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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Dragons and Sports ! What more could I have asked.
This was so fun and wholesome and heart-rending <3
Recommend this.
- Cool girls, being themselves.
- Diverse representation.
- What’s that colour you see flash before your eyes, every time someone makes a decision? *Morally grey*
- A sport you’d totally have to watch, even if you don’t care about sports.
- The gorgeous cover.
But mostly...
- OMG DRAGONS!!!!
Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Hate crime, Grief, Alcohol
Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism
Blazewrath Games is an enjoyable read! I very much loved the Latinx representation in the story! Lana is a young person on a mission to represent her beloved Puerto Rican community. The fact that dragon fighters are blended into the tale is favorable in my eyes!
I recommend Blazewrath Games for those who enjoy strong Latinx representation within an urban fantasy setting. You will not regret adding this book to your TBR!
This book was everything I expected and more. Pitched as How to Train Your Dragon meets sports and world cups, I was ready for the action and dragon goodness. But Amparo Ortiz came like a bulldozer and hit me with that twice multiplied and so much more.
The cast was a beautiful experience, filled with so many different stories and voices that were joined perfectly together. Team Puerto Rico will forever live in my heart and my soul, from Luis' loud appetite to Victoria's seemingly cold exterior. I was always rooting for Lana, and even though sometimes I get tired of the main character, I wanted to hold her hand the whole way through and protect her from anyone meaning harm to her. Her character arc is amazingly done, with nuances and details that made her feel so real. There are also so many great queer characters that will grab your heart and never let it go. This story's villain, The Sire, made me want to punch his scaley face 24/7. I'd probably be cursed or bitten but I was ready for it. Now, there's still another brat that *breathes* has both of my fists promised. Like we say in Puerto Rico, se merece una arrastrá por la brea.
Speaking of Puerto Rico, Blazewrath Games is filled with it in every corner. As you turn each page and read, you can feel it. Sometimes is in phrases that, if you translate them to Spanish, are part of our dialect. Other times is seeing how proud Puerto Ricans are of Team Puerto Rico and how you can see them with their panderetas and waving our flag proud and tall. How they chant 'Boricua' like it's a prayer and you feel your chest fill with pride until tears come rolling down (yes, this happened to me a couple of times while reading). You can also see it in Lana's struggle with her identity as a Puerto Rican that has lived most of her life in the US and doesn't know much about the island. I believe the author did a beautiful job with the topic during the book, since being Puerto Rican is not a monolith, and all of us have different experiences with our identity.
Now, let's talk about the dragons. I have always loved dragons, but after reading Blazewrath I want one to drop out of the sky to tell me I'm their rider. Specifically, a Sol de Noche dragon. These babies were born in such a beautiful way and from an even more beautiful place (that's located in my hometown by the way! talk about brag privileges!) and they are everything I wanted in a Puerto Rican dragon and more. We also get to see dragons from Scotland, Zimbabwe, Russia, Egypt and so many more countries all around the world. The dragon and magic lore in this book is amazing, and I will be praying for a book about all the dragon species of the world of Blazewrath Games.
Overall, Blazewrath Games is an outstanding debut filled with magic, dragons, friendship, conspiracies, PLOT TWISTS EVERYWHERE, pAIN (believe it or not), and just pure wholesomeness. If you are looking for a contemporary fantasy that grips you from page one and takes you on a magical journey on top of a D R A G O N, Blazewrath Games is the book for you.
Blazewrath Games by Amparo Ortiz is out on October 6th, and it's available to purchase on Bookshop.org and everywhere where you buy books!
Pro:
1. Good representation (LGBTQIA+ and different cultures).
2. The description of the dragons.
Cons:
1. The characters did not do anything for me, especially Victoria <Spoiler> Her rudeness towards Lana and how she claims she is not as Puerto Rican as the rest of them because she hasn't visited her home. The assumption was pompous and her reasoning for being crass was due to a team member stating she would be a loser and family trauma. The apology comes literally at the end of the book, which is not as satisfying.
2. I don't know why the author had a fascination with describing the girls' hips which made me weirded out.
3. The villain's motive seemed very weak and truly made no sense in wanting to keep the games going.
4. I am sorry, but I saw no purpose with the game rules and did not see the purpose of a runner having fighting abilities. I did not fully understand or feel anything interesting.
Overall:
The book was probably meant for a younger audience of the YA target, so maybe it might resonant with others better.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia
Wanted to think for a bit after reading it, but I think I have something now. I like Lana and the struggle of whether or not she is Puerto Rican enough is something I wrangle with almost day to day. There have even been a few times some of the quotes in here had choked me up. I did feel like I was seen in some way by this book, that being said, despite the plot was pretty entertaining at times, I mean, dragons and magic, I did also feel like the plot was . . . Quick? No, not quick, it felt bulletpointy at times and answers to questions are quite literally solved within the same scene or the same chapter, like it was all too convenient, I think. The magical world is actually public instead of hidden, so even Regulars(Non magical people) can be chosen by a dragon. Lana is never chosen by a dragon and remains a Regular through and through, and the magic system lands more on the softer side I believe, but the mystery wasn't much of a mystery to me. Like I said, things got solved pretty quickly, and because not very many countries in this world has dragons and dragon riders, the sports aspect of the book felt pretty short too. Anyway, I think I'm going off into a tangent, I like Blazewrath Games and I look forward to reading book 2, which . . . No lie, I thought this was going to be a trilogy, not a duology lol. Pick this book up and give it a chance, the different regional dragons sound amazing!
p.s. Still not in the mood for in depth reviews for trad pub books, but I think I can work with this.