In an unusual Timeslip Tuesday post, I have a series of three books to offer--the Dragon Realm series, by Katie Tsang and Kevin Tsang. (nb: the dates I give are for the US publication).
Four kids meet in China and begin the adventure of a lifetime in Dragon Mountain (November 2020). They find the secret way inside a mountain of legend where four dragons have been trapped by powerful magic, and form heart bonds, pairing each kid to a dragon. The dragons are made stronger by the bonds, and the kids gain powers of their own....and together this team might be strong enough to defeat the Dragon of Death, who will destroy both the dragon and human realms if she isn't stopped.
And to do that, in the second book, Dragon Legend (September 2021), the kids and dragons travel in back in time to the dragon realm, to face the Dragon of Death on her home turf and save one of the boys, who has been kidnapped....as well as various fantastical adventures in the dragon realm, there's a visit to the imperial palaces of ancient China that's a lovely bit of time travel goodness!
But the time slippiness of the series really gets going in book 3, Dragon City (April 2022) when the kids and their dragons are swept into the future that awaits if the Dragon of Death succeeds. It's a horrible place, where the city is the only place where life persists, and but that life force is sucked up by the evil dragon queen to fuel her strength. The kids are separated from their dragons, and one of the dragons has turned to the dark side, but nevertheless they persist, and with help from some unexpected allies, and an even more unexpected magical force, they overthrow the Dragon of Death and her horrible future is no more.
The kids and their dragons (even the one who turned evil, who was redeemed) return to their own time....and both the dragon and human realms are safe once more.
So time travel isn't the point of the series (the point being brave kids bonded with dragons, magical powers, and evil to be conquered) but the time travel does work well to provide an interesting scaffolding for the plot and the world building. It is tremendously easy to picture the target audience loving the books lots (and wanting dragon bonds of their own!). Happily for these readers, the adventures continue with afresh with Dragon Rising and Dragon Destiny.
Short answer-- prefect for younger middle grade kids who want lots of maigcal action and adventure, but are not ready or willing to read large tomes, with bonus time travel to raise the stakes!
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I liked the first book best, but you are correct that it's nice to have a series that isn't hugely long. Dragons always do well in my library, thanks to Tui Sutherland's fans!
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