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A review by sashapasha
Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron
3.0
I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I'll be picking up the sequel.
Nice Dragons Finish Last is an urban fantasy about a dragon, Julius Heartstriker, who has been kicked out of his home and sealed in human form, and who must figure out how to follow his moral compass while surviving his bloodthirsty family's repeated attempts to get him to act like a "real dragon".
I think I would've liked it a little more if I hadn't read a goodreads review that made me believe that something really interesting would happen at the halfway point. In actuality, the book just continues going pretty normally, which was a bit of a letdown.
My thoughts on the characters:
*Julius*
His niceness was sometimes laid on a little too thick, and to be honest, nice is…boring. I'm always more interested by characters with more complicated motivations and hidden desires or personality facets. Julius is almost painfully straightforward, as well as being too goody goody two-shoes a lot of the time. I found myself agreeing with his siblings on a number of occasions that he needed to just stfu and be a dragon.
*Marci*
Marci left a lot to be desired as the female lead, particularly in comparison to Devi Morris from Rachel Aaron's [b:Fortune's Pawn|15790894|Fortune's Pawn (Paradox #1)|Rachel Bach|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375610325l/15790894._SX50_.jpg|21512449] trilogy. Where Devi is hilariously badass, Marci is just annoying in a bubbly and slightly invasive kind of way. And the interactions between Julius and Marci were rife with the silliest kinds of misunderstandings, with both assuming the other couldn’t possibly like them *eyerolls* and both always blaming themselves and apologizing. Ugh.
*Bob*
Hands down the best character. Bob is Julius's much older brother and the Heartstriker clan’s seer, and he's always sending Julius snippets of nonsensical “advice” or showing up at random moments to be sassy and insane and helpful in the least helpful way possible. Bob is the shadowy puppetmaster behind the scenes, if the puppetmaster were a few cards short of a full deck and constantly looking for his marbles. His pigeon was a nice touch.
*Ian*
Honestly I liked Ian and wish we'd gotten to find out more about him and his plans. He seemed properly conniving but perhaps with a few redeeming qualities--it was difficult to tell since he was given way too little page time.
*Justin*
Classic moron with a sword. Probably closest in character to Devi Morris in terms of reckless bravery, but Devi's got a brain.
Nice Dragons Finish Last is an urban fantasy about a dragon, Julius Heartstriker, who has been kicked out of his home and sealed in human form, and who must figure out how to follow his moral compass while surviving his bloodthirsty family's repeated attempts to get him to act like a "real dragon".
I think I would've liked it a little more if I hadn't read a goodreads review that made me believe that something really interesting would happen at the halfway point. In actuality, the book just continues going pretty normally, which was a bit of a letdown.
My thoughts on the characters:
*Julius*
His niceness was sometimes laid on a little too thick, and to be honest, nice is…boring. I'm always more interested by characters with more complicated motivations and hidden desires or personality facets. Julius is almost painfully straightforward, as well as being too goody goody two-shoes a lot of the time. I found myself agreeing with his siblings on a number of occasions that he needed to just stfu and be a dragon.
*Marci*
Marci left a lot to be desired as the female lead, particularly in comparison to Devi Morris from Rachel Aaron's [b:Fortune's Pawn|15790894|Fortune's Pawn (Paradox #1)|Rachel Bach|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375610325l/15790894._SX50_.jpg|21512449] trilogy. Where Devi is hilariously badass, Marci is just annoying in a bubbly and slightly invasive kind of way. And the interactions between Julius and Marci were rife with the silliest kinds of misunderstandings, with both assuming the other couldn’t possibly like them *eyerolls* and both always blaming themselves and apologizing. Ugh.
*Bob*
Hands down the best character. Bob is Julius's much older brother and the Heartstriker clan’s seer, and he's always sending Julius snippets of nonsensical “advice” or showing up at random moments to be sassy and insane and helpful in the least helpful way possible. Bob is the shadowy puppetmaster behind the scenes, if the puppetmaster were a few cards short of a full deck and constantly looking for his marbles. His pigeon was a nice touch.
*Ian*
Honestly I liked Ian and wish we'd gotten to find out more about him and his plans. He seemed properly conniving but perhaps with a few redeeming qualities--it was difficult to tell since he was given way too little page time.
*Justin*
Classic moron with a sword. Probably closest in character to Devi Morris in terms of reckless bravery, but Devi's got a brain.