Platte F. Clark's "Fluff Dragon,"...A Book Review

I finished Fluff Dragon, Book 2 of the Bad Unicorn series last week. I finished it the same day I also finished an audiobook from a different YA fantasy series, Jennifer Neilson’s Ascendance Trilogy. I’ll write about that one in a following podcast. It’s interesting to be reading/listening to different books in different series written for the same audience.

Still, there’s nothing like the world Platte Clark created—nothing. Since this is Book 2 of the series, there are some similarities to Bad Unicorn, but there are some important differences, too. Bad Unicorn was such a strange book, a rollercoaster ride where I didn’t know what would happen next. Jr. High School kids transported to not only another realm, but another time within that realm—not a lot of time-traveling YA fantasy books out there that start in our world, at least, not many I’ve read. We follow the same characters from Book 1 as they search for a way to not only save the world in which they find themselves, but for a way to go home.

The differences in Fluff Dragon were subtle. It feels like Clark took a more series turn in the series’ second installment. The story’s more straightforward. It follows one quest without hoping to difference dimensions, even though talk of Texas and other worlds is found within the text. The changes worked for me because I was more invested in the characters. The surprises weren’t needed to further the story. This isn’t to say that there aren’t interesting turns and twists to the story—there are. One of these is the book’s namesake. Without giving away too much, a fluff dragon is a regular dragon that is turned inside out. The process by which this takes place is very imaginative.

Imagination is something Clark has in abundance. It’s like the world he created exists in spite of all the fantasy worlds we’ve come to know. There’s elves, dwarfs and giants, but also fire kittens—the lick of which is extremely uncomfortable and whose tails must be kept in water if they’re held prisoner. I mean, who thinks like this?

All these things, plus so much more are found within the book’s pages and, once again, Clark has proven himself to be a one-of-a-kind author. The third book in the series will be out soon. Personally, I can’t wait!