“This is war,” the dragon said. And she believed him.
Di fled rural West Virginia to study music and pursue a bright future as a violinist. But when a mining accident nearly kills her father, she is summoned back home to support her family. Old ghosts and an old flame emerge from the past. When Di gets a job as a bookkeeper at the same mine where her father worked, she is drawn into a conflict pitting neighbor against neighbor as the mine plans an expansion to an untouched mountain.
If the mining company’s operation goes forward, there will be more at stake than livelihoods or the pollution of the land: Di has discovered a dragon lives deep within Sawtooth Mountain, and he is not happy with this encroachment upon his lair. When catastrophe strikes, Di must choose between her family’s best interests and protecting the dragon – the last surviving bit of magic in Di’s shrinking world.
In every fight, sides are chosen. And there can be no yearning for what has been left behind.
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Review:
Di has been away at college studying music, she escaped her hometown as fast as she could and was hoping never to have to return. That all changed when her father was badly injured in a mining accident, he is no longer able to work so her family are struggling to make ends meet, especially since her father's medical bills aren't being covered by the company he worked for. Di is forced to return home and take a job at the same mining company just so she can help out her family but she's extremely resentful and unhappy about being back. The mining company is planning on destroying the mountain to make their job easier and protesters are determined to do whatever it takes to stop them from destroying the area. There is a huge amount of conflict between locals who rely on the mine for their incomes and outsiders who are there to protest the work that is being planned and Di is caught in the middle of it, especially when she realises that there is something hiding deep in the mountain that needs her protection.
I love dragons so I had very high hopes for this book but unfortunately I just didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped to. It's not a bad book in any sense of the word but for me it focused a little too heavily on the contemporary issues of living in a mining town and the damage to the environment and not enough on the dragon. It raises a lot of important issues but I went into this expecting it to be all about dragons and the dragon was really only a minor part of the story. If I'd gone into it knowing it would have more of a contemporary feel then perhaps I'd have enjoyed it more so thats why I feel the need to point that out in my review.
I think my biggest issue was that I didn't feel much of a connection to any of the characters, Di just came across as a bit too spoiled and selfish for me to ever like her. I get why she was upset to return home but it felt like her dreams of studying music were more important than her father's health and I found that hard to get my head around. This book has a lot of positive reviews so I'd never try to put anyone off giving it a try, hopefully you'll enjoy it much more than I did!
Source: Received from the author in exchange for an honest review
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