5/5 stars “The Stolen Dragon of Quanx: The Eyes Trilogy by Becca Mann is the first novel in The Eyes Trilogy. When you begin reading it you will get a feeling of yourself being pulled into a fantastic fantasy world. It will grab you from the beginning and you will find yourself just turning page after page after page and turning the pages until the end. There are twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat. After you get to the end you are going to be asking for the next novel. And then the next. This is a great fantasy and I know you will enjoy it just as I did. I gave it 5 stars but it deserves more than that. I highly recommend this book to everyone. I look for more from Becca Mann.” –-Coco’s book Reviews
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“The Stolen Dragon of Quanx: The Eyes Trilogy by Becca Mann. This is the first book in the Trilogy and the first book published by Becca Mann. Setting aside the accomplishments of publishing a book at the tender age of 16, the author did an excellent job of creating and developing a fantasy world and then inviting the reader into the story, almost immediately.
Her strengths are in the development of the adventures and mysteries. She lays a path of subtle clues that are woven throughout each page and each chapter that creates excitement and anticipation as you follow the key characters on their adventure. I was captivated by the presentation and the complexity in which she was able to weave the plots together in a suspenseful way.
This is a great book for teens and pre-teens who love fantasy and adventure. She does a fantastic job of creating twists and unexpected results throughout the book and there are a number of surprises in the end, which are played out extremely well.
The book is set in a fantasy world, with a group of teens that are trying to save their world from war. There are four tribes which include tribes of both humans and dragons. The people in the novel are uniquely identified by their eyes, which is an interesting concept that is developed over the course of the book. The main characters Kale and Sawyer must learn to work together and make well thought out decisions in order to accomplish their goals and steal the dragon egg. This leads to a series of unexpected adventures as they brave the unknown to save their world.
At the end of the book I was definitely ready for the next in the series. I expect over time the author will become an incredible writer, given the high quality she has produced for her first novel, at such a young age.” –Misha Almira
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5/5 stars “Prepare to be amazed, enthralled and swept away with author Becca Mann’s The Stolen Dragon of Quanx: The Eyes Trilogy. Written to captivate the minds of younger readers, this tale of dragons in a world of fantasy knows no age limit for its audience. In a land where the color of one’s eyes denotes the tribe they belong to and their heritage, a group of teens is brought together to endure trials, travel, treacherous danger and even death. Their mission? To find and steal a priceless dragon egg from a fierce tribe of magical dragons and save their world from war and utter destruction. From different backgrounds, walks of life and filled with learned distaste or mistrust of those who are different, these teens will surmount the insurmountable, suffer loss and betrayal from their own group and learn to trust and depend on those around them. Will they complete their mission and snatch the egg from the claws of the most powerful dragon ever? Has their quest been a true one or are there even more darkness and evil waiting for them? Who better to know what will entice a younger reader than a young adult? With the talent and poise of a seasoned author, Becca Mann has shown her gift in astounding detail! There is reason in her style, the chaos is in the action she has conjured and her characters do more than leap off the pages, they breathe, they have emotions and that air of youthful tenacity that perfectly defines their age group. Ms. Mann does NOT allow us to get bored, lose focus and, heaven forbid, skip a page. Every detail is necessary and you will want to know it. Every fantasy author has their own style and hook to keep their readers enthralled and Becca Mann has it in spades! Tales like this belong in every library, public, private, electronic, and every young reader should have access to a fantasy that allows them to feel part of the story. Did I like this? Do I want more from Becca Mann? Really? You have to ask? YES!!!” –Dii
“The Stolen Dragon of Quanx” is the first novel in (The Eyes Trilogy) by: Becca Mann. After finishing “The Stolen Dragon of Quanx,” you will be begging for it’s sequel!
Becca Mann is the author of “The Stolen Dragon of Quanx,” and what is so amazing about this young author is, her age- she’s only a teenager! She currently writes teenage children’s and young adult fiction fantasy. Becca has traveled and written in six of the seven continents, and also swims for the United States. She hopes to make it to the 2016 Olympics.
The main reason I was so excited to review “The Stole Dragon of Quanx” is because Becca Mann is so young, yet her age has not stopped her from achieving such great things early on. The fact that this genre is one of my favorites played a role as well, however I found it a great privilege to be considered to write this review. Writing a book at any age is an amazing accomplishment, let alone writing and publishing before you are old enough to vote.
Kale and Sawyer are two of the the main characters in “The Stolen Dragon of Quanx.” As you read, you will follow them as their lives change forever. You will see them develop through ever changing circumstances.
This book is suited for young adults, and in some cases I believe that an experienced reader in lower grade levels would enjoy it as well. The story line is complex, but not so complex that it would be hard to understand for the younger reader. However, as I had just mentioned, it suites young adults, and adults alike.
I loved the fact that the people of Quanx have unique eyes. Their statute in their society rides primarily on their color for example, and I find this very intriguing. The ability to tint the eye color to change your statue is a dangerous, but doable action.
Would you do what it takes to help your people survive? Could you be deceptive to save those you care about?
I could continue with some of the fascinating aspects of this book, but in order not to spoil, I will leave you with my word that if you love a book in this genre, then “The Stolen Dragon of Quanx” is for you. It is full of fantasy, the whimsical, imaginative story lines, with a bit of dystopian flare thrown in.
I promise, you will truly enjoy “The Stolen Dragon of Quanx.”” –Paige Clendenin
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5/5 stars “This book is a great read and a real page turner. It has a surprise at every turn. It is hard not to fall in love with Kale and root for her through the whole book. Just when you think you figured out who the good guys and bad guys are you find another twist. I was certain I knew what would happen with the egg and found I was wrong! Kale gives a great example to girls everywhere of bravery and confidence. The worst part of the book is when it ends and you realize you have to wait for the next one!” –Amy Grogan
And the book, as I hoped, is good! I wouldn’t go as far as some people did, and give it 5 stars. It’s a solid 3.5 stars for me, which I think is great for a debut author. Especially since I think this series has a lot of room to grow, and I fully expect the next books to improve on at least some of the things I hesitated about.
Well, let’s start from the beggining. If I were to put The Stolen Dragon of Quanx in a shelf in my library, it would be in the Middle Grade shelf – even though the main characters ages range from 12 (Vulia, the youngest) to about 17 (Brandon, the oldest). The actual main characters are 15 and 16 (Kale and Sawyer, respectively), and the book’s third party perspective follows them as their lives change forever. Why Middle Grade, and not Young adult? Are the characters not teenagers? Yes, they are. Doesn’t the plot go beyond the boundaries of the character’s own personal lives? Yes, it does. Isn’t the book long enough? Yes, it is (it’s 397 pages long, as a matter of fact). So why?
The reason I believe this book is suited for a younger audience is the fact that there are many holes in the world and character building and in the characters’ arcs and points of view that only Middle Grade children wouldn’t be put off by. Need an exemple? I’ll give you some that were really disrupting to me.
First is the training camp. Even though I loved the description of the camp and I thought the concept of the Jeykeh (the secret keeper) was wonderful, it didn’t seem plausible to me that all the opposing tribes would train their armies next to each other, or even allow for their child-wariors to congregate. Can you insgine a country sharing a military base with their enemy? It is a naive notion, although it serves the purpose of the story. In fact, many aspects of the story seem to sacrifice cohesion in order to serve a purpose in the plot. The idea behind having unique eyes, for exemple, is very intesting. But the way it’s handled is also a little green, where sometimes the color of your eyes plays a major role, and other times simply shading one’s eyes is enough to hide their identity.
Likewise, the characters are often inconsistent. There are little things – like changing their minds for no special reason in the span of some paragraphs (climbing the wall is hard! Oh, wait, it’s not so hard, it’s actually refreshing) – and big things – like some of Kale’s and especially Sawyer’s decisions. Miss Mann even addresses some of these situations, making the characters point out the hole in their behaviour or in other people’s behaviour. But then most of the time she gives no reasonable arguments for it, like simply addressing it would suffice. As a result, none of the characters were completely believable to me. For exemple, most of the young people were very secure of their actions all of the time. They spend most of the book trapped, away from their families, holding secrets that could save their world, yet they don’t wish to share them with an adult even for a minute. They simply decide what they have to do and do it – no matter how important and life threatening – without hesitation!
This is probably the most important reason this book’s review isn’t simple. I am an adult, and at the same time that I see all that, I also understand that a Middle Grade reader would find all those things exciting and plausible. Why not? They want to believe that they would be that brave and decisive if they were in the same situation. And I think that’s absolutely fine!
This book is what I would consider a High Fantasy novel, and Miss Mann does a good job of building a world that is both unique and comprehensible. It should be right up my alley! But the fact that this is a book that was so obviously suited for a certain age made it hard for me to enjoy it as much as I would have liked to. For exemple: even though most of the style of writing has a certain formal, slightly medieval, tone – as you would expect in fantasy writing where swords and bows are the main fighting tools – the author also uses expressions like “guesstimating”.
I think that for those same reasons, the pace felt very slow to me. I frequently stopped reading the story and started doing something else because I had a hard time believing what was happening. But things do happen, and the story is actually pretty action filled. Again, someone younger might really enjoy it. Things also felt over explained at times (which can make them more confusing, if that makes any sense).
But, some things I really enjoyed were all the twists in the end (some I guessed, some I had no idea) and all the hints of adventures and misteries to be unfolded in the future (like the story behind Kale’s sward, Paka’s backstory, and the reason behind how the peasant’s Crowned Prince came to be).
In summation, this story is creative and fun, but more suited to a younger audience. It has a lot of potencial, and I think the next books will be very interesting.
My rating: 3.5/5
Would I read it again? No
Will I read the next ones in the trilogy? Maybe…
I love reading fantasy novels! They always remind me that I’m creative and imaginative person. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to read this book. The storytelling was real, down to earth, interesting, and creative. The characters were intriguing, honest, compelling, and real. I look forward to reading more of this author in the future.” –Amazon Customer
I could not put this book down ! I wanted to know what happened ! I can not wait for the ending… hurry up ! Finish ! Send it to me !