Ava Richardson

Dragons of Dark

Sheila Goicea

1) Dragons of Wild: ★★★½
2) Dragons of Kings: ★★★

See my FULL review of this book on my blog along with others at: shesgoingbookcrazy.com



All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication.


”This isn’t a rebellion,” Bower was suddenly passionate. “We are ousting a dictator. Not overthrowing a rightful king.”
This is one of those times when writing a review is truly difficult. While I didn’t necessarily dislike this book, I didn’t fall in love with it either. I felt throughout the entire Upon Dragon’s Breath that I was searching more depth overall---but never really got it. Character development still occurs, but it is accompanied by a feeling of vagueness and without much drive. 

 Dragons of Dark adds some new elements throughout which helps to spice up the read. Steampunk vibes, along with numerous action/battle scenes pepper the pages which makes the reading engaging. 


  World Building


Set mainly in the surrounding lands of Torvald,  Dragons of Dark has a little more variety in scenery. The group travels into treacherous areas in order to reach the Stone Tooth clan. However, the land itself still lacked much description, making it difficult to get a sense of where the characters were at and giving scene changes a confusing and “rushed” sensation. 


  Pacing & Readability


The pacing is consistently faster than that in the previous two installments. There is a lot more happening on all fronts, making the plot flow from one scene to the next without much contemplation or hesitation in between. 


  Point-Of-View & Characters


The point-of-view follows suite with the previous two books and continues to change from Saffron to Bower’s perspective. I liked how this remained the same because it helped me continue to see the character growth with both of the main characters. 

While there isn’t a large shift in her character overall, Saffron does encounter the majority of the challenges throughout this book. Coping with the evil Maddox magic, Saffron drinks a medicinal remedy to dull her ability to call upon the magic. The side effects, however, cause her to lose her ability to communicate with the dragons. Not only does she need to deal with that, but she must also face the reality of her origins, relations, and role.
”No, Saffron. I am not your mother. I am Queen Zenema, and you are the one who will unite the old and the young, the dragons and the humans again. You will rule them from the air above and the land below. There is no shame in it. You are not King Enric, and he is not you. You are your own.”
Saffron discovers that her anger fuels the magic within her, making it uncontrollable at times. Luckily, the ties she had to her dragon hoard and to Bower were strong enough to help her through the toughest of challenges. Their guidance helped her face King Enric, but to also face the threat within herself. 

Bower serves as the secondary protagonist throughout this series. I felt that his character made some progression throughout  Dragons of Kings but plateaued in  Dragons of Dark. In fact, I remained rather indifferent towards him. Still gaining the trust of the dragons and the clans he leads into battle, he constantly plays (a rather easy game of) “tug-of-war” with his self-confidence and ability to lead as the future king. Despite his efforts, I found everything too easy for him and didn’t feel that he really encountered adversity along the way. It made his main issue too simple, solvable and not really an issue. His main opposition was himself, as he doubted himself more than anyone else. 
”These people put their faith in me, and I failed.”
“It was you who figured out a way to escape the trap, Bower. It was you who managed to destroy those Iron Guard. Why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you so convinced that you are going to fail?”
King Enric Maddox, the elusive antagonist, and dictator-king of Torvald remains rather underdeveloped. I was really hoping to see more of him in this installment, seeing how he is so utterly terrible, but he sits on the back-burner most of the book until the culmination in the end.

Jaydra, Zenema, and Ysix all played important roles particularly in this installment as mentors to both Saffron and Bower. Without their guidance (and random knowledge at times) Saffron and Bower never would have made it as far as they did. While they weren't the main characters of this series, they remain to be my favorites, as their personalities are well-developed and interesting (I mean, they're dragons!) 


  Major Themes


⇒ Good vs. Evil

The battle between good vs. evil is always at the forefront of this series. King Enric, the dictator king who stole the throne, uses his evil magic to do as he pleases. Saffron and Bower must gain the trust of two different races in order to dethrone him, and place the rightful king on the throne. 

⇒ Emotions

Anger was a key emotion focused on throughout this series. While it wasn’t realized at first, anger was the fuel to the fire that made Saffron’s magic uncontrollable. 
”This anger seemed to come with the power, and the more I used magic, the worse I felt. My anger always there, under the surface, and I was terrified that once I let it spill out, it would wash away the person that I had been, and I would become just like Enric.”
Saffron had to learn how to address and control her anger in order to harness the magic in her blood.

⇒ Friendship

”They’ve rallied to you because of what happened to Kingswood. Life can’t get worse for them, the evil king has already burned down their homes, and they have already lost loved ones. They’ve come to you to try and start again. To find some hope after the horror that has been visited upon them.”
Time after time, friendship shows up between these characters. Without help and support from one another, they never would have made it very far. 


  Overall Feelings


Things that I liked:

⇒ The main characters, Saffron and Bower, also Jaydra, are easy to like and relate to.
⇒ The theme of friendship and how it’s demonstrated. That’s right---Bower and Saffron remain friends only. This is a romance-free series!
⇒ It’s a relatively clean read.

Things that I didn’t like:

⇒ World building and sense-of-location still lacked greatly.
⇒ The climax of this book, along with the climax of the entire series just wasn’t enough. 
⇒ The “major” plot twists were too predictable.
⇒ I found the prologue told from King Enric’s perspective to be confusing. Perhaps this was because I may have forgotten some details from  Dragons of Wild.
⇒ Bower's character and his insistence on how he wasn't "good enough" to rule. 

While I really did enjoy this series, I felt that it lacked personable traits to pull me in. Instead of being fully immersed in this world, I always felt like I was reading this story. I want to experience it, too. It’s a bummer because I think that this series has some great potential, but I had difficulty with really connecting to it in the end. The plot is creative in its own way but is also similar in several ways to other books in the same genre. To put my feelings into one world, this book felt "familiar" on many fronts, and needed more specification to stand out from the rest.

Vulgarity: Minimal - 4 words total.
Sexual content: None!
Violence: Moderate - there are several battle scenes throughout that include some gore.

My Rating: ★★★

My Blog ¦ Bookstagram ¦ Twitter ¦ Pinterest ¦ Facebook

Dragons of Dark

Reviews