Book Review: Dragons in our Midst: Circles of Seven

Dragons in our Midst: Circles of Seven by Bryan Davis

Recommended for: 13 and up

Rating: PG

  The first book, Raising Dragons, plunged two teenagers, Billy Bannister and Bonnie Silver, into mind-boggling mysteries, life or death pursuits, and deadly sword-to-sword battles.
  In the second book, The Candlestone, Billy is led into mortal combat with a powerful dragon slayer. Separated from his friends and finding his dragon traits useless against this enemy, he has to rely on new weapons, a sword and shield he cannot even see.
    Now in Circles of Seven, using their dragon traits and the wisdom they gained through their earlier adventures, Billy and Bonnie explore a multi-dimensional domain of evil. In this realm, they navigate seven perilous worlds, each one manifested in a circular plane of existence that leads them deeper into the domain of a powerful enemy.
  The seventh circle holds a group of prisoners, captives of the evil mistress of the circles, and Billy has to find a way to set them free and give them new life. When tragedy strikes along the way, Billy has to face the most difficult decision of his life, whether to forsake Bonnie to rescue the prisoners or to find a way to save her, his best friend in the world.
Filled with action, danger, and suspense, Circles of Seven is sure to keep readers in their seats, following Billy and Bonnie to the exciting conclusion.  

It took me a little while to get through this book, since I didn't spend much time reading, but I loved it. It was weird but not in a bad way.

Writing: 4.5/5

The writing was good overall but I wasn't into the story for awhile. His books are quick paced, but I am used to it now and hardly notice. I like how in the story he will switch to another character leaving you in suspense with the previous characters. It is written in a way in which you get to know the characters and some of their struggles.

Setting: 5/5

Part of the time the characters are in England, which I assume is accurate, but I've never been there so I don't know. The other main place is in another dimension. Everything is a little strange and it is not like the real world. There are seven circles and they are all different. They also are on an airplane and there are a couple of scenes in West Virginia.

Plot: 4/5

The characters are supposed to rescue prisoners in the circles. In the circles they are supposed to go through tests. I felt that some of the tests could have been harder and that the characters should have struggled more. A couple of the tests, especially near the end were difficult. At the climax of the story, it wasn't clear if they accomplished their task. It eventually was clear. It was an interesting story especially when they went into the circles.

Characters: 4/5

The characters in his other books are easier to like than the characters in this series, at least in my opinion. The characters are all unique and they are not perfect and they do have struggles. Bonnie is close to perfect but I still like her. Walter is amusing and is always cracking jokes. Billy is struggling with something he did in the previous books, but it didn't seem that he was too upset or guilty about it as it was sometimes implied that he was haunted by his actions. 

I enjoyed this book and I look forward to completing the series. I would recommend this book and even though I rated this one PG, some of the other books are PG-13 for violence.