Heart's Blood: The Pit Dragon Chronicles, Volume Two

By Jane Yolen

Jakkin risks everything—his freedom, his dragon, even his life—to rescue his beloved in this stirring sequel to Dragon's Blood.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 1, 2004
• ISBN: 9780547544854

Jane Yolen

Jane Yolen, hailed as the Hans Christian Andersen of America, has written more than 370 books, won numerous awards, and received six honorary doctorates in literature. Her works include such classics as The Devil's Arithmetic, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, the Caldecott medal–winner Owl Moon, and A Bear Sat On My Porch Today. Jane lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts, and you can visit her at www.janeyolen.com.

Reviews for Heart's Blood

[whatsmacksaid · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This second book was better than the first, but good grief, the ending was weird. Interesting and sort of artsy, but weird.

Heart's Blood addressed some of the bad stuff inherent to the fictional world--the class system, indentured servitude, etc., but also didn't address the casual acceptance of plenty of other bad stuff. (Eugenics, etc.) And dear effing god, the sexism burned all the way through. It was absolutely ridiculous.

[foggidawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jakkin's dragon, Heart's Blood, is now a champion of several small fights in the pits, but is taking time off for breeding. Unexpectedly, Jakkin gets word that his friend Akki is in trouble and needs his help. Jakkin longs to set off immediately for the city, where Akki has gotten involved in rebel activity -- but there are the hatchlings to consider...This continues the story started in Dragon's Blood, and expands into the politics of Jakkin's home planet. It's a pretty quick read, but of course, it is not the end of the series, so in some ways it serves as a bridge to the events of the next book.

[librisissimo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Substance: The boy from Book 1 gets drawn into political intrigue by his lady-love, involving rebels, off-world Federation interests, and the people who just want to be left alone. More mature content than Book 1, but still at a junior level. 

[pausanias_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this second entry in The Dragon Pit Chronicles. There didn't seem to be as much with the dragons other than the pit fighting. The world of Austar IV was explored more and we were introduced to some political intrigue. The one point that pulls focus from the book for me was that the very last chapter was missing a few paragraphs. I contacted the publisher to get the text but they no longer carry the book. So I had to go to the library to check it out and copy the missing text to put in my copy of the book. This incident disrupted the flow of the book for me and took away from my first experience of reading it. Hopefully my next read through will be more enjoyable now that I have put the missing text in my copy.

[aerrin99 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this second book of the Pit Dragons trilogy (although now there are four, so I suppose it's not really), we find Jakken a successful dragon trainer, free from bond and moving swiftly upward in the world.We also find that Austar IV is a politically complicated place, and a potentially dangerous one. This book gears up the political plots that carry through the rest of the volumes, and is, to me, the only one that manages it successful. It revolves around a group of rebels Akki has fallen in with and Jakken's desperation to save her, while still maintaining a firm foot in the Pit Dragon culture I loved in the first book.There is still a strong thread of coming-of-age (Jakken flat out asks himself if he's a man yet - and what that means) and some wonderful notes of personal loyalty and personal responsibility. The ending is heart-breaking. Worth a read.

[earthlistener · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story continues in a very interesting tale. The author continues to weave a world with interesting dynamics and culture. I particularly love how she sees the dragons in the story - something that is both classic and easy to recognize and yet fresh and original in its own way through the details. The story becomes more even complex and things originally nor fully explained in the first book are hinted at or explained some in the second. An interesting series. I’m curious to read the next book.

[winterrain_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book, like everything else Jane Yolen writes, is far more thought-provoking than I could hope to convey in a simple plot summary. I'll say only that, while the first book is nothing I haven't seen before, this one is quite original. One never gets the impression that Yolen put a lot of time into building the world of Austar IV- it just seems to exist naturally on the page. At times, it's a little too natural- she scorns infodumping to the point where I was sometimes left confused about the details of Jakkin's culture.

[candlelitdreams · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book in the Pit Dragon trilogy set in a future world beyond Earth. In this novel the main character, master and ex-bonder Jakkin, leaves his dragon and her hatchlings to help his love interest Akki.Generally a good way to spend an afternoon. I would recommend to anyone interested in this genre because the characters and the world the author created are well written, but it is mainly a young adult novel and that needs to be kept in mind when reading.