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pastelwriter 's review for:
Blazewrath Games
by Amparo Ortiz
3.5 stars
If you’re looking for a fantasy novel that seriously delivers when it offers dragons, this is the book to check out. I loved how many different types of dragons there were in this book, and the pivotal role they played in this story. You really would not have this novel if you took away the dragons. It’s perfect. My one complaint about the dragons in this book is that I was sad that our main character, Lana, did not have one! She was not a dragon rider herself, but this kind of helped you further live vicariously through her. Since she’s not a rider, she has as much love for dragons as any good lover of mythical creatures does. She views them with awe and amazement, and, honestly, who wouldn’t? Also. The Puerto Rican dragons, the Sol de Noches, were powerful as hell…and we love to see it. We truly do.
Speaking of dragons and their role in the story, I really enjoyed the world-building in this novel. Each chapter starts off with a section of either a textbook or article about dragons and with interviews or excerpts of writing by people who are either invested in dragons and understanding them or are characters who are central to the story somehow. I’m not usually a big fan of this kind of world-building, but I thought it worked in this case because it did not feel info-dumpy to me. I thought it provided a fun look into extra details about dragons or characters that were not necessary to understand the story but helped add detail to the world. At times some of the in-chapter world-building was a bit heavy handed, but eventually it mellowed out once the story really got going.
When it comes to the characters, something I enjoyed was the relationship Lana had with her parents. Although the parents are not an overwhelming part of the story, I liked the different dynamics she had with them. Lana clearly loved both her parents, but they showed their love very differently. If I have to be honest, my favorite relationship was between Lana and her mother because of their fraught relationship. Pretty early on in the story, Lana’s mother completely cuts herself off from her daughter’s life, and it is something that just haunts Lana as she joins the Blazewrath Games. It was great. If anything, I wish there had been even more of an exploration of their relationship!
My biggest complaint about this novel is about the side characters, but especially one character in particular: Victoria. That girl got on my nerves. She was always going against whatever Lana said, and it just drove me insane! She’s the kind of pain in the ass character I don’t like because it’s too reminiscent of the snob/popular girl that hates other girls. I could not deal. Victoria wasn’t exactly that, but she reminded me of it. Ugh. As for the rest of the characters, the book deals with such a large cast of characters that it was just hard to become invested in them. I’m a character driven reader, and books with a lot of characters tend to spread my attention so thin that I end up not super invested in the characters. That was the case with this book. Although I found many characters cute or a nice part of the story (like Kirill, Andrew, and Edwin), I just would have liked to have gotten to know them better.
As a debut novel, I would definitely recommend picking it up. I had a lot of fun reading it, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more novels by this author. I saw so much potential in the writing of this book, and I can’t wait to see how the author grows as she continues to publish novels.
P.S. There is no romance in this book! If you’re looking for a YA fantasy novel without romance, this is one you’ll want to try out.
If you’re looking for a fantasy novel that seriously delivers when it offers dragons, this is the book to check out. I loved how many different types of dragons there were in this book, and the pivotal role they played in this story. You really would not have this novel if you took away the dragons. It’s perfect. My one complaint about the dragons in this book is that I was sad that our main character, Lana, did not have one! She was not a dragon rider herself, but this kind of helped you further live vicariously through her. Since she’s not a rider, she has as much love for dragons as any good lover of mythical creatures does. She views them with awe and amazement, and, honestly, who wouldn’t? Also. The Puerto Rican dragons, the Sol de Noches, were powerful as hell…and we love to see it. We truly do.
Speaking of dragons and their role in the story, I really enjoyed the world-building in this novel. Each chapter starts off with a section of either a textbook or article about dragons and with interviews or excerpts of writing by people who are either invested in dragons and understanding them or are characters who are central to the story somehow. I’m not usually a big fan of this kind of world-building, but I thought it worked in this case because it did not feel info-dumpy to me. I thought it provided a fun look into extra details about dragons or characters that were not necessary to understand the story but helped add detail to the world. At times some of the in-chapter world-building was a bit heavy handed, but eventually it mellowed out once the story really got going.
When it comes to the characters, something I enjoyed was the relationship Lana had with her parents. Although the parents are not an overwhelming part of the story, I liked the different dynamics she had with them. Lana clearly loved both her parents, but they showed their love very differently. If I have to be honest, my favorite relationship was between Lana and her mother because of their fraught relationship. Pretty early on in the story, Lana’s mother completely cuts herself off from her daughter’s life, and it is something that just haunts Lana as she joins the Blazewrath Games. It was great. If anything, I wish there had been even more of an exploration of their relationship!
My biggest complaint about this novel is about the side characters, but especially one character in particular: Victoria. That girl got on my nerves. She was always going against whatever Lana said, and it just drove me insane! She’s the kind of pain in the ass character I don’t like because it’s too reminiscent of the snob/popular girl that hates other girls. I could not deal. Victoria wasn’t exactly that, but she reminded me of it. Ugh. As for the rest of the characters, the book deals with such a large cast of characters that it was just hard to become invested in them. I’m a character driven reader, and books with a lot of characters tend to spread my attention so thin that I end up not super invested in the characters. That was the case with this book. Although I found many characters cute or a nice part of the story (like Kirill, Andrew, and Edwin), I just would have liked to have gotten to know them better.
As a debut novel, I would definitely recommend picking it up. I had a lot of fun reading it, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more novels by this author. I saw so much potential in the writing of this book, and I can’t wait to see how the author grows as she continues to publish novels.
P.S. There is no romance in this book! If you’re looking for a YA fantasy novel without romance, this is one you’ll want to try out.