I encountered this series when B.J. Whittington was working on the prequel and posting chapters on Critique Circle (an online writing circle I belong to). It had “Dragon” in the title, so of course I wanted to read it and I absolutely loved what I read. I had no criticisms for her and I was so excited that she had a couple books out already that I downloaded the first one right away.
It’s OK. It’s badly in need of better editing, as it is riddled with typos and misspellings and that stuff drives me nuts.
On the other hand, the characters are awesome and so are the dragons. Unlike some other books with “dragon” in the title, this one is full of dragons and they are all awesome in their own ways. The premise is, a few generstions ago, some awful creatures known as the Volastoque attacked human kind, almost wiping them out. In the process, they succeeded in wiping out dragons, who were fighting to protect the humans. Now dragons can only exist through human hosts. The spirit of the dragon remains with The Lady (their deity) until it chooses a human host. The Lady sometimes suggests a particular host, but the choice is always up to the dragon.
Usually the dragon joins a child when they’re a young adult, maybe in their early teens. The dragon just hangs out there for a couple years, getting to know the host, before making its presence known. That’s when it starts talking to its host mentally, known as “Mindspeak”. Hosts can Mindspeak back or talk out loud when talking to their dragon hosts. Talking out loud makes them look like they’re talking to themselves to the people around them, but everyone knows how Dragon Hosts work, so it’s all good.
After a couple years of talking to each other, the Dragon Soul and Dragon Host (hopefully) form a bond strong enough to achieve First Transformation. This is the first time the human relinquishes complete control over her body to a Dragon Soul she is hosting and turns into a dragon. I shit you not, people turn into dragons and vice versa. Now you know why I was dying to read this book.
So that part did not disappoint, although the book does move a little slowly. Whittington makes such a big deal about the fact that these Volastoque are making a comeback that I felt sure there would be a big showdown between them and the dragons and humans in this book, but it never happened. I’m really hoping that’s coming in book 2.
Then there’s the end of the book. Or should I say lack of an ending. The book doesn’t even end on a cliffhanger. As I see it, the cutoff point between book 1 and book 2 seems to have been chosen at random. Whittington says it was because the first book was really about the bond developing between two key characters and she accomplished that, but I still didn’t feel like the book ended. In fact, book 2 picks up right where book 1 left off. It feels more like a chapter break than anything else.
That said, as soon as I finished book 1, I had to immediately download book 2, so that should tell you everything you need to know about my feelings towards this book. It has its flaws, but I can’t help rooting for the good guys, booing the bad guys, and clenching up whenever there’s an action-packed scene (and there are a few in the first book). I absolutely need to know what happens next.