dragons – takes two to book review

Review: A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan

September 23, 2024September 23, 2024 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

Alexis:

Happy fall! 🍂🎃

I returned home from a trip yesterday, which of course means that I read a book (another ARC!) on the plane.

A Fire in the Sky follows three POVs: Tamsyn, the whipping girl of the royal family, Fell, the ruler of the Borderlands, and Stig, the Captain of the Guard and Tamsyn’s friend.

I’ll start off by saying I haven’t read the Firelight series, and this book is set in the same world. However, I found this a classic and interesting fantasy world, where dragons and witches have mostly died off due to being hunted and persecuted. The majority of this book is set on a road through the countryside and wilderness, and I love a good travel story.

Overall, this is a solid read. I can tell a lot more is going to happen in the sequel, so this first book definitely feels like the setup for the rest of the series. I really enjoyed the second half especially, as the pacing picked up and more events began happening to spur the plot along. While the romance lacked some depth, with the events at the end, I definitely think the romance will have more depth as the series continues!

My only cons were that Sig’s POV seemed unnecessary, and Fell was constantly described as big, to the point where it got to be a little much.

This was a fun and easy read. If you like dragons and romantasy, give it a shot!

VERDICT: 🔥🔥🔥🔥/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for sending me an ARC in exchange for a review.

Pub Date: A Fire in the Sky comes out tomorrow, September 24, 2024!

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Dragon fire no longer blisters the skies over Penterra, but inside the lavish palace, life is still perilous…especially for Tamsyn. Raised in the glittering court alongside the princesses, it’s her duty to be punished for their misdeeds. Treated as part of the royal family but also as the lowliest servant, Tamsyn fits nowhere. Her only friend is Stig, Captain of the Guard…though sometimes she thinks he wants more than friendship.

When Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, descends on her home, Tamsyn’s world becomes even more dangerous. To save the pampered princesses from a fate worse than death, she is commanded to don a veil and marry the brutal warrior. She agrees to the deception even though it means leaving Stig, and the only life she’s ever known, behind.

The wedding night begins with unexpected passion—and ends in near violence when her trickery is exposed. Rather than start a war, Fell accepts Tamsyn as his bride…but can he accept the dark secrets she harbors—secrets buried so deep even she doesn’t know they exist? For Tamsyn is more than a royal whipping girl, more than the false wife of a man who now sees her as his enemy. And when those secrets emerge, they will ignite a flame bright enough to burn the entire kingdom to the bone.

Magic is not dead…it is only sleeping. And it will take one ordinary girl with an extraordinary destiny to awaken it.

Review: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

December 16, 2023December 16, 2023 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

Alexis:

Was I the first person to put Iron Flame on hold at my library? Yes, yes I was.

Hi, everyone! It’s been a while again. Work and life have been busy, but I’ve been reading as much as ever.

I recently read Iron Flame, the much anticipated sequel to the dragon fantasy/romantasy book Fourth Wing. I had heard some mixed reviews from other reviewers, so I was interested to see what I thought.

Well, I liked it! It’s hard to review a sequel without giving away anything, but I’ll go over some key points.

Things I Liked:

I enjoyed the worldbuilding. Fourth Wing was definitely more of an all vibes, no worldbuilding kind of book, so I’m glad that Yarros delves deeper into the world in Iron Flame.
Dragons! There are a lot more dragons in this book, and more facts and lore about dragons are revealed. There’s also a good dragon-related plot twist.
The ending. Yarros is clearly good at writing a good cliffhanger, which can be a plus or minus for readers. For me, I think she actually does a good job of making you anticipate the next book in the series without making the cliffhanger itself super frustrating. There is also, yet again, another good plot twist at the end.

Things I Didn’t Like As Much:

The romance. To be fair, the romance wasn’t my favorite part of Fourth Wing, either. But Xaden somehow manages to feel more toxic in Iron Flame, and a large aspect of this book centers on a point of contention—which feels like it purely exists just to add tension to their relationship.

Overall, I definitely don’t think this was a bad sequel, and I also don’t think it felt rushed or unedited. It just wasn’t as fast-paced or romance heavy as the first book. I think this series is worth a read if you’re looking for a fun, action-y series that doesn’t take itself seriously, and if you don’t mind modern dialogue in fantasy books. Plus, dragons!

A GIF of Dany from Game of Thrones with her dragon

Review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

June 29, 2023 Anna and Alexis1 Comment

Alexis:

Look what came in from the library! And yes, I did sit down and binge-read it in two days.

I want to start out by saying that I know that Fourth Wing has been EVERYWHERE. Like, I have seen it not only on book accounts, but just all over the internet in general. And by the time I realized this might be a book I should read (especially since it’s my genre), it was sold out of bookstores. So, thank you to my local library!

Due to this book’s hype, I’m not going to include a synopsis here, so feel free to look up what this book is about if you’ve managed to miss the frenzied discussion around it.

First off, I want to start off with my criticisms of this book.

Fourth Wing is in the same vein as A Court of Thorns and Roses and The Serpent and the Wings of Night with a dash of Eragon on top, so if those are your jam, this might be for you.

This certainly isn’t a unique book, and honestly, that in itself is my main criticism—there were a lot of moments that were just too close to those of other books. I also found the plot to be extremely predictable. I can’t go into it that much without revealing spoilers, but I found that Yarros dropped too many hints about what ended up going down in the ending. The writing also does lean more YA, which honestly doesn’t bother me (this is NA people, that’s the point—adult themes but with the voice and snapiness of YA) especially because they’re in a college.

I also wish we got to see more of Violet’s dragon bonding. And I found Xaden, the love interest, to be exactly like every other love interest in the fantasy romance space and honestly not the most interesting character.

Yet, that being said, I couldn’t put this book down. It has that thrilling, adventurous feeling that’s addicting. Yarros’ writing style is easy to devour, and I appreciated the amount of action scenes in this book. There’s never a dull moment!

The Basgiath War College, aka the dragon riding college, in itself sounded super cool. I loved the brutality of both the college and the world. And I really appreciated the Ehler-Danlos syndrome rep, and I thought Yarros did a good job of exploring how it affects Violet’s training and her confidence.

This book was wholly engrossing, and I definitely think it’s a good start to the series. I’m glad we don’t have too long of a wait until the sequel arrives this fall!

VERDICT: 5⭐ reading experience

Review: Kill Your Darlings by L.E. Harper

December 21, 2022December 21, 2022 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

A Kindle ARC of Kill Your Darlings rests on a white marble table next to a Santa hat and a book notes notebook

Alexis:

If you’re looking for Inkheart meets Inception, then Kill Your Darlings is for you.

Inkheart was my absolute favorite book as I kid, so you know I had to request Kill Your Darlings on Netgalley!

The story immediately jumps into the action. Author Kyla thinks she’s dreaming at first. After all, she’s in Solera—the world she created in her fantasy series. But soon, she realizes that she’s stuck in Solera, who is in the middle of a war against the evil villian, and Kyla has to figure out how to save both herself and her favorite characters.

This book depicts the struggle of mental health, specifically with depression. It’s the main theme and the main abstract obstacle that Kyla must overcome. Kyla’s struggles, which Harper explains stem very closely from her own, give this book such a raw and emotional edge. I really felt for Kyla as she struggles with her very dark thoughts and depression in order to learn her self worth.

Harper’s wordbuilding is amazing. Solera is the perfect mix of a fantasy and sci-fi world. It has a healthy mix of dragons, magic, battles, and a slew of magical creatures. Since Kyla is the author, we also get a great insight to how the world and its dark and light magic works.

Without giving anything way, I thought all of the parallels between Earth and Solera were done well. I like how we get asexual representation with Kyla’s character. And I love Kyla’s relationship with a dragon named Cendrion.

I did think the romantic subplot felt a little forced, especially considering the age gap. However, I think it accomplished what Harper needed it to do for the story. Besides that, my only main critique is that I wanted even more at the end of this story. There were some open-ended questions and interactions that I itched to see while I was reading. However, I understand why Harper ended the book this way, especially considering the frame of the novel (which is within the frame of the novel about Soltera…hence the Inception aspect!). Even without a more beefy ending, this book packed a punch!

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

TWs: Depictions of mental illness including depression, anxiety, suicide and suicidal ideation, and self-harm

Note: I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.