Starlighter: dragons of Starlight Book 1 by bryan davis

3 stars

Interesting take on humans and dragons living together.
Characters were pretty intriguing and the worlds we saw were easy to understand. It was not the best, not the worst but interesting overall premise. I would probably continue but after one book, I’ve reached a limit on what I can absorb.

the boy who fell from the stars by Ted Dekker and Rachelle Dekker

3.75 stars

Wowie. Not a book I would recommend for a younger audience only because of some pretty intense themes and moments. Maybe that 14-16

range and beyond because as an adult I actually quite liked it.
It’s really short, but there are three smaller books in the fist trilogy and three in the second that I have to continue on with. I actually think if we’d gotten a “training” book it could have been three longer books, but every writer has a specific vision for a reason.
There are So Many exciting places this story can go. I liked our main characters, though the fact that Jack is 12 is a little unsettling in light of the journey he is expected to take, along with the other kids.
Some parts felt a little slow moving for a book so short, but it was full of “no way” moments, which picked things up again.

the hadley academy for the improbably gifted by connor grennan

5 stars

I happened upon this book by chance, and I’m so glad I decided to read it!
I don’t mind a good YA, and particularly a good YA fantasy, so I was really excited to read this one – and hoping it had a solid plot to hold my 20-something year old attention. It absolutely did.

I have to admit, that I was able to guess most of the ending about a third of the way in, but I was excited to continue and find out if I was right.
I thought it was a supremely clever idea/plot, and enjoyed stumbling along with the characters – who were all newbies to the world of the Hadley Academy and Improbables (as was the reader).

I enjoyed the characters, though I would have liked more of some.
I loved the ending (which I predicted anyway). I did find that sometimes the information felt more like an intense info dump of important stuff, and I had to take a few breathers! haha

If there are more coming, I’m totally on board. If not, I enjoyed this book so much that it doesn’t really matter.

anenethalen by H. A. Pruitt

2 stars

Mmmmmmm
DNF after skim reading to halfway but I wanted to write down my thoughts.

I didn’t understand the full chapters of several kids POVs in their normal life. There were characters that you know we aren’t going to see or hear too much about when they’re on their quest, and I don’t know why we spent so much time developing this when it’s only semi-relevant to these characters as people.
Then, after I finally got past those chapters and we go into the world, it was…. Odd. Lots of talking and flying insects and spiders which is NOT my thing on the whole (limited exceptions) and it was icky to read. I started skimming at this point to just be able to understand what in the heck was going on in this story. The blurb was annoyingly vague, and I couldn’t work out for the life of me the purpose of this quest, the story, characters and what those necklaces with a dragon picture had to do with anything. When I reached a part naming witches I was done. Dnf city for me.
I think it’s aimed very seriously at middle grade readers, so I’m not the target audience, but it’s so long and the illustrations were very unusual. They didn’t seem to have a purpose outside of the author wanting to do it.
I didn’t enjoy what I actually got through of this book, and I’m sad to say it.

---

dragons are having their day, but most of the books out there are quite dark. there are reasons for this, and why dragons in general are associated with evil, but for now i’ve just enjoyed the books that i can and ride the reading wave.

Have you read any other dragon books recently that you enjoyed? share it.

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace