by Dielle Alexandre and Jeff Mulcaster
Chez Champignon, $9.00, 228 pages
Kara is a nine-year-old girl who has never understood the anti-dragon sentiment in her world. Although she grew up with dragons being raised for meat and used as labor, she has always felt sorry for them. When her grandmother gives her a dragon egg that she accidentally hatches, Kara is delighted with her new friend. But when her dragon is caught by the evil minister of the land, Kara must leave her family to save her dragon. Meeting new friends on the way, Kara learns to stand up for what she believes in.
Sambuka Black starts off with an interesting idea – that of a young girl fighting for the rights of a friend – but doesn’t quite come together. The story, especially in the beginning of the novel, has abrupt scene changes that are confusing and distracting to the reader. Further, the adults in Kara’s life seem oddly detached from reality. It’s perplexing that her grandmother would give her a dragon egg, and her parents in general seem confused by Kara. There are some entertaining moments involving Kara’s adventure with her new friends, Duncan and Alex, but in general, the book is too inconsistently written to enjoy.
Barbara Cothern
Regarding your review of Sambuka Black:
Most glaringly: Of course Kara’s parents are confused by her and out of touch with reality. Their generation’s backward thinking, much like that of the slave owners of America’s dark past, is the very impetus for Kara’s scary solo quest. This is called “motivation” and is an important plot device in stories. (I believe the scientific expression for your lack of understanding is “Duuuuuuuuuh!”) How do you ignore the single most important theme of the story–a strong heroic individual thinking for herself rather than blindly accepting the sheep-like mentality of her society–and instead focus on peripheral characters?
“…abrupt scene changes that are confusing and distracting to the reader.”? No, just confusing and distracting to you. 10-year-old children have read our book and were not confused or distracted. In fact they reported reading voraciously then re-reading because they enjoyed it so much. Perhaps Winnie the Pooh would be more your speed? But no, wait… the walking, talking stuffed animals might leave you positively apoplectic. Best not to read at all, I suppose.
“…too inconsistently written to enjoy.”? Our novel will not win a Pulitzer and maybe it’s not quite as clever as we we would like to believe but it is nothing if not an enjoyable read. The Multnomah County Library Office took less than a week to order copies for six of their branches. Look it up. How many of your novels are in local libraries?
“…doesn’t quite come together.”? Our story, with the exception of a few unanswered questions specifically left for the sequel, comes together beautifully. Plants and payoffs, flashbacks, a few red herrings… oh wait… more literary terms you are undoubtedly unfamiliar with. Sorry.
And really? No mention at all of the 150 plus illustrations or the geeky appendixes?
Your review is, in a word, incompetent. We will certainly not be trusting the Portland Book Review in the future.
Jeff Mulcaster, co-author
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^LOL