heidipolkissa82's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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
bookish_satty's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
After the explosive ending of Book 3 regarding Marci and Amelia I started reading Book 4 immediately. I loved this installment even more than Book 2 which is saying something. We get to see two separate part of the story taking place at the same time but in two different dimension from Julius's and Marci's POV. We learn more about Chelsea's past and about the F clutch dragons also the relationship between Chelsea and them and the reason for the concealment of their dragons. Moreover we get to meet the Golden Emperor and how his luck magic works. We also get more of Bob, his pigeon and his cryptic shenanigans which was an awesome treat for me. On the other realm we learn more about the lost magic and Ghost and the overarching plot regarding Leviathan and Algonquin's ultimate plan. We meet DFZ in the flesh which was so shocking and Myron gets his due at the end which made me very happy.
This installment is the best in this series so far. This is full of action, suspense, mystery as well as the development of familial and romantic relationships of our favourite characters. I'm so sad that I've only the last installment to read now. I'm gonna miss these guys so much. Hopefully I will be doing more rereads of this series in the future.
P.S. - I loved the audio narration very much. Adding Vikas Adam to my Favourite Audiobook Narrators' List!
This installment is the best in this series so far. This is full of action, suspense, mystery as well as the development of familial and romantic relationships of our favourite characters. I'm so sad that I've only the last installment to read now. I'm gonna miss these guys so much. Hopefully I will be doing more rereads of this series in the future.
P.S. - I loved the audio narration very much. Adding Vikas Adam to my Favourite Audiobook Narrators' List!
diaryofthebookdragon's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, what a rollercoaster. For a book that cover such a small time frame in character's lives, A Dragon of a Different Color is unputdownable.
My only regret is that Bob does not appear much. I missed his quirky behavior and his cute pigeon.
This series is so addicting, that I just clicked trough and continued reading the next part. Thank God they are all published. I don't know what would have I done, if I had to wait a year for the sequel!
My only regret is that Bob does not appear much. I missed his quirky behavior and his cute pigeon.
This series is so addicting, that I just clicked trough and continued reading the next part. Thank God they are all published. I don't know what would have I done, if I had to wait a year for the sequel!
marklpotter's review against another edition
4.0
Always Leave Them Wanting More
Since the first book in this series I've not finished one where I immediately wanted to start the next. I'm impressed with Rachel Aaron's abilities and each book has proven me right. I'm convinced that I'll be reading every word she writes from now on.
Since the first book in this series I've not finished one where I immediately wanted to start the next. I'm impressed with Rachel Aaron's abilities and each book has proven me right. I'm convinced that I'll be reading every word she writes from now on.
garbutch's review against another edition
5.0
personal enjoyment - 5 stars.
There's so many tropes that get me excited about these books - kooky seers, underdog heroes, general urban fantasy stuff. There's a lot of heady magic science in the series but it's explained in digestible ways, and there's
writing in general - 4.5? at least.
I don't know how you can make a crescendo of high stakes plot happen so much and so satisfyingly.
diversity/representation shit: potentially 0 stars, pending my own research.
(I know this is very critical for a 5 star review. Bear with me. I'm rating it 5 stars for the algorithm and the above reasons. These criticisms would knock it down to three stars overall tops. I'm not taking it into account because I don't know enough.)
I worry there's a lot of content involved in the books that I personally can't tell if are represented respectfully (specifically related to Indigenous cultures, Chinese cultures, other stuff) and I feel like it's really dubious At Best that the big bad evil character is literally named Algonquin. And that she is literally an ecofascist (death to humanity as revenge for environmental stuff, which is largely white supremacist bc it ignores decolonial environmental struggles). And that she is described with a guise of a "Native American woman"
Like, I don't know enough about the full details of the different stuff involved here.
It's possible there was a sensitivity reader, or that there's some kind of bigger implied meaning. She's named an *exonym* for an Indigenous group and dons the face of people she may have fucked over. But that all feels like a ridiculous long shot. The majority of people in general don't know that colonial forces have largely been the ones to pick the most commonly used names for Indigenous peoples. So it seems doubtful. It kind of strikes me that maybe the author liked the idea of people named after Indigenous groups and just did a slightly more amount of googling for something she saw as more unique.
But again! I really do not know! This just strikes me as gigantic red flags and I still need to do more research.
And it's not the only thing that gives me pause from being able to actually recommend this series.
There's just a lot of stuff that I don't feel it would be responsible for me to vouch for as good or okay to any of my friends.
There's also no (canon) queer or disabled representation. Bob has pinache and flamboyance but that's about all.
I love Marci and Julius. And the Heartstrikers that are involved in the plot actively at this point. I love a protagonist who can relate to that feeling of being happy to see people you care about enjoying their family... and being unable to help feeling sad that you don't get to have that.
I think there's also some issues w/r/t paradox of tolerance in these books but it's kind of growing on me that they seem to take restorative justice approaches to characters that have fucked up. A Steven Universe energy but with adult dragons and life or death magic and stuff like that.
And it's definitely more enjoyable to see characters prioritizing communication over hasty decisions and potential miscommunication for once.
There's so many tropes that get me excited about these books - kooky seers, underdog heroes, general urban fantasy stuff. There's a lot of heady magic science in the series but it's explained in digestible ways, and there's
writing in general - 4.5? at least.
I don't know how you can make a crescendo of high stakes plot happen so much and so satisfyingly.
diversity/representation shit: potentially 0 stars, pending my own research.
(I know this is very critical for a 5 star review. Bear with me. I'm rating it 5 stars for the algorithm and the above reasons. These criticisms would knock it down to three stars overall tops. I'm not taking it into account because I don't know enough.)
I worry there's a lot of content involved in the books that I personally can't tell if are represented respectfully (specifically related to Indigenous cultures, Chinese cultures, other stuff) and I feel like it's really dubious At Best that the big bad evil character is literally named Algonquin. And that she is literally an ecofascist (death to humanity as revenge for environmental stuff, which is largely white supremacist bc it ignores decolonial environmental struggles). And that she is described with a guise of a "Native American woman"
Like, I don't know enough about the full details of the different stuff involved here.
It's possible there was a sensitivity reader, or that there's some kind of bigger implied meaning. She's named an *exonym* for an Indigenous group and dons the face of people she may have fucked over. But that all feels like a ridiculous long shot. The majority of people in general don't know that colonial forces have largely been the ones to pick the most commonly used names for Indigenous peoples. So it seems doubtful. It kind of strikes me that maybe the author liked the idea of people named after Indigenous groups and just did a slightly more amount of googling for something she saw as more unique.
But again! I really do not know! This just strikes me as gigantic red flags and I still need to do more research.
And it's not the only thing that gives me pause from being able to actually recommend this series.
There's just a lot of stuff that I don't feel it would be responsible for me to vouch for as good or okay to any of my friends.
There's also no (canon) queer or disabled representation. Bob has pinache and flamboyance but that's about all.
I love Marci and Julius. And the Heartstrikers that are involved in the plot actively at this point. I love a protagonist who can relate to that feeling of being happy to see people you care about enjoying their family... and being unable to help feeling sad that you don't get to have that.
I think there's also some issues w/r/t paradox of tolerance in these books but it's kind of growing on me that they seem to take restorative justice approaches to characters that have fucked up. A Steven Universe energy but with adult dragons and life or death magic and stuff like that.
And it's definitely more enjoyable to see characters prioritizing communication over hasty decisions and potential miscommunication for once.
observer_1's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ginnikin's review against another edition
3.0
Wow, this is a beast. It's got some pacing issues, getting slogged down in the middle. Also, there are a couple of scenes where characters are silent for way too long. Still, I'm hooked, and I'll be moving on to the fifth one shortly.
majkia's review against another edition
4.0
Such a fun series. Julius and his clan are suddenly confronted with the Chinese Dragon who decides he's going to conquer Heartstriker. Things go downhill from there.
sarlystitches's review against another edition
5.0
This has been my favorite of the Heartstrikers so far. It was the perfect follow up.