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A review by brittanisavery
Slayer by J.A. Culican, J.A. Armitage
3.0
Slayer (Dragon Tamer Book #1) has an interesting premise while the actual tale of the book rushes through character development, conflict, and resolution. At the beginning Juilanna is eager to slay her first dragon, a long-lived tradition in her village. Though, I do feel that her village set her up for failure since she wasn’t taught anything about fighting dragons, like where to target or how to defend against the different types of dragons. It just seemed odd that there was no structured education on dragon slaying in a village of slayers. More details about life in the village would have solved this problem.
As the story progresses, various characters are introduced, but because the plot must continue, characters are not allowed to build any deep connections other than optimistic love interest, distrustful leader, jerk brother, kindly mother, or random citizen. The conversations were short and lacked much content before they were resolved and we moved onto the next point. Even Julianna herself isn’t truly allowed to absorb what is happening. A lot of her anguish is resolved quickly and a decision is made. Perhaps this is because she is an immature 18-year-old? To be honest, I could not see her as a young adult, but rather a teenager around the age of 14 or 15. Is this normal for other young adults in her village? I have no idea since the authors spent very little time in developing what her life was like before jumping into the action or even having her compare her life back in the village and Ash’s upbringing in his village.
Overall, I found it very hard to suspend my disbelief and become engrossed into the story. The conversations and Julianna’s telling of the story (it being in first person) seemed childish and underdeveloped. I could see myself loving this story at the age of 12 or 13 with all the drama and action, but a nearly 30-year-old woman, it is just not for me.
As the story progresses, various characters are introduced, but because the plot must continue, characters are not allowed to build any deep connections other than optimistic love interest, distrustful leader, jerk brother, kindly mother, or random citizen. The conversations were short and lacked much content before they were resolved and we moved onto the next point. Even Julianna herself isn’t truly allowed to absorb what is happening. A lot of her anguish is resolved quickly and a decision is made. Perhaps this is because she is an immature 18-year-old? To be honest, I could not see her as a young adult, but rather a teenager around the age of 14 or 15. Is this normal for other young adults in her village? I have no idea since the authors spent very little time in developing what her life was like before jumping into the action or even having her compare her life back in the village and Ash’s upbringing in his village.
Overall, I found it very hard to suspend my disbelief and become engrossed into the story. The conversations and Julianna’s telling of the story (it being in first person) seemed childish and underdeveloped. I could see myself loving this story at the age of 12 or 13 with all the drama and action, but a nearly 30-year-old woman, it is just not for me.