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com/blastedash ISP JOURNAL 1 Journal Entry for - Joust -The Dragon Jouster Series by Mercedes Lackey Book #1 During the first couple chapters it is made apparent that Kiron(Vetch) is quite down to earth but is in a lot of pain do to his history of being a serf(a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord due to the Tian empire gaining property on previous Altan land. Kiron is being treated like dirt since he is a serf; however there is a certain limit to the neglect of a serf which his master obviously is oblivious to. Kirons anger builds up and he starts to think how to punish his master. I as a reader really start to feel for him, he was apparently quite fond of his parents and his anger on how his dad died was quite bitter. No matter the circumstances he stays strong never the less. The first significant event occurs in the story which is quite nice, a dragon rider lands on top of the roof and took a bucket of water and drank it, which kiron was at that time transporting. At that moment his master came outside and chastised him unaware of a royal dragon rider being up on the roof. The rider jumps down and tells the slaver master that he is doing everything wrong and that he is basically in compromise of the human rights act which states that even serfs should be fed and healthy. So then he takes Kiron and flies away on his dragon. Kiron felt sick and I as a reader felt quite happy how justice has been served. He was the brought to the dragon jousters HQ of the Tian Empire, and is now a dragon boy, a dragon boy is someone who has to care for his assigned dragon(Kashet) and his Jouster(Ari). He is blessed with clean cloths, lots of food and people who appreciate his work. His bond will grow with his jouster and eventually he will grow his own dragon (secretly) the way Ari grew up his. But until all of this happen there are still a lot of events which turn to shape Kirons life.

Chapter # 1 Brief Summary: Vetch gets introduced to the reader as a serf and how he lives every day, it is apparent that he is a slave for what he does every day in chores. His master Khefti seems to never be happy with Vetch. Vetch is explaining to the reader that this land once belonged to his father and his family but

BlastedAsh youtube.com/blastedash ISP JOURNAL 1 during the war the lands switched in territories and a master was assigned to the land and house, the previous occupant had to obey their masters. While Vetch was hauling buckets of water, the bucket was taken and as he turned around he saw a Jouster(Dragon Rider) drinking it, anger overwhelmed him(Vetch) and that moment his master came out(unaware of the jouster) and saw that he didnt have the bucket(nothing to do) so he took his whip and started hitting him. This made me feel quite sympathetic since I dislike people who jump to conclusions, but the author did the right thing in satisfying the reader. While Vetch was expecting the third whip to strike it never came, instead he found the Jouster blocking his master from continuing. The Jouster stated that Vetch was not at fault and that at the looks of things he has not been treated good enough. The next part exhilarated me as a read since this was the conclusion I was hoping for, the Jouster said that he will take the boy since he has the privileges to do so. He took Vetch dropped him on the dragon and flew, I found the details the author wrote through Vetchs eye quite significant to the story. Chapter 1 ends in Vetch saying to himself that his life will be different.

Chapter # 2 While reading chapter 2 I realized that in most stories regarding dragons hardly any characters reacted like a normal person would feel. At this point it is unclear what Vetch was feeling, he could be rescued or traded? Well now he was mile high in the sky on a dragon and he was holding back his terror with every mount of energy in him. The dragon jouster is a Tian, Vetch is an Altan, these two nations are at war with each other, so basically I as a reader connected the dots that Vetch will most probably be some kind of slave. The Dragon jouster was addressed as Ari and the dragon as Kashet by an overseer called Haraket. I like books which are interesting straight from the beginning, so Vetch is now a dragon boy! During this chapter Haraket is going over Vetchs duties as a dragon boy, at the end of the tour it is made apparent that Haraket is ethically good hearted when he addresses the whip marks which Vetch got from his master in chapter 1 and aids them. He got a shower, new cloths and the most surprising thingFOOD, Vetch

BlastedAsh youtube.com/blastedash ISP JOURNAL 1 was absolutely enlightened and as a reader this chapter made me immensely hungry. He is reminded by the other dragon boys that he is a mere serf and Vetch felt the same anger boil up in him from before but he vowed to do his best as a dragon boy. However Haraket stated that a dragon boy is a dragon boy and that his duty is his jouster and dragon alone. I quite enjoyed reading this chapter since it appealed to the main character as a new start, I am looking forward to what series of events are going to happen next. Chapter #3 A continuation to chapter 2, Haraket is still showing him around the place and now is testing/teaching Vetch to harness the dragon along with some instructions for the future. I found it kind of strange that the author said that dragon dung was holy business but it might get explained in the future. This chapter is not as exciting as the previous chapters but gives quite the insight to the levels of employment in the dragon jouster HQ(thats what I call it), Vetch is instructed to make/clean/polish dragon saddle. The rest of the chapter Vetch keeps to him but listens in to a lot of gossip on how Ari has pleasures with women and how he just leaves them afterwards (1 night stand). It is also revealed how dragons are handled, tala plants are used for dragons other than Kashet to calm them down since they are quite wild. I wonder what makes Kashet so special, but I guess that will be answered in the next couple of chapters.