (120 pages) geared toward 7 to 12 year olds. However, I don't believe it was originally intended to be for kids. First published in 1980 in the Dragons of Light anthology, it was also included in Martin's 1987 collection Portraits of His Children. 2007 saw the story reworked, complete with new illustrations, and then again in 2014.
The children's version was the third audiobook I'd listened to on my library's Libby app. The reading was very short and, unfortunately, I didn't have access to any of the illustrations that probably made the story even more compelling. Adara is a strange young girl, a child of winter, with an appearance that sounds distinctly like the Cold Others in A Song of Ice and Fire--pale skin, blond hair, and blue eyes--who befriends an ice dragon. Martin says that this story wasn't originally set in the same world as A Song of Ice and Fire since that setting didn't exist when he wrote it…which doesn't necessarily discount it from being. However, the newest edition of the children's story may have been tailored a bit more than earlier renditions toward his most popular series' setting. In the fifth book of that series, A Dance With Dragons, while Jon Snow descends the Wall, he thinks of an ice dragon in the sentence: "The wind was gusting, cold as the breath of the ice dragon in the tales Old Nan had told when Jon was a boy." I'd love to believe this story was set in that world, whether or not it actually was. By the way, if you're interested in the origins of Martin's Westeros, visit https://bookanalysis.com/game-of-thrones/first-men/, where you're sure to find something compelling you probably didn't already know.
At the time of the opening in this story, no dragons have been tamed by humans. Adara is the first and, when fiery dragons attack her family's farm, she must call upon her ice dragon and all her courage to save them.
Karen Wiesner is an award-winning,
multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.
Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/
and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog
Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/
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