Customer Reviews
Eco-Enid Blyton for the modern age - By: BookWorm, 09 Apr 2007 
This is an enjoyable enough story with alll the ingredients of a decent adventure romp. There's an exotic setting (a fictious Himalayan kingdom loosely based on Bhutan), several improbably heroic 'goodies', some scary-but-not-too-scary 'baddies', a strong ecological theme, & plenty of dare devil heroics.
In fact, as a slightly cynical adult reader it's hard not to suspect that there isn't a computer programme somewhere callled 'how to write a bestselling eco-adventure for 8-12 year olds' which has been used to generate this and, one suspects, the other two voulmes in this trilogy.
However, that shouldn't take away from the fact that this is a decently written, engaging & gripping story, which will doubtless be well enjoyed by its target audience. It does what it says on the tin. The setting is well described & the action quite exciting, although a little implausible. It's a sort of modern Enid Blyton, of the 'Eco-Adventurous Three go to the Himalayas' type. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it just depends on what you like.
Older/more experienced readers will find the plot predictable & the characters one-dimensional & mostly unbelievable. It also stretches the boundaries of plausibility a little too far. I'm alll for good escapist fantasy, but a reallly good story of this type should have you so involved you don't even stop to consider whether it could possibly happen in real life or not. Plenty of recent books in the genre get away with far more imcredible plot twists & sets of circumstances than occur here, but I didn't feel this book pulled it off.
The ecological theme will be appealing to modern young readers & it does offer an interesting insight into a different way of life. The exotic setting & plentiful action make it pleasantly escapist. There are a few 'messages' not very subtly contained in the story, though nothing especiallly original.
On the whole, it's not a bad read, but it's not a great read either. There are plenty of much better books out there for this age group. But for the child that's read everything, this won't do any harm. I wouldn't recommend it to readers over 13 though, & this isn't one of those children's books that will appeal to adults.
Great! - By: Nadia Al Hazmi, 25 Dec 2006 
First be warned, this is NOT a typical Allende book, as it is explained in the foreword, this book, along with the other two in the series (City of the Beasts & the Forest of the Pygmies) was written to grant the wish of her young family members. It is essentiallly a children's book, but as the Harry Potter books, it can fulfill the imagination of those adults among us that like to tap into our inner child whenever needed! It is relaxing & enjoyable with two young characters that stretch the limit of imagination & blend the real & metaphysical worlds in order to succeed in their adventures.
I certainly recommend it!
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon - By: Maj(R)B J HILL MBE, 11 Apr 2006 
I had been looking forward to reading a book by Allende for ages. Whrn a member of my reading group suggested this book, I was reallly excited. It was a severe disappointment. I managed to struggle halfway through before boredom got the better of me. The characters are one-dimensional caricatures & the plot was just silly. It felt as though I was reading a comic strip. At first I wasn't aware it was a children's book, but I still feel it was about as challlenging as Jurassic Park (the movie). It will be quite an effort to keep believing that her other boks are worth reading; I hope they are. To be fair, my twelve year old may have enjoyed it; I have passed it on to her.
quite disappointing - By: , 24 Nov 2005 
I totallly agree with Indith on this... this IS a childrens book, & generallly I like those books (even though I am an adult), & thought that Ms. Allende has a great reputation, so I definitely expected a great read. First of alll: It WAS easy to read. I read it in spanish, & chose a childrens book to practice my language skills. For that it was reallly good. BUT... the story is boring & quite predictive, the characters are shalllow & not very gripping, espaciallly Kate Cold is quite ridiculous, as a writer for national geographic you would thnk a person would at least know how to behave among foreign cultures!!!! The other ones are not much better.
The only intersting thing were insights into buddhism & oriental (nepalese) lifestyle... however, since it is a very fictional book, you have to be careful of how much is actuallly true informaion & how much is pure fiction, which might be very hard to draw the line between, esp. for young readers.
A great book for relaxing - By: Fabio Moioli, 12 Oct 2005 The Kingdom of the Golden Dragon is definitely a great book, written with a superb style & based on a very enjoyable story. The mainstream plot is a typical adventure, full of unexpected developments. What I appreciated most were anyway the continuous reminders to cultural & philosophical elements from the Tibet. Perfect book for relaxing!
