The Captive Dragon: A Fantasy Novel

by David Barker

The Captive Dragon is a fantasy novel that tells the story of a band of small and powerless individuals who, lead by a young princess, combat the forces that threaten to destroy their country.

Princess Amandra uses her magical powers to befriend a dragon held captive by an evil magician. But are her powers a match for his? Will she succeed in freeing the dragon, while preventing war and halting the overthrow of her country? The Princess is betting everything that she can.

This book is suitable for young adults and adults. It has a strong female character. Although I am planning a sequel, it was written as a complete, stand-alone novel.

The print edition length is 269 pages.

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

David Barker has published two collections of H. P. Lovecraft-inspired horror fiction written in collaboration with W. H. Pugmire: The Revenant of Rebecca Pascal (Dark Renaissance Books, 2014) and In the Gulfs of Dream & Other Lovecraftian Tales (Dark Renaissance Books, 2015). His Lovecraftian novel, Witches in Dreamland, (also written with W. H. Pugmire) will be published by Hippocampus Press in October 2018. David’s horror fiction and poetry has appeared in magazines and anthologies including Fungi, Cyäegha, Weird Fiction Review, The Audient Void, Nightmare’s Realm, Forbidden Knowledge, Spectral Realms, and The Art Mephitic. He has a long history in the horror field, having published widely in the small press during the 1980s and ‘90s when he also produced three different Lovecraft fanzines. He left the horror field in the late 1990s but returned in 2012 with the ebook trilogy Electro-Thrall Zombies (collected as Dead Guys in Packards).

Reviews

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out well enough, with a captured dragon, a young princess just learning of her power, a weak king, an elderly wizard, and a wise dwarf. They had some adventure. And then they told someone of the adventure. And then they told someone else, and then someone else… If the repetitions were trimmed from this story, it would be far stronger and probably 50 pages shorter.

Ditto for the sermons. [SPOILER ALERT] The dragon is being forced, against her will, to savagely murder innocent civilians and burn their isolated villages. She has the power to break free and escape. But she refuses to do so because she'd kill some soldiers in the process. Babe, you're already killing people. At least make them combatants. [END SPOILER]

Other inconsistencies and strange twists of illogic aside, this isn't a bad story. The magical creatures are as interesting as the humans and while it's clearly intended as part of a series, the book can stand alone. The last half I skimmed, but never wanted to quit reading. We'll call it three stars.

[David Barker]

Here's a 5 Star review from Amazon:

"A fun book to read. January 31, 2012
By scooteman

This review is from: The Captive Dragon: A Fantasy Novel (Paperback)
This is a fun book to read. It has interesting characters, action and a fun plot. The character development was good throughout. I consider this to be young adult fiction, and that is why I chose it and I enjoyed the story and it kept my interest. The only thing I would wish to see is a sequel. It's an epic fantasy and the story is left undone."