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Summary
Summary
When the last dragon and the last elf break the circle, the past and the future will meet, and the sun of a new summer will shine in the sky.
In a world shrouded in darkness and continually lashed by rain, a young elf named Yorsh struggles to survive. His village has been destroyed by the torrential waters, leaving Yorsh suddenly orphaned and alone—the earth’s last elf. But soon Yorsh discovers he is part of a powerful prophecy to save the world from the Dark Age that has begun. First, however, the young elf will have to find another orphaned creature—the world’s last dragon.
Full of great tenderness and humor, this magical journey tells the story of a world plagued by intolerance and wickedness, and the elf and the dragon who will fight for its redemption and bring it back into the light.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-Yorsh is the last of his kind, an elf child in a world that despises elves. He seeks warmth, food, and shelter but has found only cold, rain, and despair. When he meets two unlikely companionships-humans who help him in spite of their prejudices-Yorsh learns of a prophecy concerning the last dragon and the last elf: when these two break the circle there will be a new beginning. Yorsh is young and nearly helpless, and the two humans, Sajra and Monser, are first taken aback but soon charmed by his naivete. The trio experience a host of comical misunderstandings that offset the dangerous situations they encounter in the Dark Mountains. Almost by chance, Yorsh stumbles across the dragon, but he finds that fulfilling the prophecy is steeped in complications. The second half of the book, set 13 years later, deals with these challenges. Readers will miss Sajra and Monser just as Yorsh does and will likely guess the identity of the human orphan girl before it is revealed and champion her role in the struggle. The solution to the prophecy is wrenching, but young fantasy fans will appreciate the many humorous touches and get caught up in this tale of strength and sacrifice.-Sarah Couri, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Italian author De Mari turns the "prophecy genre" on its ear with this clever and humane fantasy/comedy. Young elf Yorsh lives in a world of constant rain, in an "Elf Camp" and threatened with dire punishment if he strays outside it. He befriends two humans, a woman and a hunter, and the three are captured and imprisoned in the town of Daligar. While escaping from prison, the companions discover snippets of a prophecy: "When the last dragon and the last elf break the circle, the past and the future will meet, the sun of a new summer will shine in the sky." Convinced he is "the last elf" of the prophecy, Yorsh and company set out to find the last dragon, who turns out to be an elderly emotional wreck. Yorsh stays to care for the dragon; 13 years later, the dragon dies and leaves behind an egg that hatches into a 1,600-pound baby. Interestingly, the prophecy does not amount to much. Yorsh returns to Daligar to learn, from their daughter, Robi, that his former companions have been hanged for protecting the elf. When Robi nearly comes to the same end, Yorsh makes it his quest to rescue her. The conclusion-in which Robi and others start a new country with a new constitution of sorts ("No one can hit anybody.... And you can't hang people, either")-nicely delivers the message that prophecies are for people who don't want to control their own destiny. Ages 10-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) De Mari takes common fantasy elements and combines them in a unique way in this stirring, subtly post-apocalyptic fantasy. Yorsh, an elf child, doesn't understand the exasperation his cluelessness causes the man and woman who rescue him from cold and starvation; nor why the two will be hanged for helping him; nor why his magic ability to free them causes such surprise. Parting ways with the couple, Yorsh spends the next thirteen years caring for a querulous, cave-bound dragon, whose broody behavior is explained when the egg it has secretly been guarding hatches. Through the young dragon Erbrow, Yorsh discovers the couple's now-orphaned daughter, Robi, in a work camp, supplying the missing piece of a heretofore-misunderstood prophecy. There follow more threats of hanging, a hairsbreadth escape, and an epic flight to safety leading to a community of refugees, during which time the true nobility of both elf and girl emerges, along with a moment that will stun readers with its heartbreaking act of sacrifice. With its combination of humor and deeply felt emotion, The Last Dragon, fueled by De Mari's powerhouse talent, will leave readers enthralled. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
In the first section of this wise, warmhearted fairytale, the elf Yorsh is only a sweetly na™ve child; but as the last of his kind, he accepts his destined burden to return summer to a world of endless rain and famine. Assisted by a pair of sympathetic humans and a very difficult dragon, Yorsh discovers that fulfilling a prophecy can sometimes be simpler than it seems. But it can also be more complicated, as an adolescent Yorsh learns in the second story. Even with the help of a dragon and a feisty orphan girl, he finds bringing back the sun was much easier than lifting the darkness of oppression and bigotry. Graceful, witty prose lightly sketches a land filled with astonishingly vivid and original characters. Gentle Yorsh may be an innocent, but he's no fool; through his eyes, his companions glow with humor, tenderness and courage. Their quest provides plenty of suspense and heroic action, never flinching from conflict or the pain it breeds, yet the narrative continually opts for clever, non-violent solutions; the climactic sacrifice is portrayed as necessary, even glorious, but also almost unbearably tragic. Readers are left assured that kindness and hope will prevail, however tenuously, over anger and fear. (Fantasy. 10+) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Yorsh, a little elf born lately, is alone in a wet, cold world beset by intolerance (especially toward elves) when he encounters a gruff, human woman, whose sympathy is aroused by the forlorn Yorsh's lot. Together they set out in search of a dry land and meet a hunter who joins forces with them. They enter the human city of Daligar and are imprisoned because Yorsh is a hated elf. As they escape to avoid being hanged, Yorsh reads his destiny engraved on a wall: When the last dragon and the last elf come together, they will save the world. And so begins his quest for the last dragon. His adventures are juxtaposed with those of an orphaned human girl, whose fate is also represented in the prophecy. At times hilarious, at times poignant, and always entertaining, the story will grip young fantasy fans. --Sally Estes Copyright 2006 Booklist
