Aaron & Keja: Time Dragon

Orgarlan Saga #1

by Linda Nelson

The Elven Sorcerer, Lord Ky'debaul wants to kill a silver dragon to restore his magic powers. This dragon is not just a silver dragon, it is a time dragon. But in order for him to do this, he must send the dragon to another world where it is not against the law to kill a Time Dragon. Here on Orgarlan, killing a Time Dragon is a Death Sentence. The Orc's Leader, General Mashanga, catches wind of Lord Ky'debaul’s plan and sends a party of three Orcs to follow Lord Ky'debaul and the dragon to this other world. Once there, the Orcs begin to track down the whereabouts of the elves and the Time Dragon. The world the elves have chased the dragon to is Aaron Gillian's world. Here she resides with her friends, a dog named Keja, a cat named Chancy, Marshall who is the boy next door and an old man named Jurgith. Keja and Chancy have heard talk about the woods of strange creatures being about. Little did they know they were in for their great adventure. Lord Ky'debaul captures Aaron, Marshall and Jurgith when he learns of Aaron's ability to talk to the woodland creatures. He believes she is the human spoken of in the prophecy written of in his world and believes she will be able to help him capture the Time Dragon. The Orcs too have learned of her ability. They decide to seek Aaron out in hopes that she will help them save the Time Dragon. They then discover she has been captured by Lord Ky'debaul and must rescue her and her friends. Who will succeed? Will Lord Ky'debaul succeed in killing the Time Dragon or will the Orcs manage to thwart his plan?

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Young Adult, Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 2011

About the author

Linda Nelson is a writer, blogger, daytime worker and student at Franklin Pierce University. Her studies are taking up a significant portion of her time while she finishes up her bachelor degree in Accounting for the intent of acquiring her Masters of Science in Accounting. She also has a diverse degree by the additional business courses added to her curriculum along with some Social Services classes. Linda is a member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Monadnock Writers Group. She is the author of Along Came Neil, a Young Adult Sweet-romance which is the last book in her Wings from Ashes trilogy released in 2013. Linda is working on other romances, but their release dates are still undetermined. Linda lives in Southern New Hampshire. You can reach Linda at her website lindajnelson.com.

Reviews

[Al Gritten · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this e-book in exchange for a review. The author has a vivid imagination and I believe she has a strong story line. However, her writing style is awkward and the story is not fully developed in its characterization.

She writes, in many places, in the passive voice which makes the writing awkward and difficult to read. She tends to switch between active and passive voice and while that is an issue, it is not the only issue. She also has several places where her verb tenses do not agree. For example, in one paragraph where she seeks to explain the background to the feud between the elves, she writes, "After Ky’debaul finished his studies, he challenged Sarkus to a battle. This turned out to be a turning of time for the elven population. Their peoples were entered into a time of evil under the new rule of Ky’debaul. All elves had to accept his rule or be executed. Shortly after which, humans entered into bondage in their kingdom. This caused the ending of centuries of comradeship between the two races." This would be a much stronger paragraph in the active voice.

Additionally, the characters dialogue is stilted and the narrative, at times, is forced. This adds to the difficulties for the reader. Also, the story would be more compelling if she offered additional plot details. For example, the two worlds will be destroyed if the dragon isn't returned and the rift closed, but she doesn't explain why. The prophecy of the human and the dog, title characters, is assumed by the other characters, but not really explained so that the reader can follow the interchanges between the various characters.

Finally, she muddies her metaphors, as in one example, "Like a ritual the leaves cross the floor of the forest like that of a colorful carpet..." creating a confusing analogy that is, unfortunately, repeated again and again. All of these issues inhibit the flow of the story.

I believe there is a great story here, but it is hindered by the linguistic problems and mistakes. A really good edit would help this book tremendously along with some added depth to the characters and their dialogue. Please note, that I would have given this only a 1/2 star, but don't seem to be able to do that on Goodreads.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

An apsolutely fanatstic read that would make any author look twice, including giving Sepehen Deas and Paolini a challenge! Any good novel has to be based around a solid storyline and plot which this novel certainly has and alongside Linda's fluid writing sytle it is definately a winner and a really enjoyable read. Suitable not only for any fantasy lovers or science-fiction but a wide range of readers who enjoy great storytelling and a mesmerising plot. I would definately like to read more by Linda Nelson as i am extremely impressed by her work and i hope that this is only the begining of my love of her writing. You cannot go far wrong with Dragons but with so many great authors out there it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd and for your work to be seen as different from all the others, therefore it after all takes that little extra something/ spark/ element to make the book really project and reach out to readers who think to themselves 'That looks good, i will read that'. A lot of Fantasy fiction can be seen as similar to another authors work or can be compared to others by the styleor ideas on the page and it takes something a little bit special to come forward from the shadows, but when readers see Aaron & Keja i do hope that they think this is something different and a bit special.

[Angie ~aka Reading Machine~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lord Ky'debaul of the Cordan Elves is one ruler in the lands of Orgarlan. His magic is failing and he needs the essessence of a silver dragon, a Time Dragon. He makes plans to destroy one by following a Time Dragon thru a rift which brings him to Earth. He also needs a beastmaster to find the Time Dragon. Aaron is a very special girl she can speak to animals especially Keja the dog and Chancy the cat. Aaron is making her preparations for cold winter months. Aaron used to live with her aunt and uncle who have since passed on. Aaron's friend Marshall comes by to check on her and to do some fishing as well. Marshall is always interested in Aaron's inventions. Marshall is also sweet on Aaron too. The Orcs go thru the same rift as Lord Ky'debaul in search of the silver dragon. The Orcs gather information from the wolves about strange visitors to the forest. Keja and Chancy are told by animal friends that Aaron is in danger from strangers to the forest. Aaron and Marshall go to visit their friend Jurgith before heading into town for supplies that Aaron needs. While at Jurgith's all three are kidnapped by Lord Ky'debaul elves for what reason they don't know. Lord Ky'debaul wants Aaron to find the silver dragon for him. What will Keja do? What will Aaron do? Can the Time Dragon be found? Can Aaron and friends be rescued? Your answers await you in Aaron & Keja: Time Dragon.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: Aaron & Keja: Time Dragon by Linda Nelson
4 STARS
I listened to Aaron & Keja on my kindle and admit I did get
lost a few times and had to go back and read.
Thier was a lot of different characters in this story Aaron is one
of the humans in this story. She can hear and talk to different
animals. Keja is her dog.
Orc's are the good people. On thier world it is against the law
to kill dragons.
Elves want to kill a time dragon and harness its power so they
send it to a different world where they plan to hunt and kill'
the dragon.
Orc's follow the elves and the dragon to save the dragon.
Thier is a prophecy and both the elves and orc's think its about Aaron.
I am not sure what the prophecy was about.
Aaron and two human friends were kidnapped by the elves. Lots of animals work together to help them.
I was given this ebook and asked to read it and give honest review from Librarything.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading some of the reviews on here I wasnt to sure at first...but I liked it I thought it was cute.I think this book would be great for younger kids in grade school.Teens not as much but I am well over a teen lol and I enjoyed it.I think if people look at it as a childrens book the reviews would be much better.While I was reading it I was thinking my son when he was younger would have loved it.

[Ryan Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aaron and Keja: The Time Dragon" is a great book. I would give it 4 stars, and would suggest to young, and older readers. Linda Nelson has created a book to another world of imagination. Tying mystical creatures, and nature together to create an outstanding force, leaves the reader turning the pages. She also adds deep details, describing the animals communication well, and drawing details in your imaganation.
A good read!

[Deranged · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather interesting look of a world not our own. This world parallel to our own and different in ways that draws those they encounter to prove their worth.

[Hate2beLate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this very clean, fun adventure. I see there is a part 2 that I just MUST have! Easy to read and the characters are clearly written.

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book but some of the names were a little difficult. It has a great subject and can be a good series.
The characters are well developed at this point in the story line.

Some things that didn't make sense to me :Why are the Ogres showing a dislike to humans? What happened to the adult Time Dragons?
What happened to Aaron and the humans after the stay in the Inn? Why have the animals drop their role after leaving our earth. And why was an elf introduced at the end of this book?

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had hopes for this novel since it was the first book I had won from First-reads in some time, but I suppose I was more then a little disappointed by it. The premise was intriguing and it seemed like it would be a entertaining short read, well it was short...and only a tad bit entertaining.

The first thing I noticed about this book was that the writing is very stiff. It felt more like a school paper then an actual published story. I really had trouble picturing anything because it was so forced that I eventually just gave up on some of it. Another issue I had were the switching of tense. One moment you would be in the present and few seconds later the past. It happened so much that I had to force myself not to notice anymore. There were also times when the wrong word was used like 'waste' instead of 'waist', which i found fairly distracting as I would read the sentence as written and then get slightly confused.

The story holds promise and it is a pretty interesting concept,but the execution is so lacking that it falls flat. I liked the idea of Orcs and Elves switching positions on the good and bad scale, and the idea of there being seperate worlds that can be crossed between with rifts. However the characters themselves were only alright and their interactions with each other were just as stiff as the writing itself. I hated the three Orcs and could barely understand their interactions with each other and the elves came off as rather stupid creatures. Aaron was pretty interesting and nearly likable, I enjoyed the idea of her being able to communicate with the animals around her...though she doesn't seem to use it very often. Keja and Chancy are also pretty likable, and probably my favorite characters in the book. I know there is supposed to be another book after this but I would have liked to see the relationship between Aaron and Marshall actually go somewhere. It's mentioned like it's a big deal a few times but then nothing. There were also some moments in the book where I had to question the point of certain aspects, like the pendant that Barghast wears...it's supposed to give the wearer the ability to speak to all kind of creatures. But then later on the Orcs are talking to everyone with no issues even though only one wears the pendant. I also didn't like the ending, because it barely resolved the dragon issue.

I have the feeling that if the overall concept was expanded upon and cleaned up then it would be pretty decent, but as it is I found it to be too short and very glossed over. So much is supposed to happen and yet it all happens so quickly and without any real confrontation or explanation that it doesn't seem like anything happened at all.

At any rate I can't say I recommend this book really, even if it's free. It's not terrible but I didn't find it enjoyable at all.

[Alisha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this book through the goodreads first-reads program. Honestly, I haven't been this confused by a book in a long time, because it shouldn't have made it to the point it has. I'm guessing this is self-published because it's really awful. The story line is good, and could have been very interesting, especially as a children's book. However, there are just so many grammatical errors, switching between first and third person, words spelled wrong, fragmented sentences for this to even be read by a child. Not to mention the author is trying to use big words, made the book a little long, and basically just ruined the suitability for the age group it should be targeted to. My personal opinion is that the author should rewrite the book, editing it and making sure to use words on target with a 3rd grader so that this could be marketed as a intermediate children's book. Especially since she seems to not like to write any details at all and solve things in a very simple way, as you would expect from a book for that age level.

The only good things I can say about this book is that the story was fairly unique. The author seems to have a good imagination, and you can tell she wants to share that. The other thing that was kinda interesting about the book was how realistic the pets dialogue was, it's exactly how I would think my pets would think, even down to the details of the cat forgetting things after only a day. I think younger children would be excited by the idea of the Aaron being able to talk to her animals, and the conversations they have with each other. I really think with a rewrite it could be pretty successful in that market. However, if you are over the age of 8, or well anyone with how the book is now, you probably wont enjoy this book. Those of us who enjoy fantasy especially, enjoy our lengthy dialogue, our descriptive scenes, and our detailed action scenes. This book lacks all of that and more, even if I look at it as an intermediate book right now. Although honestly you can tell she was trying to aim more towards the 12 year old market, but it's a just a little to immature for that market, but still to many big words for the typical 6-8 year old. All I can say is I'm glad it was a short read and I was able to finish it in a couple hours otherwise I don't think I could have talked myself into finishing it at all.

[Sherri Keller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this book in a LibraryThing giveaway.

We begin on the planet Orgarlan with Ky'debaul, an Elven sorcerer. His powers are waning, and they can only be restored by killing a silver dragon. However, if the silver dragon is killed, it could mean the end of existence. Killing a dragon on Orgarlan is against the law, so the elves send the dragon through a rift to Earth (or a planet like it), where it lives in a lake near Aaron's house. Aaron lives with her dog Keja and cat Chancy, both of whom she is able to communicate with. The elves follow the dragon through the rift and try to hunt it down, while orcs from Orgarlan, along with Aaron and her friend Mitchell, try to stop the elves.

I was really disappointed in this book. I had to reread several passages to understand what was happening. Part of the reason I had trouble following the story is because the writing is very clunky. There are also so many mistakes in the book: misused words (threw instead of through, shinning instead of shining, waste instead of waist, and so on), misused apostrophes, tenses switched... I could go on. The author also has the tendency to repeat the same word or phrase several times in a paragraph.

At no point is it explored why Aaron is able to communicate with animals—it's just something that she can do. Also, why will the world end if the dragon dies? There are so many details that aren't fleshed out. Another thing that bothered me was that I couldn't get a sense of how old Aaron and Mitchell were. At first, it seemed like they were both around 30, but then we find out that Mitchell still lives with his parents, which makes me think they must be much younger.

The story could have potential if it was rewritten and reviewed by a professional, but ultimately, it's lacking the finish and polish required of a professional book.

[Mirrani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this story to be simple, but somewhat enjoyable. I was very interested in the idea that this is a fantasy plot that takes place in a more modern time, with cars and television. It also isn't often that elves are the bad guys and orcs are the better of the two.

The dragon doesn't really have much of a point in this book, so if you're picking this up because it has a Time Dragon in it, don't bother. Other than being a plot point, like the gold at the end of the rainbow that everyone wants, but no one sees, there's hardly a dragon to be seen. It must be mentioned too that there's hardly an ending to be seen. Please don't expect an end to this plot, because the final words state simply that this story ends until the next one is written. Basically, everything that has happened up to that point is simply suspended until further notice.

The copy I was sent (under the condition that I would write an honest review) was unfortunately full of errors, which I would hope can be corrected in later versions to make the flow of the book a little easier on the eye. There were also some descriptions or phrases which seemed overly complex and overly used to be considered honestly creative. I loved the ideas behind the plot, such as a girl who can have conversations with her pets and other animals, but there needed to be some more development and editing to make this work the truly interesting read that it could have been.

Note: Though this book was a free gift from the author, the content of my review was in no way influenced by the gifting. The book speaks for itself and my review would have been worded just this way even if I'd gone out and bought it. I also give bonus points for Text To Speech enabling on Kindle format.... but that also wasn't a factor in the above review.

[Cindy III · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received the book through First Reads.

I have read many fantasy books set in an alternate world full of elfs, orcs, humans, dragons and other fantastic beings. In all except one of these orcs are not the good ones. Not so in Aaron and Keja: Time Dragon, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to read it.

Lord Ky'debaul, villain and leader of the elves, is after a time dragon. This leads him after it to a different human world. The orcs are aware and three of them Buggane, Barghest, and Spornek go after him. In the world of the orcs and elfs, Orgarlan, there is a prophecy about a human beastmaster. This is Aaron, in the human world, who can speak to the animals.

I looked forward to reading Aaron and Keja. The description sounded interesting. When I got the book and started reading it I got stuck. There were some spelling errors and could not get into the story. Also there were switches between past tense and present tense that made this weird to read. I hate leaving books unfinished, so I tried again. The characters were introduced well. There was a bit of backstory on the characters, a bit of romance, danger and adventure. I liked this book well enough that I would want to read the next book about Aaron and her friends. Get to see their personality and more of their adventures.

[Johnathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot wait to follow Aaron and her dog Keja on their next journey! The characters in this book all came to life immediately for me! I've read other reviews stating that there was too many characters with too much going on.. making this a hard book to follow at times. I disagree entirely. While there were many characters who all had their own lives going on at times.. Isn't that the realism that we live everyday? The characters were not just idle toons but real-life people whom you came to know through their habits, demeanor, and interactions with others. I would recommend this to anyone who hasn't lost touch of their more youthful spirit!

I won this book on goodreads giveaways. (Sorry it took so long for me to read and review, I just got out of the military, finished relocating, and signed a job offer.)

[Brianna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads and I was looking forward to reading it as the idea of the book sounded good.

I must admit that I have not finished this book so story wise I do not know how this book pans out. However I could not bring myself to finish it as the writing style is really awkward and the spelling is awful, the odd typo is forgivable but spelling 'through' as 'thru' is unacceptable.

The author also does not explain the things that she should explain leaving out details which would be beneficial to the reader.

I would not recommend this book for anyone to read.

[Kathy Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This authors imaginative story is captivating.

The time element in the story blended with the good/bad Orcs and Elves, and characters you feel you would love to meet makes it an easy readable book for the YA it is recommended for. Having said that I don't think your ever too old to read Aaron & Keja: Time Dragon!

When you sit down to read the book, and I hope you do, open your mind and just let it flow with the story, allow yourself to be taken out of your earthly place and mind travel for a little while. You'll be glad you did!

[Wayne Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good story content...

The story does a well job of leading you onto the next event. Keeps your curiosity aroused.

overall the story was well imagined and put together.

I look forward to seeing more stories from Linda.

I also have to note that I received this book free as a goodreads giveaway.

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this book in a contest here on Goodreads.

I'm not sure how good the story here is because the writing is so rudimentary, I cannot finish it. The dialogue is cheesy, the prose repetitive and immature.

Typically if a story is this bad within the first 4 pages, it has no hope. I find it sad that I have read so many good fanfiction and yet original work is so devoid of real quality.

[Ahnnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

In compliance with FTC guidelines, I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

I can't make it past the first chapter.