Jessica Cluess

"When the emperor dies, the five royal houses of Etrusia attend the calling, where one of their own will be selected to compete for the throne"--

House of Dragons

Sarah Selvaratnam 

A stunning book that is the most gorgeous blend between the Hunger Games and Game of Thrones. The characters are so vivid, the world building lush, the plot never once slowed down, and the writing was amazing. I’m so excited for book two!

Margarida 

Emily B

I devoured this book. This will go down as one of my favorites! The characters are multi-leveled and complex and the story never drags. I kept wanting to see what happened next! There was also a healthy dose of character development. One character came to terms with their past, while another gained some confidence, one gained a conscience and another went completely mad! Hyperia and Emilia were my favorites to watch. Hyperia because I always wanted to see what she'd do next, and Emilia because I related to her. When I think about it, I kind of believe that Emilia's affliction can be symbolic for mental illness. I think this simply because that was kind of how I acted when dealing with my own. I pushed everyone away and became a hermit just like Emilia. So, if that was intended, then I appreciate it. I also loved the twist with the dragons. Especially with Dog, that had me rolling! This book handles its dragons well. While most books will have dragons just to say they have dragons, this book actually does something with them. Overall, I am dying to get my hands on the next book. Especially after that last chapter.

Emily Payne

It reminds me of Game Of Thrones but with a lot more Dragons!

Sahi K

Dragons are awesome and majestic, and this book is so full of them that it can only be fun. My only expectation going into this new world was that it should entertain me and I should enjoy my reading experience, and it totally delivered on what I wanted. 

This was a very plot driven narrative, and it felt different after a long time because I tend to gravitate so much towards character driven stories. The author just throws us right in the middle of chaos and we get to follow along wherever it goes. There are five POVs but after the initial introductions, I didn’t find it hard to tell them apart and I think that was cool. I will not say that this book is reinventing the wheel, because the concept of a Trial (or multiple) to win a throne in pretty common in YA fantasy. So while it was tad bit predictable, it was also fun to follow the contests, guess who might be the winners, predict their motives and just be thoroughly entertained. The world building is certainly limited because we are very much concentrated on the trials, but we do get to know a bit of history in between and I found that sufficient for now. 

But the best part of this book were the dragons. Many books promise these majestic beasts these days in their titles but they are usually missing from action within the story itself, but I’m so happy that’s not the case here. All the dragons are very much a part of the narrative, have very distinct personalities and their own kind of relationships with their counterpart humans. I loved seeing how they seemed to complement each other so well, and all their bonding moments were absolutely spectacular. There’s a little one called Dog who is the most adorable ever and I don’t think I’ll be forgetting him anytime soon. 

And coming to the main characters, I liked that we had a spectrum of them ranging from ruthless to power hungry to desperate to resourceful to tortured... all very distinct, who weren’t even sure if they wanted to rule the kingdom but slowly came to realize what was important to them. I also liked how they each came from very different backgrounds and life experiences, which defines the kind of person they are and also gives us a glimpse of what kind of a ruler they might be. They are all competitors but it was also nice to see them reluctantly bond or work together sometimes. I don’t know if I can yet pick whom I like decisively because I really loved certain qualities in every single one of them, except one person whom I wouldn’t wanna spoil. Romance is also not much of an important part of this story and there’s only one relationship, which we only get glimpses of. But I was glad to see it was two women in love and there was no homophobia involved. 

The adults in the book are nothing much to be spoken about because like many of the YA novels we know, they were on a scale of useless to abhorrent, with maybe one being redeemable. The antagonists might seem predictable to some readers, but I certainly didn’t see the betrayals coming. 

In the end, I just wanna say I enjoyed this book a lot. While I found it good all throughout and didn’t wanna put it down, I thought the last 10-15% was amazing and I truly did not expect that ending. That was spectacular and I’m already so excited for the conclusion, which I suppose won’t be coming out for another year. All I want to say is that if you love dragons a lot and want to enjoy reading some nice YA fantasy, then this might be just the right choice. If you are looking for something very unique or new that has never been done before, then this is not it. I have seen the comparisons to Game of Thrones in other reviews and they maybe right... but I was never a fan of those books and I certainly like this version because it’s more to my taste.

Toni Turner

I really do love these dorks but for some reason I was not aware this was going to be a series! I feel like I’ve been starting way to many series lately! 

But here is the real issue! I’ve BEEN tired of vague character description, i.e are any of these people POC or is this just a bunch of white people? Like what does dark/tan skin mean?? 

My brain is so dumb that I need constant mental images painted for me of everything!!! but especially the characters!!! most importantly!!! because I’m not about to have a bad reading time assigning race to blank spaces in character sheets!!!! Gimmie BIPOC! GIMMIE the complex political system you served ALONG WITH the written fact that certain people in this system obviously were written to be POC. Why do that and then not put it on the page?? For context this is also a problem with a backlist title I’ve picked up recently which makes it more infuriating that this is a new release! I don’t mean to target this author specifically because sadly, this is a problem in general with white fantasy authors. (I’m not sure about other genres I don’t read those often) but it makes me sad and it’s late so I hope someone feels me on this rant. 

ALSO, I’m so bad at paying attention in books, but when I start thinking I must have missed character detail being established but it never comes up again?? Then there was for sure not enough effort or detail given.
I need to be reminded of who I’m reading about CONSTANTLY because this pea brain needs constant refreshers or else everyone looks like a blob or a weird cartoon character I accidentally start associating them with!! Example A: in my head Emila often looked like if Merida from Disney’s Brave and a drowned rat had a baby. And that’s not fair. But that’s the choice my brain made. Everyone else looked like a blob except Vespir who looked like Kora bc even though there was nothing suggesting it (or anything about her physical appearance) I saw hot buff lesbian!!! And the priests looked like Bean’s weird Aunt and Uncle from Disenchantment!!?? LIKE THIS IS NOT CONDUCIVE TO A READING EXPERIENCE THAT CAN KEEP ME IN THE STORY HAHHA AND I DO THIS ALL THE TIME BECAUSE EVERY WHITE FANTASY BOOK IS FULL OF SELF INSERT CHARACTERS THAT LACK CHARACTERIZATION! AHHHH!!!!

ghost girl in satin

J'étais tellement excitée pour ce livre ! Je ne suis pas une grande fan de dragons mais l'idée de ce cast assez varié de personnages m'intéressait, de même qu'une lutte pour la couronne. 
Finalement, je n'ai pas dépassé les cent pages. 
L'intrigue est sympa, intéressante, mais il n'y a pas assez de tension pour me donner envie de continuer.
Par ailleurs, les personnages sont clichés et le style d'écriture ne m'a pas particulièrement plu. Le mot "Okay" dans un roman de High Fantasy, ça me fait grincer des dents. 
Je pense que j'aurais aimé ce livre plus jeune, mais je ne me sens tout simplement plus visée par ce roman à présent. Pour autant, je reste persuadée qu'il saura rencontrer son public.

Candyce Kirk

When I first started reading House of Dragons, I was really afraid that five POVs would be too much, but that wasn't true at all. I loved that the author chose to give them all their own voice. Not only does it make the story much more interesting when reading the motives and thoughts of each individual character, it made me want to keep on reading. Most times a chapter ended in a way that I needed to know how a character would respond or what happened next.

Jessica's writing is another reason this was such a fast read. Her words flowed effortlessly and made me feel like I was there with the characters (a stunning map also helped a lot). Even though this story is very much plot driven, I still felt like I got to know each of the characters. I have to say that I didn't like them all of the main characters, haha. Luckily, my instinct was right about a couple of them.

House of Dragons is filled with action from the beginning. I loved how the five chosen to battle to rule the kingdom, were not the ones each part of this world was expecting. Part of me wishes that the books gave a bit more attention to this aspect of the story. Sometimes I needed just a little more from the characters in that way. What I loved the most about this being a plot driven book was the politics. I'm the type of reader that loves seeing how everything "behind the scenes" works.

The part dragons played in this story was also really interesting. I loved that they were more than just pets or ways to get from one place to the next. They all loved their dragons and it was clear they bonded. The role the dragons played near the end made me curious about how this will continue in the sequel. Even though some aspects of this book were predictable, I highly enjoyed reading House of Dragons. Until then, I'll make sure to read the previous book Jessica Cluess has written. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more books!

Neva Davies

After Cluess's behavior on Twitter November 30, 2020, in which she attacked an Afrolatina educator unprovoked, I am no longer reading her books. Her tweets (which she has since deleted) were irredeemable and full of racist vitriol.

Sophie Elaina 

The first half of this was five star perfection. It reminded me of The Hunger Games except the contestants have dragons. It was so good! But the second half dwindled a little and I didn’t necessarily like the places the plot went. But what an enthralling read nevertheless. And I actually enjoyed reading from every perspective which was a nice surprise. I look forward to reading the sequel when it finally releases. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I got this book for my book club! Support your authors!

Book: House of Dragons

Author: Jessica Cluess

Book Series: House of Dragons Book 1

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: f/f romance

Recommended For...: dragons, thrones, medieval style

Publication Date: May 12, 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 16+ (violence, gore, dragon harming, romance, heartbreak, TW sexual violence mention, TW rape mention)

Publisher: Random House for Young Readers

Pages: 470

Synopsis: When the Emperor dies, the five royal houses of Etrusia attend the Call, where one of their own will be selected to compete for the throne. It is always the oldest child, the one who has been preparing for years to compete in the Trial. But this year is different. This year, these five outcasts will answer the call....

THE LIAR: Emilia must hide her dark magic or be put to death.

THE SOLDIER: Lucian is a warrior who has sworn to never lift a sword again.

THE SERVANT: Vespir is a dragon trainer whose skills alone will keep her in the game.

THE THIEF: Ajax knows that nothing is free--he must take what he wants.

THE MURDERER: Hyperia was born to rule and will stop at nothing to take her throne.

Review: Overall, I thought this was a great read. The book was thrilling and it had a definite Game of Thrones feel to it (although not inspired by it, but along the same feel ala medieval times with dragons and throne stealing). I thought that the character development of not only the kids, but the dragons as well, were well developed. I thought that the author did well to write extremely strong female characters. The writing was extremely well done and the pacing was on point. The book also did amazing with world building and while it had a “set in the medieval” theme, the feminism in this book was amazing and I loved how the author had LGBT+ characters.

However, I did have some issues with the book. I thought that 5 POVs made the book a bit of a difficult read. The book jumped around a lot in the beginning and the repetition at the beginning was also a bit of a struggle. I also didn’t really understand the “game” the kids played and I think that the backstory/explanation of the events was a bit to convoluted. However, despite my early struggle with the book, I did extremely enjoy the book from about page 100 onward. The book really did pick up pacing at the end, even though I think that momentum could have been executed earlier. 

Verdict: A great read!

Lovisa

Charlot van Dijk

Ik wist niet wat ik moest lezen, dus Patrick vond dit een goed boek. Er zit namelijk het woord Draak in de titel. Goed verhaal, het is alleen weer een serie waarvan deel 2 nog niet uit is. Jammer hoor. Ik wil wel graag doorlezen. Het boek omschrijft een band met draken waar wij in de 'normale' wereld alleen maar jaloers op kunnen zijn, deze band wordt alleen maar beter naarmate het boek vordert en het laatste hoofdstuk ontplofte ik. Het boek is geschreven vanuit de perspectieven van alle 5 de competitors, maar stiekem heb ik wel een eigen favoriet. Ik denk dat als je dit boek leest, dat je zeker wel een van de personen hebt waarmee je kan identificeren. Bij mij was dit Emilia, boekenslim, buitenbeentje vanwege haar krachten en heel goed in praten. Ik hou van haar. Ook Lucian is echt een jongen die ik prachtig vind om te beleven en te leren kennen. Ajax (zal bij mij misschien al om de naam zijn) lag mij het minst. Al had ik wel medelijden met hem op een gegeven moment. Het verhaal is spannend, meeslepend en je leeft echt mee met de hoofdpersonen. Dit boek is een mooie en zeker niet genoeg bekend!

Lauren James

Full review on my blog, Storied Adventures!

*I received an e-arc from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

I realized something recently, I rate based on how entertained I am, and this was really entertaining!

Likes: adventure, DRAGONS, the trials, the ending, DRAGONS

Dislikes: The characters were bland

BUT they did get better in the last 30%!

Five royal houses will hear the call to compete in the Trial for the dragon throne. A liar, a soldier, a servant, a thief, and a murderer will answer it. Who will win? Three Dark Crowns meets The Breakfast Club with DRAGONS. When the Emperor dies, the five royal houses of Etrusia attend the Call, where one of their own will be selected to compete for the throne. It is always the oldest child, the one who has been preparing for years to compete in the Trial. But this year is different. This year these five outcasts will answer the call... THE LIAR: Emilia must hide her dark magic or be put to death. THE SOLDIER: Lucian is a warrior who has sworn to never lift a sword again. THE SERVANT: Vespir is a dragon trainer whose skills alone will keep her in the game. THE THIEF: Ajax knows that nothing is free--he must take what he wants. THE MURDERER: Hyperia was born to rule and will stop at nothing to take her throne.

House of Dragons

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