Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu

3 reviews

cinnamonandpancakes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

This book is very odd. The world building is clearly an amalgam of tropes from several genres: cultivation novels; epic fantasy; Roman historical fiction; magical animal companion books; etc. But the combination is not done skillfully enough to make the world feel real, nor are any of the components affected by the other components in more than a cursory fashion. It feels half cooked.

I also found the written accents kinda cringe. 

With regards to characters, it felt like the main character knew nothing when it was convenient and then knew a bunch when that was convenient. It never felt like he struggled particularly to do anything before the narrative gave him a cheat code, but that's another one of the tropes it was using so whatever.

I did like the dragons and the way the author described the bond, that was fun. And the scenery was all described well. The author has a decent enough turn of phrase, I just wish he'd spend more time thinking about how his world worked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

roseleebooks's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Overall I enjoyed this book. The first and last 20% especially had a good mix of character and setting building combined with events that moved the plot along. Jai and Frida are compelling characters, and their growth as allies throughout the middle section of the book kept me reading.

The things I didn't like were fairly minor but distracting enough to make this a book I only mostly liked. Primarily the slow pace of the middle of the book after a fairly intense start at the beginning. The details of the magic system and learning its use became a bit monotonous to me. Rufus as a character I also thought could have been detailed more during that slower part of the book which would have made him more compelling to read about.

The world-building, interesting plot points, and setup for the next book will have me picking up the sequel when it comes out.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of publication.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kayceeisbookish's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

There is nonstop action in this fantastic fantasy world that Taran has built for us. The magic system I found unique and interesting. The "soul bound" was an inventive way to have the characters interact and integrate themselves into the creatures of the world around them. The would building was so good. I'm so excited to see more from this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism