Reviews

The Dragon's Price by Bethany Wiggins

lisamparkin's review

2.0

DNF at 30 perfect. The writing is weak and the story is bland and obvious. At 26 percent the two main characters are already gotten over their intensive prejudices against each other...so frustrating.

mldeblois13's review

2.0

I really loved the basic premise of this book: (1) the Romeo & Juliet-type story with Faodarians & Antharians, (2) the concepts of dragons and their treasure, and (3) the world-building and history. However, there are several aspects of this book that I did not enjoy as a reader. First of all, the author did a lot of telling and not a lot of showing, which made several parts of the book boring and difficult to get through. Secondly, the romance was not really appropriate for YA; it seemed more like a Harlequin romance novel. The author could have chosen to "show" the relationship in a different way that would have made the book still interesting for male and female readers and relay the depth of trust and sacrifice. Third, I did not like the cover; it did not really represent the story as a whole. Fourth, everything that happens in this story is too convenient and entirely unbelievable even for fantasy. In the story, one event magically makes the main character a great fighter, a great rider, a great this and that. It is too bad that that only great asset the readers knows she had before the event was being disobedient and stubborn. This leads into my fifth issue of the lack of character development. The author had a lot of room to make her character deep, but she just created cookie-cutters- nothing original. Like I said before, this story could have been amazing (it started from a great seed of an idea); however, it just withered.

booknerd777's review

5.0

I really liked this book. It took me a long time to read because I was busy with other things, but it was really good. I loved the characters. If you love Fantasy books, you should give this book a try because it's so underrated! Read my full review here http://booknerd777.blogspot.com/2018/03/book-review-dragons-price.html

bookwife's review against another edition

4.0

I was really surprised by how much I liked this book. I went into in with a negative attitude because my sister hated it but I really, really enjoyed it.

I liked Sorrow and I liked Golmarr. I liked them together. I liked the action and I liked the story. I liked the book. It wasn't the greatest book but I still really enjoyed reading it and I will be reading the next one!

novelheartbeat's review

2.0

Let me make something perfectly clear: THIS IS A ROMANCE.

THIS IS A ROMANCE.
THIS IS A ROMANCE.
THIS IS A ROMANCE.
THIS IS A ROMANCE.
THIS IS A FUCKING ROMANCE.

Got it? Good. This is not a book about dragons. In fact, dragons make an appearance exactly three times in this entire book. Yes, three. THREE. IN THREE HUNDRED PAGES. Literally the rest of the book is ooey gooey, in your face, vomit-inducing romance.

If you dig romance, you'll love it.

Me? I am not a fan of romance as most of you probably know. I don't mind it if it's background noise. But this romance actually took over the story. I wanted a high fantasy about dragons, "for fans of Julie Kagawa's Talon." This book doesn't even deserve to be in the same room as Talon. Also, WHERE WAS THE ACTION? The only real action was in the three scenes with the dragons. Action-packed my arse. (Y'know, for being only 304 pages this book seemed awful long.)

Reasons I was looking forward to this book:

• -DRAGONS. Duh.


• -I loved Stung by Bethany Wiggins


• -It was compared to Talon by Julie Kagawa (should have taken that with a grain of salt)


• -I love high fantasy of course


• -Did I mention dragons?

Things I liked about this book:

• -Dragons, duh


• -The concept of "transference"


• -Mayanchi (aka baby dragons with acid blood)

....... *crickets chirping* Yep that's about it.

Things got really sketchy after the transference for me, at least for a minute. First of all, it pisses me off that there is NO sacrifice when magic exists. Oh, you got horribly maimed? No prob, magic can fix that! Oh, someone died? Magic can fix that too! 

Spoiler

I obviously knew Golmarr wasn't really going to die, but I seriously think Bethany should have left it so that Sorrow lost her arm. SACRIFICE. There is none.

Second of all, she suddenly became "beautiful" afterward? Seriously? Her hair "changed from kinky curls to glossy waves of brown." Eye roll. Then her scars that she was embarrassed by disappeared. So her legs were "perfect." EYE. ROLL.

Spoiler

And of course was completely healed and grew her severed arm back. My eyes are going to detach.

And then she started glowing....in the dark. (But only just that once, apparently? Because it was never mentioned again?) Oooookaaaay. And then this happened:

I put my other hand on his other cheek so I am holding his face, then use my thumbs to gently pull his chin down so his mouth is wide-open. Moving my face directly about his, I summon all the good things I am made of - love, innocence, agency, joy, and a thousand other things - and then exhale them into his open mouth. They float out of me as a trickle of light, brighter even than the sunlight warming my shoulders, and pool at the back of his throat. I have to force myself not to recoil from the shock of seeing a part of me enter him.

Golmarr (and don't even get me started on that name) and Sorrow meet twice - yes, twice - and then he proposes to her and she says yes but it's too late because she already said she'd rather be eaten by a dragon. So what does he do? He of course throws himself into the dragon cave with a complete stranger so she wouldn't have to die alone. Perfectly logical.

After the fire dragon scene (yes, only one scene. And the premise is BASED ON HER FACING THE FIRE DRAGON GUYS.) it get so heavily involved in romance that I very nearly DNFed. I probably should have, because honestly I didn't miss much. Some shoddy flashbacks of the wizard that have nothing to do with anything because I feel like maybe the whole destiny hoopla was going somewhere but then just gave up. The plot couldn't tell which direction it wanted to go so it just settled on more romance. In between dragon scenes, my reading experience was punctuated by heavy sighs - lots of them - and so much eye rolling that I feared my retinas were going to detach.

He unbuckles my wide leather belt and pulls it from my waist.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
He grins and drops the belt and dagger to the ground, and his eyes turn fierce. "Making sure you don't stab me for what I'm about to do to you." I gasp. "Also, you won't feel my hands on you through that leather, and I won't be able to feel you," he adds, his voice a deep rumble. "A kiss isn't only about your lips on mine. It is about your hands touching me and my hands touching you, about my body against yours."

In one week you've bewitched me with your magic, Princess Sorrowlynn."

"No one has ever made me feel the way you do."

Oh, and I saw the ending coming a mile and a half away.

This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.

bookscrystals93's review

3.0

It was ok. Had a hard time getting into it.

srsanderson's review

1.0

i was looking for a fun, short book to read in between all of my september releases this month, and i thought that i couldn't go wrong with a book about dragons.

yeah, from the first 150 pages i read of this, its a mess. i couldnt continue.

the main character is called suicide sorrow? really? i am not easily offended and that did not sit will with me. also the barbarians are dark skinned and the main character is unloved but is also a special snowflake and i just can NOT with all these tropes.

i thought this was going to be about dragons but then the dragon is vanquished in 100 pages> um, no.

not going to finish, not interested sorry

auora1484's review

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

blondelibrarian's review

4.0

Rather than marry the barbarian prince, Princess Sorrowlyn chooses to jump into the dragon’s lair. To her surprise, Golmarr, the Prince, jumps in after her, determined to slay the dragon and figure out what kind of person would make this choice. They soon discover that they’ll have to work together to make it out alive. The dragon, who has been bound to the cave for centuries, has other ideas for their fate. And his price is much higher than they expected.
Review for WASHYARG

qquos's review

2.0

i skipped quite a bit but this was fun