Resa Nelson
Dragonslayer #1
Bite-sized Review
While it would have benefited from a little more detail, particularly in the character motivations area, The Dragonslayer's Sword brought to life great characters, an interesting world, and a fast-paced plot. Recommend.
King-sized Review
Astrid's world of dragons and people who change their appearance by their own perceptions was definitely a plus. (I love dragons.) The Dragonslayer's Sword is Astrid's journey of self-discovery, and I enjoyed watching her learn about herself and the people around her.
I really liked Astrid as a character and watching her confidence grow throughout the book was a wonderful experience. Her flaws added to her character's appeal – how many beautiful, smart, witty, powerful heroines have you read about lately? Are they really all that interesting? Astrid is. She has scars – literally – and it makes her a better character. I can't stress enough how much I appreciated having such a great main character – the book is worth reading for her alone.
I did have some trouble really following her reasoning in some places. She made a couple decisions that seemed like they were more in the interest of moving the plot along than an actual result of her character, so those could have used either more explanation or different rationales. I think that might be a consequence of Resa's fairly sparse writing style. There's not a lot of detail or description in this book, and while I never thought I'd say this, some parts, especially in the middle, could have used a bit more fleshing-out. Obviously I still liked the story, but there were a few sections in the middle where I was a bit confused.
But spartan or not, this book had that thing that makes you want to keep reading. I don't know what that thing is. (I'm not sure anyone does.) Call it the X factor or that je ne sais quoi or some spark, but The Dragonslayer's Sword has it, and it's what kept me reading even when I wasn't entirely certain where things were coming from.
Don't expect a lot of romance from this book. That's perfectly fine with me, but if you're looking for a love story, look elsewhere. What The Dragonslayer's Sword does have is dragons, blacksmiths, ghosts, evil alchemists, footless cobblers, and overall a great story.
Quality: Fair
Enjoyability: Excellent
The Dragonslayer's Sword is similar to:
Joust by Mercedes Lackey
Dragonsong by Anne McCaffery
Through Wolf's Eyes by Jane Lindskold
**Thank you to Resa for providing me with a copy of The Dragonslayer's Sword in exchange for my honest review. I'll be participating in a blog tour for the sequel, The Iron Maiden, on January 23. Look for a review soon, and stop back then for the tour!**
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love your comments! I try to respond to them...eventually!
This is now an award-free blog. I love and totally appreciate that you thought of me, but I know myself better than to think I would be organized enough to pass them along, and that doesn't seem fair.
Finally, if you're posting a URL, the code to make it actually link to your site is <.a href="your URL">your text<./a>, without the periods.