Quillblade: Book One

Voyages of the Flying Dragon #1

by Ben Chandler

Philip Pullman meets Nicholas Flamel in this thrilling ride aboard a stolen airship on a quest to save the world  Twin brother and sister, Lenis and Missy, are slaves aboard the powerful airship Hiryu—but when the airship is stolen on its maiden voyage, they find themselves working for a captain whose noble quest seems to make no sense. Relentlessly pursued by the emperor's own airships, they fly over the perilous Wasteland, where corrupted demons lie in wait. When Lenis dreams of Apsilla, the blue dragon of the east, the captain decides to help the twins find Apsilla's daughter. The survival of the last totem may be their only hope—but will they find Apsilla's egg in time, or will their enemies find them first?

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Steampunk, Young Adult

432 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Ben lives mostly in worlds of his own creation but occasionally misses real stuff and has to return home. At the moment, that means Adelaide, a city where he currently has far too many jobs, one of which involves teaching English Literature and Creative Writing at Flinders University.

For the past eight years, Ben has been studying Fantasy, and he thinks it's the coolest thing ever that someone gave him a doctorate for doing it. He loves heroes, villains, graphic novels, and video games, and he thinks you can learn more from watching cartoons than you can from the news.

Like all fantasy writers, Ben has a cat. His cat is named Loki. It's possible Loki is the reincarnation of the God of Mischief, but Ben hopes this is just a flight of his fancy.

Reviews

[Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book along as a gift for buying Inheritance. I originally thought it was going to be a terrible kiddies book but i found it it be interesting and very different from what i had been reading lately. I love the world present in Quillblade. The world is so different from my own and other fantasy worlds I've read about. I actual found myself wanting a bestia.

[Ursula · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is awesome I got it for free quite a few years ago and decided to re read it because I remembered how much I'd enjoyed it, it's amazing although some of the scenes could've been written better, like the death scene which didn't make me cry even though I wanted to, it just wasn't real enough for me. But besides that I loved it and I think this book was amazing and I'm definitely getting the second one!

[Jamez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Dr Chandler
When i was reading this book i felt a new page turn in my own life, this beautiful piece of English literature has inspired me and my own family to continue down our own path. I hope that you find this review and have a great life
Sincerely
Grimace

[Alayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Ben Chandler is an Aussie author. His fantasy is one that is fast moving and exciting, with very likeable characters. Highly recommended.

[Fatima · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

This book is about an alternate universe whereby it's set in the distant future.I love books about the distant future but this book did not quite work for me. I did have some qualms about this book so it was a rather okay read.

The characters were well-developed I must say. Each had their own background and story. Since there are several characters, I shall only focus on the main characters, Missy(Misericordia if I am not wrong) and Lenis.They were both enslaved from a young age, being sold to various owners. At one point in their life, they were discovered to have telepathic powers and had the ability to communicate with the Bestia which are magical creatures. So, they were hired into the Hiryu, a voyage ship. They travel to a lot of lands including lands of demons. (sounds interesting?) But, there was not really a solid plot. Too many strange things were happening at the same time which made me more and more confused. Anyway, everything was somehow explained clearly in the end. I did also have a hard time coping with the names as they were really strange. (An example: Ishallanu. ) Demons also exist in this story. They are destroying the lands, leaving behind terribly putrid miasma. The description about the stench and surroundings were quite strong. It was as if I could smell the stench.(figuratively of course)

After travelling quite a while, the ship goes to a kingdom where they are imprisoned. and then, they acquire a dragon egg which is special. Lenis and Missy, along with the other crew members have to take care of the egg since the mother of it has died.(That was basically found out through dreams Lenis was seeing every night since they came aboard the ship. But no one clearly knew of it) Confusing much? and then, Missy goes missing and encounters Lord Raiko who is about to turn into a demon. See, how it is confusing? The starting of the story was confusing too(for me, that is). The fact that Captain Shishi stole the Hiryu was confusing. It was vaguely stated why.

So, this book was okay for me but I guess there was interesting aspects to it too, especially the characters and the description of kingdoms. But if the plot is a little confusing, that is where I draw the line. So, I would not recommend this book for everyone.

[Heather S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book as a free gift with the last of the Eragon series, so I didn't really expect much from it. I completely underestimated. I enjoy this book immensely. This was my second read of it. Set in a world where machines are powered by bestia, and some people can communicate with them, called beastia Masters. Most of the world is covered with Wastelands, full of toxic mists and terrifying monsters. The main characters, Missy and Lenis, are beastia master slave twins, given with a brand new airship as a gift to the emperor. The adventure begins with the theft of the airship!

This story is completely engaging, well written and well edited. The Asian-inspired names tripped me up a bit, but there weren't too many characters to get confused with.

A journey of self exploration, as well as an adventure through the air and water.

[Ilse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but not as much as I hoped I would. I couldn't feel sympathy for the main characters. I don't know why but I just couldn't.

There was some world building, but not enough for me. The author talked about "bestia" all the time but I couldn't for the world imagine them through his words. Or the twins either, they are never described when it comes to how they look, or at least I can't remember them being described. Which was a bad thing in my opinion.

I hoped there would be dragons, buuut it took a long time to get there. Still a nice fast read with the pretty big font. It was very entertaining. Three stars.

[Steve Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book at the South Jordan Library a couple of weeks ago and couldn't put it down. Chandler's world based on ancient Asian culture and science fiction is amazing. Twins, Misericordia and Lenis Clemens, set off on an adventure to save the last Totem, a baby rain dragon, from destruction by Demons. This is a fast paced adventure about self discovery and destiny. It is one of the best books I've read in awhile. The Asian names may cause some reading difficulty because of length and frequency but once you overcome the difficulty the book is a fast and wonderful read.

[Jacquie South · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again, looking for something to read in the house, I found this book in my son's room and decided to give it a go. It took a little bit to get into it, but once it got going it was quite good. It was hard sometimes to keep up with the unusual names and somewhat complicated storylines of the chatacters, but overall it had an interesting storyline and characters. This would suit boys and girls of about 10 - 14.

[L.J. Higgins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed submerging myself into the fantasy world created by Ben Chandler. Although I originally picked up this book because it mentioned dragons (and they only have a small appearance) the airships, demons, different cities, bestia and interesting characters made up for it. Quillblade is definitely more suited to the preteen age group but I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

[Webfrau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was in the teen fiction section of the library but it's definitely aimed at the younger end of that audience. I liked the fantasy world that it's set in, loved the idea of the Bestia and the premise for the story was good but it seemed slightly disjointed and lacking in detail in places.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting fantasy about an alternative earth. I enjoyed the plot of the twins discovering powers aboard a rebelling ship staffed by nice supportive people. A lot of the lore was a bit too Asian for my personal taste.

[Belinda. Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review at Burn Bright.com.au

[Gab · Rating 4 out of 5]

A futuristic adventure for pre-teens, ir was absolutley wonderful to read!

[Trisha]

non stop adventure

[Taneeka Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come!!!

[Rue O · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. I really enjoyed it.

[Mmeg16]

confusing fantasy, australian