The Menagerie #2: Dragon on Trial

If you have not read the first Menagerie book I strongly suggest doing so prior to reading this book, mostly because the first book is wonderfully written and funny and it also gives you a greater character background than the obligatory few lines provided by the author in this book to reorient the reader. Plus there are griffins and griffins are just awesome.

This book picks up where the prior left off, the evil goose that laid the golden egg, Pelly, has disappeared and it looks like she has been murdered. SNAPA, the group that oversees menageries is at the menagerie in Wyoming run by the Kahn family when the grisly scene is discovered. Naturally it looks like one of the dragons did it (especially because Pelly is a very LARGE goose) because apparently even though SNAPA pretends to be enlightened to the unique form of mythical creatures, dragons are still mindless eating machines (I hate this stereotype in stories…). They plan to have a trial so the scary Exterminator will not have to dispose of Scratch, the alleged killer.

There is a much grander plot afoot, including setting up the third book in the series (which I will eagerly await!), far beyond the menagerie. I will not include any spoilers as I do not want to disappoint your journey through this wonderful book. I will say I was a wee bit disappointed in the authors as every time the dragons are questioned, they answer like Yoda. "In trouble is Scratch…" or "Saw nothing did Clawdius".

I am also pleased the authors included a glossary with all the mythical creatures they mention and hand drawn pictures of what they might look like as I was unfamiliar with several creatures they mentioned including a quilin.

This a charming story you can read at bedtime (it is hardly scary and quite funny in parts). I read it in one day as I just could not put it down. I look forward to many more books.