Voices of Dragons (Carrie Vaughn)

Voices of Dragons
Carrie Vaughn
Harper Teen
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: Kay knew she was pushing the rules when she went rock climbing alone so close to the border, but she didn't really expect much trouble. After all, dragons rarely ventured within sight of the human lands, and though the military patrolled to keep thrill-seekers away, she had grown up in these woods and knew where the gaps in security were. And it wasn't like she was actually going to cross the creek that marked the boundary. She just wanted to get away from the pressures of being a teen, not to mention being the daughter of the town sheriff and probably the only junior in high school not to have a boyfriend.
When she takes an unanticipated tumble, Kay finds herself on the wrong side of the border - rescued by a dragon. Artegal is just as curious about humans as Kay is about dragons. Though neither species have talked to each other in sixty years, ever since the boundaries between human lands and the dragon domains were set, Kay and Artegal strike up a tenuous friendship. But humans haven't forgotten the terror that dwells in the north, the horrors of the dragons' re-emergence after World War II, the fiery battles and the instinctive fear of the giant beasts. All too soon, decades of stalemate and tension erupt into violence, and Kay and Artegal find themselves caught in the middle. Can a teen girl and a young dragon stop a genocidal war, or is the hatred too strong on both sides?

REVIEW: A fairly fast read, this story feels a bit obvious from the start. Vaughn's tale is set in a modern-day world where dragons are real. Once in a while, the integration feels unnatural, even forced. Vaughn's dragons are disturbingly vague. Through the entire book, we readers learn next to nothing of their species and culture; the dracophile in me kept asking for more. The speed with which Kay and Artegal bond also feels forced, especially as much of their early friendship is glossed over in page count; they don't seem to have that much in common, really, until Kay figures out how to rig a flying harness from her rock climbing gear. Some moral ambiguity comes into play as the re-ignited violence claims loved ones of both Kay and Artegal, as Kay reconciles her feelings of interspecies friendship with horror at what dragons are capable of, but for the most part the "good" characters are reasonable and the "bad" ones are prideful hotheads, making the battle lines pretty clear. We readers don't see Artegal's struggles, so we have little idea of what the dragon goes through, but Kay endures all manner of problems, from family tragedies and threatened friendships to manipulation by the military. She has a believably hard time, trying to reconcile the fear of her loved ones with her belief in Artegal. Without dealing in spoilers, I can't get too specific, but the ending feels unsatisfactory, a trailing thread that ought to be tied up, or at least lead into another story.
In the end, I could only work up enough interest to add an extra half-mark to an Okay rating. Better fleshing-out of the dragons and the integrated world, plus a more conclusive ending, would've probably bumped it up a notch, but I've definitely read worse.