🎧 Audiobook Review 🎧

Dragon Towers by Pip Bird
Narrated by Jay Lafayette Valentine
HarperCollins UK Audio | Farshore - 1st Feb 2025

Huge thanks to Pup Bird and HarperCollins/Farshore for providing an ADC visa NetGalley; this is my honest review.

Theo loves dragons. He's even made his very own 'Dragon Rider' jacket! He's very excited to be attending Dragon Towers, a special school where every student is paired with an actual live dragon!
Theo can't believe his luck or the uniqueness of Wanda, his dragon. She really is extraordinary.

Written to tell an exciting tale, Dragon Towers comes over like The Worst Witch x Harry Potter. But although there are a couple of details missing, such as how does Theo get selected for Dragon Towers, it's narrated with such enthusiasm and gusto that it almost redeems itself.
It should have wide appeal with middle graders.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is very similar to The Worst Witch but would probably have more appeal to all genders. As in Worst Witch, Theo doesn't get the dragon he's after and gets a bit of a rubbish one, Wanda(tabby cat instead of a black cat, in Worst Witch). It does however all work out soon enough and Wanda isn't do useless after all.

Theo makes new friends easily and it's going to be a fun series, I'm sure.....it's just nothing new. That said, it will appeal to those younger readers and that's all you want from a book!

Narration is fun and energetic and if someone could deliver a bucketful of missing Ts, it would be perfect. But when the articulation is careful elsewhere, why are we having to suffer "peanut bu**er", "jacke*" and "sandpi" to quote a small sample.

Harry Potter crossed with Worst Witch - with Dragons.

3.5 stars.

This was enjoyable, my boys (7 and 13) both kept their attention on it throughout as we listened on a couple of car journeys. I mean, once you know the plot is about a boy going to Dragon School, it's hard not to be interested.

Theo is 10 and obsessed, and is thrilled he's about to head to Dragon Towers, to have his own dragon pairing and learn how to ride it and lessons all about them.

But like Mildred Hubble, Wanda isn't quite what Theo hoped for. Yes she's a dragon, but she's not like the dragons who can shoot out flames, or make slime. She's not yet got her powers...

This short story takes us through Theo's first months at Dragon Towers, in a way very like Harry Potter's first school year.

I didn't really understand how students get accepted into Dragon Towers, what the aim is of having a dragon and what you can later do with them.. it felt like the wider context of a dragon-ful world wasn't really here, as you might expect in a KS2-targeted story.

The dragons had my kids laughing, and it was entertaining enough to listen to. But it does feel like a well-trodden path, but gives a good grounding in the world of magic for those not quite ready to try Rowling on their own.

For ages 6-10.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample audio copy.

🎧Audio Book Review🎧

Dragon Towers
Pip Bird

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is the first book in this brilliant new series - Dragon Towers.

Theo was so excited when he finally received his letter inviting him to join the Dragon Towers school. He's been dreaming of this day his whole life and is already obsessed with every different kind of dragon.
On the first day, each dragon chooses it's rider and poor old Theo is left without - until he spots the unknown dragon in the corner, Wanda.

I absolutely loved finding out what Wanda's special power was and that over the course of the book, Theo gradually formed a close bond with his dragon.

Although Wanda didn't have some of the magical powers that Theo had dreamed of, when it finally shows up, she and Theo are the stars of the day!

This was packed with adventure and funny antics by both the other children and all the dragons, but especially Wanda and the mischievous goblins (which I loved!)

I listened to this on audio book which was brilliantly narrated and presented. The musical interludes were fun and I thought the narrator really portrayed a brilliant sense of excitement and adventure as well as delivering the hilarious lines to perfection!

This would be great to have on in the car during long journeys, a chapter every school run or just as something different to put in at home during the holidays!

This was a brilliant start to this new series and I'm sure will delight many young readers just starting out on their reading journeys.
I'm looking forward to seeing what Theo, Wanda and the gang get up to in book 2!!



💕Thank you to the author and NetGalley for my ARC copy - this is my honest review 💕