Let me start by saying that I had really high expectations for this book. Dragons, tournaments, war and some romance. Sounds like the perfect book that I would easily love. That wasn't the case. It was a struggle for me getting through the first half of this book. 200 pages is A LOT of pages to not love what you are reading.
I had to restart the book three times before I realized it's not my lack of focus that's the problem. The story is all over the place, and I had no idea suddenly what was happening or how we got from one thing to the next. You know that feeling when you are the only one in a group of 10 people that didn't go to the same high school or work at the same café in college and you are all hanging out together? Everyone has all of these inside jokes and stories, and you never know what anyone is talking about or who they were talking about. Well, that was me reading this book. The character development was non-existent, the world building was MIA, and it felt like Nothing. Ever. Happened. Even the dragons were tossed in… talk about a wasted opportunity to really make this book stand out.
When I was almost exactly halfway through the book and contemplating if I really wanted to continue reading (it was painful at this point), I gave it one more shot. Suddenly things started making sense and I quickly fell into the rest of the story. Give it time if you aren't feeling it, it does grow on you.
While the story did lack that wow factor, and the ending was a little rushed, I couldn't help wondering what's next. Will I pick up the next book in the series? Sure. While I am not sold on these characters and their story, I feel like the second book has a lot of potential and all of the boring build-up will suddenly become something incredible.
I had to restart the book three times before I realized it's not my lack of focus that's the problem. The story is all over the place, and I had no idea suddenly what was happening or how we got from one thing to the next. You know that feeling when you are the only one in a group of 10 people that didn't go to the same high school or work at the same café in college and you are all hanging out together? Everyone has all of these inside jokes and stories, and you never know what anyone is talking about or who they were talking about. Well, that was me reading this book. The character development was non-existent, the world building was MIA, and it felt like Nothing. Ever. Happened. Even the dragons were tossed in… talk about a wasted opportunity to really make this book stand out.
When I was almost exactly halfway through the book and contemplating if I really wanted to continue reading (it was painful at this point), I gave it one more shot. Suddenly things started making sense and I quickly fell into the rest of the story. Give it time if you aren't feeling it, it does grow on you.
While the story did lack that wow factor, and the ending was a little rushed, I couldn't help wondering what's next. Will I pick up the next book in the series? Sure. While I am not sold on these characters and their story, I feel like the second book has a lot of potential and all of the boring build-up will suddenly become something incredible.