Reading this book helped me finish a series that I have enjoyed more than I expected. While some of the reviews I have seen were disappointed in the shift of main character from Signa to Blythe, I actually enjoyed this shift and thing that it served the overall narrative arc well. Signa was an intriguing main character for the first book but her role, and the addition of a new mystery, cased the second book to drag. Blythe as protagonist breathed new life into the series and brought
a quite satisfying conclusion to the overall narrative arc that introducing a new mystery – the pattern of the first two books – would not have been able to do. This book will end up in my personal top ten of this list.
Prior to reading this book, I had read less than stellar reviews with most people coming down on the side of disappointment. Since that, thankfully, tempered my expectations, I did not have a terrible time with this book, nor did I have a particularly memorable time either. Since I am prioritizing quick consumption of the books on this list to meet the arbitrary goal of finishing as many as possible before the first and then before the second rounds end, only the better books –
or extremely terrible ones – will remain long in my memory. Only three days after reading this book (at the time of writing the review) I struggle to remember a lot of the details and am also struggling to keep it separate from another disappointingly middling dragon book that I will discuss in a moment. The main thing about this book that I just could not get over is the blatant disconnect from reverence of the dragons along with attempts to prevent potential extinction at the same time as the search for their eggs, the titular dragonfruit, to use as a possible magical cure-all which also prevents the birth of any dragon from that egg.
I loved this book. Even before I started reading, I had an intuition that I would have a good reading experience. (I have no idea why I had that intuition but it proved to be correct.) Poranek, in their debut, creates a dark yet beautiful immersive atmosphere and deeply complex characters that hooked me from the beginning and kept me reading. The female main character (I’m reading too many novels in quick succession to remember character names, something I struggle with
anyway.) wants desperately to rid herself of her magic, believing it caused her father’s death and also because she has suffered blatant ostracism from her home because of religiously-stoked fear. The male main character, a demon who entraps her in a bargain, has multiple layers himself, which get pulled back as the novel progresses. This one will also make it into my personal top 10 and at the moment might also get my vote.
This Jamaican-inspired dragon fantasy completes the duo I mentioned previously. I wish I had something positive to say about this book but I really do not. At the moment, it’s the lowest rated, for me, out of the books that I have read from this list. (That’s really saying something because I have also read the Tricia Levenseller entry and she is definitely not the author for me.) I did find the premise intriguing with the narrative set
five years after a massive war against colonizers which one of the main characters – this book has two, sisters – served as a sort of chosen one. When done well, I find this an intriguing base upon which to build a narrative. Based on the foreshadowing from the beginning of this review, you can guess that, in my opinion, this author did not have success with this attempt. Instead, I found myself wondering if I had picked up a second book or the start of a sequel series. Nope. This is the author’s debut book. Additionally, the dual points-of-view created narratives that did not seem to mesh well together making for a jarring reading experience.
I gave the first book in this companion series, The Shadows Between Us, 0.5 stars, that’s how much I disliked it. Surprisingly, I gave the other Levenseller book I’ve read, Blade of Secrets, 3 stars. I must have been feelign generous that day or misclicked because that book was not good, definitely a two star read for me. This one managed 3.5 stars! I had to keep reminding myself to give this book a chance because my bottom of the barrel
expectations inclined me to nitpick everything. On the positive side, this book did not suffer from the rather basic errors and difficulties that filled Blade of Secrets. I also think that the plot of this book unfolded in a rather believable way. Is this a good book? In my opinion, no. It lacks any sort of depth in characterizations or consequences for the “evil” things, like murder that the characters choose. Also, it induces significant eye rolls for me when near murder becomes a turn on and a solution to avoid familial relationship problems.
Reading book 2 in this series really frustrated me because it felt completely unnecessary. Plus, I did not like the addition of another love interest and the creation of a love triangle. After reading this book, book three, I stand by my assertion that book two did not need to exist and instead served as a way for the author to extend the series way beyond the original projection, something this author has a tendency to do. I appreciated
the direction that the narrative took and had the world expanded and characters revealed more depth. This made my frustration with the second book even deeper because it had none of the above. This book saved the series for me and ensured that I will read the conclusion. *fingers crossed*
As of the time of prepping this post, I have not read this book yet but it is next up in the line up and I will complete it prior to the end of the first week of the opening round. Hopefully I will remember to come back and replace this filler text with the actual review. If not, at least I have acknowledged that I read this book this week.