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Résumé
Résumé
Listen! For the song of Owen Thorskard has a second verse.
Every dragon slayer owes the Oil Watch a period of service, and young Owen was no exception. What made him different was that he did not enlist alone. His two closest friends stood with him shoulder to shoulder. Steeled by success and hope, the three were confident in their plan. And though Siobhan McQuaid was the first bard in a generation, she managed to forge a role for herself and herald Owen as a new kind of dragon slayer for a new kind of future.
But the arc of history is long and hardened by dragon fire. Try as they might, Owen and his friends could not twist it to their will. Not all the way. Not all together.
Listen! I am Siobhan McQuaid. I know the cost of even a small bend in the course of history. Listen!
Critiques (4)
Critique de School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up-There is a little something for everyone in this sequel to the acclaimed The Story of Owen (Carolrhoda Lab, 2014). Fantasy fans will love returning to an alternate world in which the armed forces slay dragons. History fans will get a kick out of the way Johnston intermixes actual U.S. and Canadian history with a dragon-friendly story line. Eco-aware fans are unlikely to miss the underlying sentiment that oil brings nothing but trouble in both titles. This time around Owen, Sadie, and Siobhan have enlisted in the Oil Watch (think the U.S. Army, but with more fire drills). While Sadie and Owen excel with ease, troubadour Siobhan struggles to prove her worth. When the three are stationed in separate locations, Siobhan must learn to find her role without the reassurance of her two best friends. VERDICT A fantasy YA novel that steers clear of love triangles, teen angst, and a tidy ending is hard to come by; Prairie Fire and its prequel are must-haves.-Jennifer Furuyama, Pendleton Public Library, OR (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Critique de Horn Book
Now that dragon slayer Owen Thorskard and bard Siobhan McQuaid have graduated from high school, their plan to use Owen's renown and Siobhan's musical ability to reshape the relationship between dragon slayers and the public can enter its next phase. In this sequel to the alternate-universe contemporary fantasy The Story of Owen (rev. 3/14), the duo begins compulsory service in the Oil Watch, a military organization protecting the world's carbon sources from hungry dragons. Siobhan, however, faces a greater hurdle than the other recruits: when she and Owen destroyed a dragon nesting ground in the first book, her hands were severely burned, leaving her unable to play her cherished instruments. While Siobhan adjusts to her diminished capacity, Owen struggles with government animus toward his previous heroics: to keep him from upsetting the status quo, they stash him away at a remote posting near the home of the largest dragon species in existence, the fearsome Chinooks. If Owen and Siobhan's objectives and the reasons for the government's animosity are somewhat opaque, and if a bard's role in the Oil Watch is a mystery to characters and readers alike, the story of how the squad comes together to accommodate Siobhan's disability is highly gratifying, and details of military life are immediate and gripping. The penultimate scene of a Chinook attack that assures Owen's elevation to lasting fame may come as a jolt, but it is Siobhan's transformation into a star in her own right that will stay with readers. anita l. burkam (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Critique de Kirkus
This follow-up to the acclaimed The Story of Owen (2014) is part adventure, part alternative history, part friendship story, part ecological fable and all heroic saga.Once dragon slayer Owen Thorskard graduates high school, he signs up for his mandatory service in the Oil Watch, and of course Siobhan McQuaid, his bard and best friend, enlists as well. Their previous exploits (chronicled in Siobhan's songs, now a YouTube sensation) have made the pair unpopular with those in power, so they receive the dreariest, most remote deployment: Fort Calgary. Grueling practice gradually coheres their raw support team into a tough fighting unitand trusted friends. But are they prepared for the test of the biggest, deadliest dragon of all? This sequel is not as perfectly crafted as Johnston's debut: The plethora of new characters is hard to keep straight, the minutiae of military training drag on the pace, and promising subplots peter out without resolution. Still, the narrative is held together by Siobhan's unique voice, which casts every character as an instrument, every event as a melody; all she witnesses is knit together in a symphony expressing universal themes of friendship, duty, loyalty and sacrifice. For all Siobhan's insistence that she merely channels Owen's story, it becomes evident that tales are as much about their tellers and that heroism comes in all forms. Grand, heartbreaking, ennobling and unforgettable. (Fantasy. 12-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Critique de Booklist
Owen, dragon slayer in training, is required to serve in the Oil Watch for four years, during which time he'll learn to work with the support team, who will help him fight dragons around the world. Siobhan, his bard, is less certain of her role, since there hasn't been a bard in the Oil Watch for a very long time. But as she learns military life, she also discovers the dangers that come with being a part of history. Since this sequel dives right into Siobhan's life after the events of The Story of Owen (2014), this volume is by no means a stand-alone story. Fans of that standout novel, however, will love watching Siobhan gradually find out she is the hero of her own story, not merely the narrator of Owen's life. American readers may be thrown by some elements of Canadian history and geography, but Johnston's solid writing will keep them engaged with her smooth blend of fantasy and realism, all anchored by Siobhan's determined personality and her solid friendship with Owen and his team.--Wildsmith, Snow Copyright 2015 Booklist
