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O'Keefe Family #2
Dragons in the Waters
A stolen heirloom painting...a shipboard murder...Can Simon and the O'Keefe clan unravel the mystery?
Thirteen-year-old Simon Renier has no idea when he boards the M.S. Orion with his cousin Forsyth Phair that the journey will take him not only to Venezuela, but into his past as well. His original plan to return a family heirloom, portrait of Simon Bolivar, to its rightful place is sidetracked when cousin Forsyth is found murdered. Then, when the portrait is stolen, all passengers and crew become suspect.
Simon's newfound friends, Poly and Charles O'Keefe, and their scientist father help Simon to confront the danger that threaten him. But Simon alone must face up to his fears. What has happened to the treasured portrait? And who among them is responsible for the theft and the murder?
Thirteen-year-old Simon Renier has no idea when he boards the M.S. Orion with his cousin Forsyth Phair that the journey will take him not only to Venezuela, but into his past as well. His original plan to return a family heirloom, portrait of Simon Bolivar, to its rightful place is sidetracked when cousin Forsyth is found murdered. Then, when the portrait is stolen, all passengers and crew become suspect.
Simon's newfound friends, Poly and Charles O'Keefe, and their scientist father help Simon to confront the danger that threaten him. But Simon alone must face up to his fears. What has happened to the treasured portrait? And who among them is responsible for the theft and the murder?
326 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1976
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About the author
Madeleine L'Engle
199Ìýbooks8,959ÌýfollowersMadeleine L'Engle was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young adult fiction, including A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels: A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. Her works reflect both her Christian faith and her strong interest in modern science.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 214 reviews
July 8, 2013
I'm afraid I can't recommend this book, which I find hard to believe L'Engle authored: the writing is so awkward, not like her usual lyrical prose. And the story really dragged for me.
I am re-reading many of Madeleine L'Engle's books, books that I adored as a child and that inspired me in so many ways–to be a writer, among them. I'm not sure I ever read this one, however; and it strikes me not as a YA novel at all, but rather like a Juvenile Book Club version of one the Golden Age British mystery novels: say something by Ngaio Marsh or Margery Allingham or maybe Dorothy Sayers. That is, if any of them had been writers with a religious purpose, which they weren't.
The more I re-read L'Engle, the more it seems to me that her true life's work was to create the world she wanted to live in, but couldn't find in the quotidian existence we all must inhabit. In L'Engle's world, at least the world she wrote about for young people, there are idealized parents and families; music, books, poetry, and theater are all high-brow and all immensely, deeply important; and there is a unique blend of faith, science, and a kind of magic which is most like the mysterium tremendums. [Let's hope I spelled that right.] And at the heart of it all is love: love between people and love of God.
It is unique, distinctive to L'Engle, and though I still enjoy immersing myself in it, I can no longer find the comfort, peace, hope, or joy in it that I once did. I find myself more at home with other fantasy writers, but there will always be part of me that longs for the world that L'Engle tried so hard to bring into being with her books.
I am re-reading many of Madeleine L'Engle's books, books that I adored as a child and that inspired me in so many ways–to be a writer, among them. I'm not sure I ever read this one, however; and it strikes me not as a YA novel at all, but rather like a Juvenile Book Club version of one the Golden Age British mystery novels: say something by Ngaio Marsh or Margery Allingham or maybe Dorothy Sayers. That is, if any of them had been writers with a religious purpose, which they weren't.
The more I re-read L'Engle, the more it seems to me that her true life's work was to create the world she wanted to live in, but couldn't find in the quotidian existence we all must inhabit. In L'Engle's world, at least the world she wrote about for young people, there are idealized parents and families; music, books, poetry, and theater are all high-brow and all immensely, deeply important; and there is a unique blend of faith, science, and a kind of magic which is most like the mysterium tremendums. [Let's hope I spelled that right.] And at the heart of it all is love: love between people and love of God.
It is unique, distinctive to L'Engle, and though I still enjoy immersing myself in it, I can no longer find the comfort, peace, hope, or joy in it that I once did. I find myself more at home with other fantasy writers, but there will always be part of me that longs for the world that L'Engle tried so hard to bring into being with her books.
August 2, 2022
Dragons in the Waters is the second of Madeleine L'Engle's Polly O'Keefe novels and just like the first novel, just like with The Arm of the Starfish, Dragons in the Waters is both a mystery and equally does not in fact feature the O'Keefes as main protagonists (for in The Arm of the Starfish, Adam Eddington is the main protagonist and in Dragons in the Waters it is Simon Bolivar Renier and with the O'Keefes in both novels playing in my humble opinion at best only quasi supportive roles and narrative tools).
So in Dragons in the Waters, main protagonist, thirteen year old Simon Bolivar Renier lives with his aging Aunt Leonis, who took him in after the death of his parents, and at the start of Dragons in the Waters, Simon embarks upon a journey with Forsyth Phair, a supposedly long lost cousin (but who in fact turns out not to be related to Simon at all). Now Phair has just purchased a valuable portrait of South American hero and revolutionary Simon Bolivar from Aunt Leonis, and in order to donate this portrait to a museum, Forsyth Phair and Simon Bolivar Renier must travel to Venezuela aboard a freighter ship called the Orion. But albeit the other passengers aboard the Orion (and including the O’Keefes) are all seemingly pleasant and personable, Simon begins to feel majorly uneasy almost immediately, as Cousin Forsyth is very cold and distant toward him, and Polly and Charles O'Keefe (brother and sister) both caution Simon against trusting his cousin. And by the time the Orion finally reaches port, someone will have tried to kill Simon, and Cousin Forsyth himself will be dead, will have been murdered. Therefore and basically, Dragons in the Waters is meant to be a typical whodunnit kind of story, with Madeleine L'Engle's text kind of reminding me rather annoyingly of a Nancy Drew or a Hardy Boys mystery, a story where a group of diverse characters are thrown together in some random, often exotic location and the reader (along with the amateur sleuth(s) and in Dragons in the Waters this naturally means protagonist Simon Renier) must help solve the mystery and discover the murderer or murderers. And well, since I have never really enjoyed reading those types of mysteries anyhow and am also not really all the talented at solving them, sorry, but Dragons in the Waters is just not at all my cup of reading tea, and as such, I have found Dragons in the Waters draggingly tedious and a frustrating reading chore instead of a pleasure.
Also and furthermore, Madeleine L'Engle adding all kinds of thematic issues to the main mystery storyline of Dragons in the Waters, like Simon's own Bolivar Family lineage, Polly O'Keefe's obsession with St. George and dragons, Charles O'Keefe being able to explore through his dreams, Dr. Calvin O'Keefe wanting to clear Dragonlake of poison etc. etc., this actually does not make the featured murder mystery of Dragons in the Waters more layered and nuanced (as some reviewers seem keen to claim), no, the multiple threads really do absolutely nothing for me as a reader except to provide distraction and annoyance and to the point that I indeed almost felt like not continuing on with Dragons in the Waters. And finally but importantly, considering that like with the first Polly O'Keefe novel (with The Arm of the Starfish), I once again have found the character of Polly O'Keefe cardboard thin and with not really any personality at all in Dragons in the Waters except that she, that Polly obviously (and very much negatively) just loves to boast about herself and her family and about how oh so very special each and every member supposedly is (which is also something that Polly annoyingly shares with her brother Charles, as he also acts mostly smug and arrogant throughout Dragons in the Waters), no, I truly have not found any part of Dragons in the Waters either engaging or entertaining (and to the point that I frankly do consider my two star rating for Dragons in the Waters rather generous on my part, since honestly, Madeleine L'Engle's featured story really tends to make me personally cringe and to also be very happy that I will hopefully not have to ever consider rereading Dragons in the Waters).
So in Dragons in the Waters, main protagonist, thirteen year old Simon Bolivar Renier lives with his aging Aunt Leonis, who took him in after the death of his parents, and at the start of Dragons in the Waters, Simon embarks upon a journey with Forsyth Phair, a supposedly long lost cousin (but who in fact turns out not to be related to Simon at all). Now Phair has just purchased a valuable portrait of South American hero and revolutionary Simon Bolivar from Aunt Leonis, and in order to donate this portrait to a museum, Forsyth Phair and Simon Bolivar Renier must travel to Venezuela aboard a freighter ship called the Orion. But albeit the other passengers aboard the Orion (and including the O’Keefes) are all seemingly pleasant and personable, Simon begins to feel majorly uneasy almost immediately, as Cousin Forsyth is very cold and distant toward him, and Polly and Charles O'Keefe (brother and sister) both caution Simon against trusting his cousin. And by the time the Orion finally reaches port, someone will have tried to kill Simon, and Cousin Forsyth himself will be dead, will have been murdered. Therefore and basically, Dragons in the Waters is meant to be a typical whodunnit kind of story, with Madeleine L'Engle's text kind of reminding me rather annoyingly of a Nancy Drew or a Hardy Boys mystery, a story where a group of diverse characters are thrown together in some random, often exotic location and the reader (along with the amateur sleuth(s) and in Dragons in the Waters this naturally means protagonist Simon Renier) must help solve the mystery and discover the murderer or murderers. And well, since I have never really enjoyed reading those types of mysteries anyhow and am also not really all the talented at solving them, sorry, but Dragons in the Waters is just not at all my cup of reading tea, and as such, I have found Dragons in the Waters draggingly tedious and a frustrating reading chore instead of a pleasure.
Also and furthermore, Madeleine L'Engle adding all kinds of thematic issues to the main mystery storyline of Dragons in the Waters, like Simon's own Bolivar Family lineage, Polly O'Keefe's obsession with St. George and dragons, Charles O'Keefe being able to explore through his dreams, Dr. Calvin O'Keefe wanting to clear Dragonlake of poison etc. etc., this actually does not make the featured murder mystery of Dragons in the Waters more layered and nuanced (as some reviewers seem keen to claim), no, the multiple threads really do absolutely nothing for me as a reader except to provide distraction and annoyance and to the point that I indeed almost felt like not continuing on with Dragons in the Waters. And finally but importantly, considering that like with the first Polly O'Keefe novel (with The Arm of the Starfish), I once again have found the character of Polly O'Keefe cardboard thin and with not really any personality at all in Dragons in the Waters except that she, that Polly obviously (and very much negatively) just loves to boast about herself and her family and about how oh so very special each and every member supposedly is (which is also something that Polly annoyingly shares with her brother Charles, as he also acts mostly smug and arrogant throughout Dragons in the Waters), no, I truly have not found any part of Dragons in the Waters either engaging or entertaining (and to the point that I frankly do consider my two star rating for Dragons in the Waters rather generous on my part, since honestly, Madeleine L'Engle's featured story really tends to make me personally cringe and to also be very happy that I will hopefully not have to ever consider rereading Dragons in the Waters).
May 1, 2019
Despite the title, which is taken from Psalms, this is not a fantasy novel, not even science fiction like many of L’Engle’s works. It’s a mystery, with an Agatha Christie vibe in a couple of places, especially when L’Engle deliberately describes each character’s location in a locked-room situation (a boat on the ocean) right before an attempted murder.
At one point I started to feel there were too many stories within one, but somehow L’Engle ends up making it work, at least for the most part. The story is best when it’s focused on the three adolescents. The characterization of some of the adults verge on caricature, especially that of the women, even though two of them are professors. It’s annoying that all of the (Venezuelan) indigenous people are referred to as Indians, but then the book was published in 1976; also troubling that the idealistically portrayed, insulated tribe is waiting for a particular white ‘savior,� but the reason for that is the story’s raison d'être.
I read this novel (along with its respective endnotes) in this edition: /book/show/3...
At one point I started to feel there were too many stories within one, but somehow L’Engle ends up making it work, at least for the most part. The story is best when it’s focused on the three adolescents. The characterization of some of the adults verge on caricature, especially that of the women, even though two of them are professors. It’s annoying that all of the (Venezuelan) indigenous people are referred to as Indians, but then the book was published in 1976; also troubling that the idealistically portrayed, insulated tribe is waiting for a particular white ‘savior,� but the reason for that is the story’s raison d'être.
I read this novel (along with its respective endnotes) in this edition: /book/show/3...
January 21, 2023
The Kairos books are kind of all over the place, and this one becomes a halfway through. There are some really solid themes here, but L'Engle doesn't take quite enough time to explore them. I am also extremely weary of her Rousseauian take on fictional indigenous people groups. The tribes from A Swiftly Tilting, The Arm of the Starfish, and Dragons in the Waters could be swapped with little change to the story, though the three books take place on different continents, even different centuries. I am beginning to think that these books are less of a series (besides the first three) and more of a loosely connected group of novels with a few common threads. Hopefully, the final two books center Poly O'Keefe more than these last two did, and thus feel more unified and less scattered.
August 6, 2022
Madeleine L’Engle has a special place in my heart. As I'm rereading her books as an adult I’m having all kinds of issues with them but - for the most part - I can also see some good, and why I loved them so as a child.
This one, I put down as a kid because it didn’t capture my interest. In spite of the title there is precious little science or magic in this one. And it’s also not much to do with Polly and the O’Keefe family, in spite of it being part of the “Polly O’Keefe quartet.�
What this book IS is all of the negatives of L’Engle (the unrealistic idealized family, repetitive moralizing, etc), combined with something that doesn’t feel like L’Engle at all but instead a pale imitation of a cozy Agatha Christie style murder mystery.
This one, I put down as a kid because it didn’t capture my interest. In spite of the title there is precious little science or magic in this one. And it’s also not much to do with Polly and the O’Keefe family, in spite of it being part of the “Polly O’Keefe quartet.�
What this book IS is all of the negatives of L’Engle (the unrealistic idealized family, repetitive moralizing, etc), combined with something that doesn’t feel like L’Engle at all but instead a pale imitation of a cozy Agatha Christie style murder mystery.
November 21, 2016
So much conversation, so little action. L'Engle obviously reversed the common advice to writers of "Show, don't tell." An incredibly dull read not much saved by the characters.
November 9, 2019
I still love reading any L'Engle of course, but this one left some things to be desired. One thing that makes her books so good is how many moving pieces she gets going (issues across generations, characters, cultures, religions, etc.) and then weaves them together in such a beautiful way. The pieces were all there in this one, but they weren't weaved together in the way they often are. I would say that the book was quite good while they were just on the boat, but once they were off it, she introduced new characters and new issues that there really weren't time to resolve. Some of the parts of the ending stretched credulity, even for a book that turned out to be kind of a fantasy after not starting that way. Furthermore, some of the lessons she wanted to teach, like not to idolize a family member that we considered above reproach, just never hit home because, honestly, it seemed ridiculous for Simon to care so much about someone who had died so long ago in the first place. Finally, I have a problem with how she dealt with the reveal of the murderer. Despite the fact that the character, whom I won't give away, did commit a murder, the author (through various characters) goes out of her way to say that the true crime was getting involved in the underworld in the first place and being dragged down from there and that murdering someone who was so bad really isn't so bad. I just don't think that's a good message. Sure, someone can be misguided or commit a crime of passion, but at least to me, a murder is a murder, no matter how you spin it.
There are now three books in the O'Keefe and Austin series I haven't read. I have really enjoyed catching up on these in the last few years after only reading the Time series growing up. I am sure I will enjoy the final three, but at this point, The Young Unicorns is still my favorite of these newer ones.
There are now three books in the O'Keefe and Austin series I haven't read. I have really enjoyed catching up on these in the last few years after only reading the Time series growing up. I am sure I will enjoy the final three, but at this point, The Young Unicorns is still my favorite of these newer ones.
July 24, 2020
I liked this better than the first Polly O’Keefe title. This was a decent Agatha Christie locked room type mystery since it takes place on a small ship with a small number of potential suspects. I suspect, though, many of the target audience will be disappointed since the youth are more targets and narrators rather than really active participants. Recommended for those who fell in love with Polly or CanonTallis or L’Engle fans. However read Arm of the Starfish first.
July 22, 2008
A friend started reading all of L'Engle's books after her death last year - and I thought that was a great idea. I'm not sure my friend is still doing it, but I'm slowly working my way through.
This is definitely one of her weaker books. As a mystery it's pretty lame, there isn't great character development, and the point is.... well, I'm not sure.
This is definitely one of her weaker books. As a mystery it's pretty lame, there isn't great character development, and the point is.... well, I'm not sure.
September 14, 2019
2.5
13-year-old Simon Bolivar Quentin Phair Renier boards the O’Rion, a freighter ship heading for Venezuela, with his Cousin Forsyth. They’re returning a family treasure, a portrait of General Simon Bolivar, who Simon Renier’s ancestor Quentin Phair (see how confusing?!?) fought alongside in order to free the Venezuelans. On board, he spends his time with Poly and Charles O’Keefe, day dreaming and pretending to be Quentin Phair and Simon Bolivar. In the background, trouble brews around Cousin Forsyth, who is not who he seems. Likewise, danger looms for Simon. Then, the portrait is stole and a murder takes place on board the ship leaving a true mystery for the characters to sort out. Upon arriving in Port of Dragons, Venezuela, home of the Quiztano Indians with whom Quentin Phair once broke a promise that led to vengeful feelings, Simon is kidnapped and now the characters have an even more urgent mystery to figure out.
On the surface, this book is a fairly engaging (if somewhat slow at points) murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. Cousin Forsyth is murdered on board the ship with lots of people having motive and opportunity and trying to figure out who don it. On top of that is the suspense part with Simon and Tallis’s kidnapping and wondering if they’ll both survive it. As I said, fairly interesting with some pretty intriguing characters mostly. Poly was a bit of a snobby brat, but that might have just been the tone of the audio narrator that made her sound so. So overall pretty enjoyable. But after putting the book down, something felt unsettling to me. I reflected on it and found the things that bothered me.
First and foremost is how different the world must have been when this book was written that an old woman would gladly send her beloved nephew on a freighter trip to Venezuela with a complete stranger. Even if he was clearly a genetic relative and showed up with papers, one doesn’t just send their child (for all intents and purposes he is) off on a 2 week vacation with a man you’ve known less than a month. That’s craziness these days and I kinda feel like it should have been even then. That was actually first and foremost in my mind once I discovered that Cousin Forsyth showed up out of the blue to buy a painting and a month later Aunt Leonis is sending Simon off alone with him for 2 weeks to travel to a foreign country. But there’s even more beyond that that kind of bothered me. One of these was the whole "noble savage" thing this story had going on. The author tried to overcome that by conveying that the Quiztano people were deeper and more complex than that simple stereotype, but in a way, she also kept perpetuating it by making them isolated, peaceful healers in an ideal society. In short, they ended up being a perfect society...primitive and also noble.
I also think to some degree I was unsettled by the morality presented by the author through the reactions of her characters in regards to Simon’s ancestor, Quentin Phair. You see, he, in his youth and while fighting with Simon Bolivar, fell in love with and “married� an native woman and had a child with her. When the war was over, he returned to England, promising his “wife� and son that he would return. Well, he didn’t. Instead, he headed off for North American, found a real wife and had children with her, completely abandoning/forgetting his prior obligation. When Simon and Aunt Leonis (and others later on) discover this, they are quite distraught to learn that he’d been thus dishonorable, but learned to love him as the imperfect ancestor he was and to look past that action to his more admirable traits. This was treated as though one couldn’t be disgusted by an ancestor’s behavior...as though he could have done what he did and still be considered a good and decent person. In his time, yeah, he could have, because to his contemporaries he hadn’t really done anything wrong (and he didn’t really appear to feel any guilt over it). But from Simon and Aunt Leonis’s time period, that was (IMHO) a horrible thing to do. Had he married this other woman in a Christian wedding and then gone off and gotten married again, his ancestors would see him as a criminal. But they passed it off as youthful lust and made nothing of his broken promise and lack of guilt or apology later in life. This is pretty darn revealing of their moral compasses. Nor is any attempt made to make the connection that Quentin Phair’s broken promise is exactly what led to Simon’s life being in danger in the first place. Quentin Phair is very much to blame for Simon’s predicament.
Finally, there’s the problem I have with Simon being made to atone for his ancestor’s broken promise. Granted, Simon agrees to remain with the Quiztanos fairly willingly, but he was pressured into accepting responsibility for Quentin Phair’s not having returned. And so he took the place of Quentin Phair in the promise and this because he says the same flaw runs in his blood. How does he come by this realization? Because when Canon Tallis was injured and a leopard was getting ready to attack them, Tallis told Simon to run and he did. Simon likens this to “fight or flight� reaction to his ancestor running from a promise he made to the woman he loved and the son she bore him. And therefore he figures he needs to stay to make up for that. And all the adults let him believe it.
13-year-old Simon Bolivar Quentin Phair Renier boards the O’Rion, a freighter ship heading for Venezuela, with his Cousin Forsyth. They’re returning a family treasure, a portrait of General Simon Bolivar, who Simon Renier’s ancestor Quentin Phair (see how confusing?!?) fought alongside in order to free the Venezuelans. On board, he spends his time with Poly and Charles O’Keefe, day dreaming and pretending to be Quentin Phair and Simon Bolivar. In the background, trouble brews around Cousin Forsyth, who is not who he seems. Likewise, danger looms for Simon. Then, the portrait is stole and a murder takes place on board the ship leaving a true mystery for the characters to sort out. Upon arriving in Port of Dragons, Venezuela, home of the Quiztano Indians with whom Quentin Phair once broke a promise that led to vengeful feelings, Simon is kidnapped and now the characters have an even more urgent mystery to figure out.
On the surface, this book is a fairly engaging (if somewhat slow at points) murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. Cousin Forsyth is murdered on board the ship with lots of people having motive and opportunity and trying to figure out who don it. On top of that is the suspense part with Simon and Tallis’s kidnapping and wondering if they’ll both survive it. As I said, fairly interesting with some pretty intriguing characters mostly. Poly was a bit of a snobby brat, but that might have just been the tone of the audio narrator that made her sound so. So overall pretty enjoyable. But after putting the book down, something felt unsettling to me. I reflected on it and found the things that bothered me.
First and foremost is how different the world must have been when this book was written that an old woman would gladly send her beloved nephew on a freighter trip to Venezuela with a complete stranger. Even if he was clearly a genetic relative and showed up with papers, one doesn’t just send their child (for all intents and purposes he is) off on a 2 week vacation with a man you’ve known less than a month. That’s craziness these days and I kinda feel like it should have been even then. That was actually first and foremost in my mind once I discovered that Cousin Forsyth showed up out of the blue to buy a painting and a month later Aunt Leonis is sending Simon off alone with him for 2 weeks to travel to a foreign country. But there’s even more beyond that that kind of bothered me. One of these was the whole "noble savage" thing this story had going on. The author tried to overcome that by conveying that the Quiztano people were deeper and more complex than that simple stereotype, but in a way, she also kept perpetuating it by making them isolated, peaceful healers in an ideal society. In short, they ended up being a perfect society...primitive and also noble.
I also think to some degree I was unsettled by the morality presented by the author through the reactions of her characters in regards to Simon’s ancestor, Quentin Phair. You see, he, in his youth and while fighting with Simon Bolivar, fell in love with and “married� an native woman and had a child with her. When the war was over, he returned to England, promising his “wife� and son that he would return. Well, he didn’t. Instead, he headed off for North American, found a real wife and had children with her, completely abandoning/forgetting his prior obligation. When Simon and Aunt Leonis (and others later on) discover this, they are quite distraught to learn that he’d been thus dishonorable, but learned to love him as the imperfect ancestor he was and to look past that action to his more admirable traits. This was treated as though one couldn’t be disgusted by an ancestor’s behavior...as though he could have done what he did and still be considered a good and decent person. In his time, yeah, he could have, because to his contemporaries he hadn’t really done anything wrong (and he didn’t really appear to feel any guilt over it). But from Simon and Aunt Leonis’s time period, that was (IMHO) a horrible thing to do. Had he married this other woman in a Christian wedding and then gone off and gotten married again, his ancestors would see him as a criminal. But they passed it off as youthful lust and made nothing of his broken promise and lack of guilt or apology later in life. This is pretty darn revealing of their moral compasses. Nor is any attempt made to make the connection that Quentin Phair’s broken promise is exactly what led to Simon’s life being in danger in the first place. Quentin Phair is very much to blame for Simon’s predicament.
Finally, there’s the problem I have with Simon being made to atone for his ancestor’s broken promise. Granted, Simon agrees to remain with the Quiztanos fairly willingly, but he was pressured into accepting responsibility for Quentin Phair’s not having returned. And so he took the place of Quentin Phair in the promise and this because he says the same flaw runs in his blood. How does he come by this realization? Because when Canon Tallis was injured and a leopard was getting ready to attack them, Tallis told Simon to run and he did. Simon likens this to “fight or flight� reaction to his ancestor running from a promise he made to the woman he loved and the son she bore him. And therefore he figures he needs to stay to make up for that. And all the adults let him believe it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2008
I was not especially thrilled with this one. I suppose it's a decent enough mystery, though there were too many loose ends that weren't tied up neatly at the end and there were a lot of things that came out of left field rather than being cleverly set in place by the author. More importantly, the characters that make it part of a series weren't really utilized that well. What was interesting was that this book links (in a tiny but very intentional way) to which I wouldn't have thought had any connections to L'Engle's other series. And I have to say Poly O'Keefe doesn't have *anything* on her mother. Also, the fact that it's a "vacation" tale with only two of the O'Keefe kids and their occasionally-present father in this story also makes it kind of a let down as compared to other L'Engle books.
September 17, 2019
“It wasn’t a happy ending but at least it was an ending�
Two stars is probably harsh but I was very underwhelmed and disappointed by this book. It wasn’t awful but it felt long.
I enjoyed The Arm is the Starfish and was looking forward to the story continuing here. What I found was a completely different set of characters and an entirely new story line. The characters that did over lap (the O’keefe family) I didn’t enjoy as much in this book as I did the first.
I’ve seen it compared to an Agatha Christie mystery and I think that is a fitting comparison.
Canon Tom Tallis is easily my favorite character in this series.
2 stars - just meh. I probably won’t read it again and I’m conflicted as to if I’ll read the third and final book in this series.
Two stars is probably harsh but I was very underwhelmed and disappointed by this book. It wasn’t awful but it felt long.
I enjoyed The Arm is the Starfish and was looking forward to the story continuing here. What I found was a completely different set of characters and an entirely new story line. The characters that did over lap (the O’keefe family) I didn’t enjoy as much in this book as I did the first.
I’ve seen it compared to an Agatha Christie mystery and I think that is a fitting comparison.
Canon Tom Tallis is easily my favorite character in this series.
2 stars - just meh. I probably won’t read it again and I’m conflicted as to if I’ll read the third and final book in this series.
September 1, 2011
This was not one of her best books.
March 20, 2013
Not one of Madeleine's better books. It sort of dragged on. The characters started strong, but the action fizzled by the middle of the book. It was nice to read about the O'Keefes again.
February 6, 2018
Not what I expected. The first three books of this series was fun to read. "The Arm of The Starfish" and this one were boring.
January 16, 2020
I am collecting the Madeline L'Engle books and really think this is one I have never read before. I thought I had read them all. I am glad they are being reprinted. They have a lot to offer.
December 28, 2016
This review also appears on my blog, .
Dragons in the Waters was published in 1976, three years after A Wind in the Door. Though Poly O’Keefe, her brother Charles, and their father, Dr. O’Keefe, all have a role in the story, the protagonist is a young man named Simon Renier. Simon lives with his aging Aunt Leonis, who took him in after the death of his parents, but at the start of the story, he embarks upon a journey with Forsyth Phair, an apparent long lost cousin. Phair has purchased a valuable portrait of Simon Bolivar from Aunt Leonis, and in order to donate it to a museum, he and Simon must travel to Venezuela aboard a ship called the Orion. Though the other passengers on the Orion - including the O’Keefes - are nice people, Simon begins to feel uneasy as the journey begins. Cousin Forsyth is very cold toward him, and Poly and Charles both caution him against trusting the man. By the time the ship reaches port, someone will have tried to kill Simon, and Cousin Forsyth himself will be dead.
In some ways, this book reads like a Nancy Drew Mystery. A bunch of interesting characters are thrown together in an exotic location and the reader, along with the amateur sleuth, must solve the case. But this book takes on so much more than the average murder mystery, after a while it becomes almost impossible to keep track of each thread of the story. Issues at play include Simon’s lineage and his connection to the Quiztano Indians of Dragonlake, a passenger’s gambling addiction, and another’s past as a smuggler, Charles’s ability to explore places in his dreams, Poly’s obsession with St. George and her hope that he will always be there to defeat dragons real and imaginary, Dr. O’Keefe’s desire to clean Dragonlake of poison, Aunt Leonis’s mortality, and on top of all those, the murder mystery itself. Some might argue that these many threads make the story more layered and more sophisticated, but instead they are just distracting. Characters like the O’Keefes, and Mr. Theo, and Canon Tallis seem randomly thrown into the story simply because they exist, and I’m not sure why this story couldn’t have been told from Simon’s point of view without any of them. Yes, fans like making connections between the books, but it’s not enough to just throw in a familiar character for the sake of name recognition. I felt like they needed stronger connections to the main plot.
I continue to dislike Poly, who is so full of light and happiness she doesn’t seem real. What made her mother, Meg, so appealing in A Wrinkle in Time is her ordinariness, and her concerns about being ordinary. Her flaws become her strengths and make it possible for her to be a hero. Poly seems to have no flaws, and on top of that, she shows off and even brags about her specialness sometimes! And Charles is so much like Charles Wallace, but not as well-developed and therefore not as other-worldly or interesting. I keep waiting for her to do something that makes her feel more real, and more like a heroine, but she’s too good to be true. It also annoys me how little Meg and Calvin as adults resemble themselves as teens. Meg’s mother, Meg herself, and Mrs. Austin all seem interchangeable with one another, and Dr. O’Keefe and Mr. Austin may as well be the same character, as all they do is worry and talk about science.
I think L’Engle’s strengths really lie in the science fiction arena. The Arm of the Starfish and Dragons in the Waters play at being suspenseful mystery novels, but they try to be too many other things as well. I liked many of the characters in this book - especially Simon and Aunt Leonis - but the story goes in so many directions, we never end up at a destination. Those reading the Murry/O’Keefe/Austin books in publication order, as I am, might not want to miss it, but on its own, I think Dragons in the Waters is kind of a disappointment for mystery readers and science fiction readers because it never fully becomes either one.
Dragons in the Waters was published in 1976, three years after A Wind in the Door. Though Poly O’Keefe, her brother Charles, and their father, Dr. O’Keefe, all have a role in the story, the protagonist is a young man named Simon Renier. Simon lives with his aging Aunt Leonis, who took him in after the death of his parents, but at the start of the story, he embarks upon a journey with Forsyth Phair, an apparent long lost cousin. Phair has purchased a valuable portrait of Simon Bolivar from Aunt Leonis, and in order to donate it to a museum, he and Simon must travel to Venezuela aboard a ship called the Orion. Though the other passengers on the Orion - including the O’Keefes - are nice people, Simon begins to feel uneasy as the journey begins. Cousin Forsyth is very cold toward him, and Poly and Charles both caution him against trusting the man. By the time the ship reaches port, someone will have tried to kill Simon, and Cousin Forsyth himself will be dead.
In some ways, this book reads like a Nancy Drew Mystery. A bunch of interesting characters are thrown together in an exotic location and the reader, along with the amateur sleuth, must solve the case. But this book takes on so much more than the average murder mystery, after a while it becomes almost impossible to keep track of each thread of the story. Issues at play include Simon’s lineage and his connection to the Quiztano Indians of Dragonlake, a passenger’s gambling addiction, and another’s past as a smuggler, Charles’s ability to explore places in his dreams, Poly’s obsession with St. George and her hope that he will always be there to defeat dragons real and imaginary, Dr. O’Keefe’s desire to clean Dragonlake of poison, Aunt Leonis’s mortality, and on top of all those, the murder mystery itself. Some might argue that these many threads make the story more layered and more sophisticated, but instead they are just distracting. Characters like the O’Keefes, and Mr. Theo, and Canon Tallis seem randomly thrown into the story simply because they exist, and I’m not sure why this story couldn’t have been told from Simon’s point of view without any of them. Yes, fans like making connections between the books, but it’s not enough to just throw in a familiar character for the sake of name recognition. I felt like they needed stronger connections to the main plot.
I continue to dislike Poly, who is so full of light and happiness she doesn’t seem real. What made her mother, Meg, so appealing in A Wrinkle in Time is her ordinariness, and her concerns about being ordinary. Her flaws become her strengths and make it possible for her to be a hero. Poly seems to have no flaws, and on top of that, she shows off and even brags about her specialness sometimes! And Charles is so much like Charles Wallace, but not as well-developed and therefore not as other-worldly or interesting. I keep waiting for her to do something that makes her feel more real, and more like a heroine, but she’s too good to be true. It also annoys me how little Meg and Calvin as adults resemble themselves as teens. Meg’s mother, Meg herself, and Mrs. Austin all seem interchangeable with one another, and Dr. O’Keefe and Mr. Austin may as well be the same character, as all they do is worry and talk about science.
I think L’Engle’s strengths really lie in the science fiction arena. The Arm of the Starfish and Dragons in the Waters play at being suspenseful mystery novels, but they try to be too many other things as well. I liked many of the characters in this book - especially Simon and Aunt Leonis - but the story goes in so many directions, we never end up at a destination. Those reading the Murry/O’Keefe/Austin books in publication order, as I am, might not want to miss it, but on its own, I think Dragons in the Waters is kind of a disappointment for mystery readers and science fiction readers because it never fully becomes either one.
February 6, 2017
I'm reading the O'Keefe family books out of order, and before reading Dragons in the Waters, I had read --and the characterizations are wildly different. The Poly of "Dragons" feels like a completely different character than the Poly of "Lotus." Maybe she's matured quite a lot in the intervening 2 years, but it was a bit hard to connect the two.
I'm also reading L'Engle's works in rapid succession, and now that I've reread a fair number of them, all of them seem to share similar themes (that I definitely didn't pick up on as a child/teenager). The Quiztano legend of "waiting for a young white savior from across the sea" (75) feels remarkably similar to the story line of the Welsh prince in . (And unsurprisingly, the "kids caught in crime & capers" aspect of this one is mirrored in .) The recurrent themes get a little monotonous as an adult, but I still appreciate L'Engle's talent in crafting a story with (mostly) fully fleshed-out characters, atypical (for YA literature, at least in my experience) plots, and believable world-building. And such interesting locations! I blame L'Engle for a deep desire to go to Antarctica, fostered by , and now, a curiosity about traveling on a working freighter.
And in art imitating life imitating art: .
L'Engle's idealism and spirituality always get me: [Aunt Leonis] "I'm still part of a simpler world than yours, a world in which it was easier to believe in God. ...Despite Darwin and the later prophets of science, I grew up in a world in which my elders taught me that the planet earth was the chief purpose of the Creator, and that all the stars in the heavens were put there entirely for our benefit, and that humankind is God's only real interest in the universe. It didn't take as much imagination and courage then as it does not to believe that God has time to be present at a deathbed, to believe that human suffering does concern him, to believe that he loves every atom of his creation, no matter how insignificant." (116)
I'm also reading L'Engle's works in rapid succession, and now that I've reread a fair number of them, all of them seem to share similar themes (that I definitely didn't pick up on as a child/teenager). The Quiztano legend of "waiting for a young white savior from across the sea" (75) feels remarkably similar to the story line of the Welsh prince in . (And unsurprisingly, the "kids caught in crime & capers" aspect of this one is mirrored in .) The recurrent themes get a little monotonous as an adult, but I still appreciate L'Engle's talent in crafting a story with (mostly) fully fleshed-out characters, atypical (for YA literature, at least in my experience) plots, and believable world-building. And such interesting locations! I blame L'Engle for a deep desire to go to Antarctica, fostered by , and now, a curiosity about traveling on a working freighter.
And in art imitating life imitating art: .
L'Engle's idealism and spirituality always get me: [Aunt Leonis] "I'm still part of a simpler world than yours, a world in which it was easier to believe in God. ...Despite Darwin and the later prophets of science, I grew up in a world in which my elders taught me that the planet earth was the chief purpose of the Creator, and that all the stars in the heavens were put there entirely for our benefit, and that humankind is God's only real interest in the universe. It didn't take as much imagination and courage then as it does not to believe that God has time to be present at a deathbed, to believe that human suffering does concern him, to believe that he loves every atom of his creation, no matter how insignificant." (116)
September 27, 2019
I got this book at a book sale for a dime. I saw Madeleine L'Engle's name and thought that it must be good, knowing how much I enjoyed the A Wrinkle in Time books. Although this is a murder mystery, you can absolutely tell it was written by her. The story is just a "regular" story with a murder on a ship being solved, but she has such a way of writing, including lots of science, paranormal (people who dream the future, people who can smell good or bad on a person), and a fun mix of unusual and strange mixed in. She is a great writer and although this book has teen protagonists, I would not call in a YA novel, it is great for adults too. I would give it 3.5 stars. I would read A Wrinkle in Time first, if you have never read anything by her before and this book is the second in a series.
July 27, 2011
Wasn't L'Engle's husband a soap actor? This story rolled over the waves with action-reaction from start to finish. It was a fun read, with all the drama and half the romance of the soaps.
L'Engle is always impressive with her eye for details and timeless relativity. You know that she's traveled on cargo ships and encountered South American policemen.
It was strange to read this after also reading (ack! what was the title? an Austin story... the daughter travels to Antarctica). There were so many similarities. Did L'Engle plagiarize herself?
L'Engle is always impressive with her eye for details and timeless relativity. You know that she's traveled on cargo ships and encountered South American policemen.
It was strange to read this after also reading (ack! what was the title? an Austin story... the daughter travels to Antarctica). There were so many similarities. Did L'Engle plagiarize herself?
March 19, 2018
I did not dislike the book. The story felt somewhat unfocused though, and the solution to the mystery, while it's not implausible...hard to say how much it felt like the rest of the book guided me to that point. Some of the characters weren't given enough time to develop, and some of the characters given close attention early, faded out a bit in the final third. Also, the mystery has multiple layers, but I'm not sure how well the book accomplishes what it's trying to by adding those extra layers.
It was an ok read. Just didn't feel like everything fit together as well as it could have.
It was an ok read. Just didn't feel like everything fit together as well as it could have.
September 2, 2016
I couldn't resist trying a mystery by L'Engle, but despite the lovely old-fashioned writing and some classically L'Engle observations, this novel is a far more ham-handed treatment of themes she covers with real beauty in her other books. And though it's intended for early teens, her teen characters are unconvincing and her adults are mostly caricatures. Add in a tinge of racism and best to leave this on the shelf and to pick up A Wind in the Door.
June 8, 2020
Too long. It's a very juvenile book but she drags it out and makes it more pretentious than it needs to be. "Uncle Father" bleh cringe. But I'm attached to her characters. I have to finish Poly's series so I can finish the Time Quintet.
February 12, 2018
Action-mystery-fantasy about a new character Simon on a freight ship to Latin America. Poly and her brother Charles are also there, but the story isn't really about them.
March 17, 2018
Pro: engaging writing as usual, Aunt Leonis is exactly my cup of tea, O'Keefes
Con: HOLY SHIT, THE RACISM
Con: HOLY SHIT, THE RACISM
October 12, 2022
Summary: Polly, Charles, and Dr. O'Keefe travel to Venezuela by ship and meet 13-year-old Simon Renier (the main character) and his uncle, also traveling to Venezuela.Ìý
At some point, I will have read most of L'Engle's novels. I believe that I have twelve of her novels and six of her memoir or other non-fiction books. But I find them wildly uneven. Dragon in the Water is in the O'Keefe series but is mostly about Simon Renier, not Charles and Polly. Simon is a 13-year-old being raised by his great-aunt, who is in her late 80s. They are from a family with a long history in the Southern US, but it has been influenced by their ancestor's work with Simon Bolivar in freeing South and Central America from Spanish rule.
One of the minor themes of the book is that Simon's ancestors returned from South America and ended slavery on their plantation and the former slaves worked together with the family in a type of commune. While that is unlikely to have been based on any real events, L'Engle still presents Simon and his Aunt as denying any good from slavery but being against members of their family that worked with northern agents during the reconstruction era. And it appears that even if L'Engle was trying to not engage in Lost Cause thinking, she still falls into it, even as she says directly in the book that she denies Lost Cause ideology.
This is sort of a mystery. A prominent character is murdered, and the rest of the book is oriented toward finding the murderer and seeking out the truth about the historical characters that have influenced the story. Overall, the book was okay. It was not great, but not awful. L'Engle does try to take ideas seriously, just as she did with , but those ideas end up not translating all that well in the more than 40 years since it was published.
But the bigger problem than the ideas of freedom and southern pride is the plot is a bit of a mess, and L'Engle again tries to romantically pair the teen girl with someone about 7 years her senior and does not have a romantic orientation with the teen that is very close to her age. This is an ongoing issue for L'Engle. There is a type of Native American spirituality that comes up in several of her books. I think she tries to handle it well, but I am not sure she has done the requisite work.
In the end, novels have to work well as stories, not just as a means to discuss ideas. In this case, I think the weaknesses of the story are larger than the problems with the ideas. However, Dragons in the Waters was quick, and I bought it cheap, so I was fine reading it.
At some point, I will have read most of L'Engle's novels. I believe that I have twelve of her novels and six of her memoir or other non-fiction books. But I find them wildly uneven. Dragon in the Water is in the O'Keefe series but is mostly about Simon Renier, not Charles and Polly. Simon is a 13-year-old being raised by his great-aunt, who is in her late 80s. They are from a family with a long history in the Southern US, but it has been influenced by their ancestor's work with Simon Bolivar in freeing South and Central America from Spanish rule.
One of the minor themes of the book is that Simon's ancestors returned from South America and ended slavery on their plantation and the former slaves worked together with the family in a type of commune. While that is unlikely to have been based on any real events, L'Engle still presents Simon and his Aunt as denying any good from slavery but being against members of their family that worked with northern agents during the reconstruction era. And it appears that even if L'Engle was trying to not engage in Lost Cause thinking, she still falls into it, even as she says directly in the book that she denies Lost Cause ideology.
This is sort of a mystery. A prominent character is murdered, and the rest of the book is oriented toward finding the murderer and seeking out the truth about the historical characters that have influenced the story. Overall, the book was okay. It was not great, but not awful. L'Engle does try to take ideas seriously, just as she did with , but those ideas end up not translating all that well in the more than 40 years since it was published.
But the bigger problem than the ideas of freedom and southern pride is the plot is a bit of a mess, and L'Engle again tries to romantically pair the teen girl with someone about 7 years her senior and does not have a romantic orientation with the teen that is very close to her age. This is an ongoing issue for L'Engle. There is a type of Native American spirituality that comes up in several of her books. I think she tries to handle it well, but I am not sure she has done the requisite work.
In the end, novels have to work well as stories, not just as a means to discuss ideas. In this case, I think the weaknesses of the story are larger than the problems with the ideas. However, Dragons in the Waters was quick, and I bought it cheap, so I was fine reading it.
March 22, 2018
Dragons in the Waters is a murder mystery an environmental debacle, historical fiction, and a bit of fantasy thrown in. I have truly grown to love two side characters that can be found elsewhere in L'Engle's books: Mr. Theo and Canon Tallis, and I hope I find them in a couple of the books that I haven't read yet.
July 14, 2018
A Simon protagonist? Yes, please! I also liked this book’s return to middle school/teen land (as opposed to college-age Adam navigating adulthood in Arm of the Starfish) and its many similarities to a Swiftly Titling Planet (family names/feuds, dreams, smells). In addition, Poly finally became a round, real character to me.
January 26, 2023
Re-reading this series for the first time since I was a teenager. I still love L'Engle's writing. As an adult, reading these again in the 21st century, I find some of the premises problematic. At the same time, I keep reading and put the books down only out of necessity (falling asleep or going to work). I am now moving on to the third in the series.
April 19, 2024
This is kind of like a remix of An Acceptable Time, but more mysterious and therefore more of a page turner. Simon was not her best character work but we got enough different points-of-view to provide some who were more to my liking. I’m still convinced that even when writing a good story for entertainment she is always profound.
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