Anthony Alongi Reviews

Added January 22, 2006

Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace

Author: Anthony Alongi
Publisher: Berkley JAM Books
Available At: Bookstores Everywhere
Publishing Date: August 2005
Genre: Young Adult: Fantasy/Paranormal/Shapeshifter
Format: Trade Paperback
Price: $8.99
ISBN: 0-425-20598-3
Author Email/Website: www.jenniferscales.com
Reviewer: Safiya Tremayne
Rating: 9 Gargoyles

Never have I wanted to rate a book higher than our rating system. Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace is easily a 12 gargoyle book!

Jennifer Scales knew puberty meant plenty of changes; she just didn't expect this one. See, she's a weredragon and shifts every crescent moon. It would have been nice to have some warning, but instead her parents wait a few mere hours before her first change to tell her.

As if fitting in during high school wasn't hard enough, now she's absent for two weeks out of every month and has to lie to her friends about why she wasn't in school. Throw in learning to fly, studying weredragon history and lizard calling and it's a wonder she hasn't gone crazy. Her life couldn't any worse, right?

Well, there is that little matter of the ongoing war between the weredragons and werearachnids. Let's not forget the Beaststalkers, humans determined to rid the world of all werecreatures. Yep, puberty sucks.

Best-selling author MaryJanice Davidson teams up with her husband and together they pen a splendid tale, appealing to both young and old. Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace is unique in a genre full of werewolves and it's not just the fact she's a dragon. It's her desire to balance both sides of her life and live as normal as possible while using her abilities that endears to readers. One point, I found touching, was her disappointment in being a hybrid dragon, not appreciating how her uniqueness gave her certain advantages. It spoke volumes and made her much more human, likeable and for younger readers, more relatable.

Adult fans of MaryJanice Davidson will be pleased to know Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace is packed with Davidson's characteristic humor. This is one book I'll be rereading for many years to come and I look forward to sharing it with my children.

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