Danny BirtRessenyes

This was awesome. It is intelligent, imaginative and certainly doesn't wait around for you to catch up. A refreshingly original world and story with the seriousness of a Neil Gaiman and the unusual settings of Discworld. The philosophy is interesting and engaging and adds yet another dimension of enjoyment to reading this book.

I found this book to be interesting, but I question the appeal it would have for young readers. The vocabulary in the book was quite advanced for a young reader and the story was a little slow for a teen. I enjoyed the story, but wished it would have gone into more depth.

Sammi and I really enjoyed reading this book aloud. Both the dragon and the Rocs were amusing characters and we really liked the clever way dragons were named. This is a great book for anyone who loves dragons and doesn't mind if they aren't particularly scary. Recommended ages 8-10 years old.½

Humans have been tracking one of the last living dragons near their community. In an effort to save some of her newly laid eggs, the dragon gathers two in her arms and flies away. The hunters wound her and she is only able to save one egg by leaving it in a warm nest. That is how Tephra is born into a large family of Roc birds.

This was a nice little story about being different, what it means to be family, and finding your niche. There are nice illustrations scattered through out the book that will appeal to young readers. This will probably be a good choice for kids who are expanding their reading level to small chapter books, especially if they enjoy fantasy stories. More developed readers may find the story a little too basic for their liking.

My 12 year old son read this book and he loved it. I'd hear him laughing out loud way past his bedtime. Adventure, vocabulary, humor; what more do you want! A short book, but a fun one.

Between a Roc and a Hard Place is a twist on the Ugly Duckling story. The story starts off with the tragedy of Hunters coming to destroy a dragon's nest. The mother is able to escape with one egg and plants it in a nest where she thinks the egg will survive. We then find a large bird, called a Roc, come back to check on her own eggs. What she finds is an addition to the story. Once hatched the mother and father Roc accept the dragon as their own. This story takes us through the hardships of an adoptive family and some of the hardships that they face.½

I start of with saying this didn't seem to me much like a children's book. It is not something I would give to my sister (8) or brother (5) to read.
It wasn't exactly an adults book either. Just seemed stuck in the middle. Like it started off with trying to be a story for children, but then went to a more grown-up pace, then remembered, and went children's-story again.
It was certainly a clever twist on The Ugly Duckling. Kind of. It seemed to be slightly based on that children's story.
I loved all the characters and the history behind the story. And well, dragons, and I can't help but love dragons. Especially one who is adviser to critters over such a large area and strives to protect her territories.½

Disclosure: I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. Some people think this may bias a reviewer so I am making sure to put this information up front. I don't think it biases my reviews, but I'll let others be the judge of that.

Between a Roc and a Hard Place is a cute little book that starts off as a kind of fish out of water story and ends up delivering a message about cooperation and environmentalism. Aimed at younger readers, the book is short, and a quick read to boot, which is both a strength and weakness for the book. Because it is short and quick, a younger reader is more likely to actually finish the book, but the story the author wanted to tell seems too large for the limited space it is packed into. As a result, some of the fantastical elements aren't explained well enough and a lot of the story development is presented in a manner that feels hurried.

The opening chapter shows the desperate attempts of a female dragon to save at least some of her unhatched offspring from the predations of a group of dragon hunters intent upon slaying her and her progeny. The chapter is actually the best done part of the entire book, putting the reader in the middle of the action, giving just enough information to give a clear idea what is happening without bogging the narrative down in extraneous detail. The problem I had with the book is that this doesn't last too much further into the book, which becomes increasingly about telling the reader about what the characters have done rather than showing them in action, glossing over large chunks of character and plot development. For example, a later critical plot development - the fact that a nearby human king is gathering forces to try to kill the main character - is related to the main character as a second hand retelling of a third hand rumor.

And this is a shame, because the broad strokes of the story are fairly interesting, even if the message, which ends up with the central character taking on the role of both the bridge between two (and eventually three) opposed groups and the world's most dangerous park ranger, is somewhat simplistic. Given the age range that this book is clearly targeted to, a simplistic message is probably what is called for, but it would have been nice to have just a little nuance in the story. Since the story is told in such broad strokes, almost all of the characters remain almost entirely undeveloped. The real weakness is that the fantasy elements are dropped into the mix without a whole lot of explanation, which seems to me likely to confuse readers of the intended age group. I also noted a couple instances of language that was probably too complex for the intended age group, such as a reference to "aviafauna".

As a whole, this book is only average. While the plot of the story is interesting, and there is a potentially really good young adult fantasy here, the weak character development and the extraordinarily broad brush used to deliver the story weakens the end product. If the characters and story had been more fleshed out, this could have been a brilliant book. In the end however, while the book is a decent little tale, but doesn't rise above that.

This review has also been posted to my blog Dreaming About Other Worlds.

This was a pretty quick read. I liked the combination of it having a reptiles vs. bird history and folklore, and that it wrapped itself up so tightly in such a small tale. It's written quite whimsically in parts, but I liked it much more than I originally thought I would. The character naming schemes are interesting. Like the main characters name I didn't understand immediately, but when she explains it later it once again fits into the overall narrative of the tale.

When I got this book my wife suggested we read it aloud together (taking turns) and I agreed it would be a fun thing to do, so we did. I can say this book reads well out loud. We spent about 45-60 minutes 3 different nights to read it. A word of caution, Danny likes his dictionary and Thesaurus and it shows. He likes to sprinkle in few words that your average 9-10 year old probably won't know, so be prepared for questions! This is a chapter book with illustrations and I thought they were pretty good.

Tephra is a dragon who was left as an egg in the nest of a family of Rocs, who then raised her like their own. She knew she was different but she didn't know why. We follow Tephra as she grows up into adulthood and becomes the leader and protector of her community.

It starts out as an ugly duckling story but grows into so much more. Wonderful story and makes great moral points few would disagree with such as, just because you have the power to make someone do something doesn't mean you should. It doesn't beat you over the head with them. I might have to read it to my nieces and nephews sometime.

This story has so much potential, but it needs a little more work. The ending came on a little too quickly, and was not up to par with the rest of the story. I also thought the male dragon, B’Fwial, was a little lame and superficial in not agreeing to be Tephra’s mate until he saw what she really looked like. In his words “So I want to see you. The real you”. He already expressed admiration of her personality and intelligence, wasn’t that the real Tephra? Was she beautiful or ugly, he wanted to know, and would not agree to be her mate until he found out. You will have to read the story to discover what he found out.

The illustrations were magnificent. I especially enjoyed the one with the dragon, the king, and the parrot, which was a terrific choice of graphic for that chapter. Overall I did enjoy this story and hope the author writes more, but takes more time in giving the ending of the story the same amount of depth as the beginning.

My first impression was "it's a story of The Ugly Duckling" retold with a dragon, perhaps with a mixture of the saying "Between a sword and the wall" (impossible/hard decisions). Instead, I found traces of other themes like family, cooperation, understanding, and even love.

I also liked the names of the dragons in the story and how they seemed to represent some natural aspect. For a children's book I think the illustrations could have been colored although I do not think it is a requierement. Also, the conflicts seemed to easily appear and resolve leaving most of the book with a filler kind of story telling. Questions you might ponder with children are: Did Tephra ever hunt for food? Did she improve her flying? What happened after the agreement with the King? Did they fall in line or was there a King who refuse and waged war? Perhaps stories left for other books.

Danny Birt's book, Between a Roc and a Hard Place, is the story of a dragon raised by rocs when dragons of this particular land have been hunted to near extinction. Tephra the dragon grows to be a protector of animals in her habitat and must learn how to prevent humans from killing her and destroying her land. This story has elements that remind me of Native American stories intermingled with ideas about protecting the environment. I liked how it avoided getting too preachy. For example, hunting is acceptable in moderation, since many of the animals in the story must hunt to live. The story about the creation of the first dragon reminded me of many myths from different cultures.

The dragons themselves had names that described them, like WarmthInMorningSunAfterALongWinterNight, which also gave it a Native American feel. That said, I didn't like the use of acronyms. The above dragon's acronym name was Wimsaalwn, which made sense to me, each word is represented by a letter. But every other dragon name mentioned did not follow this rule. Her mate's name, SurfsTheStormsAndLaughsAtTheLightning, is shortened to Stalatl, and I couldn't understand why the second S should be left off. It became a distraction for me, along with shifting between acronyms and full names. I would have preferred one way or the other, but both methods together kept pulling me out of the story.

I also thought some of the characters could have benefited from a little more depth and I would have liked to see more scenes of Tephra growing up with her roc siblings. Things seemed to move a bit fast at times, even for a children's story. Conflicts arose, but appeared to be settled to easily. I would have liked to see some of the scenes that were only discussed, like Tephra's desire to fly in spite of her roc parents' protectiveness or some side stories about how she learned to manage her land and get the animals to work together. I did enjoy the story and the ideas of working together and protecting your family, even if that family is not comprised of others who are related to you. The illustrations are beautiful. Overall, I enjoyed the story and simply wished there were more of it.

I quite enjoyed this story, and will be passing it on to my 10 year old daughter for her further review :-) The story was very well thought out and nicely written, and did a good job of showing the importance of cooperation and family, despite differences.

My only complaint with this book is the ending. I thought that the author could have added another chapter describing the results of the dragon's compromise with humans, rather than leaving it to the imagination. Sequel, maybe?

This book had me from the cover. I love dragons. I mean I really love dragons. And while the title doesn't say it, the cover certainly does. There's a baby dragon sitting in a nest of bird chicks.

The author, Danny Birt, pulled off an adorable children's book that was completely worth it. There are many lessons taught from the idea that family is what you make of it to defeating racism. A poor orphaned dragon is given to a nest of birds, of rocs, and is raised with a family so entirely different than itself that it learns many lessons that those of its kind never had before.

I completely enjoyed reading this book, especially when I found that it was more than the standard ugly duckling book that it appeared to be at first.

A modern fairy tale and a pleasant little read. Kids who like mythology and adventure should enjoy it. Parents who look for positive moral stories will be grateful. (Thankfully, it is NOT one of those heavy-handed, preach-a-message types.)

A desperate dying dragon mother leaves her last egg in a roc's nest. Ma Roc notices that one of her offspring is, well, a tad different but loves her anyway. Strong female leads though the males are played for laughs - but they have their good points too. Follow our admirable lady dragon's adventures from birth to maturity (10 human lifetimes!).

The kids will probably just enjoy the adventures. Parents may want to expand on the themes of adoption, what makes a family, the value of cooperation, doing the right thing even when it's hard, etc. But NO preaching! Just enjoy :-)

Nicely detailed pen and ink illustrations throughout.½

This was a very cute book. I enjoyed it from the beginning to end. A wonderful story that you can read to younger children and a perfect story for a third grader to pick up to read. At first I thought it was going to be a fantasy version of "The Ugly Duckling". I was very happy to learn that it was not. It seemed to be going there at the beginning, but the author made it so much more than that.

It has a great story line, and teaches that no matter how things may look at the beginning, things can always be a blessing in disguise if you wait long enough. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has children. I'm passing it on to my daughters to read next!

Beginning an Ending is the 3rd book in Danny Birt's 'The Laurian Pentology'. In my opinion this book is by far the best of the 3 I've read, with 2 more to come. Characters are fleshed out better, the story is fuller and flows very well. The biggest problem (and it's not really that big) was the trouble I had at the beginning. The opening scenes jump back in time to follow someone during the early middle part of the last book and it took me several chapters to get back up to speed (Danny does warn of this in the 2nd book, that books 2,3 and 4 are interchangeable, not linear). Reading the books closer together in time would likely have mitigated this quite a bit.

The only other problem I had, is the first book is the only one with the whole world map, the 2nd book and 3rd book only have the area where most of the book is primarily taking place. This can be irritating when reading about an area currently not on the map, especially when trying to remember who everyone is, where they are, and what they are doing. Birt said that adding a full map to all the books is a possibility in future editions.

As I said I did enjoy this book after the I figured out what was going on. A large part of the book followed someone who was a minor character in a previous book but turned out to be a monk to be reckoned with. The whole series is a puzzle and each book gives us more pieces. While we get a better idea what big important things are going on and who the big players are Danny is still hiding some big surprises. I have a few guesses but there are so many possibilities that I can't make any solid guesses. At the end of each book he's answered a bunch of questions, only to be replaced by even more. I can't wait for the next book to come out.

Beginning is the 2nd book in the Laurian Pentology. If you were able to make it through the first book, this one should be a snap. Here we primarily follow Eiry, though we do take a couple side trips with Claren on his rescue mission. As you read, you will notice that there are large sections that are skipped or barely mentioned, this was warned of in the introduction. Books 2-4 are supposed to be interchangeable for reading order and all are supposed to begin and end close to the same points in time, so some things need to be taken with a little faith.

Beginning starts within a week or two from where we left the story. The first chapter is a little jarring unless you have very recently finished the first book because it starts right off with Eiry still recovering from the whole kidnapping fiasco with no prelude or reminders of any kind. You are expected to already know what is going on. Describing the plot is difficult because each individual book only seems to have a 'part' of the plot that is spread out over all 5 books. The best I can give is this one is a simple 'quest' but only sort of.

Overall, the story is decent, the writing is pretty good and I did enjoy this one quite a bit more than the first, it was just short of getting 4 stars from me. Danny has created a rather interesting and diverse world and there is an awful lot to absorb. Personally, it seems to be a little too large for the time he is spending on things with tantalizing hints. Quite often I am left wondering, and wanting more information on things, some larger info dumps or something. I think the biggest problem I had with this book were the Vampires, for someone who has read a lot of vampire fiction (both good and bad) they just seemed way to flat. More a plot motivator than characters in their own right. They were starting to come into their own near the end but failed too realize it. Hopefully it will be corrected in the next book.

Thanks Danny looking forward to the next installment.½

First of a series called the Laurian Pentology, this book takes place on a flat, polytheistic world where the gods take an active role in everyday life. People called Seren awake from Sleep, which could last weeks or centuries, knowing the name of "their" God. Their mission, and destination, is generally implanted in their brain. Sanct is the exception.

He has no idea who his God is (which is totally unheard of), and has come into possession of a staff of great power. No matter how much he tries to get rid of it, the staff always returns to him. In his present mission, Sanct has this vague feeling to travel in a certain direction, but agrees to go in the opposite direction to help Pander, who he met on a previous mission. They travel to the castle of Seighn, where Pander’s mission is to prevent an assassination, but he doesn’t know who or how or when. While there, the castle is destroyed by a magically-created earthquake, and the King and Queen are killed. Pander and Sanct get their daughter, and heiress to the throne, Eiry, out of the area, fast. Whoever caused the earthquake will be looking for Eiry.

Along with several others, a young man named Claren joins the group. He was subject of some high-level magic, which scrambled his neural circuits, causing him to talk in gibberish. After his brain is unscrambled, he and Eiry instantly fall for each other. Alaris, a mage of great power who seems to know everyone and everything, finds an isolated farming community where all of them, especially Eiry, can hide. The urgency is because the amount of time allotted to the world is quickly running out, so there is the great danger of everything just ceasing to exist.

This is a fine piece of storytelling, and of world-building. It may seem a little slow, and will take some work on the part of the reader, but it is very much worth the time.

I would like to write a summery of what this book was about but I can't. This entire book is a set up for future books in the series. I am not a fan of series books that can not stand somewhat alone or for that matter have very little story. Too many characters were introduced and then abandoned. The protagonist or at least who I thought was the protagonist leaves the story and an entire new story is uncovered only to have the book end.

In defense of the book, I was intrigued by the story that was finally starting to show in the last 30 or so pages. Danny did a good job of creating interesting characters and places. I gave the book 2 1/2 starts but I will give the story that finally started to develop 4 stars.½

I finished reading this book because it was part of a group read and I felt some obligation to other members of the group. I found it to have too many false leads and blind alleys. Characters were introduced and then seemed to be dropped for no particular reason. I became somewhat attached to a protagonist only to find he was not the protagonist, at least not in this book. It seems to be very clearly a book setting up characters, scenes, conflicts, and descriptions for the future books. Nothing was really resolved that I could tell; however, the book was sufficiently convoluted that I may have missed what was resolved.

I do give the author high marks for some interesting approaches to characters; and some interestingly different powers and characteristics. There were many spots where my curiosity was peaked however I often stopped being curious because I got lost, or bored, or both.½

Ending an Ending is the first in the Laurian Pentology by Danny Birt. In the interest of full disclosure, Danny and I are regulars in the Green Dragon group here on LibraryThing, so I know him a bit. Having said that, Ending an Ending is a pretty good fantasy. Danny plays a bit with the types we usually find in the genre and manages to break out of the stereotypical box. But then, he tells us that in the forward.

Danny's story is involving, and his characters feel real. The book is interwoven with some interesting philosophical questions about the nature of his universe given the differences from our own and how higher powers might interact with their creation. It's fun to see how he plays with these ideas, and the story ends on an exciting note pushing us into the next volume in the series. There are a couple of flaws with the work. The early chapters are a bit too expository and the plot could use a little juicing up in these chapters.

All in all, it's a pretty good book, and I'm looking forward to the next one!½

This was my experience: the email said the order had arrived. Brilliant. I'd read a review on this book ‘Ending an Ending’ and because of that, was rather looking forward to reading it. When I left the bookstore later that day I had a few blocks to walk, and so started reading. I hadn't even left the mall and I was grinning from ear to ear, I'd only read the warning! THIS was a book you could sink your minds teeth into. After this small taste, I wanted nothing more than to curl up in a corner and read it without pause.

I won't write any spoilers here - there's enough information on the guts of the book as it is. For those of you who will read the blurb provided by the publisher, you’ll either be interested, or you won’t. I'll say this though, It's so nice not to be treated like your brains have fallen out the back of your head just because you’ve picked up a fantasy book.

Suffice to say, the rest of the Laurian Pentology is on standing order with my bookstore, and I’m really looking forward to getting that next email.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading this one yet, you're in for a real treat. For those of you who have, you’ll know what I’m on about.

Well this is the first act in the Laurian Pentology. I liked this book but it did have 2 problems that should have been caught by the editors in my opinion. I really wasn't impressed with the first chapter because it felt too much like 'telling' exposition, it was the authors way to try and bring us up to speed on the world we have just been plunged into. I felt he could have done a better job showing, and after reading the rest of the book, I know he could. There were one or two other spots in the book where it went from showing and painting a wonderful picture to 'telling' us what was going on, only noticeable because they stuck out from the rest of the wonderful prose. 3rd and this could just be me, but I had a hard time following how much time had supposedly occurred between some scenes.

Now that the negative stuff is out of the way I want to say I really enjoyed the story and it is a great mystery and lots of fodder for one to mull over till the next book. I will definitely be purchasing the next act when it becomes available and I fully expect it to surpass the first one. This is a fun read and constantly leaves one wondering what is going to be happening next.

Sanct is an enigma, he doesn't know what or who he is nor do most of the other people he meets in his journeys, though most have some guesses. He accepts himself to be a Seren which is a type of messenger/hand of a god. He doesn't have any direct knowledge of what he needs to do, just a general direction he needs to travel and little insights when he meets the right people. Things always seem to work out alright for him but is that really a good thing? Who seems to be watching out for him and why and who IS he? Big questions that he has no answers to.½