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bookdrag0n's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Violence
wittyandsarcasticbookclub's review
3.0
Thank you to the author for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This book is available for purchase now.
Dragons!!!! Books are always better with dragons, in my opinion, and I absolutely loved how they were portrayed in this book. They didn’t take a back seat to the human characters; instead adding an extra layer of awesome. They were very tribal, and had a fully developed hierarchy, which was incredibly creative.
Another win for me with this book is how, instead of the dragons taking on human characteristics, their bonded humans instead became distinctly draconic. The humans each had their own hoards that they were very protective of, and they showed anger and submission just like their draconish counterparts.
The story-line was interesting, the main characters being Palon and her bondmate, the dragon Windward. Palon was impulsive and emotional, which made for an interesting read. She is accused of stealing from dragons in order to grow her own cache of treasures, and she needs to figure out who is framing her- and why. At the same time, she is tasked with training a new dragon-bonded pair.
The dragon Silver Spine, and the new bondmate were my favorite characters. They often gave a bit of a break from focusing just on Palon, just when she was in danger of becoming obnoxious. The differences in their personalities played off each other quite well.
If you like your fantasies distinctly draconic, read this book. It’s a fast read, and highly enjoyable.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2020/02/29/windward-by-s-kaeth/
Dragons!!!! Books are always better with dragons, in my opinion, and I absolutely loved how they were portrayed in this book. They didn’t take a back seat to the human characters; instead adding an extra layer of awesome. They were very tribal, and had a fully developed hierarchy, which was incredibly creative.
Another win for me with this book is how, instead of the dragons taking on human characteristics, their bonded humans instead became distinctly draconic. The humans each had their own hoards that they were very protective of, and they showed anger and submission just like their draconish counterparts.
The story-line was interesting, the main characters being Palon and her bondmate, the dragon Windward. Palon was impulsive and emotional, which made for an interesting read. She is accused of stealing from dragons in order to grow her own cache of treasures, and she needs to figure out who is framing her- and why. At the same time, she is tasked with training a new dragon-bonded pair.
The dragon Silver Spine, and the new bondmate were my favorite characters. They often gave a bit of a break from focusing just on Palon, just when she was in danger of becoming obnoxious. The differences in their personalities played off each other quite well.
If you like your fantasies distinctly draconic, read this book. It’s a fast read, and highly enjoyable.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2020/02/29/windward-by-s-kaeth/
emarleene's review
4.0
I got this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
First of all, I want to say that this is a great book with a new take on dragons (at least for me). I found the world very interesting and the characters were well developed and there was a great plot with good twists and turns that made it interesting to read all the way to the end. So, if you like fantasy, and dragons, don’t hesitate to order a copy of this book. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
In the book we meet Palon who’s bonded to a dragon called Windward. They love flying and adventure and just the feeling of being free and unstoppable really. Despite only knowing Windward through the feelings and emotions that he telepathically transfers to Palon, I still get a good sense of their relationship and Windwards personality. I think the author did a great job in making this relationship feel real.
I also found the world very interesting, and even though most of the novel actually took place inside the nest I never felt like it got boring in any way. There were constantly things happening that I never thought much about wanting a change in scenery here. Which I think shows that the story didn’t need a lot of fancy descriptions of the world and detailed scenery to be great, it can stand tall and proud as it is.
The plot was well thought out and had interesting things happening thought out the book and the relationship between the main characters felt genuine and believable.
I do like the writing a lot here and it fits the story and the genre well. That said, this is the kind of book that demands your full attention at all times. Which is why I, personally, found it a little hard, or rather slow, to read at times. It has a lot of very long paragraphs of text with little to no dialogue, and a lot of details are pressed into these paragraphs, which makes it slow and sometimes painstakingly hard to get through. But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. It just depends of what you like as a reader, and for a fantasy novel, this is not something unusual. This is how most fantasy books are written, and they are rarely made for speed-reading. So, even though I’m commenting on it here in my review, this is not something that’s going to affect my final rating of the book. Personally, I just prefer books that are easy to read, which is basically books that you more or less can skim through and still not miss much of importance.
For the most part I truly enjoyed the whole story and all that it brought, but there was one thing that got on my nerves a little. And that was how everyone completely refused to think rationally about the thefts and who did it, and it ended up feeling a little too forced for me. It was too obvious, too much “in your face” that Palon was being suspected here. She had valid points when she tried to object and share her suspicions that she was framed, but everyone just turned their backs on her and told her to stop lying because the asshole of the nest says she’s guilty. It was too obvious that she didn’t do it, and for everyone in the nest to be so blind was just unbelievable to the point of ridiculousness.
The other thing that was a little hard for me was all the names. There are a lot of dragons and bonded mentioned in the book at it was difficult to keep track of them and remember who was who and which one was bonded to what dragon. In the end, I don’t think that it really mattered that much. The most important characters got through and the others remained as a blur in the background a little. Perhaps it wasn’t necessary to even include all the characters that was mentioned, maybe it would have been clearer with fewer names. Then again, I know I’m totally useless when it comes to remembering names and characters, so it might perhaps just be me being me here.
I liked Palon’s mate the best as a character, and I feel like he was a great counterpart to Palon. She’s very impulsive and emotional and often lashes out, while her mate was calm and more of a thinker who reasons and make calculated decisions. I would have liked to see more of him in the book. He’s actually there the whole time, but I wanted him to step out of Palon’s shadow and take on a bigger role. His calm demeanor would have balanced out a lot of the heated and emotional decisions that drives this book. But that said, I also love the emotions and the heat. It brings the story and the characters forward and is ultimately what makes Palon change and realize what matters.
Even though this ended up being a super long review, I don’t want to leave this without saying that I loved the ending and how the author managed to wrap up all the threads in the story in a great way. Love me a good ending.
Get this book if you haven’t already. It’s available on Amazon.
First of all, I want to say that this is a great book with a new take on dragons (at least for me). I found the world very interesting and the characters were well developed and there was a great plot with good twists and turns that made it interesting to read all the way to the end. So, if you like fantasy, and dragons, don’t hesitate to order a copy of this book. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
In the book we meet Palon who’s bonded to a dragon called Windward. They love flying and adventure and just the feeling of being free and unstoppable really. Despite only knowing Windward through the feelings and emotions that he telepathically transfers to Palon, I still get a good sense of their relationship and Windwards personality. I think the author did a great job in making this relationship feel real.
I also found the world very interesting, and even though most of the novel actually took place inside the nest I never felt like it got boring in any way. There were constantly things happening that I never thought much about wanting a change in scenery here. Which I think shows that the story didn’t need a lot of fancy descriptions of the world and detailed scenery to be great, it can stand tall and proud as it is.
The plot was well thought out and had interesting things happening thought out the book and the relationship between the main characters felt genuine and believable.
I do like the writing a lot here and it fits the story and the genre well. That said, this is the kind of book that demands your full attention at all times. Which is why I, personally, found it a little hard, or rather slow, to read at times. It has a lot of very long paragraphs of text with little to no dialogue, and a lot of details are pressed into these paragraphs, which makes it slow and sometimes painstakingly hard to get through. But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. It just depends of what you like as a reader, and for a fantasy novel, this is not something unusual. This is how most fantasy books are written, and they are rarely made for speed-reading. So, even though I’m commenting on it here in my review, this is not something that’s going to affect my final rating of the book. Personally, I just prefer books that are easy to read, which is basically books that you more or less can skim through and still not miss much of importance.
For the most part I truly enjoyed the whole story and all that it brought, but there was one thing that got on my nerves a little. And that was how everyone completely refused to think rationally about the thefts and who did it, and it ended up feeling a little too forced for me. It was too obvious, too much “in your face” that Palon was being suspected here. She had valid points when she tried to object and share her suspicions that she was framed, but everyone just turned their backs on her and told her to stop lying because the asshole of the nest says she’s guilty. It was too obvious that she didn’t do it, and for everyone in the nest to be so blind was just unbelievable to the point of ridiculousness.
The other thing that was a little hard for me was all the names. There are a lot of dragons and bonded mentioned in the book at it was difficult to keep track of them and remember who was who and which one was bonded to what dragon. In the end, I don’t think that it really mattered that much. The most important characters got through and the others remained as a blur in the background a little. Perhaps it wasn’t necessary to even include all the characters that was mentioned, maybe it would have been clearer with fewer names. Then again, I know I’m totally useless when it comes to remembering names and characters, so it might perhaps just be me being me here.
I liked Palon’s mate the best as a character, and I feel like he was a great counterpart to Palon. She’s very impulsive and emotional and often lashes out, while her mate was calm and more of a thinker who reasons and make calculated decisions. I would have liked to see more of him in the book. He’s actually there the whole time, but I wanted him to step out of Palon’s shadow and take on a bigger role. His calm demeanor would have balanced out a lot of the heated and emotional decisions that drives this book. But that said, I also love the emotions and the heat. It brings the story and the characters forward and is ultimately what makes Palon change and realize what matters.
Even though this ended up being a super long review, I don’t want to leave this without saying that I loved the ending and how the author managed to wrap up all the threads in the story in a great way. Love me a good ending.
Get this book if you haven’t already. It’s available on Amazon.
nooralshanti's review
It had some interesting ideas, but it was moving too slowly for my current mood... I've been unable to finish a book for the past couple of months so... may come back to it when I'm in a better reading mood.
kjharrowick's review
5.0
True rating: 4.5 stars
Why I picked up this book:
I received this ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. But, before that happened, I had the honor of meeting S. Kaeth during the first season of Writer In Motion, and I found her to be a delightful, warm-hearted woman. So when she told me about her story and asked if I'd review it--after all, we're both dragon lovers--I squealed in delight.
This review may contain spoilers.
What I loved:
One of my favorite things about this story is the dragons are always present, right from the first line. While most other dragon stories seem to build up to the creatures, or don't put them on display to the end, Windward takes readers straight to the heart of dragon culture and immerses them in a hectic nest live. The human characters are constantly navigating around the dragons, and the size difference is always present.
The relationship between Windward and Palon is so strong and organic it almost carries a sentience of its own.
I also adored Miros and would love to read a story in the future about his history, his bond, and a little more about the close relationship with his dragon Silver Spine. They were utterly fantastic characters, and even in their state of near-death the pair flew off the page and often stole the spotlight.
Where I wish I'd connected more:
One of the struggles I had with the story (purely as a reader, so this is subjective) is that characters would act and react a certain way in the scene, eluding to a specific conclusion, then Palon's assessment of the situation would jump into left field. This may have been intended to give the feel that she wasn't perfect or accurate in her assessment, but as a reader I found it jolting.
And hoorah for sweet, healthy romance, but I personally didn't connect with Palon's mate. He just felt too 'there for her,' too helpful. Maybe I just love my broken romances though, so what do I know.
Overall:
This is a wonderful story that takes readers into a world of timeless dragons and deep cultural lore. Nothing about nest life feels human, and yet Palon and her mentor Miros bring such a human experience to navigating an alien world. I can't wait to see what this wonderful author comes up with next. This book is perfect for dragon lovers of all ages, clean and sweet romance, and deep hints that Windward's world has a lot more to be unpacked if readers get the chance to return.
Why I picked up this book:
I received this ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. But, before that happened, I had the honor of meeting S. Kaeth during the first season of Writer In Motion, and I found her to be a delightful, warm-hearted woman. So when she told me about her story and asked if I'd review it--after all, we're both dragon lovers--I squealed in delight.
This review may contain spoilers.
What I loved:
One of my favorite things about this story is the dragons are always present, right from the first line. While most other dragon stories seem to build up to the creatures, or don't put them on display to the end, Windward takes readers straight to the heart of dragon culture and immerses them in a hectic nest live. The human characters are constantly navigating around the dragons, and the size difference is always present.
The relationship between Windward and Palon is so strong and organic it almost carries a sentience of its own.
I also adored Miros and would love to read a story in the future about his history, his bond, and a little more about the close relationship with his dragon Silver Spine. They were utterly fantastic characters, and even in their state of near-death the pair flew off the page and often stole the spotlight.
Where I wish I'd connected more:
One of the struggles I had with the story (purely as a reader, so this is subjective) is that characters would act and react a certain way in the scene, eluding to a specific conclusion, then Palon's assessment of the situation would jump into left field. This may have been intended to give the feel that she wasn't perfect or accurate in her assessment, but as a reader I found it jolting.
And hoorah for sweet, healthy romance, but I personally didn't connect with Palon's mate. He just felt too 'there for her,' too helpful. Maybe I just love my broken romances though, so what do I know.
Overall:
This is a wonderful story that takes readers into a world of timeless dragons and deep cultural lore. Nothing about nest life feels human, and yet Palon and her mentor Miros bring such a human experience to navigating an alien world. I can't wait to see what this wonderful author comes up with next. This book is perfect for dragon lovers of all ages, clean and sweet romance, and deep hints that Windward's world has a lot more to be unpacked if readers get the chance to return.
ws_bookclub's review
3.0
Thank you to the author for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This book is available for purchase now.
Dragons!!!! Books are always better with dragons, in my opinion, and I absolutely loved how they were portrayed in this book. They didn’t take a back seat to the human characters; instead adding an extra layer of awesome. They were very tribal, and had a fully developed hierarchy, which was incredibly creative.
Another win for me with this book is how, instead of the dragons taking on human characteristics, their bonded humans instead became distinctly draconic. The humans each had their own hoards that they were very protective of, and they showed anger and submission just like their draconish counterparts.
The story-line was interesting, the main characters being Palon and her bondmate, the dragon Windward. Palon was impulsive and emotional, which made for an interesting read. She is accused of stealing from dragons in order to grow her own cache of treasures, and she needs to figure out who is framing her- and why. At the same time, she is tasked with training a new dragon-bonded pair.
The dragon Silver Spine, and the new bondmate were my favorite characters. They often gave a bit of a break from focusing just on Palon, just when she was in danger of becoming obnoxious. The differences in their personalities played off each other quite well.
If you like your fantasies distinctly draconic, read this book. It’s a fast read, and highly enjoyable.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2020/02/29/windward-by-s-kaeth/
Dragons!!!! Books are always better with dragons, in my opinion, and I absolutely loved how they were portrayed in this book. They didn’t take a back seat to the human characters; instead adding an extra layer of awesome. They were very tribal, and had a fully developed hierarchy, which was incredibly creative.
Another win for me with this book is how, instead of the dragons taking on human characteristics, their bonded humans instead became distinctly draconic. The humans each had their own hoards that they were very protective of, and they showed anger and submission just like their draconish counterparts.
The story-line was interesting, the main characters being Palon and her bondmate, the dragon Windward. Palon was impulsive and emotional, which made for an interesting read. She is accused of stealing from dragons in order to grow her own cache of treasures, and she needs to figure out who is framing her- and why. At the same time, she is tasked with training a new dragon-bonded pair.
The dragon Silver Spine, and the new bondmate were my favorite characters. They often gave a bit of a break from focusing just on Palon, just when she was in danger of becoming obnoxious. The differences in their personalities played off each other quite well.
If you like your fantasies distinctly draconic, read this book. It’s a fast read, and highly enjoyable.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2020/02/29/windward-by-s-kaeth/
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