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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
This one took some time to get through. I kept comparing it to Harry Potter. It was an interesting mix of the modern world and dragons and witches. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a sequel.
There's something wonderful about seeing your culture and country represented on the page in big ways and wow does [b:Blazewrath Games|49247306|Blazewrath Games (Blazewrath Games, #1)|Amparo Ortiz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585957271l/49247306._SX50_.jpg|73711031] really deliver on that! It's even better to finish reading it this week!
I wish I'd had this book when I was a kid in Puerto Rico looking for anything that showed my culture, and someone like me as the hero of the story. I love that we have a book where we get to soar. Where we ride on dragons and save the freaking day!
I wish I'd had this book when I was a kid in Puerto Rico looking for anything that showed my culture, and someone like me as the hero of the story. I love that we have a book where we get to soar. Where we ride on dragons and save the freaking day!
The beginning caught me, full of action from the very first moment. I find the idea super interesting: magic, dragons in the modern world + Quidditch
I really liked the representation, both Latino and LGBTQ+, were carried out in a very organic and natural way. Loved it
However, Ortiz wanted to put many subplots in the same book, making it somewhat confusing and dense. Some descriptions lacked action; there was a lot of telling but not showing: "we all laugh" or "my heart aches" show me how all of you are having fun, show me how heartbroken you are, don't tell me, show me. That also happened a lot with the matches: how she "singlehanded disarmed the blockers" yeah okey, but you didn't show me how that happened.
The usage of magic didn't sit right with me, it was really liberal, like they were able to do almost ANYTHING with it, it didn't have limits or didn't work in a logical way, but oh well.
Although, its a entertaining story, with really interesting characters with their own personalities, even the dragons.
Even tho there is a second book, I think i'm done with this series. It would be interesting another character, another story in the same universe cause i want to see more about this modern world with dragons and magic.
Solid three stars for me
I really liked the representation, both Latino and LGBTQ+, were carried out in a very organic and natural way. Loved it
However, Ortiz wanted to put many subplots in the same book, making it somewhat confusing and dense. Some descriptions lacked action; there was a lot of telling but not showing: "we all laugh" or "my heart aches" show me how all of you are having fun, show me how heartbroken you are, don't tell me, show me. That also happened a lot with the matches: how she "singlehanded disarmed the blockers" yeah okey, but you didn't show me how that happened.
The usage of magic didn't sit right with me, it was really liberal, like they were able to do almost ANYTHING with it, it didn't have limits or didn't work in a logical way, but oh well.
Although, its a entertaining story, with really interesting characters with their own personalities, even the dragons.
Even tho there is a second book, I think i'm done with this series. It would be interesting another character, another story in the same universe cause i want to see more about this modern world with dragons and magic.
Solid three stars for me
This was a lovely diverse novel about what (to me as someone who has no idea about sports) was basically dragon football.
Read this review and more on the blog!
Content warnings include: murder, violence (both in sports and non-sports context), threats to animals, unsupportive parent; mentions of parental death, cancer, abuse, homophobia.
Blazewrath Games immediately engaged me both with the dragons and magic setting, as well as the excellent latinx rep, specifically Puerto-Rican(-American).
The cast overall was diverse and delightful. I particularly liked how the countries that got the most attention at the world-championship of this fictional sport weren't the same few white Western countries as in a lot of other such settings.
The plot was very conflict-driven. Tension was present almost from page 1 onwards and came from a variety of sources: family, teammates, sports, the big evil in the background, personal relationships...
I enjoyed some of those plots more than others, naturally. Some of them came as a surprise in how central they became, while others almost shocked me in their severeness.
The writing was fine, but I found it almost too elaborate at times. Some things were shown, told, and then repeated another time. These overly detailed descriptions occasionally distracted from the narrative. On the flip-side, I do think that both plot and writing will make the book suitable for younger readers.
While I did enjoy the worldbuilding in concept, some of the finer details were not clear to me. Particularly the sports parts went completely over my head - not so much the rules but the why and how it works in practice?? The detailed scenes following Lana and her teammates as they played didn't help at all. In fact, a lot of the descriptions with the dragons only confused me more.
Still, this was a very shortwhile read. It's fast-paced and has a little of everything in it. The cast was a delight, though I admittedly struggled following who was who and all the names (I read it in audio, and I can only really remember names if I can see them written down... and it didn't help that a lot of names sounded very similar and there were a lot of important players).
The mystery element was well done, the sports, villain and overall threats were well executed and kept tension high without being overwhelming.
Overall Blazewrath Games is a cool, fast-paced and and well-balanced read that isn't as much about sports as it originally sounded like.
Read this review and more on the blog!
Content warnings include: murder, violence (both in sports and non-sports context), threats to animals, unsupportive parent; mentions of parental death, cancer, abuse, homophobia.
Blazewrath Games immediately engaged me both with the dragons and magic setting, as well as the excellent latinx rep, specifically Puerto-Rican(-American).
The cast overall was diverse and delightful. I particularly liked how the countries that got the most attention at the world-championship of this fictional sport weren't the same few white Western countries as in a lot of other such settings.
The plot was very conflict-driven. Tension was present almost from page 1 onwards and came from a variety of sources: family, teammates, sports, the big evil in the background, personal relationships...
I enjoyed some of those plots more than others, naturally. Some of them came as a surprise in how central they became, while others almost shocked me in their severeness.
The writing was fine, but I found it almost too elaborate at times. Some things were shown, told, and then repeated another time. These overly detailed descriptions occasionally distracted from the narrative. On the flip-side, I do think that both plot and writing will make the book suitable for younger readers.
While I did enjoy the worldbuilding in concept, some of the finer details were not clear to me. Particularly the sports parts went completely over my head - not so much the rules but the why and how it works in practice?? The detailed scenes following Lana and her teammates as they played didn't help at all. In fact, a lot of the descriptions with the dragons only confused me more.
Still, this was a very shortwhile read. It's fast-paced and has a little of everything in it. The cast was a delight, though I admittedly struggled following who was who and all the names (I read it in audio, and I can only really remember names if I can see them written down... and it didn't help that a lot of names sounded very similar and there were a lot of important players).
The mystery element was well done, the sports, villain and overall threats were well executed and kept tension high without being overwhelming.
Overall Blazewrath Games is a cool, fast-paced and and well-balanced read that isn't as much about sports as it originally sounded like.
Sad to say that this book didn't work for me. I don't want to belabour the things I didn't like, as debut authors are already fighting in an intensely competitive arena, but I will say that stylistically this fell short of my expectations. It was a book in which the content (gruesome battles, danger, death) was decidedly YA, but the structure/composition felt more like middle grade. I wasn't invested in the characters and the plot was an interesting skeleton that never moved beyond its potential. I will say that as I read this, I often found myself wishing I could watch it; with some fleshing out, this would make a phenomenal anime.
While it didn't work for me, I do hope that this finds its audience. The author has a brilliant imagination and the representation was top notch.
While it didn't work for me, I do hope that this finds its audience. The author has a brilliant imagination and the representation was top notch.
Wow. This was a wild ride. I haven’t seen it pitched this way, but I totally could see WARCROSS fans loving this book. (I am and I did!) I can’t wait for the sequel!
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book dares to ask 2 questions: what if quidditch had dragons instead of brooms? And what if the main character didn’t even play quidditch or ride a dragon but instead just…ran around on the ground?