One step, two steps, a slow, writhing waddle, its head lowered, no more than a foot or so off the ground…onward it came,…the long, long body curved like a winding river, huge and glittery…Almost the worst of it was the slowness…I could see its pale yellow eyes clearly now. Slowly it raised its head, swaying from side to side...

Dina stands transfixed in the pit of alligator-dragons she must cross to rescue her mother in the labyrinthine castle of the wicked Lord Drakan. Three people have been murdered by someone, and Dina's mother has been summoned to confirm the guilt of young Nico, who was found standing over the bodies with bloody hands. She is a Shamer, and to meet her gaze means confronting all the shameful acts one has ever committed. Yet she finds no guilt in Nico, and will not accuse him, although Drakan is strangely, and menacingly, insistent that she do so.

Dina has inherited her ability, but finds it alienates her from everyone in the village. She longs for just one friend who will look her in the eyes. But now Drakan has threatened to use his dragons to execute her mother publicly on the morrow, and Dina must find allies to save her. Before the story is over Dina will find those allies and that loyal friend--but also feel the dragon's needle-sharp fangs, in this exciting beginning to a promising fantasy series translated from the Danish. (Ages 10 to 14) -- Patty Campbell