Anya and the Dragon

3.5 stars

Anya and her family are the only Jews in her village. The magistrate hates Jews and wants them out. If they don't come up with a bunch of money soon, he will take their land.
Ivan and his family have come to the village to hunt the last dragon. They will give Anya the money her family needs if she helps them kill it.

I enjoyed this. It was slow at times. I loved the characters. I am still excited for the next one.

This is a story of a little girl living in the Russian countryside, in a small village. There's magic in this world and... hmm... magical creatures, dragons, rusalkas, etc. Magic has been outlawed, but people still use it.
Now, Anya is a bit different from other little girls in the village, she's Jewish. The book does a good job showing this by including the Jewish traditions and ways to the story of her life.
One day a family arrives to the village. It's a family of the Czar's fools, in the village to look for a dragon. All the dragons in the country are to be taken to the Czar. The family has several sons, and they are all named Ivan. Ivan the second, fourth, seventh and so on. The father is also Ivan, Ivan the first :-D
Ivan the Eight and Anya become friends and they find the dragon. It's not what they thought it would be.