A review by thoseoldcrows23
The Dragon's Bride by Katee Robert

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

 This is the third or fourth thing that I've read from Roberts now, and I think what I'm realizing is that I really love her ideas, but I don't really gel with her execution. I always want to pick up her books because the synopses are so interesting to me, but when I actually read them I'm inevitably let down. 
With this book in particular, I liked the concept a lot; However, I think this particular narrative would have worked better as a full-length novel father than a novella. As it stands, everything felt really rushed, and it was harder to care about the characters or their relationship because of that. Further, this is another instance where I feel Katee Roberts fails at world building. I really had issues with that in Neon Gods and I have the same issues here. Perhaps it's because I'm primarily a fantasy reader, but I feel like her world building is always the thinnest veneer over the stories, and it leaves me with so many questions. Things just feel so shallow and not fully realized. The glimpses of things we get are relatively interesting and have some potential, but nothing is ever followed through on and the world is incredibly hard to picture or sink into. 
Overall, it's just a very meh book despite it's gorgeous cover and really cool set up. 
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