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Impatient Fire, Jules and the Runt Dragon by William Hill Otter Creek Press
book review by Deborah Straw
"Jules despaired, utterly wiped out and unable to stand... . With each passing hour, she grew more afraid that her Arcane birthright might never return, leaving her magicless forever and her father lost... She must restore her seventh sense. Somehow! Some way! She would do anything to regain true magic."
Imagine an island boarding school, Familiar Academy for Avians where the students (who all fly) learn magic and how to assist wizards. Imagine a myriad of unusual creatures, many animals. and birds. but also dragons and centaurs with human attributes—fear, courage, jealousy, lust, and loneliness. The story begins with Lance, the clumsy runt dragon, who is writing home to his mom. Two fourteen-year-old twins reign large: Dari, the boy, and Jules, the female, who has lost her ability to create magic and wants not only to restore this knowledge but also to find her disappeared father.
Impatient Fire by William Hill, his tenth fantasy novel, is an example of high fantasy: totally invented and set in parallel worlds, not our real world. J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis are the strongest representatives of this subgenre. Watership Down by Richard Adams is another type of fantasy, which uses rabbit characters and anthropomorphizes them, but it is set in a more familiar world.
The books illustrations are primarily done by the author. The cover image of a fire and a dragon is particularly arresting. Hills' whimsical creatures do, however, show that the author has a sense of humor.
The narrative has merit, and its characters are appealing. While most fantasy novels have approximately six to twelve characters, this has thirty to forty important ones, with other short appearances. As their names and species are all somewhat unusual, this number is hard to follow. There is a guide to staff and students in the front of the book, as well as a vocabulary list in the back. Ardent fantasy readers may not need the list. This novel would most appeal to teenage readers who have supple imaginations and don't mind turning to lists to help them create a mental picture of the story's fast-paced twists and turns.