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ellelainey's review
5.0
Dragon Adventures
Supernatural Consultant Book 6
by Mell Eight
★★★★★
91 Pages
3rd person, dual character POV
Themes: LGBT, Romance, Magic, Found Family, Single Father
Triggers: homophobia, mistreatment of an albino character
Genre: MM Romance, Urban Fantasy
~
As the sixth book in the series and the first novella, Dragon Adventures changes course to let Aqua and Rios – the kits belonging to territory leader William – become the main characters.
The book is split into two short stories : Dragon Adventure and Dragon Home.
~
Dragon Adventure is told in Rios' POV, with the occasional POV from Dane. Both kits are now 15 years old, so it's about 4 years since the previous book's events, and they're bored. William is holding the 10-year territorial leader committee and has asked them to sit in, to learn more responsibility. Too bored to sit for long, they scamper off only to decide that it wasn't fair that Nickel – the only other water dragon they know – didn't visit with Dane. So they decide to go see him...except, they don't realise the extent of the distance.
On their way, they moor their boat at the side of the river for the night and Rios is woken to a noise. He discovers a nix – a water-shifter – diving after boxes that have been dropped by a quiet boat during the night. The nix – who Rios names Nixie, as they don't have a name – claims that it's a drug smuggling operation polluting the river and he's trying to stop them. Rios decides to help and chaos ensues.
We haven't seen much of Rios and Aqua within the series. They've always just been talked about before, except one brief glimpse of them during Dragon Dilemma.
I think I would have enjoyed it more if they hadn't both acted like 8-year-olds. They're supposed to be 15 and learning how to take accountability, but they read like petulant children until Rios meets Nixie, which was a little off-putting. While that could be chalked up to their being dragons who don't age as humans do, the other kits in Dane and Mercury's family didn't act the same way at the same age.
I also found Rios to be extremely compulsive, falling in love with Nixie at first sight – which even Nickel and Mercury didn't do – while also suddenly choosing to become a coast guard just to help Nixie, when it would mean a lifetime of responsibility which he barely understands as it is. In the other books, the characters had much longer to come to those realisations, but it felt rushed here.
~
Dragon Home focuses on Aqua, and takes place months after the events of Dragon Adventure. It's told in Aqua's POV, with one POV each for Dane and William.
Feeling neglected by Rios, who has been his only constant companion (apart from William) for years, Aqua is upset. Rios is spending all of his time with Nixie, and when he complains to William, he suggests Aqua goes out into the world to find friends, but quickly regrets the decision after realising that it's not much different to running away from his problems and maybe he should have kept Aqua close.
Aqua is happy to go, though. He's excited by the idea of an adventure and flies away, quickly finding himself lost to the joy of flying, to the point where he lands in a barren land and stops for lunch. About to head off in search of somewhere more exciting to explore, he's knocked unconscious and wakes up tied to a chair, captive to a family of fire salamanders who think he's a spy.
Aqua meets Ash, who is an albino fire salamander, which means that he can't be in direct sunlight, fire burns him, and he doesn't have magic. Together, they fight a small rebellion caused by homophobia and manage to find comfort in each other to the point where Aqua suggests Ash could return with him to Canada.
I liked Aqua's story much better than Rios', despite the fact that Aqua is much more whiny and petulant, especially during the beginning of the story. However, he acknowledges and accepts himself how he is, recognises his short-comings, faults and limits, aware he hasn't put any effort into changing because he didn't think he had to. I also liked how he was much more philosophical and logical about things, like the mate bond, not seeing it as an instant resolution to a problem but rather something that requires building and effort to make grow.
In the end, I feel like Aqua matured a lot on-page, whereas Rios' growth didn't feel as obvious or natural.
~
In terms of rating, I'd probably give Rios' half of the story 4*, but as it only filled 41% of the book, it was quite a bit shorter than Aqua's story and that allowed for a more natural growth and more in-depth adventure. Aqua's story is a solid 5, so rounding up both ratings gives this a 5*.
Supernatural Consultant Book 6
by Mell Eight
★★★★★
91 Pages
3rd person, dual character POV
Themes: LGBT, Romance, Magic, Found Family, Single Father
Triggers: homophobia, mistreatment of an albino character
Genre: MM Romance, Urban Fantasy
~
As the sixth book in the series and the first novella, Dragon Adventures changes course to let Aqua and Rios – the kits belonging to territory leader William – become the main characters.
The book is split into two short stories : Dragon Adventure and Dragon Home.
~
Dragon Adventure is told in Rios' POV, with the occasional POV from Dane. Both kits are now 15 years old, so it's about 4 years since the previous book's events, and they're bored. William is holding the 10-year territorial leader committee and has asked them to sit in, to learn more responsibility. Too bored to sit for long, they scamper off only to decide that it wasn't fair that Nickel – the only other water dragon they know – didn't visit with Dane. So they decide to go see him...except, they don't realise the extent of the distance.
On their way, they moor their boat at the side of the river for the night and Rios is woken to a noise. He discovers a nix – a water-shifter – diving after boxes that have been dropped by a quiet boat during the night. The nix – who Rios names Nixie, as they don't have a name – claims that it's a drug smuggling operation polluting the river and he's trying to stop them. Rios decides to help and chaos ensues.
We haven't seen much of Rios and Aqua within the series. They've always just been talked about before, except one brief glimpse of them during Dragon Dilemma.
I think I would have enjoyed it more if they hadn't both acted like 8-year-olds. They're supposed to be 15 and learning how to take accountability, but they read like petulant children until Rios meets Nixie, which was a little off-putting. While that could be chalked up to their being dragons who don't age as humans do, the other kits in Dane and Mercury's family didn't act the same way at the same age.
I also found Rios to be extremely compulsive, falling in love with Nixie at first sight – which even Nickel and Mercury didn't do – while also suddenly choosing to become a coast guard just to help Nixie, when it would mean a lifetime of responsibility which he barely understands as it is. In the other books, the characters had much longer to come to those realisations, but it felt rushed here.
~
Dragon Home focuses on Aqua, and takes place months after the events of Dragon Adventure. It's told in Aqua's POV, with one POV each for Dane and William.
Feeling neglected by Rios, who has been his only constant companion (apart from William) for years, Aqua is upset. Rios is spending all of his time with Nixie, and when he complains to William, he suggests Aqua goes out into the world to find friends, but quickly regrets the decision after realising that it's not much different to running away from his problems and maybe he should have kept Aqua close.
Aqua is happy to go, though. He's excited by the idea of an adventure and flies away, quickly finding himself lost to the joy of flying, to the point where he lands in a barren land and stops for lunch. About to head off in search of somewhere more exciting to explore, he's knocked unconscious and wakes up tied to a chair, captive to a family of fire salamanders who think he's a spy.
Aqua meets Ash, who is an albino fire salamander, which means that he can't be in direct sunlight, fire burns him, and he doesn't have magic. Together, they fight a small rebellion caused by homophobia and manage to find comfort in each other to the point where Aqua suggests Ash could return with him to Canada.
I liked Aqua's story much better than Rios', despite the fact that Aqua is much more whiny and petulant, especially during the beginning of the story. However, he acknowledges and accepts himself how he is, recognises his short-comings, faults and limits, aware he hasn't put any effort into changing because he didn't think he had to. I also liked how he was much more philosophical and logical about things, like the mate bond, not seeing it as an instant resolution to a problem but rather something that requires building and effort to make grow.
In the end, I feel like Aqua matured a lot on-page, whereas Rios' growth didn't feel as obvious or natural.
~
In terms of rating, I'd probably give Rios' half of the story 4*, but as it only filled 41% of the book, it was quite a bit shorter than Aqua's story and that allowed for a more natural growth and more in-depth adventure. Aqua's story is a solid 5, so rounding up both ratings gives this a 5*.
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