Maybe it's just been too long since I read the others. I collected the first three books when I was younger and I loved them and reread them a lot way back when. This one felt different, outside of the modern day perspective. I don't mind the time period aspect, but the writing just didn't impress me. A bit of a depressing note to end on, if it's the end of the series. ( )

I love this story! I've read it several times and it is always fresh and wonderful. I read the earlier three, too, but wasn't as hooked. I love the fact of dragons being rediscovered from eggs in the modern world in this volume. Bryn is such a real character, one I would recognize if I saw or met her. As a birder, I would love to be able to "ken" with birds - and dragons, of course! I also love how the author selects one phrase from the text to name each chapter. So well-written and believable! Thank you, Susan Fletcher! I wish you'd write more about Bryn and "the critter." ( )

I loved the first three books in The Dragon Chronicles, so I was prepared to sit back, relax, and savor this new entry. That didn't happen. There was no sitting back or relaxing here. I was leaning forward, heart thudding, eyes glued to the pages throughout.

Ancient, Strange, and Lovely takes place in the near future. Bryn knows that her family is different. They have a secret. They can "ken" with birds, touching their minds, bonding, and finding companionship with a particular bird. At the beginning of the story Bryn's scientist mother has gone missing in the wilds of Alaska. Her father has taken up the search and soon he is missing also.

When Bryn's bird Stella starts acting strangely and leads her to the basement where a mysteriously large egg is hatching, Bryn is not prepared to care for the unusual lizard which emerges. It isn't long before she is on the run, heading for Alaska in an attempt to find someone who can help to care for this critter, which she is suspecting is really a dragon.

I sat up reading late into the night to find out what happens to Bryn and "the critter." Readers of the the first three volumes will have extra knowledge of the distant past events which led up to this book. But, it is a stand-alone and won't need the other volumes to make sense. (Although you are going to want to go back and read them, once you reach the end of Ancient, Strange, and Lovely!)

I very satisfying read! ( )

Wow, I don't know what I expected from this fourth book in the Dragon Chronicles, but it was nothing like this! I started reading and as soon as they placed it in Alaska I did a double take. Wait, Alaska? The previous books took place in what I thought was a different world, not our un-magical one. Adventures taking place in countries of a medieval time in some fantastical realm. Nope! At first I kind of balked at it, how dare they take away the magic and wonder of the world we knew with Kaeldra and Kara?! Then, the more I read the book, the more I appreciated it was set in a not-too-distant future of our own world. It brought magic to the very place we live, un-magical and slowly being ruined through pollution and warfare. The suspense was at its best in this book and it was quite the adventure! ( )

I loved how this book is not set hundreds of years ago like most dragon books are. From cultural references its clear the book takes place in our time, but the reality is skewed into a place where the environment is in much worse shape then it is at the moment. This was a fun book and also a good way of showing how our actions affect the future of our planet. ( )