Review: There's nothing wrong being a little different!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 18, 2011
Zachary Pill, The Dragon at Station End, is a wonderful fantasy story set in the modern world.  The main character, Zachary, is a teenager that unforunately gets picked on a lot.  Might be due to his hair being green.  In their single-parent household, Zachary's world is turned upside down after an injury forces he and his father to seek help from a very unscrupulous doctor several states away.  Why not just go to a local hospital?  Why indeed!  I don't believe in spoilers, not for reviews, but needless to say Zachary doesn't understand why his father adamantly refuses to go to a normal hospital.After the incident, Zachary is forced to live with an eccentric nutjob who treats him like her own personal slave, forcing him to clean up after her, mind her store, etc.  Along the way he and the sickly boy from next door become friends and together they try to piece together what Zachary should do next.With the help of a guardian alligator (no, seriously!), Zachary and his new friends must take on legions of deadly adversaries they never even knew existed, match wits with a tyrant hell bent on destroying him, and try to ascertain who he really is, as nothing he's learned about his family makes any sense at all.I really enjoyed this story.  It was well written, the characters are well developed, and the scenes described in vivid detail.  I think this story is perfect for young adults, as it is suitable for most age ranges, but especially for the YA crowd.  There really wasn't any swearing, and the battle scenes were described in perfect detail without getting too gory.  Quite honestly, the grossest part was traveling via the Nostrils.  Yep, inside a nose.  LOL  Gross.  :)  Perfect for kids!The critiques I have with this story are minor.  I feel like a few things weren't properly addressed.  For all I know, this could have been done intentionally.  Again, without giving too much away, I would have liked to see more explanations as why Zachary had such a fixation with plants.  He was told to stay away from plants, yet he had quite a collection he refused to part with.  He broke an arm at one point, and it took a long while to heal, then later he broke an ankle, I believe, and it healed in less than an hour.  Maybe because of his malady?At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and am eagerly looking forward to seeing what the next book in the series holds!  Good job, Mr. Greaton!