Dragon’s Future
Author: Kandi J. Wyatt
Series: Dragon Courage #1
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Every child of Woolpren dreams of becoming one, but only a few are chosen. Now, ten-year-old twin brother and sister, Ruskya and Duskya, have been selected to join an elite group of riders: dragon riders. Full of awe and excitement, the twins leave their mother, and their home, to train for their new lives.
Fifteen years later, dragons are becoming extinct and riders are rare. One day, Ruskya is at the general store in town when a man announces that he is recruiting new dragon riders. Ruskya goes undercover, and discovers that there is another colony of riders with their own agenda—a quest to find a mysterious plant that could restore the dragon population, or destroy it. When a battle erupts between the two colonies, it’s up to Ruskya and his friends to fight for their dragons’ future, and their lives.
Follow Ruskya’s quest as he finds courage and friendship in this exciting middle grade fantasy series by new author Kandi J Wyatt.
My review:
I received a free copy for an honest review.
Whenever I talk about fantasy in literature, I sort it into several “sub-sub- categories” to help my readers understand better what kind of fantasy the book is. You’ve got more modern high fantasies, medieval fantasies, younger or older fantasies (for younger or older audiences), and of course, this book being an example – a very “fantasy” fantasy book.
A lot of times, many fiction genre books that require a new world scenario setting is created from a world that is created from obvious inspiration and similarities between the real world we’re living today. A very “fantasy” fantasy book is when a book setting is created to be as different as the real world as possible. In instances like this, the author often would not just make a new map of the world, often they’ll go as far as create new cultures and completely new kinds of human interactions. What I meant by interactions is that in books like this, the dialogues between the characters are obviously different from how normal people talk today. For example, they may have new greetings, new taboos, etc. What makes a book super “fantasy” is when the book changes its world down to little details like this. In other words, you may even feel uncomfortable reading the books because you’re so not accustomed to the interactions etc.
The positive thing about books like this is due to the heavy details necessary for the world building, that tends to be the stronghold. Dragon’s future definitely has its flaws, but I really want to acknowledge how excellently well written and interesting ht world building is. Detailed descriptions are important, but if it’s a mess, doesn’t make sense and does not flow and become one with the story-line well, it’s practically useless.
My tip to the author about this book is that she should’ve been way more careful about the pace and flow of the story, especially due to the almost espionage factor. Espionage, being a story-line where people basically try to uncover an unknown thing tends to be slower paced because of how the clues and information must be unveiled only by layers at a time. Due to this, authors and screen-writers often had spice up the story in other ways such as action, humor, or relationship development to keep the reader interested and the story not too boring. However, by having these side-actions does not guarantee success, because often it’s still not enough. I feel like that is what happened with this book. The author definitely threw in several character relationship developments on the side, and some very visually appealing and entertaining dragon scenes as well as flashbacks. Maybe it’s because of the old-school and almost kind of awkward dialogue, or the fact that the tone and atmosphere in this book were too young for me, it was not enough to keep me as interested and involved as I would’ve liked.
However, if you do like a book that has an (almost childish) tone and atmosphere, a very fantasy story-line a world-building, and dragons (of course), this book is definitely for you. Also, I would definitely suggest this book to readers who are currently really craving fantasy, because the amount of fantasy in this book is enough to satisfy all your cravings.
This book is not bad as a bad book. My biggest problem with this book is just that it was not able to hold my attention long enough. It’s just not for me. Maybe it’s because it’s too slow paced, or because the tone was too childish. But either way, I didn’t like it as much as I hoped. That’s why I’m giving it three stars. I definitely do not hate this book, it’s…just not my favorite.
My rating:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Even as a young girl, Kandi J Wyatt, had a knack for words. She loved to read them, even if it was on a shampoo bottle! By high school Kandi had learned to put words together on paper to create stories for those she loved. Nowadays, she writes for her kids, whether that’s her own five or the hundreds of students she’s been lucky to teach. When Kandi’s not spinning words to create stories, she’s using them to teach students about Spanish, life, and leadership.
The first book of the Dragon Courage series is free on all outlets. Receive book 2 by signing up for her newsletter at: http://wordpress.us12.list-manage.com…
If you want to contact her, you can reach her at kandi@kandijwyatt.com