Tag Archives: Dragons

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Book Review: Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros

I borrowed a copy of Rebecca YarrosFourth Wing from the library.

fourth wing coverEnter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders…

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

my review

I don’t really understand all the hype about this book. I mean, it’s a fine book. I enjoyed it and will be looking for book two. But other than some disability representation (which I appreciate), there’s not really anything special about it. I actually think it’s a bit tropey. I’ve read many, many books with very similar plotlines, worlds, characters, etc. So, while it’s fine, I don’t understand why people are so very, very ga-ga over it. To each their own, I suppose.

More specifically, I enjoyed the banter between the characters, especially with the dragons. I like the characters themselves. And the world is interesting, if a little ham-fisted. I did struggle to believe that even a school designed to weed out the weak wouldn’t nip a psychopath in the bud. That’s a weakness of a different sort, all by itself. So, that aspect felt contrived. And let’s be honest, it really does stretch credulity that the secret revealed at the end would actually stay a secret. All in all, however, I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

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Other Reviews:

Julia DiGeronimo: Was Fourth Wing worth the hype?

Haley’s Book Haven: So, I finally read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.

 

 

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Book Review: Blood Feud, by Moira Kane

I picked up a copy of Moira Kane‘s Blood Feud as an Amazon freebie.
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Sophia is a bored and lonely princess, more content to live out her days locked away in her chambers than facing the increasingly grotesque suitors her father forces on her. With her younger brother destined for the throne, there isn’t much value to her but in a marriage alliance. And so, she is destined to live out her days as the trophy wife of some fat merchant or lecherous lord, occasionally bearing children to bolster the ranks of the wealthy and powerful.

But trouble is brewing in the crumbling streets of Calos. While the future king sits pretty on his throne and dines on fancy foods, there are whispers of rebellion among the poor and downtrodden people. At the same time a dragon has taken up residence in Calos Valley—the first in fifty years.

With no valiant hero like her famous grandfather, Saint George the dragon slayer, Sophia’s father turns to the old way to ward off the beast—a maiden sacrifice. What better choice than the daughter that threatens her brother’s reign?

Sophia is no trembling damsel, however, and the dragon is not at all who—or what—he appears to be.

my review

This was a book I kept seeing on TikTok until I finally gave in to the temptation to read it. But I have learned over time to approach such books with, at most, cautious optimism. The vast majority of books I come across through TikTok disappoint me in one manner or another. This, however, was a pleasant surprise.

It has a simple plot, a very straightforward romance, run-of-the-mill characters, a generic fantasy world, and pedestrian writing. But it was fun. I enjoyed the time I spent with it. And at the end of the day, that is more important to me (in the books I read for fun) than just about anything else. If you’re looking for excellence, this is not it. But if you just want a fluffy bit of fun, this is a good place to settle.


Other Reviews:

Reckless Reading: Blood Feus, by Moira Kane

 

 

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Book Review: The Stone Dragon and the Moonshine Molly, by K.C. Norton & Jordan Riley Swan

I picked up a copy of The Stone Dragon and the Moonshine Molly by K.C. Norton and Jordan Riley Swan as an Amazon freebie. I’m not even sure I read the description. I just saw Dragons and such a great cover and went *click.*

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It ain’t easy
running a speakeasy
in the dragon roaring ’20s.

Argyle Galloway always follows the rules, no matter the outcome. Without law and order to guide the Dragoncoat riders, the monsters and bugs swarming the Eastern Americas would destroy civilization. But when his dragon starts to shed its scales at the most inopportune time, he must hole up in a notorious speakeasy. The by-the-book Argyle is trying his best to keep on the straight and narrow. Yet he can’t resist the beautiful barkeep who pulls him deeper and deeper into the lawless realm of gangsters and rumrunners—even though she seems more dangerous than the dragon he rides…

Molly Walker wasn’t supposed to follow in her father’s criminal footsteps, but when he dies suddenly, she’s forced to take over his speakeasy or find herself living on the streets. She only intends to work the bar until she can find a buyer for it. Things spiral quickly out of control as clues surface, hinting that the robbery in which her father died might have been premeditated murder. Molly finds herself needing help from the stick-in-the-mud Argyle to solve the mystery, but she doesn’t know which is harder to do: figure out who killed her father while running his illegal bar, or keep herself from falling in love with the stranger who thinks she’s the biggest criminal of them all.

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It’s the Roaring Twenties—speakeasies are around every corner, jazz is burning up Harlem, and the dragon population is booming. But it’s a lonely job for the brave Coat Wardens who patrol the skies of the Eastern Americas, as love is even harder to hold on to than the dragons they fly…

my review

I’m a little torn about how I feel about this book and that is partially because I don’t think it entirely knows what it wants to be genre-wise. It’s a fade-to-black romance involving new adults (early to mid-20s, one of which is one class short of a college degree and one of which has just finished the draconic version of flight school), but the language the book is written in is a very young adult. I realize it’s the author trying to play up and into cliched 1920s-speak. But it makes the characters feel like children, which then clashes with the adult plot points.

The book is also a little ham-fisted in its portrayal of the characters’ characterizations, Argyle’s especially. This, again, makes that characterization feel very young adult (if not middle-grade) coded. It is as if the author is writing for an audience that cannot be anticipated to identify character traits if they are not very obviously signposted repeatedly.

Outside of my sense of genre confusion, I generally liked the book. I thought the description of the dragons was new and unusual. I liked the characters well enough. And I thought it came to a satisfying (if somewhat sad) conclusion.

the stone dragon and the moonshine mollyAlso, as a little sidenote here on my own blog where I can safely be a little snarky, I take issue with the part of the blurb that says, “speakeasies are around every corner, jazz is burning up Harlem, and the dragon population is booming. But it’s a lonely job for the brave Coat Wardens who patrol the skies of the Eastern Americas.” The book is set in Knoxville, Tennessee. I feel like the description sets you up for one thing and delivers another. I have no preference, but I did kind of go “Knoxville? I thought it was gonna be in New York.”


Other Reviews: