mortimerdeadsea 's review for:

Blazewrath Games by Amparo Ortiz

5.0

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This book has some of my favorite things: dragons, tournaments, and queer people. And I think it did all of it well. The way queer people were incorporated made them important to the story without the story being about their queerness, which is good, because that's not what the book was meant to be about. The book was meant to be about the mystery surrounding this dragon tournament and I loved it! The parts that were about the actual games was also well written and I was on the edge of my seat; it reminded me of when I would watch Pokemon as a kid and bite my nails whenever Ash was involved in a tournament that spanned several episodes. It did make me feel like a kid again in the best ways, while also not being afraid to talk about very difficult things, like identity and the political power that sports has.

The ending was an interesting one and I'll put that in a spoiler section, but all around, I loved this book and I can't wait to read the sequel.

Spoiler

The book ends with Blazewrath coming to an end because of what it has become, and I think the book captures the feeling that comes with that so well; the characters who have not only made Blazewrath part of their lives but have made their lives revolve around Blazewrath feel an immense disappointment that its over while still having the understanding that having it come to an end is for the best. It's not often a story takes that hard, disappointing route, but it's the right one.