I thought Sherlock Sam was great, so I had high hopes for this book. It's astonishingly boring for a dragon adventure with a 4 person questing party, which is a bummer. I found the characters either flat or deeply unlikeable and the world building poor -- here's your dragon, here's your magic power, there world needs you to save it -- go? Mediocre. ( )

"Dragon Mountain" was an exciting start to a new series for primary school aged children. Full of action, adventure and dragons, I found myself quickly engrossed in the story. The four children - Billy, Charlotte, Dylan and Ling-Fei were all likeable and readers will be able to see themselves in one of them. However, my favourite was the Irish boy, Dylan. While he certainly wasn't the bravest in the group, his quick observations and witty comments made me laugh. The ending was certainly a cliff-hanger which definitely encourages readers to pick-up the next book in the series. ( )

I would have stopped reading Dragon Mountain after the first few chapters, if it wasn't for my son. He's seven and it's about dragons, so obviously he liked it. However, the storytelling was awful. It's like the authors were trying too hard to convince readers that their characters were believably afraid of the dangers they faced. Billy constantly questioned his choices and bounced between excitement and trepidation so often it made me want to scream. Just go on your flarking adventure! We already know this book is fiction, you don't have to constantly berate me with a character's inner turmoil over one decision. There are DRAGONS for the love of God. I wish they had just accepted their situation and went with it.

Comparing this book to Percy Jackson is an insult to Rick Riordan.

The story itself didn't always make sense, and I could tell my son was getting frustrated with me for stopping so I could notate my issues with the book. The dragons have been trapped in a mountain for what? A hundred years or something? Yet they don't have names? What have they been calling each other all this time??? "When our humans die, so does the name. It is wiped from my memory and all who have ever spoken it." Okay, so why do other dragons have names? They've been referring to other dragons like Dimitrius, yet they themselves haven't had one for more than a century? Pfft. Additionally, the names they are given by children were predictably lame and unoriginal. Tank? Spark? Buttons? (If I were an ancient and powerful dragon, I would have been insulted by their lack of imagination.)

The dialogue between the characters is also obnoxious af. The kids talking amongst themselves is one thing, but the ANCIENT DRAGONS sounded just as inexperienced and came across as childish themselves. Don't even get me started on Billy's acceptance of death. In the midst of him constantly questioning what they're doing he somehow comes to terms with his own death. "This might be the last thing that he ever did. He thought about his life at home, his life before dragons. And he realized that even if this was the end, it would be worth it. To get a chance to experience magic in the world. To be a part of something epic." What is he? 12? And he's known about dragons and magic for less than 24 hours. How did he go from speculative to full on I WILL DIE FOR THIS SHIT?

There were also several inconsistencies that I'm not even going to bother to list, but they made me roll my eyes and wish for the book's seemingly inevitable conclusion. I just wanted the story to end so I could get rid of the book and never think about it again. Dragon Mountain had the potential to be a fun middle grade book for kids, but the redundancy and dialogue were too off-putting. I liked how the book started, but it went from okay to terrible as soon as the kids discovered dragons. If you're going to write something fantastical, it has to be believable (this was not). The world-building needs to make sense (it didn't), and the characters have to be somewhat likable or at least people you want to root for (not even a little bit). (★★☆☆☆)

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What a fun read! Dragons get a chance to allow their awesomeness to come to full light, while kids do what they best—form friendships and save the world.

Billy Chan might have a father from Hong Kong, but he's a pure California boy with tons of surfing medals to show for it. Still, he has to head to a camp somewhere in the middle of no-where among the mountains of China to learn to improve his Mandarin. There he meets a group of very different kids from all over the world, who are about as excited to be there as he is (which is zilch). But from the very first moments, when the camp leader pulls out magical beads and claims the beads know how to divide the campers into groups of four, things start getting weird. Billy finds himself placed with three others, who might appear very different, but still fit together well. After facing a disappearing tiger, a hole opens up in the mountain and they are sucked in to discover four dragons, who've been waiting for them for many, many years. And the dragons have news no one wants to hear—great danger is coming to both Earth and the Dragon Realm, and these kids are the only hope either has to survive.

This is a great read for fantasy, magic, dragon, adventure and simply action fans. The pages draw in right away as Billy exits a train at a small, Chinese village and feels so lost it hurts. He's very easy to connect with and him, like the other characters, come across very natural, as if they could be a group of kids anyone might meet. The personalities are very different, and each of the four heroes is likeable in their own way...and each has their own kinks and quirks. But this one sets on imagination, adventure, and the dream of doing so much more than sitting around as adults would often have kids do. This tale lets dreams take flight with excitement around every bend.

Of course, the diverse characters and Asian setting bring along a nice flair, which is gladly seen in today's world. I did love diving into China and the mountain along with Mandarin and such. This acts more as a light peppering to the story, since it only sets the scene before the dragons come in. Nothing can compare to the amazingness of these dragons. (Yes, dragons...dragons...and more dragons.)

The tale is for middle graders, and it stays snuggly in this group. The language and grammar fit very well to the lower and middle range of the age group, and is actually a bit light for anyone older...which has its pluses and minuses. There isn't a super amount of depth, keeping this tale fun and action centered...which fits wonderfully to grades 4 through 6. I had no trouble reading through this one in a short evening and see even reluctant readers sinking into these pages.

It's a sheer adventure story packed with magic and dragon goodness, where friendship reigns. And I can recommend this one without a smidgen of doubt because middle graders are sure to enjoy every page. ( )