Dragons in Our Midst

Dragons in Our Midst is a series of four novels written by author Bryan Davis. The series follows the adventures of two teens, Billy Bannister and Bonnie Silver. Billy is devastated to find that his father is in fact a dragon disguised in human skin to hide from a centuries-old dragon slayer and his squire. Bonnie has known that her mother was a dragon for years. Both teens carry on traits from their dragon heritage. Bonnie has wings that she keeps hidden in a large hiking backpack, while Billy can breathe fire. When they are found and attacked by a slayer, they must fight for their lives.

Dragons in Our Midst was followed by another four-book series, titled Oracles of Fire. The first book, Eye of the Oracle, was a prequel to the DioM series, while the three others, Enoch's Ghost, Last of the Nephilim and The Bones of Makaidos, were all sequels to DioM. This series shifts its focus to other characters that were mostly in the background in the first series, such as Walter, Billy's best friend, and Ashley, an anthrozil (half-dragon, half-human) with a mind far more intelligent than a normal human. It also introduced several new characters, such as Sapphira Adi and Elam, the centuries-old teenagers. It also introduced several new villains, such as Goliath [a dragon, not the biblical giant], Mardon and Semiramis.

Tropes used in Dragons in Our Midst include:

Walter: So we have...Me, Elam, Billy, Bonnie, Valiant, Candle, Yereq, Sir Barlow, and Sapphira. That's nine of us and the dragons *whistles* I don't know about you, but if we're facing hundreds of crazed warriors trained to kill, I'd like at least ten.

  • Public Domain Artifact - Excalibur
  • Raised by Grandparents - Ashley, who was raised by her grandfather Isaac Stalworth after her parents' deaths. Subverted in that we learn Isaac Stalworth is not actually her grandfather, but just a family friend.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old - More than half of the characters.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure - Prof Hamilton
  • Red Shirts - Most of Devin's underlings, no matter what century
  • Redemption Equals Death - Bonnie's father.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can - The Watchers, the Nephilim
  • Second Coming: The main character, Billy Bannister, is the second coming of King Arthur.
  • She's All Grown Up - Paili, who took on a human name, grew up in the real world, and got married and had a kid.
  • Sibling Team - Acacia and Sapphira, whenever they're actually in the same place at the same time.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Twins Valcor and Hartanna definitely show shades of this.
  • Strong Family Resemblance - Between Bonnie and Shiloh, who are cousins. Becomes VERY plot relevant.
  • Take That - Against the entire human race, courtesy of the possessed Arramos.
  • Team Handstack - Billy, Walter, Ashley, and Bonnie have one of these in The Bones of Makaidos before the final battle.
    • Walter, Billy, and Ashley also have one at the end of The Last of the Nephilim
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill - Interestingly subverted: a lot of emphasis is put on killing honorably (through fair fights) instead of dishonorably (ambushes, back stabbing, etc.), but this doesn't stop several of the heroes from having a fairly high kill count, especially the dragons.
  • Took a Level in Badass - Most notably Walter, Billy, and Bonnie.
  • Unexplained Recovery - Several different people. Doctor Conner, Roxil, Goliath, any dragon who ended up in Dragons Rest, the original ten female dragons who became human, Arramos (sort of), Billy, Bonnie... the list goes on.)]] It would actually probably be easier to list the subversions.
  • Unholy Matrimony - Roxil and Goliath
  • The Vamp - Naamah before her Heel Face Turn
  • Wacky Marriage Proposal - Walter proposes to Ashley by building a snowman kneeling on a roof in front of a snowwoman. He then goes on to make a speech in true Walter style.
  • Weddings for Everyone - This occurs at the end of The Bones of Makaidos with the triple wedding ceremony of Walter and Ashley, Elam and Sapphira, and Billy and Bonnie
  • Wild Mass Guessing - The forums would always be most active a few weeks before the book came out. One of the biggest topics was about Palin, specifically why he didn't kill Bonnie.
    • When a member guessed that Palin had a daughter at one point and couldn't bring himself to kill someone else's little girl, Davis's response was that the member was "sowing a fertile field."
  • Winged Humanoid - Bonnie, the Watchers, Gabriel.
    • Also, it's implied in the epilogue for The Bones of Makaidos that one of Billy and Bonnie's twins will grow a pair when he or she gets older.
  • Word of God - Averted. Even though the series is finished, Davis still refuses to tell fans wether Bonnie chose to stay an anthrozil or become a full blood human at the end of Tears of a Dragon.
    • She has wings by the end of The Bones of Makaidos, but it's still left open whether she had them or not before that whole thing with the tree.
  • You Are Not Ready - The professor to Billy.
  • You Have Failed Me... / You Have Outlived Your Usefulness - Palin. Though, technically, he was already dead.
  • You Shall Not Pass - In Enoch's Ghost.

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