Breath of the Dragon is "a love letter to martial arts" (@Hiba on Goodreads) that takes you on a journey from humble beginnings to a tournament with life-altering stakes. 

📖 I loved the plot. I found in intriguing and the short prologue had me hooked. It had twists, turns, and a shocking reveal that I didn't see coming. 

Asking introspective questions like:
'Are you only trying to win the tournament, or to actually be the best fighter?'
Which the reader can, if they choose, to use as a means of questioning themselves now and in the future. Particularly with the addition of the follow up statement: 
'As much as you'd like to believe otherwise, those are not necessarily the same thing.' 

'It's complacent people like you who're the problem and need to be reminded to take danger seriously.' 

⏳️ With the action scenes, it keeps the pace going fast and I didn't want to put it down. The fight scenes are exciting and fun, and with the high stakes they keep you on edge. 

'Two strangers arrived on a mid-autumn morning, as if swept in by the cold wind rustling the drooping branches of the elm trees.' 

✍️🏼 The ⬆️ line is the first sentence in the prologue, and gives a great example of the beautiful writing in this book. I enjoyed the rich descriptions that incorporate your senses without veering into purple. 

I found the dialogue to read as natural and fit the characters. 

🗺 The world building is exceptional. Immersive and expansive, rich with lore. This area truly shines, not unlike an iridescent dragon scale breathmark. 

🔮 I love the unique spin on magic that visually presents itself in the form of birthmarks - or breathmarks, as they're referred to in this book. They look like patches of dragon scales in various colors, can appear anywhere on the body, and can present in innumerable ways. I appreciate that varying views people have of breathmarked people, as I feel it's an accurate depiction of how humans tend to see and judge anyone they see as "different." It's well developed and explained. 

👥 I liked the characters, but this is where I didn't love it. I wanted more, a deeper connection to them. I had such a great time reading it I almost feel like this complaint is petty, but it's been a day and the lack of deep connection is still bugging me. I cared about them, but didn't quite love them. They're good, they're well developed. Maybe it is petty of me to say they're good, but I wanted great - I wanted to have a visceral reaction and I just wasn't quite there. 

I do love that the MC is flawed (plus reverse chosen one). He starts off as quite annoying and impulsive with no self-control. To be fair, he's 5 in the prologue, so all of that is pretty common. But even when the book starts 10yrs later, he's still those things. You get to watch him learn to look inward and grow which I appreciated and enjoyed. 

🥋 I wasn't aware until I opened the book that Shannon Lee is Bruce Lee's daughter. Nor was I aware that this duology is based on characters and teachings created by Bruce Lee. I think that's cool and interesting, but I don't think you have to be a Bruce Lee superfan or knowledgeable about martial arts to enjoy this (but you may enjoy it even more if you are). 

The tie-ins to Bruce Lee are great, but don't require the reader to know any of it. I can appreciate that. Things like that Bruce was known as 'The Dragon' and a character in this story gets the nickname 'Little Dragon.' If you catch the reference or not has no impact on the plot or your enjoyment of the story. 

✨️I struggled rating this because my enjoyment was 5 stars, I loved reading it and need book 2 immediately. However, because it didn't quite have the emotional punch I wanted to feel for the characters, I thought 4 was more accurate. So I split the difference, even though that means I have to round up/down and I don't love that. 

🪟 I wanted to participate in some form of martial arts growing up, but it wasn't an option for me ($). My husband enjoys Kung Fu movies, so I've watched some but not in years. All that to say, I have limited knowledge/experience with martial arts and Bruce Lee. While I still loved the book, I understand that may not be your experience if you aren't into martial arts. 

Lexi (twitter.com/redemptionarcs) said "Imagine the first Throne of Glass book if it had a baby with Cobra Kai." I feel like that's pretty accurate. 😄

📚🎬 If you like: The Karate Kid, The Green Bone Safa (Fonda Lee), A Language of Dragons (S.F. Williamson), Blood of the Old Kings (Sung-Il Kim) or The Blood Orchid (Kylie Lee Baker) then I think you would enjoy this. 

Thank you @therealshannonlee @fonda.lee @macmillanusa @wednesdaybooks and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.