2. Steph wonders...how real did the story seem to you?

**JaevenStar**

Steph wonders...

2) Dragonhaven is possibly the most realistic fantasy I've ever read. I felt like the Smokehill National Park must really exist and toyed with the idea of booking a reservation.

Discuss.
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**InnamorataDiTwilight** · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 3:44 pm Post subject:

The novel is plausible because the setting is Australia. Kenya is also referred to. I think a novel becomes more realistic when there are familiarities about it.

I thought the development of Lois was realistic. The descriptions of taking care of the dragonlet, its imprinting on Jake made for a touching and believable relationship between the boy and the baby dragon. Very sweet.
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"Yeah, ahm, I had an adrenaline rush. It's very common. You can Google it."

**vampgirl9** · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:32 am Post subject:

I thought Smokehill National Park sounded like a real place. Since it is a somewhat remote place, dragons were a total possibility.
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Kamillie · Newborn Joined: 06 Jun 2008 Posts: 9 Location: Florida

I agree, it did sound very realistic. I would love to see a dragon!

**JaevenStar** · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:58 am Post subject:

while reading it I had a real Jurassic Park sense to the setting... I kept imagining a park like that. I thought Ms. McKinley did a good job making it seem real...especially describing what the dragons looked like and how they behaved.
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**RedVelvet** · Onyx Vampire Joined: 14 Mar 2008 Posts: 319

**Robin McKinley** · Newborn Joined: 04 Jun 2008 Posts: 4

Whoa, sorry, wait a minute! --I'm only buzzing through here quickly trying to figure out how things *work.* (I will probably be writing to my mentor about it in a minute . . . ) But DRAGONHAVEN does *not* take place in Australia. Australia is where Jake's 'real' dragons *come* from. But Smokehill is an AMERICAN park! American as the United States of, where I'm from, even though I live in England!

I'm glad it feels realistic to you however (even if the geography is a little obscure.) It *felt* very realistic to me as it went down on paper but then my viewpoint is a little different!!! Smile

Best wishes, and hope to see/write more of you this month . . . thanks for your interest!

Robin

**JaevenStar** · Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:30 am Post subject:

**Bittersweet** · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:06 am Post subject:

Glad it was pointed out it didn't take place in Australia, I know it takes place in the states but where?? Probably should look at the authors sites eh? I just finished the book this morning so I was excited to see what discussion was going on. I can't really 'surf' the net on this computer so I'll have to look more tomorrow. For some reason, Florida jumped to my mind and then reading it past chapter 1 or2...It seemed to take place north/northwestern US?

The location sounds beautiful and very real. I don't know if I'd want to visit though...well not before dragons were more of a mystery. I'm not much of an outdoor person and not very lucky. If there's someone that would get 'accidentally' sat on by a dragon, it probably would be me.

I would definitely like to venture into the "front" of Smokehills (why is the word alluding me?? The zoo, caves, gift shop, etc). My daughter would be one that would loove to take a backpack and disappear into the wild for a week or so, with or without the promise of dragon viewing.

nenana · Newborn Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 70

I placed it in Wyoming/Montana/S. Dakota area for a couple of reasons. First, there's a place called the Badlands, and S. Dakota has some Badlands that would be similar in topography. Second, they talk about Cheyene being the closest "big" city but it still seems remote to them. The fact that it was Native land at some point--while that could relate to almost all of the USA--it made sense for that area, too. Plus they said blizzards and -20 temperatures, and that would also be right for that area, W. Montana and such.

I could get my head around a nat'l park for Dragons, if they had made it through history, that part was realistic as well as all zoo for the other animals and the gift shop and them always being short of money (at the first). That part was realistic.
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**InnamorataDiTwilight** · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:22 pm Post subject:

Oops! What was I thinking when I wrote that? (see second post from the top.) I must have been half asleep. Thanks for the correction. Appreciate it.

My apologies to Robin McKinley. Embarassed

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"Yeah, ahm, I had an adrenaline rush. It's very common. You can Google it."

**inspiredbytwilight** · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:29 am Post subject:

I can picture Smokehill in my mind as a real place. I loved Robin's descriptions of the area. Can you imagine building that dragon fence around the whole place? That would have been some undertaking.
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