The Pit Dragon Trilogy (by Jane Yolen)

This week I reread some of my childhood favourite books: Dragon's Blood, Heart's Blood, and A Sending of Dragons, which together make up the Pit Dragon trilogy.  25 years after they were first published Jane Yolen has written a 4th book to round out the story, and this has spurred me to seek them out again.  I remember these books being meaningful to me in my pre-teen years, but could recall surprising little about their content.

Jakkin and Akki live on Austar IV, a formal penal colony planet where the economy  revolves around breeding and training the dragon-like native lizards for fighting exhibitions.  Jakkin dreams of training a successful fighter of his own, and in so doing, proving his manhood and earning his way out of the lower class of indentured servants ("bonders").

Each book is thematically distinct, and could almost work as a stand-alone novel.  Dragon's Blood, where Jakkin and Akki first cross paths, is a story of personal history, identity, and aspirations of adulthood and independence.   Heart's Blood introduces the confusion of a wider world rife with social rebellion and political manipulations.  Jakkin struggles to remain true to himself, his loved ones, and his way of life as he comes to terms with his new place in society.

A Sending of Dragons is chronologically continuous with the others, but feels very different.  Both as a child and an adult, I found this book less compelling.  My favourite character is absent, and Jakkin and Akki are no longer immersed in the complex and interesting society that was so integral to the first two books.  While several themes from the first books weave through this volume, on the whole it feels more like a digression than a conclusion.  I can understand why fans have been demanding for years that Yolen write a fourth book to let us all know what happens to Jakkin and Akki, and what form society on Austar IV takes once the competing political factions reach a settlement. 

The reviews I've glanced at suggest that the new book, Dragon's Heart, should satisfy readers like me.  Apparently, the style of the book fits with the original trilogy, which can be difficult to accomplish when a writer has done so much else during the intervening decades. I expect I'll get my hands on book four sometime in the next month or two, and I'll just have to stifle my curiosity until then.