Author | Carole Wilkinson |
---|---|
Cover artist | Blue Boat Design |
Language | English |
Genre | Folktale and adventure novel |
Publisher | Black Dog Books |
Publication date | 2003 |
Publication place | Australia |
Media type | Paperback |
Pages | 339 pp |
ISBN | 978-1-876372-89-7 |
OCLC | 156762942 |
Followed by | Garden of the Purple Dragon |
Dragonkeeper is a fantasy novel written by Australian author Carole Wilkinson. It is one of the first books from the Dragonkeeper series, which consists of six books (two trilogies) and a prequel. The second book is called Garden of the Purple Dragon and the third book is called Dragon Moon. In the second trilogy of the series, there is the 4th book which is called Blood Brothers, then Shadow Sister and finally Bronze Bird Tower. There is also a prequel to the original Dragonkeeper novel known as Dragon Dawn.
The novel is set in ancient China. Ping, a slave girl for the evil master Lan, saves the life of an aging dragon and escapes her brutal master. Pursued by a ruthless dragon hunter, the girl and the dragon make an epic journey across China carrying a mysterious stone that must be protected. This is a story of a young slave girl who believes she is not worthy of a name but finds within herself the strength and courage to make this perilous journey, and do what must be done.
In the far western mountains of the Han Empire in ancient China, a young slave girl is used, abused and neglected by the cruel Master Lan, whose job is to care for the two aged imperial dragons, Long Danzi and Lu Yu. Nameless and alone, the slave girl is without hope and her only friend is her pet rat, Hua. After Lu Yu suddenly dies, the slave girl feels guilty and responsible.
When the girl discovers that the Emperor intends to sell the one remaining dragon, Danzi, to a dragon hunter to be butchered, she and the dragon escape from Huangling together. Long Danzi tells the girl her true name, Ping, and asks her to accompany him to the ocean. She must protect a mysterious stone that is vital to the dragon's legacy. Along the way, they meet Wang Cao, a herbalist previously acquainted with Danzi. The dragon hunter, Diao, catches up with them in a rural village, and though they manage to escape, Diao seizes the stone.
Danzi and Ping travel via the Yellow River to Wucheng, a town of sorcerers, to recover the stone. They find the stone in the possession of a necromancer and reacquire it. Danzi teaches Ping how to use qi (psychic energy) and explains to Ping that she is the hereditary Dragon Keeper. However, before she can respond, their boat collides with an imperial yacht, and Ping and Danzi are taken into custody at the Emperor's hunting lodge. The Emperor, Liu Che, befriends Ping. Liu Che invites a group of lore masters to the lodge. Wang Cao is one of them. He drugs Ping, convinces Danzi that he is the true Dragon Keeper, and escapes with him and the dragon stone.
Seeing Ping heartbroken, Liu Che invites her to climb Tai Shang Mountain with him. At the peak, Ping realizes that Wang Cao and Danzi are also on Tai Shang, with Diao attacking them. Diao kills Wang Cao, but Ping and Hua arrive. Ping uses qi to defeat Diao, though Hua is mortally wounded. Danzi reconciles with Ping, and the two fly the final leg of their journey to the coast. However, Ping drops the dragon stone while in flight, and it cracks on impact with the ground. It releases a baby dragon, and Ping realizes that the dragon stone was Lu Yu's last egg. Leaving his son in Ping's care, Danzi bids Ping farewell and flies across the ocean to the Isle Of The Blest, where he and Hua can be healed.
In 2017, a CGI animated film based on the books has been announced and is now in the works with Sergio Pablos leading the early visual development from The SPA Studios. [1] It is a Spain-chinese production with the animation being done by China Film Animation, Base FX, and Ilion Animation Studios. Produced by Manuel Cristobal, Larry Levene, Huang Jun, Gabriel Arias-Salgado, Axel Kuschevatzky, Mikel Lejarza and Mercedes Gamero, the film is directed by Ignacio Ferreras and co-directed by Zhang Bo with the screenplay will be written by Ferreras, Carole Wilkinson, Rosanna Cecchini, Pablo Castrillo and Xiamping Wang. The score will be composed by Zhiyi Wang while the film will be released in 2024.
Diaochan was one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. Although based on a minor historical personage, she is mostly a fictional character. She is best known for her role in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which romanticises the events in the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. In the novel, she has a romance with the warrior Lü Bu and causes him to betray and kill his foster father, the tyrannical warlord Dong Zhuo. She was praised in tales as a woman of unrivaled beauty who did what no other hero in China was able to accomplish: put an end to Dong Zhuo's regime of terror and the eventual end of Lǚ Bu; triggering the events that would lead to the formation of the Three Kingdoms: Cao Wei, Eastern Wu, and Shu Han.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a Chinese television series adapted from the classical 14th century novel of the same title by Luo Guanzhong. The series was produced by China Central Television (CCTV) and was first aired on the network in 1994. It spanned a total of 84 episodes, each approximately 45 minutes long. One of the most expensive television series produced at the time, the project cost 170 million yuan. It was completed over four years and involved over 400,000 cast and crew members, including divisions of the People's Liberation Army from the Beijing, Nanjing and Chengdu military regions. Some of the dialogue spoken by characters was adapted directly from the novel. Extensive battle scenes, such as the battles of Guandu, Red Cliffs and Xiaoting, were also live-acted.
Garden of the Purple Dragon is a children's fantasy novel by Carole Wilkinson, published in September 2005 by Macmillan Publishers. It is the second in the Dragonkeeper series and the predecessor to Dragon Moon. It is set in ancient China, during the Han dynasty, and continues the story of Ping, a slave girl turned dragonkeeper.
Dragon Moon is a children's fantasy novel by Carole Wilkinson, first published in 2007. It is the third book of the Dragonkeeper series. The books before it are Dragonkeeper and Garden of the Purple Dragon. It is followed by Blood Brothers, Shadow Sisters and Bronze Bird Tower The trilogy, based in ancient China, during the Han dynasty, has won many awards. Dragon Moon continues the story of the Dragonkeeper Ping, as she tries to fulfill her first dragon's wishes to care for his son, Kai, and take him to the Dragon Haven, where he can be raised by his kind.
Three Kingdoms is a 2010 Chinese television series based on the events in the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. The plot is adapted from the 14th century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms and other stories about the Three Kingdoms period. Directed by Gao Xixi, the series had a budget of over 160 million RMB and took five years of pre-production work. Shooting of the series commenced in October 2008, and it was released in China in May 2010.
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Dragonkeeper is a 2024 Spanish-Chinese animated fantasy adventure film directed by Salvador Simó and Li Jianping, with a script written by Carole Wilkinson, Pablo Castrillo, Ignacio Ferreras and Rosanna Checcini. Matthew Joynes is the executive producer.