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A review by mariahistryingtoread
The Girl with the Dragon Heart by Stephanie Burgis
1.0
Beware spoiler-y review ahead.
I was surprised by how good The Dragon With the Chocolate Heart was after it caught my eye randomly at the library. I fully anticipated that level of quality to sustain. I was shocked by how massive a let down The Girl With the Dragon Heart ended up being.
The book operates in the same universe as TDWCH, but it focuses on a side character from the first - Aventurine’s best friend Silke. Silke is sent on a mission for the cutthroat princess from the previous book. If she succeeds she’ll have the home she always wanted. As is always the case in these kinds of stories, she quickly finds that there’s more to the mission than meets the eye.
Halfway through the book it was a 3 star read; a clear drop though not the worst dip I’ve seen. This was for 3 major reasons.
• Aventurine is inherently a more compelling character. The dragon learning how to human thing had a lot more versatility. Aventurine’s refusal to conform entirely made her stand out. She is still super rough around the edges, but that’s what makes her fun to follow. You’re never quite sure what direction she’ll take in social interactions. Silke is merely an archetype I've seen many a time before. It doesn't make her bad it just means she's immediately less interesting by default. I’m sure I’ve seen bits and pieces of Aventurine before as well, but the way that Stephanie Burgis wrote her is what made her special anyways.
• I was very into seeing how the palace intrigue mixed in with scary, unscrupulous fairies and political mischief would play out. Conversely I absolutely did not care about Silke’s attempts to find out what happened to her parents in the least. Thus I was checked out rather quickly as the book allows this to consume the entirety of the plot to the detriment of all other elements. Also I'm pretty sure it's not technically revisionist to add in a ‘might not really be dead’ parents plot but because I operated under the assumption for the entire first book that her parents were dead to me they are as good as. My brain already mentally categorized them as inconsequential so I struggled to care even before it started to overtake everything else.
• Silke's storyline is more emotionally based vs Aventurines’ and in this shift some flaws are revealed that were not apparent in the first book. Namely where Burgis will have Silke blatantly outline exactly what she is pursuing and why she is acting a certain way. I don't think a 13 year old would be so self aware and it leaves no room for me to analyze or piece motivation together on my own. It makes Silke read as more immature than she's supposed to because it’s so on the nose.
It only continues downhill from there.
The catalyst for the story is supposed to be Silke’s status as an expert spy. She’s quick on her feet, a smooth talker, and would be an unknown face in the castle. Except everything in the story just goes to prove Silke is an awful spy.
For example she blunders into a secret meeting in an attempt to try and 'save' Aventurine. We’re told she talks her way out of the situation, but the lie she gives is super poor for a spy of her purported skill and the fairies don’t even believe her which defeats the whole purpose. If she’s so charming then there should be no doubt as to the veracity of her tall tales. It’s made worse by the fact that after this mistake she’s let go from the job when it’s only been one day.
All this build up and hype over her skills for her to blow it immediately.
Also her sacrificing Aventurine would have been better because it would be a callback to when a different character declared Silke 'uses' people. It would show that she'd sunk to a point where she could no longer keep hold of the truth and loses herself in pursuit of stability thereby tying her arc altogether. Again, this all goes out the window because she has no time to do anything except attend a single dinner, and have one conversation before bungling the whole thing up.
The fairies are used horribly as antagonists. Fairy culture as a whole is underdeveloped. The magical system is ridiculously ill defined. The bargaining system is a great way of presenting tension and stakes but it's obviously only set up so that Silke's parents can still be alive. It's not an actual meaningful part of the story. The fairies super secret reason for showing up for the first time in decades was super obvious. So much so Silke literally did not even have to be there. Which is good since she didn’t gather any intel anyways.
Everyone in the castle assumed it was dragons before the fairies and then the fairies literally stepped off their carriage being like 'yeah what about those dragons'. It wasn’t that deep at all.
The revelation of the parents being alive is not only too convenient, it contradicts a major theme. I would have preferred if the parents actually had been lost forever due to a bad bargain because that better emphasizes the message that family is what you make of it not just blood. Silke spends most of the book thinking poorly of herself though she hides it behind a facade of apathy. She thinks no one would choose to be her family, they have to be stuck with her instead. So Marina and Horst and Aventurine actively choosing to take her in is a much better button on the arc. For similar reasons I didn’t like that she had an older brother.
If this had been the first book I would not have liked this series. That’s how disappointed I was. I almost don’t even want to continue. The first book really was so good my expectations were through the roof. If you’re determined to see the series through then go ahead. If you’re not a completionist, pretend the TDWCH is a standalone.
I was surprised by how good The Dragon With the Chocolate Heart was after it caught my eye randomly at the library. I fully anticipated that level of quality to sustain. I was shocked by how massive a let down The Girl With the Dragon Heart ended up being.
The book operates in the same universe as TDWCH, but it focuses on a side character from the first - Aventurine’s best friend Silke. Silke is sent on a mission for the cutthroat princess from the previous book. If she succeeds she’ll have the home she always wanted. As is always the case in these kinds of stories, she quickly finds that there’s more to the mission than meets the eye.
Halfway through the book it was a 3 star read; a clear drop though not the worst dip I’ve seen. This was for 3 major reasons.
• Aventurine is inherently a more compelling character. The dragon learning how to human thing had a lot more versatility. Aventurine’s refusal to conform entirely made her stand out. She is still super rough around the edges, but that’s what makes her fun to follow. You’re never quite sure what direction she’ll take in social interactions. Silke is merely an archetype I've seen many a time before. It doesn't make her bad it just means she's immediately less interesting by default. I’m sure I’ve seen bits and pieces of Aventurine before as well, but the way that Stephanie Burgis wrote her is what made her special anyways.
• I was very into seeing how the palace intrigue mixed in with scary, unscrupulous fairies and political mischief would play out. Conversely I absolutely did not care about Silke’s attempts to find out what happened to her parents in the least. Thus I was checked out rather quickly as the book allows this to consume the entirety of the plot to the detriment of all other elements. Also I'm pretty sure it's not technically revisionist to add in a ‘might not really be dead’ parents plot but because I operated under the assumption for the entire first book that her parents were dead to me they are as good as. My brain already mentally categorized them as inconsequential so I struggled to care even before it started to overtake everything else.
• Silke's storyline is more emotionally based vs Aventurines’ and in this shift some flaws are revealed that were not apparent in the first book. Namely where Burgis will have Silke blatantly outline exactly what she is pursuing and why she is acting a certain way. I don't think a 13 year old would be so self aware and it leaves no room for me to analyze or piece motivation together on my own. It makes Silke read as more immature than she's supposed to because it’s so on the nose.
It only continues downhill from there.
The catalyst for the story is supposed to be Silke’s status as an expert spy. She’s quick on her feet, a smooth talker, and would be an unknown face in the castle. Except everything in the story just goes to prove Silke is an awful spy.
For example she blunders into a secret meeting in an attempt to try and 'save' Aventurine. We’re told she talks her way out of the situation, but the lie she gives is super poor for a spy of her purported skill and the fairies don’t even believe her which defeats the whole purpose. If she’s so charming then there should be no doubt as to the veracity of her tall tales. It’s made worse by the fact that after this mistake she’s let go from the job when it’s only been one day.
All this build up and hype over her skills for her to blow it immediately.
Also her sacrificing Aventurine would have been better because it would be a callback to when a different character declared Silke 'uses' people. It would show that she'd sunk to a point where she could no longer keep hold of the truth and loses herself in pursuit of stability thereby tying her arc altogether. Again, this all goes out the window because she has no time to do anything except attend a single dinner, and have one conversation before bungling the whole thing up.
The fairies are used horribly as antagonists. Fairy culture as a whole is underdeveloped. The magical system is ridiculously ill defined. The bargaining system is a great way of presenting tension and stakes but it's obviously only set up so that Silke's parents can still be alive. It's not an actual meaningful part of the story. The fairies super secret reason for showing up for the first time in decades was super obvious. So much so Silke literally did not even have to be there. Which is good since she didn’t gather any intel anyways.
Everyone in the castle assumed it was dragons before the fairies and then the fairies literally stepped off their carriage being like 'yeah what about those dragons'. It wasn’t that deep at all.
The revelation of the parents being alive is not only too convenient, it contradicts a major theme. I would have preferred if the parents actually had been lost forever due to a bad bargain because that better emphasizes the message that family is what you make of it not just blood. Silke spends most of the book thinking poorly of herself though she hides it behind a facade of apathy. She thinks no one would choose to be her family, they have to be stuck with her instead. So Marina and Horst and Aventurine actively choosing to take her in is a much better button on the arc. For similar reasons I didn’t like that she had an older brother.
If this had been the first book I would not have liked this series. That’s how disappointed I was. I almost don’t even want to continue. The first book really was so good my expectations were through the roof. If you’re determined to see the series through then go ahead. If you’re not a completionist, pretend the TDWCH is a standalone.