A review by brogan7
The Dragon Thief by Zetta Elliott

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

This book wasn't as well-rounded as her first.  It is a great story in terms of: being set in Brooklyn, having diverse main characters (in ages, in ethnic origin, and in life paths), tenderness towards the characters (a new friendship between boys).  
However, there are some weak points, particularly towards the end (a lot of wrap-up), and a heavy hand of narration (one senses the author wanting certain things to happen, rather than them springing organically from the story). 

Spoiler

The aunty's crossing over into the magic realm was completely unexpected and without grounding in anything earlier in the story...it was Ma who was ill, not Aunty...but yet Aunty dies/goes over to the magic realm, and the reader feels nothing for it because we weren't emotionally engaged with Aunty, particularly not at that point in the story, and certainly not aware that she was physically fragile/at risk.  Also the character of "Blue" is very nebulous and though he is a classic 'bad guy' he kind of comes off as a stereotype of a bad guy...we have no sense of his real motivations, nor of his real emotional experience of losing all his magical creatures...one doesn't know whether to mourn the despoiling of his bounty, or whether to cheer on the magical creatures' newfound freedom.

Jaxon's emotional evolution about his father's accident is interesting and carefully dealt with not to traumatize young readers.  It feels hopeful and steady at the same time.
My son asked, at the end: "What I want to know is, where's Ambrose?"