Dragons of the Valley was my first encounter with Paul's writings. At first glance, the novel reads like something that was published because based solely on the God-like deity without demanding any other merit. But, after 120 pages of the book, I realized there is more to the novel than just this God-like creation named Wulder.
Yes, the book is difficult to understand if you have no background in the series. The land is never described beyond mere basics, the people are given little (if any, in many cases) physical description and the plot builds so heavily on the prior books that the new reader easily looses interest. In these respects, the argument can easily be raised that this book was published because of its God character, and therefore does not meet the standards other pieces of literature are measured by.
I take issue with that view of standards for literature, but that's a lesson for another time.
To get back to the book, the dedicated reader can find gems underneath the bonnet-novel façade. The most interesting and rewarding part of the book, in my humble opinion, was the various personalities of Paul's characters and their consistency throughout their actions, words and innermost thoughts. Some of the characters are likable strictly because of their personalities, such as the kimen. Tipper's personality, for the most part, is quite in line with a young woman of her particular background.
All in all, the book has no practical appeal to audiences who either A) aren't Christian or B) aren't familiar with the rest of the series. However, to the audiences familiar with the subject, Paul's Dragons of the Valley holds some reward as a descent demonstration of consistent and believable characterization.
**Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for reviewing purposes.
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