The story takes place in the modern world with one exception: Dragons DO exist. Our main character, Jake, is the son of the director of an institute that studies these mysterious beings. It just happens located in a 5 million acre reserve called Smokehill. The only difficulty with this job is the almost non-existence of dragon sightings. Imagine trying to study a creature of mammoth proportions that you can't even see amidst debates on whether or not these creatures should be exterminated due to their potential for harming humans. Life goes on as usual for Jake until one day, he comes across a dying dragon. Next to her is the corpse of a man, a poacher. And one of her babies is still alive...What I liked about this book was the way this story was written. It gave me the feeling of a close friend confiding in me and pouring out his/her deepest, darkest secret. This story also gives an unusual take on dragons. I think this is probably because of how McKinley took dragons from their Midieval fantasy setting and planted them in the modern world where everything is settled pretty much through politics, lawsuits, money and - in the right situation - guns. This makes the story completely devoid of good old fashioned, sword-clashing wars/fight scenes and 'Chosen Ones' destined to rid the world of evil. However, as a person who enjoys reading books over and over again, this book would not be listed in my list of repeats. And if you thoroughly enjoy stories with the classic fantasy plot, this might not be the book for you.
