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A review by dagmarb
House of Dragons by Jessica Cluess
3.25
I'd give it between 3 and 3.5 stars
~light spoilers ahead~
If you just ignore the second epilogue it can easily be seen as a standalone so I suppose that's the way to go
The world building was interesting, eith the different dragons coming from different places and having different strengths and all that. I wish we got to see a bit more of the different kingdoms, what kind of customs they have, their culture, etc. But I suppose that's quite difficult to do in a standalone
I also wasn't too impressed by the map (and location names) being so heavily inspired (ripped off from) by europe. Like it wouldve liked to see an original map, and not the European continent with just some borders redrawn and places with a more fantasy like name
~heavier spoilers~
Vespir was the best character in my opinion, her character arc from very shy servant to a confident empress was great to read
I did like hyperia, it's just a shame she went absolutely mad at the end
Ajax was just an annoying character tbh, he did have some growth but definitely not enough in my opinion and definitely not enough to justify crowning him
Emilia was okay, I didnt love her character, but I also didn't hate it
I didnt like how Lucian just did not want to fight at all even when it was clearly the right moment to do so, like I get that those are his morals and his choices but it was getting annoying at the end how self righteous he was
Oh well, it's a same that the sequel will probably never see the light of day but I mean at least with how the ending was I can put it to rest and just forget about the fact that it was supposed to be a duology
~light spoilers ahead~
If you just ignore the second epilogue it can easily be seen as a standalone so I suppose that's the way to go
The world building was interesting, eith the different dragons coming from different places and having different strengths and all that. I wish we got to see a bit more of the different kingdoms, what kind of customs they have, their culture, etc. But I suppose that's quite difficult to do in a standalone
I also wasn't too impressed by the map (and location names) being so heavily inspired (ripped off from) by europe. Like it wouldve liked to see an original map, and not the European continent with just some borders redrawn and places with a more fantasy like name
~heavier spoilers~
Vespir was the best character in my opinion, her character arc from very shy servant to a confident empress was great to read
I did like hyperia, it's just a shame she went absolutely mad at the end
Ajax was just an annoying character tbh, he did have some growth but definitely not enough in my opinion and definitely not enough to justify crowning him
Emilia was okay, I didnt love her character, but I also didn't hate it
I didnt like how Lucian just did not want to fight at all even when it was clearly the right moment to do so, like I get that those are his morals and his choices but it was getting annoying at the end how self righteous he was
Oh well, it's a same that the sequel will probably never see the light of day but I mean at least with how the ending was I can put it to rest and just forget about the fact that it was supposed to be a duology