Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Dragon's Keep
    Dragon's Keep
    Dragon's Keep
    Audiobook9 hours

    Dragon's Keep

    Written by Janet Lee Carey

    Narrated by Bianca Amato

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    A winner of the Mark Twain Award, Janet Lee Carey pens a richly imagined tale of princesses and dragons. On Wilde Island, Rosalind and her mother live their lives in exile, awaiting the time they can reclaim their rightful place on the throne. And there is reason to hope-a 600-year-old prophesy has decreed that they will do just that. But little do they know, their destinies hinge on Rosalind's amazing, shameful secret. Beneath her gold gloves, the fourth finger of her left hand is in truth a dragon's claw. "... thoroughly compelling."-Booklist, starred review
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 3, 2008
    ISBN9781436116763
    Author

    Janet Lee Carey

    JANET LEE CAREY grew up in Marin County California surrounded by whispering redwoods. Sunlight cut through ocean mist and fingered through the branches. It was in this magical place that she first dreamed of writing books. Her award-winning teen fantasy novels are translated into many languages. Some include: The Dragons of Noor, which won a Teens Read Too Gold Star Award for Excellence, Stealing Death, which received a School Library Journal starred review, Dragon’s Keep, an ALA Best Books for Young Adults, and Wenny Has Wings, a Mark Twain Award recipient and a Sony Feature Film Japan, 2008. Janet lives with her family, dusty book stacks, and imperious cat near Phantom Lake in Washington. Visit Janet online at www.janetleecarey.com.

    Related to Dragon's Keep

    Related audiobooks

    YA Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The In-betweeners

      Nov 12, 2019

      Two years ago, during the Writing Popular Fiction MFA winter residency at Seton Hill University, a discussion broke out amongst my students in a critique workshop geared toward young adult (YA) writers: They didn’t think YA novels were really written

      6 min read

    • Article

      'Dread Nation' Is A Rollicking 'Gone With The Wind + Zombies' Adventure

      Apr 20, 2018

      But don't underestimate the latest YA novel by activist Justina Ireland – it's also a biting commentary on contemporary race relations in America.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Yara And The Witch Queen

      Oct 1, 2019

      I knew the dangers of witchcraft. My parents had told me about the time before I was born, when magic plagued our desert kingdom of Bahati. Untrained witch doctors trying to cure warts ended up paralyzing their patients or turning them into crocodile

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Thirty Names of Night

      Oct 30, 2020

      The Thirty Names of Night
      13 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Guide

      Jan 2, 2022

      Summer Reading Guide
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Dragon Of The North

      Sep 7, 2022

      The Dragon Of The North
      5 min read

    • Article

      Come the DAWN

      Apr 8, 2020

      Come the DAWN
      21 min read

    • Article

      Cast Out

      Jul 10, 2021

      Verity pushed back the quilts, rolled off her straw mattress onto the floor, felt for the poker, and stirred the ashes. The embers glowed. She wouldn’t have to go fire-borrowing again. Her chilled hands were clumsy. One glowing bit of wood rolled fro

      21 min read

    • Article

      NED the KNOCK-KNEED KNIGHT

      May 1, 2023

      NED the KNOCK-KNEED KNIGHT
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Nightingale

      May 1, 2019

      The Nightingale
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Way Back Home

      Apr 30, 2022

      Morning light in Sydney has a quality of powdered gold, spilt celestial talcum. It gets up the nose. The streets seem to have nothing to think about other than parking and shopping, violence a concept from another hemisphere. The calm seems deliberat

      6 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Scarlet PEBBLE

      Feb 28, 2024

      The Scarlet PEBBLE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Ursula K. Le Guin

      Jun 15, 2018

      He was thinking of Lookfar, abandoned long ago, beached on the sands of Selidor. Little of her would be left by now, a plank or two down in the sand maybe, a bit of driftwood on the western sea. As he drifted near sleep he began to remember sailing t

      15 min read

    • Article

      A Wind-tossed Spell

      Jan 1, 2019

      A Wind-tossed Spell
      8 min read

    • Article

      Drowned World

      Sep 3, 2019

      Drowned World
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Silence of Witches

      Dec 10, 2019

      The Silence of Witches
      6 min read

    • Article

      I Am the Tooth Fairy

      Nov 14, 2019

      I Am the Tooth Fairy
      7 min read

    • Article

      Estella’s Fate

      May 17, 2023

      Estella’s Fate
      7 min read

    • Article

      Raiders From The Sea

      Sep 1, 2023

      CANNY LIFTED HER head from the swirls of gold and red and put down the brush, stretching her frozen fingers. The sun fell through the scriptorium window in warm panels, but the room was still cold, and she’d been at work on the manuscript in front of

      7 min read

    • Article

      Magnets: Carried through time, lovers seek their purpose.

      Feb 6, 2014

      Moon Colony B, 2213 Former Ponzi-schemer Mary Pillar digs through a trashcan. It smells like rotten eggs and milk. She is elderly and homeless, living in an alley between two eco-efficient skyscrapers. Dust particles dance around her. She has lost ev

      11 min read

    • Article

      Estella’s Fate

      May 17, 2023

      Estella’s Fate
      7 min read

    • Article

      Notes From The Isles

      Feb 17, 2023

      This Christmas, most of my family were with their in-laws, so it was just Mary and me here. My notorious Scrooge-like frugality kicked in and I decided not to buy a Christmas tree, at vast expense, and then after its 12 nights of glory, consign it to

      4 min read

    • Article

      Notes From The Isles

      Feb 17, 2023

      This Christmas, most of my family were with their in-laws, so it was just Mary and me here. My notorious Scrooge-like frugality kicked in and I decided not to buy a Christmas tree, at vast expense, and then after its 12 nights of glory, consign it to

      4 min read

    • Article

      Every CLOUD

      Aug 31, 2022

      Every CLOUD
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Dragon's Keep

    3.5/5

    223 ratings24 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Before her birth, a princess is prophesied to lead her nation to glory and peace. After she is born with a hideous claw in place of her ring finger, her mother refuses to let go of her daughter's supposed fate. She dedicates her life to keeping Rose's secret. Eventually, she cannot protect her any more, and Rose goes to live among the dragons, who hate and despise all humans. Rose struggles to survive, but eventually does bring peace to her nation, just as prophesied--albeit through her claw hand, rather than despite it.

      I liked this better than the prologue led me to expect, but the last few chapters whiz by too quickly.
    • 4/5
      Narrated by Bianca Amato. I'm not a big fantasy fan, but this was a compelling story with many intriguing elements such as royalty, dragons, myth, romance, and good and evil. Reader Bianca Amato brings out the elegant tone of this book.
    • 4/5
      Rosalinda is a princess, who has a secret...her wedding ring finger is a dragon's claw. The queen, her mother, is mortified and continually tires to have the claw removed by magic, potions & filing, all to no avail.

      The prophecy of Rosalind's birth, foretold by the great Merlin six hundred years prior, is that she shall be the one who will restore her banished family to its rightful place on the throne.

      How can this be possible with the unsightly birth defect? Is she human or dragon? Can her dragon heritage be a curse or the key to her family's salvation?

      I liked this book...it's a YA fairy tale and not only is well written, but a good and interesting story.
    • 3/5
      Prior to reading this book I read, and really enjoyed, Dragonswood. Dragonswood made me want to go back and pick up the first book in the Wilde Island series. The two books are only loosely related (this one takes place quite a while before the story in Dragonswood and focuses on different characters). This was a beautifully written story that moves very slowly.Princess Rosalind (Rosie to her friends) is born with one finger that is a dragon claw. Her mother goes to great lengths to hide Rosie’s flaw in hopes that Rosie will someday be cured and able to marry Prince Henry. Rosie spends most of her life worrying about hiding her shameful finger. Then she is carried off by a dragon and everything changes.The writing here is beautiful and I loved the traditional fantasy type of setting. However, the story really takes a long time to get going and moves slowly. I also didn't like how passive our heroine Rosie was throughout. Rosie is a very damaged girl and she undergoes some fairly horrific trials. Pretty much one horrible thing after another happens to her. She is one of the heroines where reading about her just makes you tired and sad...too many bad things happen to her.Given all of her trials I was a bit disappointed in how abruptly and neatly everything was tied up. Despite all Rosie’s efforts it ends up being the word and support of someone else who solves her problem. Then the whole story is tied up in just a few pages at the end. It was an unsatisfying ending; rushed and contrived feeling. The way the ended was done seemed to really make all of Rosie’s suffering seem a bit hollow.Overall this is beautifully written but slow and hard to engage in. I really enjoyed Dragonswood much much more than this book. Given that I am unsure if I will read the third book in this series or not right now. I would definitely recommend Dragonswood to fantasy lovers, but I think I would skip reading Dragon’s Keep unless you really want to learn the history of what happened before Dragonswood.
    • 4/5
      This is not my usual type of read, but it was fun, interesting, and intense.
    • 3/5
      It was ok, but not real exciting.
    • 4/5
      Princess Rosalind is born with a dragon's talon where her ring finger should be. This is a potentially devastating secret in a land often tormented by dragons. To hide her deformity, her mother makes her wear gloves at all times as she desperately searches for a cure. When Rosalind is taken by the dragon to become nursemaid to his children, everything changes. This was a pleasant fairy tale with plenty of action and sympathetic characters. I liked it as an adult, but I would have loved it as a child. It has all the makings of an excellent legend. Glad I picked this one up.
    • 3/5
      Very good story. Unusual version of a dragon book.
    • 3/5
      The first third of the book is all set-up: Rosalind is lonely, her mother prevents her from making friends for fear of exposing Rosalind's dragon claw finger, their island is plagued by a dragon who carries off half their army one man at a time. After 100 pages, we're still getting the story of Rosalind's first friend ever and how great it is and her crushes and bravery and blah blah blah--the actual story, the Rosalind-is-carried-off-by-a-dragon part, doesn't start until the second third of the book. From there, it moves along quickly enough (though a little predictably), with the climax of the book rushed through as if we desperately needed to come in under 300 pages.

      If all the material in the front were necessary, this should have been longer, a grander epic somehow, to use up all the stray bits that were planted. Since they weren't, though, that first chunk should have been edited down considerably.

      Not awful, not great. Three and a half stars from me; we'll see what the middle schoolers have to say about it at the discussion on Thursday.
    • 3/5
      Over all, I found the book to be a bit slow up until the part where she was kidnapped. One of my favorite aspects, however, are the brief portrayals of the knights. Carey does a wonderful job combining real world history with fantasy. Her dragons are not the typical fantasy novel dragons either. Though they are intelligent, they still hold on to their beast-like nature. On the downside, compared to the experience of those who have been killed trying to slay the dragon, I was a little disappointed by who finally did the deed. Also, I felt the romance was a bit onesided, as Rose is never sure of her flame’s feelings until the very end, but she relies on that faith throughout the novel anyways. If you are a fan of either dragons or the medieval time period, I suggest reading this.
    • 4/5
      This book is about a princess named Rosalind. When Rosalind was born, she was born with a dragon’s claw instead of a ring finger on her left hand. This is because her mother wanted a baby for so long, but she couldn’t get a baby. So one day, Rosalind’s mother went to a witch and drank a dragon’s egg which quickened her womb. Because of the dragon’s egg, Rosalind has been cursed with the claw. There is a prophecy made by Merlin, Bright Fire, Dragon’s Fire, Broken Sword, One Black Talon Ends the War. This prophecy is about Rosalind. When Rosalind is about 16, a dragon kidnaps her and forces Rosalind to become a maid and watch after the dragon pips. Not long after being kidnapped, Rosalind realizes that the dragon is her dragon father. Without him, Rosalind would have never been born. During the year Rosalind is gone, both her mother and father die. She comes back to take her rightful place as queen but she must fight for it and is nearly hung. The prophecy does become true. The dragon pips come back to visit and kiss her claw in front of the whole kingdom, Rosalind’s husband breaks his sword. The war between humans and dragons is finally over.This was a really good book. Rosalind was a strong girl, nobody ever realized she had a dragon’s claw, even her own father didn’t know. I couldn’t believe it when I found out the dragon was her father in a way. That would shock anybody. Rosalind was brave when she had to live with the dragons for a year. It was horrible when her father dragon, Lord Faul, died. His death was because he cried and the tears put out the inner fire in a dragon. Rosalind lost two fathers in a few months. That must have been devastating. I suggest this book to anybody who likes dragons and medieval times.
    • 4/5
      In this there is a girl who has a dragon's finger on her wedding finger. She has to wear gloves at all times and only her mother knows. Her mother has to wear gloves too because she doesn't want anyone to know. Banished from their rightful throne, they govern Wilde Islands. But when a wild dragon keeps haunting them. Princess Rosalind has to live through Merlin's prophecy has well. The prophecy says that Princess Rosalind will restore the throne to its rightful heir. When a dragon kidnaps Rosalind she thinks the prophecy will never be completed. In secret Rosalind starts to make a diary accounting her life with the dragons and how she has to take care of the dragon's children. So, when the dragon dies and Rosalind is given a chance to go to her home once more. She takes it. What she doesn't know is what is awaiting for her.........
    • 4/5
      We all know what it’s like to grow up with expectations that you will somehow be great (okay fine, some of us more than others) and Carey’s heroine suffers more than others due to Merlin’s visions 600 years prior to her birth. She is supposed to be great – save the world great – and her mother is determined that she live up to the predictions. Never mind the fact that she is born with one claw (a dragon talon) on one hand due to Mama dearest stealing (and slurping) a dragon egg to quicken her aging womb. The fact that dragons are the scourge of their people and if it were to be found out that the Great Princess who will do Great Things is almost a dragon herself (hey, one day a talon, the next day fire, these dragons are pesky!) there will be pandemonium (and exile, maybe death?) is a source of great trouble to the Mother. So she removes anyone who knows of her daughter’s minor…flaw. It’s quite obvious that the Queen Mama is unhinged (what with drinking poppy provided by a vile Mage (who is a villain)). Then lots of things happen, the Princess falls in love with a dragon slayer (the irony kills me) and she is kidnapped by the male dragon whose mate the dragon slayer’s dad killed. Anyway… that’s how it goes. I felt that for a book that wasn’t too long, it was really comprehensive. I appreciate the fact that she tries to show that things aren’t always black and white – dragons aren’t always bad and come on, humans are nowhere near saints). There is a possibility for interspecies peace and true love might have a chance of working out. I liked it.
    • 3/5
      This review was originally posted on my review blog : Falling Off The Shelf.Princess Rosalind has lived her life in shame of the dragon claw she was born with. Every day she must don her golden gloves to hide her mark in order to be seen as the rightful heir to the throne of Wilde Island. Her mother, Queen Gweneth, is the only living soul who has seen the claw upon Rosie's finger, and she wishes to keep it that way. She will do anything in her power to keep the throne to Wilde Island safe, as well as the shame of the hideous claw from prying eyes.Rosalind is captured by a fearsome dragon, and whisked away to Dragon's Keep. There she learns that her hideous claw is beautiful in the eyes of the dragon's, and for the first time in her life feels as though it may not be a curse, but a sign of a new fate. Rosalind barters for the safety of her people, while also building a bridge between her world and theirs. It is all she can think of that will keep both her people, and herself, alive.The first thing that attracted me to this novel was the cover. I found it both disturbing and beautiful at the same time, which was a wonderful depiction of the feelings portrayed by the characters in this book. I love how the dragon in the background is transfixed by the claw upon the princess's hand. What one sees as something hideous, can obviously be seen as something beautiful in someone else's eyes.Rosalind's character seemed as though she was genuinely kind-hearted, and would do anything for those around her. While she watched people within her town throw hatred towards the dragons, she found it in her heart to love them, despite her cursed hand. Would her townspeople still love her with the mark of a dragon? Would they accept her for what she was, or burn her at the stake for being disfigured? I personally had to find out, and was thrilled with the outcome of the story.Another thing I loved about this book, was the language it was written in. There was nothing modern about the writing of this book, and this is what made it even better. The way the words were written only made the story come to life even more. It was a wonderful fairy tale that I would recommend to those who love stories filled with princesses, and dragons.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. It's a great tale about a girl who was born with a dragon's talon and how she overcomes the idea of being misformed and unites a nation.
    • 5/5
      Dragon attacks are a fact of life on Wilde Island. Warning bells ring, sounding alarm when one swoops down to scorch and gobble up those too slow to reach cover, and more than a few good knights and peasants have lost their lives trying to slay the dragon. A six-hundred year old prophecy foretells that the twenty-first queen of Wilde Island shall bring peace, redeem the Pendragon name, and restore the island's lost glory. For Queen Gweneth, the twentieth queen, the prophecy means her daughter is destined to wed England's Prince Henry. She will accept no other possibility, and is willing to go to any lengths to see her ambition come true. For Princess Rosalind, born with a dragon's claw on one hand, the prophecy seems more of a curse. No healer's potion or witch's brew, bleeding, leeching or other effort has had the slightest effect on the talon she bears.When a dragon slayer comes to the island and the dragon is roused, only Rosie's flaw and a desperate bargain will save her and Wilde Island from the dragon's wrath.Not at all what I expected. Very readable, and although I figured out who the "villain" was early on, and the ending was a bit abrupt and slightly lacking in depth, a very good fantasy. Creative and definitely worth reading.
    • 3/5
      Banished to Wilde Island, a disgraced splinter of the English royal family rules in constant fear of bandits and man-eating dragons. Merlin foretold the prophecy that the twenty-first queen of Wilde Island would restore glory to the family name and Wilde Island, as well as end a war. Therefore, the twentieth queen is desperately ruthless in making her daughter Rosalind, the future twenty-first queen, as perfect as she can be.But there is one major problem. Rosie had been born with a dragon’s claw instead of a normal finger on her left hand. Horrified from her daughter’s birth, the queen makes Rosie wear golden gloves all the time, so no one finds out about her shameful secret, a secret so terrible that, if known by anyone else but the two of them, would surely mean the end of Rosie’s social acceptance. The queen will do anything in order to ensure that Rosie’s secret remains that way…even murder.However, Rosie’s dragon claw has a lot more to do with the prophecy than anyone thinks. It becomes a sort of empathic connection between her and the last few remaining dragons in the world. It also saves her life when she is taken by the dragon Lord Faul to Dragon’s Keep in order to play nursemaid to his children. There, Rosie is subjected to the most disgusting of chores, and she grows to be almost as wild as the dragons, and learns a few startling things about herself as well. Maybe Merlin’s prophecy is not exactly as everyone has interpreted it for six centuries. Maybe her dual dragon and human blood can help her save herself and her people.DRAGON’S KEEP is a fairly satisfying light fantasy read. I would have liked more about Rosie’s relationships between other people, such as her best friend, Kit, or her love, Kye. But overall DRAGON’S KEEP is a good choice for middle school fantasy lovers.
    • 4/5
      Princess Rosalind is born to restore the Pendragon dynasty, but a secret birth defect is a clue to the forces responsible for her birth, and those shaping her true destiny. Loved it.
    • 3/5
      A big romantic adventure that doesn't play too well on audio. While the narrator does a fine job with characters (portraying a growly and terrifying dragon among other creatures), and reads with real emotions, her narrative style seemed repetitive and unvarying during most of the storytelling. Still the plot, the setting, the extremely delightful heroine all make for a fine story.
    • 3/5
      This book should be right up my alley. but I just could not get into the characters at all. The book is just too slow paced for me. I figured everything out early and then just kind of had to wait the story out. Overall, a good concept that just did not make it in the end.
    • 5/5
      Merlin’s prophecy said that the twenty-first queen of Wilde Island would end war. But when the Princess Rosalind is born, she has a dragon’s talon in the place of one finger. If the people knew she’d be branded as a witch and killed, so her mother hides the horrible flaw under golden gloves and hopes to find a way to heal her. No healing works, however, and the princess’ fate seems tied to dragons. The story is rooted in traditional tales and legends, but it is a completely new and absorbing fantasy.
    • 3/5
      My expectations when I brought home this book were far from the reality of it. I thought it was going to be an exciting adventure-type story with magic and dragons. Yes, there is some adventure...and lots of dragons. Yet it was more soft spoken than I expected, people were passive when I'm used to action. This is not to say it was bad. It was actually quite good. I'm not into historical fiction, but this is written in the manner of most historical novels, so the characters' actions did not feel false to me. Really this is just a long winded way to say that my expectations were trampled, but pleasantly.
    • 4/5
      Princess Rosiland and her mother hide that fact that she was born with one dragon talon. They are ashamed of this deformity and try every kind of healer to fix it before she is old enough to marry. She is forced to always wear gloves and her mom will do anything to keep this secret. Princess Rosiland is meant to fulfill a prophesy Merlin declared long ago. Her life turns out much different than what her and her mother planned after she is stolen by a dragon, and in the process she learns a lot about herself and her destiny. A great book overall, an exciting story and beautiful descriptions. This story helps teenagers realize they do not need to be ashamed of their differences. Rosiland grew up with a heavy prophesy weighing on her, which blinded her at times, but I think she comes into her own and becomes a strong woman. Of course, by the end of the book she has to. I defiantly recommend.
    • 3/5
      Princess Rosalind has a secret she's been forced to keep all her life. She was born with a dragon's talon in place of her left ring finger. Her mother has taken her to healer after healer, but no one's been able to help. Rosalind fears she'll never find a husband. And life is made all the more complicated by the dragons that keep attacking the town. Also, there is a prophecy that Rosalind will be the queen who will stop the wars... but all that seems impossible. Rosalind wasn't the spunky heroine I wanted her to be. I think my own expectations lead to me not liking the book as well as I might have. Rosalind was much more of a damsel in distress than I feel the story called for. It all worked out in the end and there were a couple of twists I didn't see coming, but it would have been a much different book if Rosalind was more proactive and less of a wuss.