purpletabbycat's review against another edition
2.0
The conversations seemed to go on forever. The arguments went in circles, restating the same things over and over again. The story was good, just took too long to get there.
chloefrizzle's review against another edition
4.0
Fun showing off the strengths of our leads. And, wow, a lot of worldbuilding in this book.
ezichinny's review against another edition
5.0
4.5
The writing in this series is intricate and amazing. I was happy for Cheslie and Frederick and Shien etc. I’m curious to know how life changes for F Clutch, Bathesda, the Emptess and even Svena.
The writing in this series is intricate and amazing. I was happy for Cheslie and Frederick and Shien etc. I’m curious to know how life changes for F Clutch, Bathesda, the Emptess and even Svena.
golden's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
leelah's review against another edition
3.0
I rarely dwell on cover-art, even in reviews it doesn't go beyond stating that artist did an amazing job with it and I like it.
But when I finished this book, I got back looking at the cover, because it so perfectly represents everything I think about this particular story and, consequentially, about this series and our main characters:
Background makes it look like Julius and Marci are not even in the same picture, and yet they still have each other's back.
The first thing is why I had issues with this book.
And the second one is why I'll always read Aaron, whatever she comes up with next.
About the first:
So, we know that Marci ended up in afterlife at the end of previous book. Unfortunately, this is where she spends bigger part of the book, with her fateful companion Ghost, AKA The Empty Wind, spirit of the Forgotten Dead and Amelia who is dead, but not really, ascended to something else. I love Marci. In fact, Julius and his family are so easy to love because they are funny and unusual, but Marci creeps on you subtly and you don't even know where you really started liking her the most. Marci is awesome, and it pains me to think she is only awesome when she is with Julius. I say that because I hated her entire arc in afterlife and her quest to become next Merlin and get back to Julius. I hated it because it was written to be so damn info-dumpy. Every scene was basically people standing around in the circle explaining magic system to reader and my eyes would just glaze over.
It didn't help that we are following Julius at the same time where at the Heartstriker mountain is happening one of the most interesting things ever- visit from Chinese dragon clans. This thing was teased through several books and all of us are dying to read the first encounter between Chelsie and the Golden Emperor. It's not like Aaron didn't empathize how badly Julius misses Marci, but with so many things going on at once, it just gets lost. You forget about Marci and when her chapter is up it's one of the most frustrating teaching pieces about magic from Amelia, or Aldo or... u get the picture. And Julius- you actually become aware of some flaws in his attempt to turn his insane family of carnivorous into reasonable adults- it will not happen over the night. His too idealistic approach did not turn out the way he hoped. Good thing though? Heartstrikers are still addictively fun to read about and root for. I want all of their books, ok?
About the second:
So, what I come to realize is that the one thing I love the most about Marci and Julius is their absolutely awesome relationship, unwavering devotion and support. I didn't like them separated which is why this book get better the moment they are reunited. Final act was everything and dragon clans working together against same antagonist is a thing of beauty.
Other random thoughts:
-WTH, Bob? Is there a method to your madness?
-Chelsie is precious and deserves everything, love and family and all that mushy stuff she is totally not known for.
-Dear god, Golden Emperor is so emo.
-Ok, Amelia outdragoned Svena with the whole spirit of dragons thing, right?
-Oh, Algonquin, I am so disappointed at you.
But when I finished this book, I got back looking at the cover, because it so perfectly represents everything I think about this particular story and, consequentially, about this series and our main characters:
Background makes it look like Julius and Marci are not even in the same picture, and yet they still have each other's back.
The first thing is why I had issues with this book.
And the second one is why I'll always read Aaron, whatever she comes up with next.
About the first:
So, we know that Marci ended up in afterlife at the end of previous book. Unfortunately, this is where she spends bigger part of the book, with her fateful companion Ghost, AKA The Empty Wind, spirit of the Forgotten Dead and Amelia who is dead, but not really, ascended to something else. I love Marci. In fact, Julius and his family are so easy to love because they are funny and unusual, but Marci creeps on you subtly and you don't even know where you really started liking her the most. Marci is awesome, and it pains me to think she is only awesome when she is with Julius. I say that because I hated her entire arc in afterlife and her quest to become next Merlin and get back to Julius. I hated it because it was written to be so damn info-dumpy. Every scene was basically people standing around in the circle explaining magic system to reader and my eyes would just glaze over.
It didn't help that we are following Julius at the same time where at the Heartstriker mountain is happening one of the most interesting things ever- visit from Chinese dragon clans. This thing was teased through several books and all of us are dying to read the first encounter between Chelsie and the Golden Emperor. It's not like Aaron didn't empathize how badly Julius misses Marci, but with so many things going on at once, it just gets lost. You forget about Marci and when her chapter is up it's one of the most frustrating teaching pieces about magic from Amelia, or Aldo or... u get the picture. And Julius- you actually become aware of some flaws in his attempt to turn his insane family of carnivorous into reasonable adults- it will not happen over the night. His too idealistic approach did not turn out the way he hoped. Good thing though? Heartstrikers are still addictively fun to read about and root for. I want all of their books, ok?
About the second:
So, what I come to realize is that the one thing I love the most about Marci and Julius is their absolutely awesome relationship, unwavering devotion and support. I didn't like them separated which is why this book get better the moment they are reunited. Final act was everything and dragon clans working together against same antagonist is a thing of beauty.
Other random thoughts:
-WTH, Bob? Is there a method to your madness?
-Chelsie is precious and deserves everything, love and family and all that mushy stuff she is totally not known for.
-Dear god, Golden Emperor is so emo.
-Ok, Amelia outdragoned Svena with the whole spirit of dragons thing, right?
-Oh, Algonquin, I am so disappointed at you.
amyiw's review against another edition
2.0
2 stars that's it
Wow, well most of my friends loved this and I only can say that, I loved the dragon part of this story, of Julius interacting with the Emperor (and others), Frederick, Chelsie, etc... , how the crazy Emperor's mom is just as bad as Bethesda. The dragon part was great but, that isn't even 1/2 the story.
Then there is the ending and the happy ending of the romances going on, this had to be the good reviews right. I'm have to think this. Whereas Chelsie story is great, it is not the 524 pages of this book, only 100 maybe. As for Julius and Marci, they had so little page time that just because they are finally does not make this the main story.
So my thinking is that the ones that love this, love Infinity War and howand that was the ending, this was a even worse cliffhanger, and yes, I have the next book to wrap it up. Still this had no closure of the Mortal End or the fight with Algonquin. Thank the stars the next is only 300 pages so I don't have to wade through drone (hopefully).
So my next reason/thinking is that they didn't read Eli Monpress, so didn't already sit through pages and pages of explanation on spirits and magic. There was a little interesting souls and magic and memories and afterlife but even those I had issue with. So what? your afterlife is as long as the people that remember you? Hmm, she over explains and then it can be countered. It would have been easy, connect with a spirit, increase your magic and you might be able to become a merlin. But we get the whole angry, connecting, etc... again.
And that, what is the point of Merlin? Marci understands things better but she had no new anything to add to the fight, what is the point? Oh, closing the gate and magic but why would anyone want to be a Merlin?No we get the explanation on how to become a merlin and the spirits and creating and freeing new ones and their anger, etc... wow, I've had this all before in Monpress, not original for me. Much too much in the explanations that then can be torn down and I fell asleep, yep, a couple of times, zoned out, dozed off during these explanations, then had to backtrack and do it all again.
So before the ending, I was going to give this 3 stars, the dragon part 4 1/2 star, the Merlin part 2.75, right under 3, and the drone just brought it down for me. Every time there is a plan with Marci, it throws her into a worse situation. She finally wins through bumbling. Then the non-ending, I was pissed, pissed and I have the next book so we can see what it all about Bob. Still, this was pretty bad. Only the dragon part brings it to OK for me. Zoning and being irritated half the book and then being left up in the air.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Yea! release date and news that this will be 2nd to last of the series. So 5 book series. I might wait for the release date of the 5th since the 3rd had quite a cliffhanger on all the plot lines. Still was really good. Also going to have to do a re-read of the last one if not the series because it was quite complicated where it ended.
Not too happy with the covers as they all make them look like YA books. They really aren't as the main character is 26-27 at the start of the first book. These models look 18 at most.
Wow, well most of my friends loved this and I only can say that, I loved the dragon part of this story, of Julius interacting with the Emperor (and others), Frederick, Chelsie, etc... , how the crazy Emperor's mom is just as bad as Bethesda. The dragon part was great but, that isn't even 1/2 the story.
Then there is the ending and the happy ending of the romances going on, this had to be the good reviews right. I'm have to think this.
Spoiler
Chelsie finally gets her egg, daughter, and lover; Marcie and Julius finally get together, they are finally in bed at the end of the story, even though the world eater is just going to annihilate them. Yea! love conquers all, not for me.Spoiler
consummatedSo my thinking is that the ones that love this, love Infinity War and how
Spoiler
50% of the population was killedSo my next reason/thinking is that they didn't read Eli Monpress, so didn't already sit through pages and pages of explanation on spirits and magic. There was a little interesting souls and magic and memories and afterlife but even those I had issue with. So what? your afterlife is as long as the people that remember you? Hmm, she over explains and then it can be countered. It would have been easy, connect with a spirit, increase your magic and you might be able to become a merlin. But we get the whole angry, connecting, etc... again.
And that, what is the point of Merlin? Marci understands things better but she had no new anything to add to the fight, what is the point? Oh, closing the gate and magic but why would anyone want to be a Merlin?
Spoiler
Neither one had any real power. I thought the point was to be able to pull from the power, to be the most powerful? What is the point?So before the ending, I was going to give this 3 stars, the dragon part 4 1/2 star, the Merlin part 2.75, right under 3, and the drone just brought it down for me. Every time there is a plan with Marci, it throws her into a worse situation. She finally wins through bumbling. Then the non-ending, I was pissed, pissed and I have the next book so we can see what it all about Bob. Still, this was pretty bad. Only the dragon part brings it to OK for me. Zoning and being irritated half the book and then being left up in the air.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Yea! release date and news that this will be 2nd to last of the series. So 5 book series. I might wait for the release date of the 5th since the 3rd had quite a cliffhanger on all the plot lines. Still was really good. Also going to have to do a re-read of the last one if not the series because it was quite complicated where it ended.
Not too happy with the covers as they all make them look like YA books. They really aren't as the main character is 26-27 at the start of the first book. These models look 18 at most.
audiobookmel's review against another edition
5.0
My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.
Man, how to write this review without spoiling this series for people who haven’t started (and I highly recommend you start it). If you’re not familiar with this series, it mostly follows Julius, a dragon who is too nice. In this futuristic world, dragons exist and they are very selfish. The pretty much think only for themselves. The might do something for the family, but only because a strong family is good for them, not by any sense of duty to their family members.
Julius is a Heartstriker. They are the largest dragon clan. His mother, Bethesda, has had several clutches of eggs. She names all the children based on which clutch they are from. Everyone in the first clutch started with A (Amelia, the plains walker, is the only one left). Second clutch is B (Brohomir or Bob, the great seer of Heartstriker, is the only one left). There are several C (Chelesa, Bethesda’s shade and enforcer, is the most vital to the story).
The Fs have been sealed into the human forms their entire life. They have forced to work as servants to the rest of the clan. Bethesda never told anyone why this was the case. But she has her reasons (which we know before the start of this book, but many characters still don’t know).
The Js are the youngest group. With Julius, being the last to hatch from the clutch, so he is considered the youngest of all the Heartstrikers. He has spent most of his life hiding from the others, so not to get bullied.
There is also Marci. She is a human mage that Julius befriends in Detroit. She befriends a spirit in the shape of a cat named Ghost. He quickly grows in power and becomes a more powerful spirit and a vital character in his own right. There are other spirits, mostly Algonquin, the spirit of the lakes. She is working to control humans and she really hates dragons.
There is a whole lot more about this series. Here’s what you really want to know. This series is really fun. There are moments of laughter, of sadness (my eyes were watering in the first 10% of the book), of action. The characters are really well developed, even the side characters (I really love Raven who has a larger part in this book. YAY!). The stories are really good too. Not only is the overall story arc great, but each book is amazing in it’s own right.
In this book, we get to finally meet the highly secretive Chinese dragons. Their leader, the Golden Emperor, comes to take over the Heartstrikers. He has a good reason and they aren’t what you might think. Julius is also able to work his magic and niceness on the emperor. Algonquin makes her move. Bob does something unthinkable. The world will not be the same at the end of this book as it was at the beginning. Oh, more people learn the secret about the Fs.
There is only one more book to this series. *sobs* I’m both extremely excited to get to the next book. I can’t wait to see where Julius takes dragons. He is changing so much with his niceness. He might not look at himself as a leader, but he is a very good one.
Narration
I love the narration of this series. It is a series I would consider to be an audio only. Vikas Adam does such an amazing job with the narration here. There is a wide array of characters, from crabby Bethesda, to the weird seer, Bob, to the eccentric Amelia, the spirits of Ghost, Raven (I really love the voice of Raven) and Algonquin. He really nails the voices of both men and women. I think each voices matches the character’s personality perfectly. He is also really good with his inflection. Remember how I said my eyes were watering in the first 10% of the book, yeah, he is partly to blame for that. He is also to blame for the times I laughed out loud. If you haven’t tried this series on audio, I highly recommend it.
On another note, Vikas Adam was just inducted into Audible’s Narrator Hall of Fame. You can read more about Vikas Adam on his Hall of Fame page. While you’re at it, check out all the 2017 inductees.
**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Man, how to write this review without spoiling this series for people who haven’t started (and I highly recommend you start it). If you’re not familiar with this series, it mostly follows Julius, a dragon who is too nice. In this futuristic world, dragons exist and they are very selfish. The pretty much think only for themselves. The might do something for the family, but only because a strong family is good for them, not by any sense of duty to their family members.
Julius is a Heartstriker. They are the largest dragon clan. His mother, Bethesda, has had several clutches of eggs. She names all the children based on which clutch they are from. Everyone in the first clutch started with A (Amelia, the plains walker, is the only one left). Second clutch is B (Brohomir or Bob, the great seer of Heartstriker, is the only one left). There are several C (Chelesa, Bethesda’s shade and enforcer, is the most vital to the story).
The Fs have been sealed into the human forms their entire life. They have forced to work as servants to the rest of the clan. Bethesda never told anyone why this was the case. But she has her reasons (which we know before the start of this book, but many characters still don’t know).
The Js are the youngest group. With Julius, being the last to hatch from the clutch, so he is considered the youngest of all the Heartstrikers. He has spent most of his life hiding from the others, so not to get bullied.
There is also Marci. She is a human mage that Julius befriends in Detroit. She befriends a spirit in the shape of a cat named Ghost. He quickly grows in power and becomes a more powerful spirit and a vital character in his own right. There are other spirits, mostly Algonquin, the spirit of the lakes. She is working to control humans and she really hates dragons.
There is a whole lot more about this series. Here’s what you really want to know. This series is really fun. There are moments of laughter, of sadness (my eyes were watering in the first 10% of the book), of action. The characters are really well developed, even the side characters (I really love Raven who has a larger part in this book. YAY!). The stories are really good too. Not only is the overall story arc great, but each book is amazing in it’s own right.
In this book, we get to finally meet the highly secretive Chinese dragons. Their leader, the Golden Emperor, comes to take over the Heartstrikers. He has a good reason and they aren’t what you might think. Julius is also able to work his magic and niceness on the emperor. Algonquin makes her move. Bob does something unthinkable. The world will not be the same at the end of this book as it was at the beginning. Oh, more people learn the secret about the Fs.
There is only one more book to this series. *sobs* I’m both extremely excited to get to the next book. I can’t wait to see where Julius takes dragons. He is changing so much with his niceness. He might not look at himself as a leader, but he is a very good one.
Narration
I love the narration of this series. It is a series I would consider to be an audio only. Vikas Adam does such an amazing job with the narration here. There is a wide array of characters, from crabby Bethesda, to the weird seer, Bob, to the eccentric Amelia, the spirits of Ghost, Raven (I really love the voice of Raven) and Algonquin. He really nails the voices of both men and women. I think each voices matches the character’s personality perfectly. He is also really good with his inflection. Remember how I said my eyes were watering in the first 10% of the book, yeah, he is partly to blame for that. He is also to blame for the times I laughed out loud. If you haven’t tried this series on audio, I highly recommend it.
On another note, Vikas Adam was just inducted into Audible’s Narrator Hall of Fame. You can read more about Vikas Adam on his Hall of Fame page. While you’re at it, check out all the 2017 inductees.
**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
cricklewood's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
kobfroggie's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Too much info-dumping. Ends with a cliff-hanger.