Dragon Magic

The Magic Books #4

by Andre Norton, Tristan Elwell (cover illustration)

Book 4 of 6: The Magic Sequence

Four boys from different races and nationalities are drawn together by a potent magic that hurtles them into worlds populated by heroes and dragons

Sig, Artie, Kim, and Ras go to the same school but have nothing in common—except for the urge to explore an abandoned house in the neighborhood. Who knows what treasures they’ll unearth? In one of the rooms is a dusty old box with four pictures of dragons on top, containing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle all jumbled together. But they glitter like jewels and lead each boy back to an enchanted time.

Sig becomes a Viking warrior who must slay a dragon who had once been a man and now guards a cursed treasure. Ras is a Nubian prince sold into captivity; he can only escape by killing a deadly Egyptian serpent. As Artos, named for Caesar, High King of Britain, Artie lives under the yoke of Saxon tyranny, waging war to defend King Arthur and the Pendragon flag. Now a sword bearer and page in the imperial palaces of the great Chinese emperor, Kim must follow the path of the slumbering dragon. Against a backdrop of myth and fantasy, acclaimed author Andre Norton weaves an enthralling tale of friendship, faith, loyalty, and heroism.

Dragon Magic is the 4th book in The Magic Sequence, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Dragons, Childrens, Magic, Time Travel, Science Fiction Fantasy

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impulse grab at the library because illustrator.
I hope that the "series" is not really such, and they don't need to be read in order: do you know?
Now that I'm done it sure does not seem so.

So, this is a boy's adventure / history book. These four kids are given this experience by the author so that they'll grow up to be the kind of men that legendary heroes are. I would have had no interest as a girl child, but it's sort of five short stories in one for me now, and I got through it, and I appreciate the research that went into the stories and the presentation of the theme and the writing. So, four stars worth of recommendation.

Anyway, what the four legends are is something you want to know before you decide to seek out a copy to read is 1. Sigurd and Fafnir 2. Nubia, Daniel (from the Bible), and Sirrush-Lau 3. Artos Pendragon, who is not quite the same as King Arthur, and 3. Chuko Liang the Slumbering Dragon.

There are no notes, but Norton is well-read and capable of doing research; I trust the value of this book.

Also interesting is that nowhere in this early (first?) edition is there a revelation that the author is female. Make of that what you will....

Btw, it also gets 'diversity' points and recent history points. Not least interesting is the African-American boy's story, taking place as it does when youth were adopting African names and repudiating their parents as they accused them of "Uncle Tom-ing to whitey."

[Cinnamingirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was younger I read a ton of books, and it is impossible for me to remember all their names. It's very frustrating to only remember pieces of a book, and to have no way of finding it again, which is a problem I frequently encounter.

This was one of those books I started reading and instantly remembered. I love puzzles, so that might be part of it, but I also could identify with the characters' feelings of loneliness and wanting to escape from their problems - then again, who hasn't? I honestly found this book much better written than Steel Magic, the first in the series, if only because Norton draws upon more than Arthurian legend to create her stories, and she always has some interesting cultural backgrounds going on in them; for example, George's brother Shaka and the 'back to Africa' movement.

One of the recurring themes that you see again and again in Norton's work is the power of books... which is not really surprising, since she was a rather prolific author.

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not enough magic and not enough dragons.

As a kid I thought it odd that the kids are magically transported by working a magically colorful puzzle, but once they arrive at their destination, with the exception of Sig's story, there's no real dragons, and no magic to speak of, either. Feel the same way as an adult. Adult me appreciates the frame story more than pre-teen me, but not to the point that it makes much difference. The writing is a tad dated but I don't think it harms the story much.

On the whole, this is what my sister calls "brain candy" -- entertaining enough for one read but nothing more.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I remembered really liking it when I was a kid, but it's just gone over like a lead balloon with my 8yo. It has all the pieces that should guarantee success - action, adventure, mystery, dragons - but he says "it's too hard to understand and i keep forgetting what's going on." And I have to say I agree with him. So we're going to shelve this one and try something else for now. Maybe we'll open it up again later.

For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains a collection of four stories tied together in an overarching story, but it is the smaller stories that intrigued me the most. I LOVE them. Each of the boys of the running story spend some time as a character in a dragon story--retold well-known dragon legends of different cultures. Each presents its culture uniquely and unforgettably. Andre Norton is a writer of junior/young adult (about age 9-13) novels that I intend to explore more thoroughly.

[MB (What she read) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book as a kid. Checked it out and re-read many many times...

And Hilary Knight's illustrations added so much to the story. If you're buying this used, try to find a copy with HK's illustrations (my advice).

[Rick Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four boys, new students attending middle school, all sharing a bus stop, but otherwise strangers, discover a magical jigsaw puzzle that transports each of them into a separate story from mythology. When they return with new insights into their own lives, they manage to form connections with each other through the shared experiences.

The modern-day characters' stories function as a framing for the four mythological stories: Norse, Biblical, Arthurian, and Chinese.

The author's does a great job of transitioning between the various characters' points of view, as well as the styles of the different myths.

In the modern setting, the story felt like it was just scratching the surface of exploring the interactions between the four characters, who don't actively interact all that much for the first half of the book. Some of them are better-developed in terms of background than others. Raz, caught in the middle of the conflict between his patriotic veteran father and his Black-power activist brother is the most interesting of the four, and the conflicts in his life resonate beyond the early 1970s when this was written, even if the language around those issues reads as a bit dated.

While the mythical stories and the process of discovery by the boys made for an engaging story, I was left feeling like their adventures were just getting started, and that there was a lot more that could be written about these characters.

[Darth Jader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this classic fantasy story about four young boys who assemble a puzzle found in an abandoned home leading them on classic adventures involving dragons of some kind. Two of the short stories around this puzzle feature actual dragons and two feature people who are emblematic of dragons. I enjoyed this coming of age tale and that each story provided some insight into each of the boys life in present day, leading them to become better young men. The author does a great job fitting the stories into their respective time periods and cultures (Germanic, African, British/Welsh, and Chinese). My only complaint is that two of the boys characters were not as well developed as the other two, but I digress that it is hard to totally developed ever character in a book with limited space. I would recommend this book to any lover of fantasy and it serves as a very good launching point to check out Andre Norton's other work.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The four boys, each separately and by himself and on different days, put together one-fourth of a dragon jigsaw puzzle. Each dragon in the jigsaw puzzle is a different color but all of the colors are bright and jewel-toned. As each boy finishes one dragon, he is pulled into an adventure in a past age. And each adventure teaches each boy an important lesson. The story was well-written and interesting, but I was disappointed by the fact that only two of the boys faced a real dragon; in the other two adventures the boys met men/leaders who were called dragons and had dragon banners. Otherwise, a decent fantasy adventure.

[Luann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another YA book by Andre Norton, "Dragon Magic" was special to me because one of the characters shares my maiden name and the main object of magic is a jigsaw puzzle. Upon rereading it as an adult, I enjoyed it for the story and admire how Norton manages to illustrate admirable traits like friendship, tolerance, persistance, and courage in the content of a well-written story. This is one of her earlier works, published in 1972, but does not suffer from lack of cell phones or computers. My only complaint is that the ending was a bit abrupt.

[MissingNorth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice short fantasy read. Like Le Guin, Norton has a way of carving rich worlds out of a simple, minimalist prose-style, perfect for YA.

Apparently this is the 4th in a series - I have not read the others - it stood on its own well enough.

[Autumn7383 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow start...a tiny bit like Stranger Things

[John Teske · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just delightful - 4 stories based on dragons of different ethnic heritage. Somewhat dated, but enjoyable nonetheless.

[Julie Akeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting story how four boys become friends with the use of a magical puzzle

[Gena Lott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sci-Fi became my genre of choice in high school. One of the many books I read by Norton. She was one of my favs!

[Brendan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp through mythtory

[Ron]

Excellent stories weaved together into an ending that satisfies!

[Doris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A coming of age tale that opens the eyes of not one but four young males, each of whom believes himself unique and alone in a big new school. All four boys, Sig, Ras, Artie and Kim are lonely for their old schools, and trying to fit in but unsure how to do so. They all ride the same bus to school, but mostly ignore each other except Sig and Ras, who are wondering if it would be okay to try to be friends.

As a last minute whim after school, Sig decides to explore a little in an abandoned house right by their bus stop, where he finds a jigsaw. This magic puzzle draws them in one by one, on separate visits, and makes them realize they are different but at the same time similar.

As they work through the adventures, Sig Dortmund of German ancestry first travels in time to meet Sigurd and help battle the dragon Fafnir. He is followed by Ras Brown of African ancestry, who like Sig falls into a sort of time warp as he helps the Israelite Daniel (from Daniel in the Lion's Den fame) battle the dragon Sirrush-Lau. Next up is Artie Jones, who has heritage from the British Isles and is on a quest to help King Arthur, in this story Artos Pendragon, also known as the Red Dragon. Finally there is Kim Stevens from Hong Kong, who travels in time to have a small part in battle with a man called Chuko Liang (who is known as the Slumbering Dragon).

All these tales can be found to some degree in history and myth, and as a girl I devoured the story. I so wanted to be there, to see these awesome dragons, to take part in the stories!

Reading it again now, I see it almost as a kind of teaching book, telling a story in a way that could almost happen, in an everyday neighborhood. I enjoyed it as much, or possibly even more now, than I did so long ago, as I took time to think about each boy's adventure and look up the related characters.

It was good to see different boys with different interests drawn together in this way, even as the world was being torn apart by racial unrest, the war in Vietnam, civil unrest in Britain, and the German massacre at the Olympic games. Four different boys with vastly different ethnic backgrounds, drawn together in a way that could make history as well as reliving it.

Today, it would probably be a 500-page book, but for the time it was published and the audience it targeted, all I can say is...

Excellent.

[Valerie]

I'sooth, I have two copies of this book--an older edition, and this one, which is less decrepit and better for repeated reading.

The book is a fast read, and the stories are so linked as to keep drawing you on to the next.

The stories are good examples of Norton's eclectic knowledge of the odd nooks and crevices of history. I believe that this was the first intimation I had about the Nubian pharaohs of Egypt, for example.

Praise aside, however, these stories still suffer from Norton's bete noir--a defensive and often dreadful propaganda in favor of violence and abuse as moral and beneficial. Not to society--there's limited presence of women in the connecting narrative, and essentially none in the inset stories (except in the memories of the viewpoint characters, sometimes)--but to men and boys. For example, in the Pendragon stories set in post-Roman Britain, there's explicit rejection of the idea that any truce or peace is possible with the Saxons (The resident version of Norton's standardized dehumanized, implacable enemies). Those of us who have ancestors from Wessex, Sussex, Essex, and other Saxon settlements might choose to resent the implication--if we were permitted to actually SEE Saxons as individuals with marrow, nervous systems, and allergies. But we're not only not vouchsafed any such insight--we're explicitly denied any inkling of the humanity of the 'enemies'. This is more easily demonstrated when the enemies are of our own kith and kind, but it's easily exportable to the more exotic forms of paranoid xenophobia Norton too easily (and too frequently) resorted to.

[Asaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dawno, dawno temu istniała pewna biblioteka pełna książek fantastycznych. Wówczas dziewczynka, zapewne zachęcona przez swojego tatę, zaczęła pochłaniać w ogromnych ilościach powieści Andre Norton. Nie zapamiętała szczegółów ze "Świata Czarownic", ale utkwiła jej w pamięci pewna powieść przeczytana dwukrotnie. W niepamięć odszedł autor, w niepamięć odszedł tytuł. Pozostały jedynie urywki, nitki fabuły. Jednak to wystarczyło by ta sama dziewczynka-już nie dziewczynka wyrosła na czytelniczkę fantasy I science fiction. Wszystko dzięki Terry'emu Pratchettowi, oraz właśnie Andre Norton.

Dziewczynka dorosła, pozostała tylko młoda kobieta, która poszukiwała, a raczej próbowała znaleźć tamtą książkę sprzed lat. Jej jedyną wskazówką były cztery fakty: autor był znany, gdyż zapamiętała swoje własne zaskoczenie, puzzle, podróż w czasie oraz dzieci. Popełniała jednak podstawowy błąd. Otóż szukała niewłaściwego autora, gdyż wydawało jej się, że poszukiwana powieść została napisana przez Mercedes Lackey. Wreszcie przez przypadek odnalazła tytuł i pisarkę, którą ku jej zaskoczeniu, tak dobrze pamiętała z innego cyklu oraz uwielbiała.

Nie ośmielę się wrócić do "Magii Smoków" jako osoba dorosła. Zapewne czyta się ją dobrze, bo Andre Norton na ogół pisała lekko. Lepiej by pozostała owiana tajemnicą wspomnień. Tak jest lepiej.

[Arliegh Kovacs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nearly every night I read to (at least) one of my grandsons for 20 minutes from a book of his choice. This is the 4th book in Andre Norton's "Magic" series (juvenile level) and I have been reading the series to/with my 11-year old grandson. This book is about 4 boys from very different backgrounds who live in the same neighborhood and go to the same school. They are each suspicious of the others and each, in his own way, is having trouble adjusting to school, family, changing relationship, and/or culture. Then, one day, one of the boys finds an unusual puzzle in an old house that is about to be torn down. Separately, each boy races to build one of the four dragons in the puzzle until all of the pieces -- and their lives -- fit together. So far, this is my grandson's favorite book of the set.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sig, Artie, Kim, and Ras live in the same neighborhood and go to the same school, but they have nothing in common--each has different interests, and is of a different ethnic heritage. One day they each sneak into the old abandoned house on the corner and discover a strange puzzle box covered with pictures of four dragons. Drawn by powerful magic, the boys find themselves bound together by a mystery that will transform them all—and transport them to places inhabited by heroes and dragons from ancestral legend. Vermont Golden Dome Book Award Nominee (1974)

[scarlettraces]

It looked great but alas the writing was terrible. Made it 15 pages by great force of will but had to give up.

I should probably not reread "Plague Ship" which was the sole Andre Norton (in the yellow VG branding) I had access to as a child & loved.

(And to continue the snarkiness of adulthood, my goodness that's a terrible modern cover. Let's have the original 70s one, shall we? *changes editions*)

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally read this been when I was a preteen and I was in love. True, I would love to have read about at least one young lady, but this was an incredible book. Now, many, many years later, it is still a magical read. I highly recommend reading it to your preteen.

[Ha Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a kid's read it is really good! I was very surprised. It was the cover art that really attracted me to it, but the whole concept of it was very intriguing.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this one long ago - high school, I think. Was always one of my favorite Norton, but then puzzles and dragons, what's not to like?

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dragon Magic

Very good. book but very dated in some ways. Not to say I didn't like it, but the rhetoric was off-putting.

[Wilson E. Stevens Sr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of three new boys in town that are having problems adjusting to the new town and school. The find a dragon puzzle in an old building to be torn down, and as each completes one of the dragons in the puzzle, finds himself transferred in time to an ancestor facing problems. The experience they take back with them changes their lives forever and makes the four best friends.