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A review by xeni
A Dragonbird in the Fern by Laura Rueckert
3.0
This book has a lot happening in it. Before the story starts Jiana's sister has been murdered, somewhere in the northwest (where two enemy countries meet). No one knows what she was doing there, but her spirit is angry and getting more violent with every day that her murderer is not caught. To make matters worse, her sister's fiance, a man from a far north kingdom, has arrived early to marry her instead. After a hasty wedding, Jiana heads north to her new home, where she knows no one, hates the food, and has no idea how to learn the language.
Language is especially a big problem as Jiana has fairly severe dyslexia. Words and letters become blurry and jump around on the page when she looks at them. It's incredibly hard for her to read or write. Most people seem to perceive her disability as a personal choice rather than a real issue. She's embarrassed about her lack of skill, she wants to learn, but can't. Her struggles with learning the language feel so close to my own heart. I don't have dyslexia but I have lived in many foreign countries and have struggled to learn the local language. Hungarian was by far the worst. Sometimes Jiana's struggles just felt a bit too real. Until the second half of the book where she somehow, mysteriously, plot-driven becomes fluent in a matter of a few pages.
I enjoyed the arranged marriage trope in this book. Jiana and Raffar can barely communicate for most of the book, yet they find ways to talk. They become friends before ever becoming lovers. I'm so glad that Raffar is not the evil king trope, but just a tired young man who was saddled with responsibility too young. I also liked that the story gave us flashbacks to their first meeting years prior to the story, which set up their eventual romance far better than the story on its own. I liked that the story struggled with Raffar's desire to only have sex when Jiara was 18 and Jiara's not respecting that wish (because she doesn't understand it). It's an important discussion on consent that I thought was well treated here. It's so easy to just give in to bodily wishes, especially with teenage hormones on the loose.
Scilla is an interesting character as well. We meet her the first time as a vengeful spirit intent on harming her family because they have not yet caught her murderer. But she can also be a kind ghost, giving soft caresses and trying to hold on to her humanity. I didn't like how mindless she gets. And the second-to-last confrontation really spoiled a lot of her arc for me. We're told so often that "she just needs to know her killer, she'll take care of the rest!" and then. Frustrating.
The world is very interesting, if a bit of a caricature at times. It feels rather medieval Europe, with Jiana's home being coastal Italy and the northern kingdom similar to Germany. I did enjoy the time in Jiana's city far more than in the north. I feel far too many stories are set in the cold northern world! Why?! Give me more warm seaside paradise please. My favorite part is that everyone rides on elephant birds instead of horses. Could this have been their fate instead of extinction?
The story is written in first person, so most of the plot revolves around Jiara - her confusion and inabilities forefront while we see her get married too quickly, travel north too quickly, try to adjust to live too slowy, and all the while also try to solve her sisters murder.
One thing I did not really enjoy was how rather naive Jiara came across. I get it, I do. Also this is a YA book, so it's expected. But I didn't find it interesting or enjoyable. I think this story would have been better if Jiara had been aged up and it was written a bit more for adult audiences (almost every character is an adult already, and they are all dealing with adult problems so it makes perfect sense to take the one child and age her up).
Overall I was fairly over this book by ~60%. The story drew out too long because the plot decided it should be so. A lot of decisions by characters made no sense. The story was too simple and by the end I was thoroughly annoyed by the main character.
Language is especially a big problem as Jiana has fairly severe dyslexia. Words and letters become blurry and jump around on the page when she looks at them. It's incredibly hard for her to read or write. Most people seem to perceive her disability as a personal choice rather than a real issue. She's embarrassed about her lack of skill, she wants to learn, but can't. Her struggles with learning the language feel so close to my own heart. I don't have dyslexia but I have lived in many foreign countries and have struggled to learn the local language. Hungarian was by far the worst. Sometimes Jiana's struggles just felt a bit too real. Until the second half of the book where she somehow, mysteriously, plot-driven becomes fluent in a matter of a few pages.
I enjoyed the arranged marriage trope in this book. Jiana and Raffar can barely communicate for most of the book, yet they find ways to talk. They become friends before ever becoming lovers. I'm so glad that Raffar is not the evil king trope, but just a tired young man who was saddled with responsibility too young. I also liked that the story gave us flashbacks to their first meeting years prior to the story, which set up their eventual romance far better than the story on its own. I liked that the story struggled with Raffar's desire to only have sex when Jiara was 18 and Jiara's not respecting that wish (because she doesn't understand it). It's an important discussion on consent that I thought was well treated here. It's so easy to just give in to bodily wishes, especially with teenage hormones on the loose.
Scilla is an interesting character as well. We meet her the first time as a vengeful spirit intent on harming her family because they have not yet caught her murderer. But she can also be a kind ghost, giving soft caresses and trying to hold on to her humanity. I didn't like how mindless she gets. And the second-to-last confrontation really spoiled a lot of her arc for me. We're told so often that "she just needs to know her killer, she'll take care of the rest!" and then
Spoiler
she doesn't even do thatThe world is very interesting, if a bit of a caricature at times. It feels rather medieval Europe, with Jiana's home being coastal Italy and the northern kingdom similar to Germany. I did enjoy the time in Jiana's city far more than in the north. I feel far too many stories are set in the cold northern world! Why?! Give me more warm seaside paradise please. My favorite part is that everyone rides on elephant birds instead of horses. Could this have been their fate instead of extinction?
The story is written in first person, so most of the plot revolves around Jiara - her confusion and inabilities forefront while we see her get married too quickly, travel north too quickly, try to adjust to live too slowy, and all the while also try to solve her sisters murder.
One thing I did not really enjoy was how rather naive Jiara came across. I get it, I do. Also this is a YA book, so it's expected. But I didn't find it interesting or enjoyable. I think this story would have been better if Jiara had been aged up and it was written a bit more for adult audiences (almost every character is an adult already, and they are all dealing with adult problems so it makes perfect sense to take the one child and age her up).
Overall I was fairly over this book by ~60%. The story drew out too long because the plot decided it should be so. A lot of decisions by characters made no sense. The story was too simple and by the end I was thoroughly annoyed by the main character.