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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
I liked this, but wanted to love it. Dragons and magic in a "real" world had me hooked. But there were some issues. I felt like I was being told a lot that I was expected to just accept. Lana was supposed to be Blazewrath game crazy and we were told that over and over again, but early in the book I didn't feel it. I was just told it a lot. The reader never got to really know any of the secondary characters. You are seeing it through Lana's eyes, but even her best friend isn't really well fleshed out. I guess I just wanted more out of a story that, from the description, had great promise. I think there will be teens that will overlook those things for the main plot. And there is a second book coming that might fill in some of the gaps from the first book.
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Star Rating: —> 4.5 Stars
THIS WAS UH-MAY-ZING OMGGG
RTC
THIS WAS UH-MAY-ZING OMGGG
RTC
2.5 stars.
I liked the first half or so of this, but as time went on I started enjoying it less and less. The writing is okay and there's lots of diversity (and also no romance subplot), but there are also a lot of problems I had with it.
-For a book that advertises its dragons, I felt like we got to see very little of them. Lana's position doesn't use a dragon, making her the only member of her Blazewrath team without one. As a consequence, we never get to see her interact with a dragon in a meaningful way past the inciting incident.
-All of the characters except Lana and maybe President Turner feel underdeveloped. They're all pretty forgettable and generally not interesting. Her team members definitely got the shortest end of the stick here.
-There's magic in this world in addition to dragons, which means there are also witches and wizards. I'm not sure why this is in the book besides.
-I did not find the villains compelling or interesting. They got a decent bit of screentime, and they're threatening, but I didn't care for them.
-The cover is ugly and whitewashes the protagonist, who we're repeatedly told has dark skin.
So, yeah. Maybe the Kindle Sampler I read set my hopes too high for this, but I was disappointed. A lot could've been trimmed down or cut so that the unique parts (the dragons and characters) could shine more. I probably will not read the sequel.
I liked the first half or so of this, but as time went on I started enjoying it less and less. The writing is okay and there's lots of diversity (and also no romance subplot), but there are also a lot of problems I had with it.
-For a book that advertises its dragons, I felt like we got to see very little of them. Lana's position doesn't use a dragon, making her the only member of her Blazewrath team without one. As a consequence, we never get to see her interact with a dragon in a meaningful way past the inciting incident.
-All of the characters except Lana and maybe President Turner feel underdeveloped. They're all pretty forgettable and generally not interesting. Her team members definitely got the shortest end of the stick here.
-There's magic in this world in addition to dragons, which means there are also witches and wizards. I'm not sure why this is in the book besides
Spoiler
climax drama and resolving the finale-I did not find the villains compelling or interesting. They got a decent bit of screentime, and they're threatening, but I didn't care for them.
-The cover is ugly and whitewashes the protagonist, who we're repeatedly told has dark skin.
So, yeah. Maybe the Kindle Sampler I read set my hopes too high for this, but I was disappointed. A lot could've been trimmed down or cut so that the unique parts (the dragons and characters) could shine more. I probably will not read the sequel.
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
READ IF:
• you want wizards and dragons but with a brown, LGBT cast of characters
• GOF was your favorite HP book, but you don't want to support she-who-must-not-be-named anymore
• you like action-filled YA without romance subplots
• you want wizards and dragons but with a brown, LGBT cast of characters
• GOF was your favorite HP book, but you don't want to support she-who-must-not-be-named anymore
• you like action-filled YA without romance subplots
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at 49%
This book is all over the place.
The magical system is so close to that famous wizard series that it sounds ridiculous, and it’s not even that necessary to the plot. The author could’ve included dragons without a magic system and it would have been much better.
The actual plot goes in all directions with the games and the Sire and who’s controlled by whom... It made my head spin.
While I applaud the inclusivity present in this book, it bothers me that the author stopped at LGBT. It’s great that you have lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans rep, but there’s more to the community than those 4 orientations and it’s harmful to the rest of us when you only use the first 4 letters in the acronym. There was such good rep about everything else that I was seriously disappointed about that one.
The only reason I kept reading was Lana’s feelings about Puerto Rico and how being born in a country and raised in another can play into a person’s identity, but that ended up being a side plot swept under the rug in favour of the silly magic. The rest just didn’t hold my attention enough to keep to it.
DNF at 49%
This book is all over the place.
The magical system is so close to that famous wizard series that it sounds ridiculous, and it’s not even that necessary to the plot. The author could’ve included dragons without a magic system and it would have been much better.
The actual plot goes in all directions with the games and the Sire and who’s controlled by whom... It made my head spin.
While I applaud the inclusivity present in this book, it bothers me that the author stopped at LGBT. It’s great that you have lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans rep, but there’s more to the community than those 4 orientations and it’s harmful to the rest of us when you only use the first 4 letters in the acronym. There was such good rep about everything else that I was seriously disappointed about that one.
The only reason I kept reading was Lana’s feelings about Puerto Rico and how being born in a country and raised in another can play into a person’s identity, but that ended up being a side plot swept under the rug in favour of the silly magic. The rest just didn’t hold my attention enough to keep to it.
SHORT REVIEW:
- Good representation !!
- Excellent urban fantasy !!
- Great book, overall !!
LONG REVIEW:
Let's start by acknowledging the fact that I hate animal books. I don't know why. I just never connect to them. So when I saw that this book's comp titles were How to Train Your Dragon and Quidditch Through the Ages, I was a little apprehensive. On one hand, I am the biggest Harry Potter fan, but on the other hand...I couldn't make my way through Quidditch Through the Ages, so this book remained deep in my TBR list.
But enough about me—this book was so good! To be honest, it was better than I thought. I've seen so many (more than I can count) posts on Pinterest/Tumblr reposts about urban fantasy, and the need for fantasy and modern elements. Cause Harry Potter was technically urban fantasy, but not really.
Anyway, I was super impressed with the worldbuilding. It was legit urban fantasy, which is something I haven't seen much recently. I see why this book had Harry Potter as a comp title, but I think that Amparo Ortiz did a great job of differentiating from that story. The government, the dragons, the vibe—it was so good, I was fangirling through the whole thing.
The characters were great. There were many of them introduced all at once, which was a little confusing, but as you go on, some of the characters feature more than others. This review is written a month or so after I actually read the book, so I'm not going to go in-depth into the characters (cause I can't remember much lol).
Diversity was another really great thing for me. Although I am not Puerto Rican, I felt really represented. I didn't get the 'not-like-other-girls' vibe or 'strong female character' vibe from Lana, which was so refreshing. Honestly, if I had to use one word to describe this book, it would be 'refreshing'. Cause it is. Everything about it is so different from what I've been seeing/reading lately, and I loved every second of it.
Now, as for the plot—also great. Very surprising, several red herrings, and overall so great. HOWEVER, I do have one complaint.
I've been noticing a trend, of sorts, in literature, and it's a bit upsetting for me as a reader. If you read my previous and quite disconcerted review, you might remember that I was very upset overthe death of Andrew.
!!!SPOILER ALERT (for this book and Mirror's Edge by Scott Westerfeld)!!!
And then, I read Mirror's Edge by Scott Westerfeld, where the leading male/love interest/potential love interest DIED. At first, I screamed (internally and externally), and complained about it to my sister, but then I realized that there was more of a conspiracy here than I had thought.
The tide has been turning against the Strong Female Character™️and instead has been replaced by another trend, or really a manifestation of the old trend.
To show that their main, female, character is strong and can do her own thing, authors are killing off the leading male, a.k.a the Col and Andrew character.
This decision...
- Creates drama and surprise
and
- Shows that the MC is strong
...which for authors, is a pretty good deal. As to the effects of this trend? Well, I'm still indecisive. On one hand, as a fan, it's devastatingly tragic. For this book, in particular, I think that the death of Andrew seemed completely...off. It was so sudden, there was no lead-up, and because the relationship between Lana (the MC) and him was so undefined, Andrew's death just left me confused.
Overall, despite the incident that I mentioned previously, I really enjoyed this book. It was full of detail and worldbuilding, and I am so excited for the sequel!
- Good representation !!
- Excellent urban fantasy !!
- Great book, overall !!
LONG REVIEW:
Let's start by acknowledging the fact that I hate animal books. I don't know why. I just never connect to them. So when I saw that this book's comp titles were How to Train Your Dragon and Quidditch Through the Ages, I was a little apprehensive. On one hand, I am the biggest Harry Potter fan, but on the other hand...I couldn't make my way through Quidditch Through the Ages, so this book remained deep in my TBR list.
But enough about me—this book was so good! To be honest, it was better than I thought. I've seen so many (more than I can count) posts on Pinterest/Tumblr reposts about urban fantasy, and the need for fantasy and modern elements. Cause Harry Potter was technically urban fantasy, but not really.
Anyway, I was super impressed with the worldbuilding. It was legit urban fantasy, which is something I haven't seen much recently. I see why this book had Harry Potter as a comp title, but I think that Amparo Ortiz did a great job of differentiating from that story. The government, the dragons, the vibe—it was so good, I was fangirling through the whole thing.
The characters were great. There were many of them introduced all at once, which was a little confusing, but as you go on, some of the characters feature more than others. This review is written a month or so after I actually read the book, so I'm not going to go in-depth into the characters (cause I can't remember much lol).
Diversity was another really great thing for me. Although I am not Puerto Rican, I felt really represented. I didn't get the 'not-like-other-girls' vibe or 'strong female character' vibe from Lana, which was so refreshing. Honestly, if I had to use one word to describe this book, it would be 'refreshing'. Cause it is. Everything about it is so different from what I've been seeing/reading lately, and I loved every second of it.
Now, as for the plot—also great. Very surprising, several red herrings, and overall so great. HOWEVER, I do have one complaint.
I've been noticing a trend, of sorts, in literature, and it's a bit upsetting for me as a reader. If you read my previous and quite disconcerted review, you might remember that I was very upset over
!!!SPOILER ALERT (for this book and Mirror's Edge by Scott Westerfeld)!!!
The tide has been turning against the Strong Female Character™️and instead has been replaced by another trend, or really a manifestation of the old trend.
To show that their main, female, character is strong and can do her own thing, authors are killing off the leading male, a.k.a the Col and Andrew character.
This decision...
- Creates drama and surprise
and
- Shows that the MC is strong
...which for authors, is a pretty good deal. As to the effects of this trend? Well, I'm still indecisive. On one hand, as a fan, it's devastatingly tragic. For this book, in particular, I think that the death of Andrew seemed completely...off. It was so sudden, there was no lead-up, and because the relationship between Lana (the MC) and him was so undefined, Andrew's death just left me confused.
Overall, despite the incident that I mentioned previously, I really enjoyed this book. It was full of detail and worldbuilding, and I am so excited for the sequel!
I literally have no words to describe this book. This book made me happy, it made me upset, it made me sad to the point where I cried. This book is amazing, its full of diversity and inclusivity. Did I mention the dragons?? I relate so much to Lanas character and her struggles with sometimes not feeling Puerto Rican enough and her struggle to speak Spanish sometimes. I admire her bravery and her strength and the way that she takes nothing from nobody unless it’s on her terms. I love every single character on team Puerto Rico, the way that they interact and bond with each other is just so amazing written and they way that they actually talk and act like teenagers. I cannot put into words everything that I want to say about this book so please just pick it up for yourself and experience this amazing book for yourself. ✨