A review by tessa_talks_books
The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 
What’s it about (in a nutshell):
The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter is a fun MG speculative fantasy read with a few critical messages around animal rescue/conservation & realities of income inequality.

My Reading Experience:
I’ll just say it because I know you all are thinking it. I just loved the dragons in this story. And I have at least one nephew who shares my love for all things dragons (and he also happens to like reading - so this book will be among those I buy him for Christmas). Dragons are not magical in this story. A more apt comparison would be to horses - just more deadly. There are rescue farms for them - one of which the main character, Cassidy, has grown up on. And then there are big corporations that misuse and mistreat dragons to come out on top in races. The central conflict of this story is that a big, evil corporation is trying to buy up the dragon rescue that Cassidy’s father owns and runs. The expenses to run one are enormous, and Cassidy believes that the only way her family will be to keep their rescue is for her to run in and win The Great Texas Dragon Race. The winner comes away with $250,000 - enough to pay the rescue’s expenses and her grandmother’s hospital bill.

I also loved the diversity in this story - both social and cultural. Even though this is an alternate version of Texas and our country and world, seeing such a diverse cast of characters is still excellent. It also plays into Cassidy pulling together such a diverse group of riders and the more profound meaning underlying that.

And the race! I just loved the race. It’s full of puzzles and dangerous challenges that kept me happily engrossed in the story and made it hard to put down. It has a slight Hunger Games feel, which I will always enjoy.

Characters:
All characters - adults and fellow dragon riders - are delightfully and uniquely developed. The bad guys are pretty stereotypical - totally the mustache-twirling type - but the good guys and my particular favorites - the characters that start out one way and have a realization that fundamentally changes them - all came alive and found a place in my heart.

Cassidy is quite a little firecracker of a young teen. At thirteen, she solidly formed opinions on right and wrong. She hasn’t matured enough to recognize those pesky gray areas. Still, I loved her passion and determination to make the world better. I especially loved her respect for animals (dragons) and her understanding of letting them live the life that nature intends rather than the domesticated lives humans try to mold them to. Her dragon is her friend, and she always tries to bolster Ranga’s courage and abilities.

Narration & Pacing:
The pacing moves quickly, especially once the race starts. I always enjoy a fast-paced story, so this appealed to me and was good because there are no pictures to break up the story like you often find in MG books.
The story is told in third-person narration focusing solely on Cassidy and her dragon, Rango. This story is so prominent in scope that it works very well to focus on the main character and those around her.

World-Building:
My only critique or wish about this story centers around the world-building. It’s very complex, and even though it’s set in Texas, it’s a much different Texas than what actually exists. Yet, the story just pitched me right into it and left me floundering to figure out where I had landed. I couldn’t figure out the bigger picture for longer than I would have liked. So I can’t even imagine how an MG reader handles that. I would have loved to be more gently transitioned into this alternate world to have a more solid footing before the story took off.

Read if you’re in the mood for:

  • An adventurous story with a clear message
  • A fast-paced plot-driven novel with solid character development
  • DRAGONS!!! And dragon racing!