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alexandra_92's review against another edition
5.0
I recieved an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Review can be found on *Milky Way of Books*
I was very excited when Maya Starling decided to publish her Wattpad novel! I've been a follower of the series since she first started updating the book and I was very pleased to see how the new, editted version would look like!
Olivia and Kaden are two of my favorite characters in this trope of "the prince saving the girl from the dragon". But everything is not as it seems for neither of them. Not to mention that Mgnus is a horrible human being. The story has also action but mostly it focuses on Kaden's and Olivia's relationship. The author did a great job on her characters' grownth, since the first draft and there was nothing that made me dislike the book.
I mean, it's a book with a dragon!
I'll be eagerly expecting how the second book will go, since I've already read it (a few years back) on Wattpad. Recommended if you like a good read about our scaly friends. ;)
I was very excited when Maya Starling decided to publish her Wattpad novel! I've been a follower of the series since she first started updating the book and I was very pleased to see how the new, editted version would look like!
Olivia and Kaden are two of my favorite characters in this trope of "the prince saving the girl from the dragon". But everything is not as it seems for neither of them. Not to mention that Mgnus is a horrible human being. The story has also action but mostly it focuses on Kaden's and Olivia's relationship. The author did a great job on her characters' grownth, since the first draft and there was nothing that made me dislike the book.
I mean, it's a book with a dragon!
I'll be eagerly expecting how the second book will go, since I've already read it (a few years back) on Wattpad. Recommended if you like a good read about our scaly friends. ;)
kittyg's review against another edition
This is one of the #SPFBO books I had on my list... and it was... weird? I didn't finish this one as I could tell right away this probably wasn't going to be for me. It's a fantasy romance, seemingly between a young girl called Olivia, and a dragon called Kaden. I read to 15% and I just couldn't keep going because it was super cringe-y and I was feeling a little bit grossed out by the way that the dragon kept on objectifying this young girl who wandered into 'his' cave...
The story starts with Olivia on the run from a pack of wolves as she's trying to escape a marriage to a man she doesn't love. She's a naive young girl who has come into a dark forest very ill prepared, and it just seems to be pure blind luck that she manages to survive this long and that eventually she stumbled into the dragon's cave.
The writing in this story is extremely simple, the characters feel both bland and 2-d as they really have no real backstory or personality. I felt that this would easily be a book a child could read, but this clashed a lot with the tone of language used because it very quickly became very sexual in nature.. For me, the simple writing and flat characters just didn't work well enough to keep me reading.
I have to say, the dragon was ikky. I actually like a good romance every now and then, and yet, this one wasn't good in my eyes, it was just creepy. The fact that this old lonely dragon instantly decides he's into Olivia, he keeps 'caressing her with his eyes' and imagining squeezing her buttocks'... Yeah, that's creepy when it's on first sight... I knew this just wasn't for me. Probably would have given this just a 1* in the end sadly...
The story starts with Olivia on the run from a pack of wolves as she's trying to escape a marriage to a man she doesn't love. She's a naive young girl who has come into a dark forest very ill prepared, and it just seems to be pure blind luck that she manages to survive this long and that eventually she stumbled into the dragon's cave.
The writing in this story is extremely simple, the characters feel both bland and 2-d as they really have no real backstory or personality. I felt that this would easily be a book a child could read, but this clashed a lot with the tone of language used because it very quickly became very sexual in nature.. For me, the simple writing and flat characters just didn't work well enough to keep me reading.
I have to say, the dragon was ikky. I actually like a good romance every now and then, and yet, this one wasn't good in my eyes, it was just creepy. The fact that this old lonely dragon instantly decides he's into Olivia, he keeps 'caressing her with his eyes' and imagining squeezing her buttocks'... Yeah, that's creepy when it's on first sight... I knew this just wasn't for me. Probably would have given this just a 1* in the end sadly...
alexperc_92's review against another edition
5.0
I recieved an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Review can be found on *Milky Way of Books*
I was very excited when Maya Starling decided to publish her Wattpad novel! I've been a follower of the series since she first started updating the book and I was very pleased to see how the new, editted version would look like!
Olivia and Kaden are two of my favorite characters in this trope of "the prince saving the girl from the dragon". But everything is not as it seems for neither of them. Not to mention that Mgnus is a horrible human being. The story has also action but mostly it focuses on Kaden's and Olivia's relationship. The author did a great job on her characters' grownth, since the first draft and there was nothing that made me dislike the book.
I mean, it's a book with a dragon!
I'll be eagerly expecting how the second book will go, since I've already read it (a few years back) on Wattpad. Recommended if you like a good read about our scaly friends. ;)
I was very excited when Maya Starling decided to publish her Wattpad novel! I've been a follower of the series since she first started updating the book and I was very pleased to see how the new, editted version would look like!
Olivia and Kaden are two of my favorite characters in this trope of "the prince saving the girl from the dragon". But everything is not as it seems for neither of them. Not to mention that Mgnus is a horrible human being. The story has also action but mostly it focuses on Kaden's and Olivia's relationship. The author did a great job on her characters' grownth, since the first draft and there was nothing that made me dislike the book.
I mean, it's a book with a dragon!
I'll be eagerly expecting how the second book will go, since I've already read it (a few years back) on Wattpad. Recommended if you like a good read about our scaly friends. ;)
cmrosens's review against another edition
5.0
I am giving this 4/5 stars because I love Beauty and the Beast retellings, dragons are my favourite fantasy creature, and I found the style really easygoing. I read for pleasure after work/on the way to work, and I really need something that will provide me with relaxed escapism. That said, I'm quite demanding about the richness of the fantasy worlds I dive into, and this one is nicely realised and ticks a lot of the boxes for me.
This is the perfect book to read when you want a fairy tale kick, but its mature themes potentially make it unsuitable for a younger audience. It's very much a new adult (NA) fairy tale, and the relaxed, whimsical style of the narrative reminded me a bit of Neil Gaiman's Stardust, albeit in a more simplified style with Starling's light, gentle narrative voice. Knowing that English is not the author's first language made me appreciate the style and tone even more.
[SHORT DIGRESSION: If you've not read Stardust and only seen the film, it's got that straightforward, whimsical style of prose you'd expect from Gaiman, it seems like you could read it out loud to your kids, and then there's three pages of graphic sex quite near the start when the MC is conceived. It's so well-woven into the narrative that you can't really skip it and pick it up afterwards, at least, not very easily without ad libbing a little. So yeah, don't buy it for your kids unless you're comfortable with that.]
Similarly, although there's no graphic sex in DT, the narrative gently carries you into mature territory without you really noticing, but that's something I actually want in my New Adult fiction, especially in ones that are based on or remind me of my favourite stories. So I would definitely recommend it if this is also your thing.
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The rest of this review contains some spoilers re: characters
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Again, I really enjoyed this - it's an easy read and I love fairytale retellings that have interesting twists. This most closely resembles a Beauty and the Beast retelling with a cursed dragon, Kaden (SPOILER: the dragon is not/was not always just a dragon, hence the very human feelings he has for Olivia, the MC) and the handsome Gaston-character (the Prince) is of course the villain.
I love Beauty and the Beast regardless of its problematic elements as a story, and Starling does a fantastic job of eliminating what, to me, are the most troubling of those. There's no Stockholm Syndrome here, for a start: the protagonist runs away and is rescued from wolves by the Beast (Dragon), and they form a bond of friendship.
There's no coercion or self-sacrifice or dungeons and erratic behaviour bordering on emotional/psychological abuse. So that's one of the things that kept me reading, because I really loved the interplay between the characters and appreciated the fact that there weren't any of the elements that made Beauty and the Beast problematic for me.
The problematic elements of the Beast's behaviour appear in the Prince's character instead, displayed in the way he interacts with his subordinates and his entourage, and they are tackled and challenged within the narrative rather than excused or brushed under the carpet.
Charlie is one of my favourite characters. She's a professional sex-worker, so no, this isn't a kid's story. She's not particularly pleased about this job, but that's where the relationships with the knights come into play, particularly the ones who are actually pretty decent and steering towards the lighter end of the morally grey spectrum, even though their lord and master is pretty suspect. Even the villainous prince isn't exactly 2-D though: he has a backstory and some pretty bad father-issues, reminscent of Draco Malfoy in the later Harry Potter books, only with a crown and a bigger hit with the ladies.
I think it's also fairly obvious that the dragon is more than he seems, especially if you read between the lines in his POV, and the nature of the Beauty & the Beast story is the romance element which is pretty weird and unnatural when the Beast is in his Beastly form, because that's sort of the point. In this case, he has scales rather than fur.
Would recommend.
This is the perfect book to read when you want a fairy tale kick, but its mature themes potentially make it unsuitable for a younger audience. It's very much a new adult (NA) fairy tale, and the relaxed, whimsical style of the narrative reminded me a bit of Neil Gaiman's Stardust, albeit in a more simplified style with Starling's light, gentle narrative voice. Knowing that English is not the author's first language made me appreciate the style and tone even more.
[SHORT DIGRESSION: If you've not read Stardust and only seen the film, it's got that straightforward, whimsical style of prose you'd expect from Gaiman, it seems like you could read it out loud to your kids, and then there's three pages of graphic sex quite near the start when the MC is conceived. It's so well-woven into the narrative that you can't really skip it and pick it up afterwards, at least, not very easily without ad libbing a little. So yeah, don't buy it for your kids unless you're comfortable with that.]
Similarly, although there's no graphic sex in DT, the narrative gently carries you into mature territory without you really noticing, but that's something I actually want in my New Adult fiction, especially in ones that are based on or remind me of my favourite stories. So I would definitely recommend it if this is also your thing.
.
.
.
The rest of this review contains some spoilers re: characters
.
.
.
.
.
Again, I really enjoyed this - it's an easy read and I love fairytale retellings that have interesting twists. This most closely resembles a Beauty and the Beast retelling with a cursed dragon, Kaden (SPOILER: the dragon is not/was not always just a dragon, hence the very human feelings he has for Olivia, the MC) and the handsome Gaston-character (the Prince) is of course the villain.
I love Beauty and the Beast regardless of its problematic elements as a story, and Starling does a fantastic job of eliminating what, to me, are the most troubling of those. There's no Stockholm Syndrome here, for a start: the protagonist runs away and is rescued from wolves by the Beast (Dragon), and they form a bond of friendship.
There's no coercion or self-sacrifice or dungeons and erratic behaviour bordering on emotional/psychological abuse. So that's one of the things that kept me reading, because I really loved the interplay between the characters and appreciated the fact that there weren't any of the elements that made Beauty and the Beast problematic for me.
The problematic elements of the Beast's behaviour appear in the Prince's character instead, displayed in the way he interacts with his subordinates and his entourage, and they are tackled and challenged within the narrative rather than excused or brushed under the carpet.
Charlie is one of my favourite characters. She's a professional sex-worker, so no, this isn't a kid's story. She's not particularly pleased about this job, but that's where the relationships with the knights come into play, particularly the ones who are actually pretty decent and steering towards the lighter end of the morally grey spectrum, even though their lord and master is pretty suspect. Even the villainous prince isn't exactly 2-D though: he has a backstory and some pretty bad father-issues, reminscent of Draco Malfoy in the later Harry Potter books, only with a crown and a bigger hit with the ladies.
I think it's also fairly obvious that the dragon is more than he seems, especially if you read between the lines in his POV, and the nature of the Beauty & the Beast story is the romance element which is pretty weird and unnatural when the Beast is in his Beastly form, because that's sort of the point. In this case, he has scales rather than fur.
Would recommend.