Thanks to my professor not assigning any homework this weekend I actually had a few moments to do some personal reading! I picked a quick read, a children’s book called Werewolf versus Dragon. Werewolf versus Dragon is the first book in the Awfully Beastly Business series by David Sinden (Author), Matthew Morgan (Author), Guy Macdonald (Author), and Jonny Duddle (Illustrator). I mentioned it ages ago, but I just now finally sat down and gave it a read (which took about an hour, it’s a short one).
The story is about the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Beasts (RSPCB), which is a rescue center for werewolves, dragons, fairies, giants, sea monsters, and other fantastical creatures. They save injured beasts and then release them back into the wild once they are cured. In the story, the RSPCB goes up against a nasty beast poacher. But a young werewolf named Ulf, who lives and works at RSPCB, saves the day.
First off, the title is totally misleading. Ulf never battles a dragon, he saves a dragon. But the title does make sense once you have read the book. Anyway…
Looking at the book as a mature adult I’d say that Werewolf versus Dragon is a predictable tale about supernatural beasties with a super obvious villain. But if I were a kid who hasn’t read a million books before, I’d say this is the coolest book ever! It’s all about perception here.
In the book we don’t find out the identity of the mysterious villain until the end. Buuut, it’s pretty easy to guess who the villain is right away, it’s really no big surprise. But perhaps it would be to a kid. So as I said, as an adult this book isn’t too amazing, but a little one would think it’s awesome.
I did love the idea of the RSPCB though. There are so many spectacular creatures in this world. The authors could do a lot with that. The series definitely has a lot of potential.
As for Duddle’s illustrations throughout the book – I loved them! His style fit perfectly with the tale and he captured the scenes flawlessly. Loved!
All in all, I wasn’t super impressed with the story in Werewolf versus Dragon. I think a young reader, who this book is intended for, would love it. But an adult wouldn’t find it all that special because of how predictable it is. So this is a werewolf book I would recommend to the kiddies, but not so much for the adults (unless you are looking for a super quick read).
– Moonlight
