What do murderous whales, an orphaned fawn, and tattooed dragons have to do with the Northern Lights? Everything. Troika never knew life in the lair. Orphaned the night of his hatching, he trudges through the world painfully unaware of what it truly means to be dragon. Then the voice invades his dreams, and he knows what must be done. Ignoring Aurora is unthinkable, but Troika has already fulfilled his destiny, and he has no reason to risk his life for dragons he barely remembers. Still, nobody denies an Elemental, and certainly not a dragon of the Sapphire clan. But is she calling him home to die, or will he expose the brutal killer before he becomes the next murder victim?
Silver Medal Winner - 2014 Independent Wishing Shelf Book Award Best of 2014 DesignCrowd Winner - Book Cover
Cairn: A Dragon Memoir penetrates the world of dragons, a society filled with smoke and lies where honorable wishes are warped by vague memories and unfathomable greed.
The Legends of the Aurora trilogy fuses natural phenomena to a veil of magic, and guides you on a fun, action-packed adventure into a wondrous world populated by reinvigorated mythological creatures.
Rebecca Ferrell Porter lives in south-central Wisconsin, but she didn't always live there. Sure, she grew up as a wild child running the hills of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, but she left as soon as her pudgy feet could carry her. Not that she hated life in a tiny, artistic community on the edge of world, but it was too isolated to hold her. She calls it her jump-off-the-cliff personality.
Years went by, addresses peeled away, and she found herself a short drive from where it all started. Oh well, she always said she would go home and live off her colorful past. With her inner child still in charge and armed with years of experience fueled by a hungry imagination, Porter has begun her writing career. In a short time, it has blossomed into an award winning fanciful trilogy, numerous locally published essays, and an internationally popular blog.
With a playful imagination and the urge to create, Porter lives with two crazy mutts, a bemused husband, and an overactive imagination.
"Cairn A Dragon Memoir" which I won through Goodreads Giveaways is an exciting adventure that begins when Troika the legendary dragon with a twisted tail returns home to the lair with the trolkin Leaf. What he doesn't expect is two grisly murders and a dual of wills with the Topaz clan that will leave him in the untenable position of competing for Guardianship of Aurora an Elemental after the death of his grandfather.
The threads of the plot not only follow Troika's integration back into the Sapphire clan, his rise to Rex and his search for the killer of his father Hawk and Falcon, but also Leaf's journey of self-discovery as she becomes a mother to a young fawn and searches for a way to the Heart where she hopes Aurora will disclose her destiny. When the stories converge and you think you know who the killer is Rebecca Farrell Porter skilfully adds a further twist to the plot. With vivid description she brings to life a fantasy world with its troll legends, and dragon culture. In a society that's cold, tradition-oriented and layered in intrigue Troika faces lies, deceit, murder and greed. Like the shifting of the wind alliances change until the only one he can depend on is his friend Leaf.
I loved the spark of humour that Leaf and her motley gang of misfits like the puffin Bay add to the storyline. Even the romance brewing between Troika and the Anemone, a Topaz dragon lightens the dark mood ignited by greed and death. Magic seems to fuel a world where Leaf carries a bloodstone for invisibility and a loom weaves tapestries from an Aurora's hair.
The characters are unforgettable and realistic especially Troika the "Promised One" of prophesy who finds his integration back into his dragon family filled with pitfalls and loneliness. Content in Elvsmyr with Leaf's family Gaven and Uredd, he suddenly finds himself struggling to contain his anger and insecurity. The Trolkin Leaf is a loyal friend who's fearless, stubborn and highly perceptive. Aurora's the Elemental who seems like an enigma, aloof and unknowable. Add to these captivating personalities the indomitable puffin Bay, the gentle fawn Fern, Troika's diplomatic, but iron-willed mother Wren and the volatile Sparrow. But it is the destructive behaviours of the cunning and bitter Pearl and the aggressive, tough but narrow-minded Quill that help build the intensity and suspense of the mystery as events unfold and tempers rise in the clans' bid for Guardianship.
Although the story seems geared to pre-teens and older I thoroughly enjoyed "Cairn A Dragon Memoir" and look forward to reading the other two books in the series.
“Never guess, know, that is what the memories provide.”
When fairies or elves are involved in a story, they are usually considered the good guys, or at least not the really bad guys. Dragons can go either way, but trolls are those ugly vicious things that eat people, right? Well, no, not in Rebecca Ferrell Porter’s trilogy, 'Legends of the Aurora'. As it turns out, trolls are the very good guys, fairies are the very bad guys and dragons… well, they can still go either way!
This is an engaging tale of mythos and mystery, of culture and deception. Porter writes simply enough for school age children (or at least children who enjoy a dark turn of events like in the Harry Potter books), but her characters also mirror humanity in a way that will intrigue adults. It starts off a bit slow, but soon becomes a page turner. I read it without the benefit of the first book so was a little lost about the backstory, but it is still readable as a stand-alone plot.
Book two of the 'Legends' trilogy, 'Cairn: A Dragon Memoir', finds a young dragon called Troika living in the forest among the trolls, unable to return to his family of dragons by the sea. He was different from birth; he had the mark of the Chosen One. His mother hid him there after a deadly battle with the fairies that occurred in book one. And now, a voice is calling to him:
“With his eyes closed, his body tense, and his scales screaming for him to stop, he finally heard the voice: a child’s giggle that morphed into a cackle like ice fracturing in a sudden violent scream. Troika broke contact, locked his hands over his ears, and left the river. Momma had been right; danger hid in the lullaby.”
The voice lures him to return home, to the cave deep in the coastal mountains. Troika knows danger awaits there and is loath to leave his comfortable life among the peaceful trolls. But he can no longer ignore the relentless whispered commands of Aurora. He returns, bringing his troll friend with him to a society as alien to him as to his trusted companion.
The dragons of his home are suspicious of him, ridicule and threaten him. They say he is no true dragon. He is different, yes, he knows that. But the knowledge of dragon lore is imprinted in his scales. With encouragement from his mother, he learns to listen to what his scales tell him and separate out dragon life from his troll upbringing. And all the while the invisible voice who calls herself Aurora continues to speak to him of things no one else can hear. He knows the leader of the pack, his father, was murdered… and he knows who did it.
Cairn is the second book in the Legends of the Aurora series, although I wasn't aware of this when I started reading. I wish I had known this, though, as it was rather disorientating to be plunged straight into the story without being given any background information at all! There was none of the usual recapping present in sequels or books in a series, so I was left trying to guess past events, ending up with me being thoroughly confused.
Still, once I did manage to (mostly) figure out what was going on, I got involved in the story. I couldn't figure out if it is meant to be a children's, YA, or even an adult fiction story, as it seemed to contain elements of all three. The story itself is pretty simplistic, and the characters are youngsters on the cusp of adulthood, yet some of the descriptions and events are actually pretty gruesome.
As the main character, Troika is great. He's well aware of his mission and purpose in life and is never afraid to stand up for what he believes in or sacrifice his morals. He's honest, true, and kind - very unlike the majority of the other dragons in the book! Leaf is another interesting character. Like Troika, she's an outcast, not quite fitting in at home. She did get on my nerves a little at times, but for the most part, she was a stubborn yet plucky character.
The descriptions and world-building in this book are outstanding. The author expertly crafts a fantasy world so realistic that you can almost see it in front of your eyes. The location and description are weaved together perfectly - the setting is the real stand out feature of this book.
By contrast, however, I felt that the plot is what let this book down. There was nothing actually wrong with it, per se, but it just wasn't interesting enough to fully hold my attention throughout. I felt that at the beginning the storyline took far too long to actually get going, meandering about all over the place instead of focusing on the real meat of the story.
However, overall this was a fun book, and I'll be interested to see where the rest of the series goes in the final part of the trilogy. I get the feeling we'll be hearing a lot more about Terra in the next book...
I must be honest here - I’ve never been much attracted to stories about dragons. However, if you too are one of the breed who haven’t dipped a toe into this particular genre I really do recommend this series as a starting point.
Rebecca Ferrell Porter writes as if she possesses inside knowledge of the creatures, from their muscles to their scales to their flight feathers. It’s talented writing and well worthy of the silver medal it won in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Awards.
If you’ve never met a dragon or a trollkin, (you haven’t?) you’ll soon know what to expect after a few chapters of this book. I do. You’ll know their habits, their likes and dislikes and what constitutes an attractive example of either species.
I particularly liked the clever mix of fantasy and reality; of real creatures with mythical ones. Have a peep at this extract:
‘Panic began to bubble just below the surface, but his wings would not return him to Elvsmyr. Just when he thought it could not get any worse, his wings began to lose synchronicity. He was falling. A red-winged blackbird darted past his snout. “Dip one wing and raise the other.” Troika felt like a fool, but did as the scrawny bird commanded. Flight control flooded back, and he started to turn. “Steer with your tail,” the bird called.’
And an example of Rebecca’s humour as spoken by the Bone Master (terrific name):
‘Well, grab a pebble and pelt my hide. The legend come to life has returned. I thought you were dead, a rotting corpse on some far away battlefield, but here you are, still wearing your bones.”
Well-written, believable characters; splashes of humour; original ideas; a cohesive story-line – you’ll find them all here.
I’m going to give 4.5 stars to ‘Cairn: A Dragon Memoir’ because I definitely would have been helped by a prologue. Having said that, most people would probably begin with the first book of the series but it would help to cater for those of us who jump in part way through.
I was asked to read this book in exchange for an honest review. This is that review!
This book was recently entered and was a SILVER MEDAL WINNER in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title Cairn, A Dragon Memoir Author: Rebecca Ferrell Porter Star Rating: 5 stars Number of Readers: 30
Readers’ Comments ‘What a wonderful story. I’m not a big fantasy fan but this is amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every page. The story is good, the adventure is good but it is the delightful style of the narrative that I enjoyed the most. The author is blessed with the ability to mix adventure, original and inspiring characters and a hefty dollop of comedy.’ Techer, year 10 ‘Anything with a dragon in it gets my vote. This was a lot of fun to read for the award. Plenty of mystery and plenty of dragon! Amazing cover too!’ Boy, aged 14 ‘A pretty complex plot here; the dragon is a worthy hero for this tale of fantasy and magic. The author works hard to keep the reader turning the page; the pacing is excllent as is the character and setting descriptions. I will now hunt out the first in the trilogy for my two lads. Very well done!’ Parent ‘This was the best book I read for The Wishing Shelf Book Award. It was exciting and the dragon was cool. I liked the way there were mythical monsters in the story and I liked how complex the dragon was. Not just a lump of meat with wings.’ Girl, aged 15
Stats Of the 30 readers: 30 would read another book by this author. 28 thought the cover was good or excellent. 21 thought the best part of the book was the plot. 9 felt the writing style was the best part.
‘A wonderfully written, fantastical dragon adventure. A SILVER medal winner and highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Awards
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book is a part of the Legends of Aurora series, but could be read as a stand alone novel. Things will make more sense if Blue on the Horizon is read first.
Cairn: A Dragon Memoir continues the story of Troika, the Chosen One and his fate. His fate that also includes the small but mighty Leaf. Troika finally gets to meet his clan of dragons and learn what he missed being raised away from his clan. But unfortunately, this meeting isn't underneath the best of circumstances as there are murders happening, but by whom? And will Troika and Leaf be able to fix things before they go horribly, horribly wrong?
Once again, Porter has created such a vivid and detailed world with these beautiful mythical creatures. I love Leaf even more in this book than I did the first. If you are a fantasy lover, especially a lover of dragons, then this book is for you.
This turned out to be the second book of a series, but was easy enough to follow without knowing anything about the first book. It's a light, easy read with some engaging characters and intriguing world-building -- enough that I'm now curious about the first book.
The world presented here is a neat little subversion of normal expectations for a fantasy. Fairies are presented as aggressors; trolls are decent folk wanting to be left to themselves; and dragons are a noble race who have overcome their baser instincts.
The one drawback which kept me from fully enjoying the book was that it needs a more thorough editing. The typos and wayward apostrophes were just prevalent enough to distract me from the story being told.
Cairn is an amazing story that carries you away to a fantasy world where you can almost feel the breeze and smell the air. This story really makes you feel as though you're right there with them. Rebecca Ferrell Porter is an amazing writer and story teller. She has an amazing gift and an imagination that is beyond creative. I enjoyed book one of this series so much that I was concerned this book would pale in comparison. I couldn't have been more wrong. I can't wait for the next adventure with Leaf and Troika. Hopefully we'll see more of Gavin too.I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review.
I read this book and some parts were confusing to me because this is the second in the series. I can say this is a good book with lots of great descriptions I was transported into a new world, I think I would have gave it 5 stars if I read the first book in the series. I am going to get and read the first book and this book again. I did enjoy it. I received this book free as a read and review book from Rebecca Ferrell Porter. Thank you
It is apparent Ms. Porter has a gift for expression and the skill to weave wonderful phrases into vivid images. I love the dragon fantasy; the colorful interpretation and unique vision the author offers this universally loved subject matter, is quite charming.
It is apparent Ms. Porter has a gift for expression and the skill to weave wonderful phrases into vivid images. I love the dragon fantasy; the colorful interpretation and unique vision the author offers this universally loved subject matter, is quite charming.