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A review by books_and_cha
Consorting With Dragons by Sera Trevor
2.0
2.5 stars
Sera Trevor's Consorting With Dragons is a queer retelling of a beloved tale, Cinderella. It begins when Lord Jasen's father loses a bet, making it imperative for Jasen to snag a husband at court to become financially secure. Of course, Jasen doesn't expect to catch the king's eye, but he does. King Rivlor is charmed by Jasen, by his frankness and his beauty. Jasen doesn't feel fit for royalty, let alone being capable enough to rule a country, but the king is hard to resist. The stakes, however, are rising and there are hidden enemies in court who would like someone else to be the king's chosen.
I found the premise of this book compelling: naive, lesser lord gets embroiled in court drama and catches the biggest fish in the sea. It sounded exciting. The execution was anything but. Most of this book revolves around the three-month period where consorts are trained before the court season begins. The set-up is akin to the London seasons in the Regency era where women and men went to find partners. Other than how Jasen is so different from everyone in court - except for his best friend, he is apparently the only honest, fun-loving person who is not willing to back-stab others - there are a few scenes where Jasen meets Rivlor #palacedates. I would have preferred the entire training bit be cut out, with the drama - and story - starting with the season.
The romance is low-conflict and shows - again, in case you missed it - how Jasen is perfect and everyone loves him or envies him. The entire story is Jasen being shocked that he is admired, liked, and wanted. I understand the appeal of humility, but this was ridiculous. Even the dragons loved him. Then again, the dragons are supposedly wise but act like glorified pets once they bond with a person.
The characters all felt flat. They had fixed roles. Jasen was naive but lovable, while Rilvor was perfect, gentlemanly royalty. Sophie, who makes life difficult for Jasen in court, is the closest thing to dynamic, but even there, her character development (can we call it that?) isn't strong. As a result, it just felt like Trevor couldn't decide if Sophie was supposed to be good or bad.
I would have liked to see more of the world-building. We get a little bit of information on where the dragons came from, their history with people, how they interact with humans. One of the tensions in the book is that King Rilvor needs to marry someone who the royal council approves of, in order to appease the fragile treaties keeping otherwise warring kingdoms together. There is talk of tensions between states, but this isn't elaborated on. I wanted more socio-political context.
Consorting With Dragons felt a lot like an expanded short story. You have the basic bones of a narrative: a setting, plot, characters. I just needed more depth to all of it. This book had potential, it just wasn't fleshed out.
Sera Trevor's Consorting With Dragons is a queer retelling of a beloved tale, Cinderella. It begins when Lord Jasen's father loses a bet, making it imperative for Jasen to snag a husband at court to become financially secure. Of course, Jasen doesn't expect to catch the king's eye, but he does. King Rivlor is charmed by Jasen, by his frankness and his beauty. Jasen doesn't feel fit for royalty, let alone being capable enough to rule a country, but the king is hard to resist. The stakes, however, are rising and there are hidden enemies in court who would like someone else to be the king's chosen.
I found the premise of this book compelling: naive, lesser lord gets embroiled in court drama and catches the biggest fish in the sea. It sounded exciting. The execution was anything but. Most of this book revolves around the three-month period where consorts are trained before the court season begins. The set-up is akin to the London seasons in the Regency era where women and men went to find partners. Other than how Jasen is so different from everyone in court - except for his best friend, he is apparently the only honest, fun-loving person who is not willing to back-stab others - there are a few scenes where Jasen meets Rivlor #palacedates. I would have preferred the entire training bit be cut out, with the drama - and story - starting with the season.
The romance is low-conflict and shows - again, in case you missed it - how Jasen is perfect and everyone loves him or envies him. The entire story is Jasen being shocked that he is admired, liked, and wanted. I understand the appeal of humility, but this was ridiculous. Even the dragons loved him. Then again, the dragons are supposedly wise but act like glorified pets once they bond with a person.
The characters all felt flat. They had fixed roles. Jasen was naive but lovable, while Rilvor was perfect, gentlemanly royalty. Sophie, who makes life difficult for Jasen in court, is the closest thing to dynamic, but even there, her character development (can we call it that?) isn't strong. As a result, it just felt like Trevor couldn't decide if Sophie was supposed to be good or bad.
I would have liked to see more of the world-building. We get a little bit of information on where the dragons came from, their history with people, how they interact with humans. One of the tensions in the book is that King Rilvor needs to marry someone who the royal council approves of, in order to appease the fragile treaties keeping otherwise warring kingdoms together. There is talk of tensions between states, but this isn't elaborated on. I wanted more socio-political context.
Consorting With Dragons felt a lot like an expanded short story. You have the basic bones of a narrative: a setting, plot, characters. I just needed more depth to all of it. This book had potential, it just wasn't fleshed out.