Yeah yeah, I’m talking about Dragon Masters again. That series I previously mentioned I had no idea why I liked it. Well I’ve read over twenty-five books now, so I’d better figure out why. It’s basically the Magic Tree House of this generation. A literary powerhouse that shows no signs of slowing down.

As a side note, there are twenty-six books out in the main series at the time of this article. Book 25 ends a story arc, so it seemed like a good place as any to do a write-up. Also there’s like three book releases a year now, so if I don’t do this now, I’m gonna be behind quick.

Lot of dragon-related spoilers coming up, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Premise

Drake the Onion Farmer is selected by the King’s Wizard Griffith to become Drake the Dragon Master. The kingdom’s Dragon Masters partner with their dragons to protect the kingdom from evil. Because Drake’s dragon can teleport, he gets to protect the world from evil instead.

Characters

Dragons included, there’s a lot of important characters. We’re gonna pair them off with their masters, two by two. Like Madeline, if Miss Clavel was a wizard.

Drake George and Worm
I would say our main characters, but since Worm only gets like one line a book, it’s really just Drake. Drake…is brave I guess? He’s seen a lot, though you couldn’t really tell. It’s a chapter book, so he kind of “resets” each book and doesn’t really carry over the complex emotions you might expect given his travels and experiences.

Worm teleports, as you read earlier. When I said he only gets like one line a book, I meant it. He’s mostly there as a plot device. In later books his magic powers get stronger, and he does some levitating and shield magic, but he still basically never talks. I guess when you have ten characters in every book, there’s no time for Worm to talk.

They’re both nice, too. That’s the free trait coupon you get when you’re a main character in one of these books.

Ana and Kepri
Ana’s clever and cheery. We don’t see her too much, since she adventured with Drake early on. She did show up again later, but just a few times.

Bo and Shu
Bo’s pretty educated, which is saying something in a land where the main character can’t write. His dragon, Shu, has a magic breath that can dispel most kinds of magic (like curses!). It’s a pretty useful ability, meaning Bo and Shu get slightly more page time than most of the other castle Dragon Masters.

Eko and Neru
Griffith’s first student became the series’ second main villain. As a kid, she disagreed with the kingdom’s use of dragons and left the kingdom. As an adult, she came back to attack the kingdom and set their dragons free. I’ll talk more about her vendetta later. She’s really powerful, and probably should be more important than she is. I’m building up to something here.
Oh yeah, Neru’s a thunder dragon, by the way. So that’s cool.

Griffith of the Green Fields
The kingdom’s head wizard, and trainer of the dragon masters. He has a dragon stone that tells him who the next dragon masters are and sends the masters on their missions. He’s a genuinely good guy, unlike the guy he works for…

King Roland the Bold
The guy Griffith works for. Befitting of a medieval kingdom, he’s a pretty no-nonsense kind of king. Sure, he uses the dragons to protect himself (and his kingdom). Sure, maybe he also forced those same dragons from their homes to partner with kids who also may have been forced. Maybe he calls Griffith “Wizard” all the time and might not even know his real name. To be fair, he’s not working with a lot here. In a land where every region has a kingdom and most kingdoms only have one dragon master and his last one ran away swearing revenge someday, I don’t really blame him. He could just go about things a bit better. Not trying to be a Roland apologist here. This isn’t the favorite character section.

Rori Smith (and Vulcan)
This is the favorite character section. I’ve saved the best for last, as usual. Rori speaks her mind and is a real go-getter. This is pretty important in a series with a lot of characters. Means you get some real page time. Even an actual character arc. I mostly just like her hairstyle and attitude.

She’s portrayed as hotheaded in earlier books, leading to some dangerous decisions and need to control her (similarly) hotheaded dragon. Rori goes on to steal the show in a few books, when she supports Eko’s vendetta and even helps her escape capture. I guess it’s about time I get to that buildup.

Eko’s Vendetta and The Perils of Popular Chapter Book Series

This should probably be its own article, but it’s exemplified in Dragon Masters.

We’re introduced to Eko properly in book 8, right after she wyrmnaps Lalo the baby lightning dragon. Then Eko gets captured. Then she gets set free by Rori, who is sympathetic to her cause. Then Rori leaves with her, betraying her own kingdom with her newfound knowledge. All in one book! Who says chapter books can’t have continuity!

Rori agrees to temporarily help Drake and Mina’s frost giant problem in book 9 (much to Eko’s anger), and decides to return to Bracken at the end because she misses her friends. She still writes Eko to tell her about it, because she doesn’t want to just leave and not say anything.

Eko returns in book 12, where she’s betrayed by Maldred and sealed inside his inter-dimensional castle. There’s even a scene where Eko tells Maldred they can’t hurt the Dragon Masters because they’re kids, which he ignores. Even Eko has a heart!

Eko finally gets saved from Maldred’s seal in book 15, and agrees to come back to Bracken Castle only to help defend it from all the evil wizards that also got unsealed. Mind this entire time and up to the current books, Eko still vehemently believes that dragons should be free and not controlled by kingdoms.

Then Eko just kind of…hangs around and fills in for Griffith when he’s away in some books? And does nothing and doesn’t go after her agenda or try to get Rori to defect again or anything. Anything! She just becomes a plot device. Why? She’s one of the most interesting characters with the most empathetic goal given the setting. She’s basically correct too, with both Roland and Griffith admitting that capturing dragons to defend their kingdom is wrong and they don’t like that they did it. Maybe I should have put Eko at the end of the character section.

I believe this Eko depreciation is due to the length of the Dragon Masters series. West can’t keep Eko the villain forever, that would get boring I guess. And boy is it useful to have another adult at the castle so Griffith can do things. I get it. But at least resolve her arc! Maybe, just maybe Eko is planning something and will break away as the villain again, but it’s been so long I just don’t know. I think she’s as likely to come back again as it is that she’ll be forgotten by the author and fade into obscurity. I think there might have been a line somewhere where Eko admits that through seeing Rori and Drake and everyone cooperate with their dragons, that maybe dragons having masters can be okay. But they’re still controlled by kingdoms and that’s not great in her book either.

Series Breakdown

If you don’t know the drill by now, longer series just get a highlight reel. All the books are fun, but not all are super notable. Unlike most chapter book series, you might not want to read these out of order, especially the farther down you go. After a while, books start being part of small three to four book story arcs. Starting in the middle of one might be a bit disorienting, though they do try to catch you up on what happened before.

(8) Roar of the Thunder Dragon – Eko descends.
(11) Shine of the Silver Dragon – Jean is a super cool Dragon Master, and shows up a lot more in other books. She might show up more than some of the mainline Dragon Masters at the castle. She likes inventing things.
(12) Treasure of the Gold Dragon – Darma is also a super cool Dragon Master, and their dragon’s shapeshifting ability is really interesting. Darma also shows up more than once, and I think might be really important in a future arc.
(14) Land of the Spring Dragon – I wrote all about this one a few months ago. Check it out there.
(15) Future of the Time Dragon – The Time Dragon’s master Lucas loves time jokes, and most of them are really funny. He even keeps it up in his aside in the lore book, which I really appreciate.
(21) Bloom of the Flower Dragon – Dragon Master Oscar is really skeptical about his dragon and about being a Dragon Master, which is a cool take. Also there’s a werewolf!
(26) Cave of the Crystal Dragon – Lot of deep lore. Cool Dragon Master that uses a wheelchair (invented by Jean!). Cool crystal magic.
(Special) The Epic Guide to Dragon Masters – I’ve read a lot of activity books based on chapter books, but never a full-on lore bible. This isn’t just an overview of a bunch of stuff you already read. There’s region maps, dragon info, asides from other characters, and even teasers of upcoming books. Griffith’s Guide to Dragon Masters also exists, but it’s mostly just an older version of Epic. It does have a different intro written by Griffith himself, and not the author self-inserting herself into her own canon.

Cool Stuff

Dragons!
This is probably the reason most kids read this series, and to be fair there’s some cool dragons. It’s not just an afterthought and the author really put work into their world and dragon culture.
Each dragon has a power. They live in certain areas. Some are rare and there’s only a few. Some are common and there’s a bunch. Some even have deep cultures around their birth and how they’re raised. Way more lore than I would expect. I guess in a land with an uncommon amount of dragons you have to explain it.

The Inclusion Isn’t Forced
Every book, Drake meets a new Dragon Master in some far-off land. When you’ve got twenty-six plus books, putting in characters of all kinds of representation is bound to happen. And they’re not just there to be figureheads. They usually work it into the story, since the setting is so specific. The deaf Dragon Master teaches Drake hand signs that they use to communicate in the maze, but also they initially communicate in their minds with Worm’s powers. When meeting the wheelchair using Dragon Master, they explain how they made a wheelchair in a medieval society, but also he initially can’t get into the cave and they have to figure out a creative solution to it. There’s also nationalities of all kinds, that always live in a representation of their homelands similar to real life. There’s even a non-binary Dragon Master, which they mention like once extremely subtly and then never again, because it’s normal and commonplace for them.

Wizards!
Wizard culture in this series is just as involved as dragons. Griffith could have his own series. They have titles. They have a main wizard academy. They use different kinds of magic. They’re kind of the protectors of the realm when dragons aren’t. The ones that aren’t bad at least (and there’s a lot of those).

Red Is The Color of Evil
It’s just a nice touch that’s consistent across the series. A little weird in a series with no colored art, but they can still say the word red. You hear about someone with red eyes or red magic, you know they’re evil.

Diego!
Diego of the Sandy Shores is not quite relevant enough to be in the character section, but he’s still pretty cool. He’s a baby dragon specialist and helps out Griffith a lot. That’s it, he’s just fun and shows up a good amount.

Conclusion

So why do I apparently like Dragon Masters? The pacing? The lore? The cliffhangers? I think it’s something to do with those three things. It’s so quick and just interesting enough that I keep picking them up. The arcs help a lot. Once an arc starts I have to know what happens in the end. And every time an arc ends West makes sure to immediately start a new arc in the same book. I just wish there were a few less main characters, so we could focus on more than just Drake a bit more. Introducing a new character each book is fine, but the Bracken-based Dragon Masters are used so little that there’s a stint of books where Rori starts actively complaining about not getting to go on adventures. Even the series knows.

Should you check out Dragon Masters? I think if you have any interest in chapter books, you should at least read a few. It’s becoming a pillar of the chapter book community, and is probably going to overtake Jack and Annie and Heidi in book count at some point. Who needs history and magic when you have dragons (and magic), right?

In true Dragon Masters fashion, I’d love to cliffhanger this article and tease my next one, but I haven’t really decided yet. I’ve been doing a lot of Series Spotlights lately, but also Isadora Moon just hit book 20! I still have those new mean girls to talk about. I could go on forever about the issues with long chapter book series. I still want to talk about chapter book activity books. Unicornia is finally getting an English localization! It’s an exciting time to be reading chapter books. Stay tuned next month for more.