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A review by bunnyfork
Poised in Either Eye by Fell A. Marsh, B. Pigeon
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This is a very character oriented book, so lets talk about them first. Mateo is a dragon who has lived as a human several years. Zephyr has just arrived from the Dragon Realm and doesn't quite understand how humans work. Jasia is a human psychic who is helping Mateo and introduced him to Zephyr. She is very charming but not a whole lot is said about her actual motivations.
The two dragons have very distinct voices that set their perspectives apart. Mateo is the more experienced grumpy one to Zephyr's sunshine. Mateo sees no reason to be a dragon anymore while Zephyr only sees the Human Realm as a temporary stop before he returns home. This is the main source of their conflict.
Mateo has two reasons for helping Zephyr: using him to commit some robberies and keeping him from blowing their cover and alerting hunters there are dragons in the city. The hunters are a threat that is definitely felt but we don't actually know much about them. Why do the hunters want them? Are dragons considered dangerous, do normal people know about them or just psychics?
The fact that Jasia can use actual magic is treated as something uncommon but not overly impressive. She mostly creates protective wards and can sense other people. She definitely has reasons to be protecting the two dragons but it's never stated and I didn't pick up on any concrete hints.
The antagonist at the end isn't even a hunter. He's just some guy who's working for another psychic that wants to sell them to... somebody. For some reason. I understand why it was written this way, the main focus of the book <i>is</i> the relationship between Mateo and Zephyr, but I'm curious.
The relationship Mateo and Zephyr have is well done, with Mateo slowly cracking his hard shell and Zephyr becoming more confident in himself and pushing back a little.
I also enjoyed the discussion of people's responsibility to learn. Zephyr messes up a lot because he hasn't been taught a lot of things. Mateo finds this frustrating and blames Zephyr for not learning on his own. This is a big theme of the resolution and it feels good.
<b>tl;dr</b> The world is very interesting and the characters are extremely likable (especially Zephyr). My biggest complaint is that I want more answers and more details about the world itself, but that's not the focus of the story.
The two dragons have very distinct voices that set their perspectives apart. Mateo is the more experienced grumpy one to Zephyr's sunshine. Mateo sees no reason to be a dragon anymore while Zephyr only sees the Human Realm as a temporary stop before he returns home. This is the main source of their conflict.
Mateo has two reasons for helping Zephyr: using him to commit some robberies and keeping him from blowing their cover and alerting hunters there are dragons in the city. The hunters are a threat that is definitely felt but we don't actually know much about them. Why do the hunters want them? Are dragons considered dangerous, do normal people know about them or just psychics?
The fact that Jasia can use actual magic is treated as something uncommon but not overly impressive. She mostly creates protective wards and can sense other people. She definitely has reasons to be protecting the two dragons but it's never stated and I didn't pick up on any concrete hints.
The relationship Mateo and Zephyr have is well done, with Mateo slowly cracking his hard shell and Zephyr becoming more confident in himself and pushing back a little.
I also enjoyed the discussion of people's responsibility to learn. Zephyr messes up a lot because he hasn't been taught a lot of things. Mateo finds this frustrating and blames Zephyr for not learning on his own. This is a big theme of the resolution and it feels good.
<b>tl;dr</b> The world is very interesting and the characters are extremely likable (especially Zephyr). My biggest complaint is that I want more answers and more details about the world itself, but that's not the focus of the story.