Sign of the Dove - Susan Fletcher

I read Sign of the Dove, a sequel to Dragon's Milk, by Susan Fletcher. The first copyright of this book is in 1996. It is also the third book in a triology but can be read on its own. Sign of the Dove is a fiction book, telling of a harper's tale of dragons and a girl with the ability to talk with birds named Lyf. She departs to go see Kaeldra, her sister who is in need for help with the dragons. But events soon block her way and she is left to care for herself with Kaeldra's son, Owyn, and thirteen draclings. The overall theme of this book is that you have to make sacrifices along the way to your goal no matter what.

Most of this book is told in third person point of view and you can only see Lyf's thoughts; this is called third person limited. The rest of this book is told in first person of the harper, telling you what's going on in other parts of the book that you wouldn't know without the harper. Lyf first gets a letter from a dove which is taken to Kaeldra, who has to take a trip to her clutch of draclings that she takes care of. Lyf goes along with her to find that Kaeldra and her husband was kidnapped when Lyf was separated from them with Owyn. She stumbles upon Kaeldra's clutch and they soon grow very attached to her, never leaving her side. She starts her journey with Owyn and the draclings to find the mother dragon to care for the clutch. The intended audience would be teenagers and maybe pre-teens. The dragons and Lyf's special ability fit well into the fiction and fantasy genre, telling about fire breathing dragons flying and Lyf talking to birds with her mind and being able to communicate with the draclings. The author keeps you interested in the book by quickly shifting from old events to new events before you get bored and will make you want to know what happens next. The author's style is fast paced and it's effective for the intended audience because it keep the readers from getting too uninterested in what's going on in the story.

The book affected me by changing the way I look at things. I now see that when I'm alone and faced with a problem I have to just grit my teeth and get through it instead of trying to spread it around, which was in Lyf's case, she wanted to dump all her problems on someone else but she couldn't and wouldn't until she got through her task. This author reminds me of another author who liked to write action packed books that made everything fast and quick and adventurous throughout the whole book.

The good thing about this book is that it'll keep you busy for a while so it's a good book for killing time. The bad thing is that sometimes you can get lost, but you can quickly find out what's happening and get back on track. I would recommend this book for someone who wants to read an action and fantasy book.

Rachel Wen
11/6/13
Rating: **** 4/5