Parents' Guide to

Dragon Captives: The Unwanteds Quests, Book 1

By Carrie R. Wheadon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Slow start, solid characters in Unwanteds spin-off series.

Book Lisa McMann Fantasy 2017
Dragon Captives: The Unwanteds Quests, Book 1 Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

age 12+

Based on 1 parent review

age 12+

Definitely for older kids

My almost 8 yr old son is an avid reader and read the first book. But now he wanted to go on to the next few in the series. I was feeling uneasy, so I checked on here and thumbed through the book. I'd definitely suggest thumbing through as the age seems very low for this size and content. Violence is a definite theme - the first book had to do with someone dying from shards of glass being broken all over them. That topic is still discussed in the follow up book Dragon Curse. This is my review of Dragon Curse, so just watch the road your kids are taking in this series of books by this author: There are no indications about sexual things on the current rating scale, but I BOLDLY disagree. I read two pages and both contained information about bodies touching b/c now they were 14 years old and it was okay or normal, then again later about kissing and holding hands. So for those who say it's for a 9 yr old, NO. Now flipping to find those pages, I read another part that says on page 103, "Fifer was concerned. She didn't understand what was so great about being all lovey-dovey like Aaron and Kaylee. And Thatcher and Henry, and Florence and Talon and the other couples who were all sweaty and hanging on each other." Page 105 - "Sean and Carina were swaying together and kissing, to Seth's obvious dismay, and Samheed and Lani were kissing too. Henry rested his head on Thatcher's chest as Thatcher held him close, and Crow and Scarlet slipped away and started walking along the shore holding hands." So to me there appears to be a great deal of sexual content (including what appears to be a gay couple) in this book if I'm finding bits and pieces in just the three pages I read.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
9 people found this helpful.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

Falling into the trap of many spin-off series, this book gives a recap of the last series for way too long and only feels like its own, intriguing animal toward the end. Add to that the tendency of middle-grade series to try to be fat fantasies à la Harry Potter, and sometimes the story just drags out to fill pages. About halfway through Dragon Captives we get this gem: "Everyone had unanswered questions running through their minds, but Fifer and Seth followed Thisbe's lead and didn't say much about what they were doing or why they wanted to do it." Which may lead many readers to think to themselves, "How about when everyone decides to do something, you pick up the story from there?"

Once you get through all the recapping and indecision, though, the excitement builds. How can you go wrong with dragons and magic, really? It could have been better with an early introduction of the ultimate baddie we only hear about in hushed tones, the Revinir, but there's plenty of kidnapping and peril before she shows up and lots to like about the characters as they must grow up quickly and face a lot more obstacles than they bargained for. Here's hoping this long setup leads to an invigorating series.

Book Details

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