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tallyhotel's review against another edition
DNF at 80%. It's been sitting for a year, and I have no desire to finish the tale.
marimoose's review
3.0
Full review found at Story and Somnomancy.
Initial thoughts: Can I just like this book for the first half of the story? The second bit got way too convoluted and mired with characters I really didn't care about. But that first half. That first half was fabulous.
Initial thoughts: Can I just like this book for the first half of the story? The second bit got way too convoluted and mired with characters I really didn't care about. But that first half. That first half was fabulous.
sonaderon's review
4.0
Battling dragons at sea.
Revenge.
Giant crabs.
Awesome characters.
Dragons.
Yes I will be looking for more.
Revenge.
Giant crabs.
Awesome characters.
Dragons.
Yes I will be looking for more.
thistlechaser's review against another edition
2.0
This could have been an amazing story. Set in a fantasy world, all business is handled through great sailing ships powered by nothing more than the wind and crews of rowers. Life might be good (unless you were a rower), except the world was also populated by dragons. Dragons that tended to attack the ships and sink them/eat everyone on them.
The story opens on one of those ships, where some random character who we learn little more about than his name is talking to another basically blank character about mutiny. Through the first couple chapters, we learn nothing about the characters other than their name and ship position/rank. Highly frustrating and made the story hard to follow... or care about.
The mutiny happens, and the crew puts the captain off the ship. For utterly unbelievable reasons, the healer decides to join him in his death sentence (to be put off the ship in a rowboat with no oars, food, or water). Through luck and a storm, the pair end up on a tropical paradise island. On that island, the two find a dragon egg and become the first people ever to tame and train a dragon.
Even with the big problem up until that point (so little characterization, even of the two main characters -- I could hardly name more than one single trait for each of them), I was enjoying the story. The dragon was interesting, even if all the human characters might as well have been cardboard cutouts.
Around the 60% point of the book, the story, writing, and plot went through the floor. Those characters from the first chapters became main POV characters, and they were no clearer or more detailed of characters than they had been in the beginning. I didn't know who they were or why they were doing what they did, and by this point I didn't care.
I skimmed the rest of the book, and was left scratching my head at the last of the plot.
In addition to all of those problems, there were a number more:
* The editor wrote a forward for the book. In it she said her friends were now able to quote the book themselves, because she loved the writing so much that she quotes it endlessly at them. This is the sample section she gave:
"The galley slashes through the dragon's shadow, and the foredeck slides under its belly like an assassin's blade. Solet cries, "Fire!" the crossbowmen don't even have to aim. It's tough to miss the sky."
I know tastes vary, but... that doesn't seem like overly good writing to me. Not bad, but not good enough that I'd quote to friends and family. Plus, by gushing about how amazingly wonderful the writing was, she set my expectations higher... which in this case only hurt the book.
* The author often used wording that knocked me out of the story. On this fantasy, non-Earth world, calling human meat "long pig" just didn't seem right.
* This last part bothered me the most. From the book: "A scrawny old cabbage dealer with a green headwrap and a thin gray beard peers at them from behind a wagonload of crop. Ject snaps his fingers. Ravis knocks a wave of cabbages over him. The man ducks, crying, "My cabbages!" "
He's describing the cabbage man from Avatar the Last Airbender, right down to his "My cabbages!" cry.
The story opens on one of those ships, where some random character who we learn little more about than his name is talking to another basically blank character about mutiny. Through the first couple chapters, we learn nothing about the characters other than their name and ship position/rank. Highly frustrating and made the story hard to follow... or care about.
The mutiny happens, and the crew puts the captain off the ship. For utterly unbelievable reasons, the healer decides to join him in his death sentence (to be put off the ship in a rowboat with no oars, food, or water). Through luck and a storm, the pair end up on a tropical paradise island. On that island, the two find a dragon egg and become the first people ever to tame and train a dragon.
Even with the big problem up until that point (so little characterization, even of the two main characters -- I could hardly name more than one single trait for each of them), I was enjoying the story. The dragon was interesting, even if all the human characters might as well have been cardboard cutouts.
Around the 60% point of the book, the story, writing, and plot went through the floor. Those characters from the first chapters became main POV characters, and they were no clearer or more detailed of characters than they had been in the beginning. I didn't know who they were or why they were doing what they did, and by this point I didn't care.
I skimmed the rest of the book, and was left scratching my head at the last of the plot.
In addition to all of those problems, there were a number more:
* The editor wrote a forward for the book. In it she said her friends were now able to quote the book themselves, because she loved the writing so much that she quotes it endlessly at them. This is the sample section she gave:
"The galley slashes through the dragon's shadow, and the foredeck slides under its belly like an assassin's blade. Solet cries, "Fire!" the crossbowmen don't even have to aim. It's tough to miss the sky."
I know tastes vary, but... that doesn't seem like overly good writing to me. Not bad, but not good enough that I'd quote to friends and family. Plus, by gushing about how amazingly wonderful the writing was, she set my expectations higher... which in this case only hurt the book.
* The author often used wording that knocked me out of the story. On this fantasy, non-Earth world, calling human meat "long pig" just didn't seem right.
* This last part bothered me the most. From the book: "A scrawny old cabbage dealer with a green headwrap and a thin gray beard peers at them from behind a wagonload of crop. Ject snaps his fingers. Ravis knocks a wave of cabbages over him. The man ducks, crying, "My cabbages!" "
He's describing the cabbage man from Avatar the Last Airbender, right down to his "My cabbages!" cry.
poisonenvy's review against another edition
3.0
Would have been 2.5*, but it gets an extra half star for the amazing and unexpected Avatar: The Last Airbender reference in the last chapter that made me burst out laughing.
I wasn't sure if I should read this book to the end, with it's distracting present-tense writing, the editing error I found within the first few pages, and the choppy writing style, but I persisted.
There were clever moments, for sure. There was a moment when the main character was like "I could disguise myself and sneak in amongst all my enemies and trick them and get my revenge" and then goes "No, that's too complicated, I'll just kill them all instead" which made me giggle a little, especially as the book is touted as The Count of Monte Cristo with Dragons.
But overall, the writing just... wasn't great. It was choppy and distracting. It switched perspectives, it seemed to skip sentences which made it confusing (at one point, a man is in a room with two other men. As the paragraph goes on, you realize the other men must have left but at no point is that referenced at all. I had to read the passage about three times to figure out when it must have happened). At one point there's an entire page in past tense, and I read it three times to try to figure out why it was in past tense before I eventually gave up and decided there was no real reason for it.
The section of the story on the island is kind of fun, kind of enjoyable, but the rest of the novel is just kind of eh. Will I continue the series when the next books are published? Unlikely, though I'm not counting it out.
I wasn't sure if I should read this book to the end, with it's distracting present-tense writing, the editing error I found within the first few pages, and the choppy writing style, but I persisted.
There were clever moments, for sure. There was a moment when the main character was like "I could disguise myself and sneak in amongst all my enemies and trick them and get my revenge" and then goes "No, that's too complicated, I'll just kill them all instead" which made me giggle a little, especially as the book is touted as The Count of Monte Cristo with Dragons.
But overall, the writing just... wasn't great. It was choppy and distracting. It switched perspectives, it seemed to skip sentences which made it confusing (at one point, a man is in a room with two other men. As the paragraph goes on, you realize the other men must have left but at no point is that referenced at all. I had to read the passage about three times to figure out when it must have happened). At one point there's an entire page in past tense, and I read it three times to try to figure out why it was in past tense before I eventually gave up and decided there was no real reason for it.
The section of the story on the island is kind of fun, kind of enjoyable, but the rest of the novel is just kind of eh. Will I continue the series when the next books are published? Unlikely, though I'm not counting it out.
bookaneer's review against another edition
1.0
DNF at 15%. No interesting characters, weird pacing, awkward sentences.
Note to self: I need to be more selective in my Netgalley request.
Note to self: I need to be more selective in my Netgalley request.
rgreatreader's review against another edition
4.0
I liked the concept a lot, and the first half was pretty good. The last third was fairly confusing
urlphantomhive's review
3.0
2.5 Stars
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
First, I want to say that I completely love the cover. The colours work wonderful and it immediately caught my eye and would certainly also do so in a book store. Yes, I'll even admit I wanted to read this book mainly because I liked the cover so much. At least I'm honest about it.
After an encounter with a dragon a mutiny takes place that leaves Captain Jeryon and his apothecary in a small boat on a very large ocean. Stranded on a small island and obviously frustrated about the situation, he's plotting his revenge. His bloody revenge.
I had high expectations, because besides the cover there was much more to like about the book. Ships, dragons and the like! Unfortunately, however, the main part of the book is not focusing on survival, but on revenge. The Dragon Round follows the revenge he has planned for each and everyone that was on the original ship. Individually. So, the story moves from one to another revenge plot, which in the end, I'm sorry to say, just got boring. And that with the final revenge being on a very, very large scale (one might have even said overreacting).
But if you like to read about revenge (a lot) this is the book for you. The world certainly is interesting.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
First, I want to say that I completely love the cover. The colours work wonderful and it immediately caught my eye and would certainly also do so in a book store. Yes, I'll even admit I wanted to read this book mainly because I liked the cover so much. At least I'm honest about it.
After an encounter with a dragon a mutiny takes place that leaves Captain Jeryon and his apothecary in a small boat on a very large ocean. Stranded on a small island and obviously frustrated about the situation, he's plotting his revenge. His bloody revenge.
I had high expectations, because besides the cover there was much more to like about the book. Ships, dragons and the like! Unfortunately, however, the main part of the book is not focusing on survival, but on revenge. The Dragon Round follows the revenge he has planned for each and everyone that was on the original ship. Individually. So, the story moves from one to another revenge plot, which in the end, I'm sorry to say, just got boring. And that with the final revenge being on a very, very large scale (one might have even said overreacting).
But if you like to read about revenge (a lot) this is the book for you. The world certainly is interesting.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
booksavvyreviews's review against another edition
3.0
I was excited to be approved to review this book through NetGalley, because dragons? A tale of revenge and betrayal.
I thoroughly enjoy reviewing for debuting authors, too, because everyone needs those first gut-wrenching reviews to get over with. That being said, here is my review and overall thoughts.
This book starts off slow and the way it's written can be really confusing if you're just hoping to skim by. We begin with Jeryon, the captain of the Comber. His crew isn't pleased, overworked and underpaid, they plot mutiny amidst an attack from the sky, a dragon is on them soon and once the battle is won they do away with the captain giving him the captain's chance at life, marooning him as well as the apothecary, Everlyn at sea.
By chance they survive after much trial and wind up on a dangerous island with oversized crabs and threats galore, they also get to witness a dragon hatching and there is where the story truly picks up.
The writing as I said before can be confusing, it jumps around multiple times in a chapter. The depth of character wasn't there for me and it kept me from truly engaging in the characters and perhaps relating to them. I did enjoy Everlyn, she's feisty, and I did enjoy Jeryon, but they lacked depth. They were rather one dimensional, but there was promise in them.
At times, the story dragged on more than it ought to, but the idea was so very intriguing especially as the dragon grew. I was hoping for something deeper to transpire between Jeryon and Everlyn, I was hoping for depth ANYWHERE, but it was a very shallow read. Not boring, but it lacked depth in story, depth in character.
Lastly, I felt like there were far too many characters introduced that while they had something to do with the story, wasn't entirely necessary. It was just more confusing and the closer to the end you come the more characters are introduced when I think it should have focused on closure.
The ending left me a little dissatisfied, but all in all, it was a pretty decent read.
Book Savvy Review
I thoroughly enjoy reviewing for debuting authors, too, because everyone needs those first gut-wrenching reviews to get over with. That being said, here is my review and overall thoughts.
This book starts off slow and the way it's written can be really confusing if you're just hoping to skim by. We begin with Jeryon, the captain of the Comber. His crew isn't pleased, overworked and underpaid, they plot mutiny amidst an attack from the sky, a dragon is on them soon and once the battle is won they do away with the captain giving him the captain's chance at life, marooning him as well as the apothecary, Everlyn at sea.
By chance they survive after much trial and wind up on a dangerous island with oversized crabs and threats galore, they also get to witness a dragon hatching and there is where the story truly picks up.
The writing as I said before can be confusing, it jumps around multiple times in a chapter. The depth of character wasn't there for me and it kept me from truly engaging in the characters and perhaps relating to them. I did enjoy Everlyn, she's feisty, and I did enjoy Jeryon, but they lacked depth. They were rather one dimensional, but there was promise in them.
At times, the story dragged on more than it ought to, but the idea was so very intriguing especially as the dragon grew. I was hoping for something deeper to transpire between Jeryon and Everlyn, I was hoping for depth ANYWHERE, but it was a very shallow read. Not boring, but it lacked depth in story, depth in character.
Lastly, I felt like there were far too many characters introduced that while they had something to do with the story, wasn't entirely necessary. It was just more confusing and the closer to the end you come the more characters are introduced when I think it should have focused on closure.
The ending left me a little dissatisfied, but all in all, it was a pretty decent read.
Book Savvy Review
almo's review against another edition
2.0
Well, well, well. Loved the cover, loved the premise. Swashbuckling adventures and dragons? YES SIR THANK YOU SIR!! You can probably feel it coming, though; the dreaded ‘but‘…
I’ve been thinking for a couple of days on how to review this one. Eventually, I decided to divide it into three sections: Part One and Part Two in this review correspond to Part One of the book. Part Tree here corresponds with Part Two of the book.
*********
We are introduced to Jeryon, captain of the Comber, and pretty much the rest of his shipmates, plus the rowers of the ship. The point of view shifts between the characters fast (sometimes during each paragraph) and we get to see certain events happen from several of those points of views. For example:
POV 1: “Oh no, it’s a dragon to me left!“
POV 2: “Dear Lord, there’s a dragon to me right!“
POV 3: “Lard Thunderin Jaysus, there’s a dragon right below me!“
(This is obviously not how it went exactly, but you catch my drift eh?)
At one point, I thought it was at least something different and it showed that the author wasn’t afraid to experiment. Sadly, it kind of read like a movie script (especially because everything was written in the present tense as well), quickly turning the whole thing into a snoozefest for me. But then, a dragon attacks! Okay, still a bit of a snoozefest…but then!!
Jeryon and his ladyfriend, the apothecary of the Comber, wash ashore onto a deserted island and try to make a living there. This is where it got interesting because the other creatures on this island are just incredibly creepy! When Jeryon and the poth stumble upon a dragon egg, it gets even better because when the egg hatches, they have their own baby dragon!
They decide to try and train it in the hope it will be able to take them off of the freaking island in the near future. Of course, training a dragon comes with a lot of challenges and it doesn’t go as smoothly as they wish for. Nevertheless, they make it work somehow and this is where the book basically turns into a bit of a grown up version of How to Train Your Dragon. I’m saying grown ups because there’s quite a bit of gory stuff going on when it comes to that dragon, which makes this look adorably cute in comparison:
The writing here is colourful, the story believable (and scary) and I was extremely thankful that the romantic scenes were pretty much non-existent. I mean, you put two people of the opposite sex on a deserted island = sexytime, usually, but not in this one.
The part of the two (or three) of them living on the island could’ve lasted a bit longer if it were up to me, but then, Jeryon rather abruptly decides to finally get his revenge at sea. Adventures ahoy!
This part starts at 63% into the book. It’s narrated from the point of view of a totally unknown character named Isco, in a town we’ve heard of, but haven’t actually visited yet: Hanosh.
And this is where the book goes to shits. There are way too many characters (some with very similar names) in which I could not invest at all. The political plots, the mysteries (which, in the end, are still unresolved to a certain extent); it could’ve been good if it was less drawn out and with way fewer details.
I have to mention there’s a little suspense here and there which made it possible for me to finish the book, yet then, the ending…
*********
If you look at the three parts, it’s like the author couldn’t make up his mind where to go with it. On the other hand, it does form one story (one of exaggerated revenge mostly), which is quite cleverly done, yet still sucks balls at the same time. Savvy?
If the book would’ve existed of just a tiny bit of Part One, Part Two in its entirety, and basically a wholly different Part Three/ending, it would’ve been very cool! Alas, the way it is now was pure torture for me at times. I’m giving it two brownies because Part Two was pretty alright. And also because this scene was sort of in there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiMhue3iSd4
I’ve been thinking for a couple of days on how to review this one. Eventually, I decided to divide it into three sections: Part One and Part Two in this review correspond to Part One of the book. Part Tree here corresponds with Part Two of the book.
*********
We are introduced to Jeryon, captain of the Comber, and pretty much the rest of his shipmates, plus the rowers of the ship. The point of view shifts between the characters fast (sometimes during each paragraph) and we get to see certain events happen from several of those points of views. For example:
POV 1: “Oh no, it’s a dragon to me left!“
POV 2: “Dear Lord, there’s a dragon to me right!“
POV 3: “Lard Thunderin Jaysus, there’s a dragon right below me!“
(This is obviously not how it went exactly, but you catch my drift eh?)
At one point, I thought it was at least something different and it showed that the author wasn’t afraid to experiment. Sadly, it kind of read like a movie script (especially because everything was written in the present tense as well), quickly turning the whole thing into a snoozefest for me. But then, a dragon attacks! Okay, still a bit of a snoozefest…but then!!
Jeryon and his ladyfriend, the apothecary of the Comber, wash ashore onto a deserted island and try to make a living there. This is where it got interesting because the other creatures on this island are just incredibly creepy! When Jeryon and the poth stumble upon a dragon egg, it gets even better because when the egg hatches, they have their own baby dragon!
They decide to try and train it in the hope it will be able to take them off of the freaking island in the near future. Of course, training a dragon comes with a lot of challenges and it doesn’t go as smoothly as they wish for. Nevertheless, they make it work somehow and this is where the book basically turns into a bit of a grown up version of How to Train Your Dragon. I’m saying grown ups because there’s quite a bit of gory stuff going on when it comes to that dragon, which makes this look adorably cute in comparison:
The writing here is colourful, the story believable (and scary) and I was extremely thankful that the romantic scenes were pretty much non-existent. I mean, you put two people of the opposite sex on a deserted island = sexytime, usually, but not in this one.
The part of the two (or three) of them living on the island could’ve lasted a bit longer if it were up to me, but then, Jeryon rather abruptly decides to finally get his revenge at sea. Adventures ahoy!
This part starts at 63% into the book. It’s narrated from the point of view of a totally unknown character named Isco, in a town we’ve heard of, but haven’t actually visited yet: Hanosh.
And this is where the book goes to shits. There are way too many characters (some with very similar names) in which I could not invest at all. The political plots, the mysteries (which, in the end, are still unresolved to a certain extent); it could’ve been good if it was less drawn out and with way fewer details.
I have to mention there’s a little suspense here and there which made it possible for me to finish the book, yet then, the ending…
*********
If you look at the three parts, it’s like the author couldn’t make up his mind where to go with it. On the other hand, it does form one story (one of exaggerated revenge mostly), which is quite cleverly done, yet still sucks balls at the same time. Savvy?
If the book would’ve existed of just a tiny bit of Part One, Part Two in its entirety, and basically a wholly different Part Three/ending, it would’ve been very cool! Alas, the way it is now was pure torture for me at times. I’m giving it two brownies because Part Two was pretty alright. And also because this scene was sort of in there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiMhue3iSd4