A review by yasioasasi
The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood
2.0
DNF. I tried, I really did. This book seemed right up my alley, that alley being dragons. But it was just such a slog, that I only just made it past 50% before giving up.
First of all, the first third of the book is set over the course of just a few days, which drag on interminably. Our protagonist, Maia, is obsessed with getting a dragon baby, or qit. Makes sense; if I lived in an alternate world with dragons, I’d want one too! But Maia is singleminded in her obsession, to the point where I got really frustrated with the absolute lack of anything else in her life/personality/character. Her only other defining characteristic is a scarred (and cliche) past about her last moments with her dead mother, which would be interesting if the author spent more time explaining the details of her death. Its not only the details around Maia’s mother’s death that are vague, there’s also very little detail about the world outside the aerie, the reason why dragons are being purchased and the enemy they’re being used to fight, and a culture which is apparently ok with a priest attempting to abscond with a young woman without her consent. I’m pretty uncomfortable with the way the author makes the priest’s behavior seem par for the course in this fantasy world, especially without providing a backstory or explanation. I didn’t think it was necessary (granted it may have been clear in the latter half of the book) and to me the lecherous behavior of the priest seemed heavy handed. A patriarchal and potentially abusive society shouldn’t be the norm in fantasy books, and when it is portrayed by an author (especially a male author) as a storytelling tool, it deserves an explanation at the very least.
At the beginning of Volume II there was a dramatic shift into dragon lore and religion, which might have kept me going, but honestly, I got bored and was tired of Maia’s righteous indignation. Girl, bye.
First of all, the first third of the book is set over the course of just a few days, which drag on interminably. Our protagonist, Maia, is obsessed with getting a dragon baby, or qit. Makes sense; if I lived in an alternate world with dragons, I’d want one too! But Maia is singleminded in her obsession, to the point where I got really frustrated with the absolute lack of anything else in her life/personality/character. Her only other defining characteristic is a scarred (and cliche) past about her last moments with her dead mother, which would be interesting if the author spent more time explaining the details of her death. Its not only the details around Maia’s mother’s death that are vague, there’s also very little detail about the world outside the aerie, the reason why dragons are being purchased and the enemy they’re being used to fight, and a culture which is apparently ok with a priest attempting to abscond with a young woman without her consent. I’m pretty uncomfortable with the way the author makes the priest’s behavior seem par for the course in this fantasy world, especially without providing a backstory or explanation. I didn’t think it was necessary (granted it may have been clear in the latter half of the book) and to me the lecherous behavior of the priest seemed heavy handed. A patriarchal and potentially abusive society shouldn’t be the norm in fantasy books, and when it is portrayed by an author (especially a male author) as a storytelling tool, it deserves an explanation at the very least.
At the beginning of Volume II there was a dramatic shift into dragon lore and religion, which might have kept me going, but honestly, I got bored and was tired of Maia’s righteous indignation. Girl, bye.