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**Edit**
After reading the second book, I say definitely read the first two together before deciding if this series is for you. Things make so much more sense, and almost everything that bothered me in this book is resolved by having all the information in book 2!

Now, on to the review.


Here you'll find great pacing, clever world building, real characters, and a healthy dose of mystery. Opposing these excellent qualities, however, is a level of convenience and coincidence that borders on excessive.

Although I've been hearing amazing things about Caitlin Davies for a long time, this is my first time actually listening to a book she's narrated.

I have to admit to being suitably impressed. It's rare to find a narrator (or any gender) who can believably produce both male and female voices, but Caitlin manages it with flying colors. Each voice in the book is unique and well crafted. Her vocal inflections are top notch, and her tempo shifts throughout are very nearly perfect.

So why only 4 stars for her performance, you ask?
Well, it comes down to choices made that I disagree with personally. In short, the Dragon voices just sound too human.

Yes, there is a school of thought in which dragons sound like people if you disregard the growls and snarls and roars. I do not subscribe to that particular school of thought. It is my opinion that draconic voices should be powerful and either guttural, hissing, or otherwise monstrous.

For me, a dragon whose voice sounds perfectly human is tantamount to if Gollum had spoken in Andy Serkis's natural speaking voice in the LotR films. It would have ruined the experience.

Now, as is my wont, I will largely forego a discussion of the book's plot. I'm sure there are plenty of reviews that will go into that.

The story opens with a fun little snapshot of the titular character that shows how she interacts with those around her. It gives us a strong sense of who she is as a person, as well as the displaying the main strength that she develops and leans on throughout the story (her mind).

After this lovely glimpse into Ezaara and her home village, however, we jump right into an overly convenient encounter with a dragon that, if I'm being honest, almost pulled the rails out from under the story for me.

Clearly, Ezaara "imprinting" on the Dragon queen was the impetus for the whole story. I totally get that and even think it makes sense, given what we learn later. However, the matter of just what the Dragon queen was doing there and how she happened upon Ezaara is never addressed and I think the story suffers for it.

After that minor hiccup, though, we get into some super interesting world building concerning the Dragon nation and its enemies and just what Ezaara's place in all that is going to be.

Now, I'll admit that there are a few 2-dimensional characters that feel like cardboard cutouts. And there are times that I just want to slap Ezaara because she's being a complete idiot, especially as it pertains to her training.

But by and large, the characters are very well drawn and compelling. And while Ezaara's love interest is very clearly "the love interest" from his introduction, he manages to develop into a well-rounded character in his own right.

My one complaint about the romance subplot is that it's unbelievably quick. Ezaara seems to go from hating him to deeply in love virtually at the flip of a switch.

In fairness, something happens that kind of explains that, but I still don't feel that there was enough development for it to make sense.

With the length of these books, I would have been much happier with a slow burn romance that takes several books to really manifest.

Elsewise, however, I have no real critiques. The writing is smooth and skillful. Although certain world elements do feel just the tiniest bit short-sighted, it's all very well crafted. And while there isn't much about it in this book, what there is of the magic system seems fascinating.

Which brings is to the climax of the book.

The author clearly put a great deal of effort into crafting this ending, and it really pays off. Everything comes together brilliantly, and while it feels like there is a lot going on behind the scenes (so much, in fact, that it feels almost as though there are POVs missing from the climax), everything that happens feels like a consequence to something that has come before. You'll find no Deus Ex Machina here.

In the end, although this book is guilty of a few of the things that I tend to dislike about YA, it was minimal enough that I could still get invested in these characters and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book!