I picked up Pillage at a thrift store, knowing nothing about it except for the blurb on the back cover. It said the protagonist, Beck Pillage, has the power to make things grow. “Well that’s neat, and a different sort of power for a YA fantasy protagonist to have.”

Turns out that yeah, it is neat and different. The rest of the book, however, was a mixed bag. After the first few chapters I found myself thinking, “This is a solid three-star book and I’m enjoying it a lot.” The writing style wasn’t the greatest, and the protagonist’s personality reminded me way too much of Harry Dresden, but I was having fun. There was a neat mystery slowly unfolding before my eyes, both in the main narrative and in the form of little notes from an old journal that appear at the beginning of chapters. I was intrigued. I wanted to know more about the connection between Beck’s power, the town, the strange behavior of his uncle, and the walled-in conservatory in the back yard.

For good or bad everything is explained by the end of the book (mostly in the last quarter). Once I found out what was actually going on, well...I rapidly lost interest. What the author came up with wasn’t anything as interesting as the theories I had in my head. I couldn’t help but feel that he would’ve been better served by explaining part of the mystery by the end, but not the whole thing. Like the movie Jeeper’s Creepers. It’s scary until you see the monster—then it sucks.

So yeah, a solid two stars. Very flawed, not very memorable, but I enjoyed it enough to keep turning pages. I bought the other two books in the “Pillagy” (God what a stupid word) when I was still only halfway through Pillage and thinking it was better than it is. Now I regret my decision, and I’m not sure I’ll ever read those two books. Oh well. Live and learn.
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I love this book, just re-read it so I can remember what happened- reading the rest of the series next ( )

When Beck's mother dies he goes to live with his uncle Aeron, whom he doesn't know. He meets new friends Milo and Kate and they raise dragons together. But dragons are hard to control and they try to pillage and bring goods to their masters. Beck, his friends and family must stop the dragons from pillaging the town of Kingsplot.

The end of each chapter contains excerpt from The Grim Knot, a book of Beck's family history and a guide to dragons. Beck's family tree is also listed in the book. ( )

I love books with dragons, so the cover of Pillage just reached out and grabbed me. The dragons weren't as prominent as the cover lead me to believe, but it was a fun read anyway. When Beck Phillip's mother dies he is sent to live with an uncle he has never met. When he arrives he discovers a crumbling mansion, grumpy caretakers, and an uncle that never comes down from the attic. He is strongly warned to stay out of the back yard, supposedly because it's so overgrown that it's dangerous. Beck has never been very good at following orders, so he goes exploring. What he discovers will change his life forever.

Beck's character was a lot of fun. He has this slightly sarcastic take on the world around him, and he just can't let go of the mysteries he is surrounded by even though it will almost definitely get him into trouble. There were lots of twists and turns and the mystery is tantalizingly slow to be revealed. And never fear, the dragons do make a dramatic appearance. ( )

Elly says: This is a first person account of a 15-year-old boy's life after the woman he thought was his mother, (slowly going insane), dies. Her death and his reaction to it are handled well, realistic and believeable. He is usually in trouble, and once he arrives at his uncle's home, he is always in trouble; breaks every rule set for him. Doesn't know who to trust when things go wrong, and has been on his own for so long he just does what he thinks he should do. Things work out, and he saves the town from the destruction he unleashes but you know he is headed for more trouble. And it turns out his uncle is actually his father. More angst.... ( )