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A review by leelah
A Dragon of a Different Color by Rachel Aaron
3.0
I rarely dwell on cover-art, even in reviews it doesn't go beyond stating that artist did an amazing job with it and I like it.
But when I finished this book, I got back looking at the cover, because it so perfectly represents everything I think about this particular story and, consequentially, about this series and our main characters:
Background makes it look like Julius and Marci are not even in the same picture, and yet they still have each other's back.
The first thing is why I had issues with this book.
And the second one is why I'll always read Aaron, whatever she comes up with next.
About the first:
So, we know that Marci ended up in afterlife at the end of previous book. Unfortunately, this is where she spends bigger part of the book, with her fateful companion Ghost, AKA The Empty Wind, spirit of the Forgotten Dead and Amelia who is dead, but not really, ascended to something else. I love Marci. In fact, Julius and his family are so easy to love because they are funny and unusual, but Marci creeps on you subtly and you don't even know where you really started liking her the most. Marci is awesome, and it pains me to think she is only awesome when she is with Julius. I say that because I hated her entire arc in afterlife and her quest to become next Merlin and get back to Julius. I hated it because it was written to be so damn info-dumpy. Every scene was basically people standing around in the circle explaining magic system to reader and my eyes would just glaze over.
It didn't help that we are following Julius at the same time where at the Heartstriker mountain is happening one of the most interesting things ever- visit from Chinese dragon clans. This thing was teased through several books and all of us are dying to read the first encounter between Chelsie and the Golden Emperor. It's not like Aaron didn't empathize how badly Julius misses Marci, but with so many things going on at once, it just gets lost. You forget about Marci and when her chapter is up it's one of the most frustrating teaching pieces about magic from Amelia, or Aldo or... u get the picture. And Julius- you actually become aware of some flaws in his attempt to turn his insane family of carnivorous into reasonable adults- it will not happen over the night. His too idealistic approach did not turn out the way he hoped. Good thing though? Heartstrikers are still addictively fun to read about and root for. I want all of their books, ok?
About the second:
So, what I come to realize is that the one thing I love the most about Marci and Julius is their absolutely awesome relationship, unwavering devotion and support. I didn't like them separated which is why this book get better the moment they are reunited. Final act was everything and dragon clans working together against same antagonist is a thing of beauty.
Other random thoughts:
-WTH, Bob? Is there a method to your madness?
-Chelsie is precious and deserves everything, love and family and all that mushy stuff she is totally not known for.
-Dear god, Golden Emperor is so emo.
-Ok, Amelia outdragoned Svena with the whole spirit of dragons thing, right?
-Oh, Algonquin, I am so disappointed at you.
But when I finished this book, I got back looking at the cover, because it so perfectly represents everything I think about this particular story and, consequentially, about this series and our main characters:
Background makes it look like Julius and Marci are not even in the same picture, and yet they still have each other's back.
The first thing is why I had issues with this book.
And the second one is why I'll always read Aaron, whatever she comes up with next.
About the first:
So, we know that Marci ended up in afterlife at the end of previous book. Unfortunately, this is where she spends bigger part of the book, with her fateful companion Ghost, AKA The Empty Wind, spirit of the Forgotten Dead and Amelia who is dead, but not really, ascended to something else. I love Marci. In fact, Julius and his family are so easy to love because they are funny and unusual, but Marci creeps on you subtly and you don't even know where you really started liking her the most. Marci is awesome, and it pains me to think she is only awesome when she is with Julius. I say that because I hated her entire arc in afterlife and her quest to become next Merlin and get back to Julius. I hated it because it was written to be so damn info-dumpy. Every scene was basically people standing around in the circle explaining magic system to reader and my eyes would just glaze over.
It didn't help that we are following Julius at the same time where at the Heartstriker mountain is happening one of the most interesting things ever- visit from Chinese dragon clans. This thing was teased through several books and all of us are dying to read the first encounter between Chelsie and the Golden Emperor. It's not like Aaron didn't empathize how badly Julius misses Marci, but with so many things going on at once, it just gets lost. You forget about Marci and when her chapter is up it's one of the most frustrating teaching pieces about magic from Amelia, or Aldo or... u get the picture. And Julius- you actually become aware of some flaws in his attempt to turn his insane family of carnivorous into reasonable adults- it will not happen over the night. His too idealistic approach did not turn out the way he hoped. Good thing though? Heartstrikers are still addictively fun to read about and root for. I want all of their books, ok?
About the second:
So, what I come to realize is that the one thing I love the most about Marci and Julius is their absolutely awesome relationship, unwavering devotion and support. I didn't like them separated which is why this book get better the moment they are reunited. Final act was everything and dragon clans working together against same antagonist is a thing of beauty.
Other random thoughts:
-WTH, Bob? Is there a method to your madness?
-Chelsie is precious and deserves everything, love and family and all that mushy stuff she is totally not known for.
-Dear god, Golden Emperor is so emo.
-Ok, Amelia outdragoned Svena with the whole spirit of dragons thing, right?
-Oh, Algonquin, I am so disappointed at you.