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thereadersaurus 's review for:
The Baby Dragon Café
by A.T. Qureshi
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I have never been so disappointed by such a hyped book.
This is only 300 ish pages and it took me an age to slog through it. I could have DNF'd it but, honestly, it takes a hell of a lot for me to do that to a book.
Let's dig into why this rating is so low.
Firstly, the writing. This is one of those moments when I'm genuinely questioning what the editor was doing, because holy hell, the writing is awful. Overuse of exclamation marks, constantly talking about how things make them feel, emotional eruptions which come from nowhere, and then go nowhere, serving no purpose other than to create -rather ineffectually- tension. There are so many ways this could have been improved before it was let loose on the world. I've never itched for a red pen more.
Next, the characters. All of them are 2D. ALL of them. I couldn't connect with a single one, even the dragon. The world building was a let down too, nothing felt visceral, real. None of the emotions leapt off the page and I felt a big fat zilch for Saphira and Aiden.
I absolutely get that some people will love this book, which is why literature is so great because it's about deriving joy. I'm happy for anyone who adores this book, it just isn't for me. I hoped for cozy fantasy and wound up nothing but let down, disappointed and wishing I'd never picked it up in the first place. The only thing I've read that was worse this year was Close Protection which truly should never have been published.
This is only 300 ish pages and it took me an age to slog through it. I could have DNF'd it but, honestly, it takes a hell of a lot for me to do that to a book.
Let's dig into why this rating is so low.
Firstly, the writing. This is one of those moments when I'm genuinely questioning what the editor was doing, because holy hell, the writing is awful. Overuse of exclamation marks, constantly talking about how things make them feel, emotional eruptions which come from nowhere, and then go nowhere, serving no purpose other than to create -rather ineffectually- tension. There are so many ways this could have been improved before it was let loose on the world. I've never itched for a red pen more.
Next, the characters. All of them are 2D. ALL of them. I couldn't connect with a single one, even the dragon. The world building was a let down too, nothing felt visceral, real. None of the emotions leapt off the page and I felt a big fat zilch for Saphira and Aiden.
I absolutely get that some people will love this book, which is why literature is so great because it's about deriving joy. I'm happy for anyone who adores this book, it just isn't for me. I hoped for cozy fantasy and wound up nothing but let down, disappointed and wishing I'd never picked it up in the first place. The only thing I've read that was worse this year was Close Protection which truly should never have been published.