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liz_keeney's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
cyanide_latte's review
4.0
First rating: Four stars
Second rating: Four stars
As with DragonSpell, I'm happy to have gotten through this second book, and I definitely enjoyed my time spent with it. The story actually opens with a few faster-paced events and introduces a character I recall being one I've had a personal soft spot for.In case you were wondering, she's a little doneel girl named Toopka. I almost didn't spoiler this information, but given that Toopka isn't mentioned anywhere in the summary of DragonQuest, I figured it's better to be safe than sorry about that. From there, I would say that the rest of the story continues to move at a somewhat steady pace, which is probably facilitated by the short chapters and the choppy way in which the narrative keeps jumping from point to point. I do feel like some things just happen without much build-up or explanation as to why, which is frustrating, and I still find it just a tiny bit aggravating that a good portion of the story involves scenes of the characters relaxing someplace or other and sharing meals in moderate detail that could have been put to better use spending page time explaining things that just -happen- with little build-up or explanation.
That and the, again, on-the-nose allegories aside, I think this book was better written and somewhat more entertaining than its predecessor. There's far less info-dumping here, I believe, and the narrative flow has definitely improved from before.
Second rating: Four stars
As with DragonSpell, I'm happy to have gotten through this second book, and I definitely enjoyed my time spent with it. The story actually opens with a few faster-paced events and introduces a character I recall being one I've had a personal soft spot for.
That and the, again, on-the-nose allegories aside, I think this book was better written and somewhat more entertaining than its predecessor. There's far less info-dumping here, I believe, and the narrative flow has definitely improved from before.
readdragon's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
spaceyfaerie's review
5.0
Awesome storyline...a few twists that didn't surprise me, but were very enjoyable. It got pretty annoying, the constant questioning Kale does of Dar, if he can mindread or not. There were a few parts where I was thinking "WHAT! How did that happen?" but, it all got explained later on.
I'm glad that Risto finally died, although he did very quickly. It was like, why couldn't that have happened earlier?
I wasn't that convinced when Fenworth supposedly died...because he always has you thinking one thing when another is actually happening.
Paladin was awesome as always, Dar was the same...well, sort of. Fenworth was, as always, a riot, even more so when his "cousin" Cam joins them. And two more of Kale's dragons hatch, adding to the group. A few new characters are introduced, among them Bardon, who turns out to be a hafling, part o'rant and part ermerlindian. He's pretty cool, once Kale gets to know him better.
Regidor, the meech dragon, who turns out to be a lot different than everyone was thinking.
And last of all, but definitely not least, Toopka. She's a young doneel that Kale finds in the streets of Vandela, and ends of taking care of. Toopka is hilarious in everything she does; from arguing with Regidor to snitching food from the wizard. She's quite a character!
As a side note: some sentences were a bit disorienting in the way they were written and I had to re-read them to get what she meant. Once I did though, they made sense. Still, I like to get what the author is trying to say first time.
All in all, despite the minor quirks that every novel has, I really enjoyed the sequel to [b:DragonSpell|172734|DragonSpell (DragonKeeper Chronicles, #1)|Donita K. Paul|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172407587s/172734.jpg|166822]. I'm looking forward very much to reading the next book.
I'm glad that Risto finally died, although he did very quickly. It was like, why couldn't that have happened earlier?
I wasn't that convinced when Fenworth supposedly died...because he always has you thinking one thing when another is actually happening.
Paladin was awesome as always, Dar was the same...well, sort of. Fenworth was, as always, a riot, even more so when his "cousin" Cam joins them. And two more of Kale's dragons hatch, adding to the group. A few new characters are introduced, among them Bardon, who turns out to be a hafling, part o'rant and part ermerlindian. He's pretty cool, once Kale gets to know him better.
Regidor, the meech dragon, who turns out to be a lot different than everyone was thinking.
And last of all, but definitely not least, Toopka. She's a young doneel that Kale finds in the streets of Vandela, and ends of taking care of. Toopka is hilarious in everything she does; from arguing with Regidor to snitching food from the wizard. She's quite a character!
As a side note: some sentences were a bit disorienting in the way they were written and I had to re-read them to get what she meant. Once I did though, they made sense. Still, I like to get what the author is trying to say first time.
All in all, despite the minor quirks that every novel has, I really enjoyed the sequel to [b:DragonSpell|172734|DragonSpell (DragonKeeper Chronicles, #1)|Donita K. Paul|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172407587s/172734.jpg|166822]. I'm looking forward very much to reading the next book.
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