chiasaur11
2010-03-15, 08:29 PM
Right.
So, as happens from time to time, I was trying to remember a book I read as a kid to see if it was any good. Problem is, I can't remember the tile, and google and wikipedia have turned down my best guesses.
So, the book:
Cover's green and scaly with a dragon's eyes staring out the center.
The narrative's third person over the shoulder, basically. Not first person, but only bothering to get inside one character's head. Generally young adult grade school reading level, short chapters, not incredibly long.
The main characters are freelance monster hunters in a vaguely medieval European fantasy setting, with dragons the main problem they deal with. There's the experienced leader guy, who the narrative sticks with, the strong silent second in commandy fellow, and a girl who just joined up, new to the whole monster hunting business. Magic sorta kinda exists, but it's at bare minimum half superstition and flimflam, and not a good weapon for dragon hunting.
The girl, as it turns out, is the princess of a fairly large nearby kingdom, doing the standard rebellious getting away from authority bit. And, in a less expected plot turn, the king is totally okay with this, even if he is keeping an eye on her with spies and suchlike, not that the girl knew that. Turns out the king did the same sort of thing when he was younger, enlisting in the army as a common footslogger. Part of growing up, showing gumption, that kind of thing.
Generally had an episodic structure, with various small towns hiring the heroes for jobs dealing with witches, dragons, other large lizards, and general menaces. Each chapter had a sketchy picture up above the chapter's starting text. Also, it featured an internal "I know. She knows I know. I know she knows I know... I'd better stop." bit.
Anyone have any clue what I'm going on about?
So, as happens from time to time, I was trying to remember a book I read as a kid to see if it was any good. Problem is, I can't remember the tile, and google and wikipedia have turned down my best guesses.
So, the book:
Cover's green and scaly with a dragon's eyes staring out the center.
The narrative's third person over the shoulder, basically. Not first person, but only bothering to get inside one character's head. Generally young adult grade school reading level, short chapters, not incredibly long.
The main characters are freelance monster hunters in a vaguely medieval European fantasy setting, with dragons the main problem they deal with. There's the experienced leader guy, who the narrative sticks with, the strong silent second in commandy fellow, and a girl who just joined up, new to the whole monster hunting business. Magic sorta kinda exists, but it's at bare minimum half superstition and flimflam, and not a good weapon for dragon hunting.
The girl, as it turns out, is the princess of a fairly large nearby kingdom, doing the standard rebellious getting away from authority bit. And, in a less expected plot turn, the king is totally okay with this, even if he is keeping an eye on her with spies and suchlike, not that the girl knew that. Turns out the king did the same sort of thing when he was younger, enlisting in the army as a common footslogger. Part of growing up, showing gumption, that kind of thing.
Generally had an episodic structure, with various small towns hiring the heroes for jobs dealing with witches, dragons, other large lizards, and general menaces. Each chapter had a sketchy picture up above the chapter's starting text. Also, it featured an internal "I know. She knows I know. I know she knows I know... I'd better stop." bit.
Anyone have any clue what I'm going on about?