Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my review in any way, and the thoughts expressed are my own.

This young adult fantasy adventure followed Keriya, an albino girl, her best friend Fletcher and their unwanted tag-along Roxanne. It was intriguing that the majority of people were dark-skinned, making the one light-skinned character even more unusual. Keriya was a mistreated outcast in her village and that sense of low self-worth follows her throughout her journey, thoughts constantly returning to becoming a hero so that people would love and respect her. It was frustrating how often 'being a hero' came up for her and how simple her motivation was for most of the story even after she met the dragon, Thorion. She did develop beyond this, but the naiveté and immaturity of her and her friends were clear in their actions and their inability to pick up on things. She became one of those main characters who were repetitive in their thoughts and motivation, and became simply a force to move the plot forward, and became overshadowed by some of the other characters.

Roxanne was an entitled character and, along with Fletcher, was forced to join Keriya as she fled their village into the unknown. Right from the start I found Roxanna entitled and self-centred with little character development over the course of the novel. Fletcher was a more interesting side character, and I was much more absorbed in his development.

Thorion the dragon was an interesting character, especially as the second half of the main duo. It was fascinating how dragons didn't naturally have emotions but gained them through a bond with a human. Watching him learn and experience emotions as he spent more time with Keriya and her friends was delightful.

Cezon was an entertaining character from his first scene and his journey was always engaging. Plus, his pure dislike of everyone was funny, especially his hate for his colleague Iako. I found the introduction of a new character, Princess Seba, so late in the story a bit off-putting, especially since we already had so many POVs. She was even more spoilt than Roxanne and most of her character was that of a typical princess wanting to be more than she is allowed to be. She did have some decent development in the later part of the book. I found her more annoying than Roxanne, but I'd hope both grow more in the next book.

Overall, it was a decent read, the plot didn't do anything particularly unique, though the end raised some good philosophical points about what it means to be evil – which is something I hope would be explored more in the next books. I found the characters of Thorion, Fletcher and Cezon kept me entertained enough to keep reading. I give it 3/5 stars.

A magical adventure, Dragon Speaker was well written with a fun storyline which had me captivated until the very end. Can't wait to read more by this author in the future.

This is a reasonable fantasy story.

The characters are varied and although slow at the start it did draw me in.

Trouble is there are better dragon stories to read.

DNF at 30%

I was finding the story and the writing really basic and it was not holding my attention what so ever. I have no attachment to the story or any of the characters, and no real pull to finish it.

3,5* for the hungry dragon

I felt like I knew what I was getting into; A fantasy epos with dragons, magicians and a strong heroine. The beginning of the book even gave me The Name of the Wind-vibes. But the almost comic self-irony Kvothe offers the reader and makes this series so amazing in my eyes doesn't quite find its roots here. In general, this was still a great adventure but the heroine is pretty exhausting. I wouldn't quite use the word annoying as I really felt her motivations and point of view but a little appreciation for her fellow adventurers wouldn't have hurt anybody. I did, however, highly enjoy the dragon-myth Elana creats in her story: wise, low on the emotions-department, and irritating. I just loved it and really liked the realtionship between the main character Keriya and "her" dragon Thorion.

In general, I would say the story building needs a bit more practice because it felt a bit disruptive at times. I would have also liked to experience more of the wielding of magic itself.

This book is for you if… you enjoy multiple points of view, 3rs person narration, dragons, don't equate size with skills and are not easily annoyed by teenager quarrels.

Whats happening.
Keriya, seen as a cripple by others and also herself, is born without magical powers and is thus highly surprised she sees the Dragon god Shivnath in a vision. The good gifts her with a part of her own power that Keriya can only access when the time arrives and only for that one time. Keriya is supposed to find the last remaining dragon to protect him from the dark magician Necrovar, who she will have to fight with the borrowed godly power.

Without any chance to prepare herself for the quest ahead, she needs to flee to Allentria with two unlikely companions: her best friend Fletcher and the powerful but prideful Roxanne. Both luck and a will to fight make it possible for them to actually find the dragon. It is at this point that I really had to laugh out loud and applaud Elana for breaking with the typical stereotype of dragons.

What people expect when they hear the word dragon:


What they actually get:
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It's not so much the character of the examples above but rather the size. The minute it says Keriya is able to carry Thorion around on her shoulder, I just couldn't help but picture a wise and somewhat detached Mushu. I also liked how clearly it is depicted how all kinds of parties want to instrumentalise her the second she is the companion of a dragon. I feel like this is a point often missed out on in many hero-stories: The second you have power and show it, your surrounding will want to take advantage of it. And sometimes, it is quite pressuring to have all these expectations sitting on your shoulders, especially when:
"It wouldn't hurt to have another person helping us look for the dragon, would it?" she asked.
Especially, since I won't be able to summon it, added the tiny voice in her head

One of my favourite elements of this story is the constant but yet glorious banter between Effrax and the feisty Roxanne, which can be summed up in this:
Anything he wanted, she had decided she was against?

I see my past self during arguments with ex-boyfriends and I can only say: Gurl, I feel you, I really do.

I also laughed out loud at this:
"Ein't I done a good job for you in this past month?"
"You've done passably mediocre job", Thanthflame says flatly.

That's exactly the conversion I would expect to lead with misogynist assholes when the "try to do better" and absolutely do not botter but at least didn't do worse.
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Writing quality + easy of reading = 3,5*

pace = 4*

plot development = 3,5*

characters = 4*

enjoyability = 3* (it was hard sometimes to push through.

insightfullness = 3*
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This eArc was provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much!

This was a fast-paced, fun fantasy epic that kept you reading! The characters are complex and make unexpected decisions, as teenagers are prone to do. Occasionally their choices make them hard to like for awhile but for the most part the cast has you rooting for them to grow and to beat the evil forces threatening to take over the land. The story does feel like it ends a bit abruptly, with the final battle taking only about ten pages, but it leads well into the second story, which I look forward to reading.

I wasn't able to finish this book because I had a hard time getting into the story. So I can't give it a full review. The premise was interesting, but the story just dragged too much.

If epic fantasy is what you want, this book certainly fits the bill. The protagonist and her "friends" encounter several adventures leading up to the ultimate climax. While at times all of these adventures got a bit old, I still found myself pressing on, really interested in what the final outcome would be. While the characters were likeable, they were also complex, each with their own flaws, failures, and triumphs.

I wasn't sure if this book was a series when I started, but the book does end on a tiny cliff-hanger. I found myself googling book two late last night, since I was pretty curious how things ended up.

Thank you Net Galley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the prologue for this I felt like I was going to be kind of annoyed the whole way through. There are a lot of terms and names that are used in Game of Thrones and I wondered if we were going to get some kind of YA remake. Thankfully, once we were out of the prologue, we came out of that and had more original names, and I got over that pretty quickly.

I wasn’t an overly large fan of the chapter titles, I felt they were a bit spoilery at points and it would have been more effective had it been numbers followed by a quote. I liked the quotes though.

Regardless of the above, I really enjoyed this book! Unlike the most popular tropes in YA and fantasy, Keriya, our protagonist, is the only human living without magic, making her 'crippled', and therefore the perfect person to be chosen to go on the quest that is thrust upon her. All characters have their own distinguished POV, (my favourite being Roxanne, who accompanies Keriya on her quest). It's action packed from the start in this good vs. evil tale.

I'm going to read the second book for sure!

3.5 stars.

This book has a lot going for it, anything with magic and dragons is attractive. It has a good plot, The dragon characters, the dragon god Shivnath and the young dragon Thorian are particularly engaging. However the main characters are not particularly empathetic and do not draw the reader in. The story is presented simply, too simply for any adult audience. I think this is an enjoyable book for teens, particularly, I think young teens. It is not a book for young adults. For this reason I found it difficult to assess how many stars to give it. I have given it three as a book which is presented for young adults, for younger teens I would give it 4.

Dragon Speaker is the first book in The Shadow War Saga, and we have DRAGONS, people!!! You know how I love me a dragon, and Thorion is just perfect. I want him for myself, which sucks because he's already bonded with Keriya, and he's fictional! Still, you know what I mean!

This is classed as young adult, but to be honest, I think 'some' young adults might be a bit confused as this world is complex, to say the least. Personally, I loved it, but then I'm as far from a young adult as you can get!

Keriya is fourteen, and hasn't had an easy time of it. Her village is superstitious, to say the least, and she has no magic, which makes her lower than low to them. When she goes on her vision quest, she is helped by Shivnath, their Dragon God. Shivnath tells Keriya what she must do, but gives no clues as to how to do it. This leads to an amazing story as Keriya tries to figure just who she can trust, and what she should do. She is helped by Fletcher, her best friend, and Roxanne, someone who got dragged into it by accident. It was great to see these relationships change and alter as the story went on.

There are romantic elements to this story, but it definitely takes second place behind the main part of the story. Plus, she's FOURTEEN!!! This was an amazing story that I devoured, and I can't wait to read more. Absolutely recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!

I would recommend this book to teenagers. But not young adults.

The book is beautifully written and the world created and described makes this an engaging read. The author has a beautiful way of writing.

What made this not a wonderful book was, in my opinion, the plot. There are so many books out there with political intrigue in wartime fantasy settings out there, that this one falls quite short of being great!

Perhaps, one of the reason I didn't like this as much as many others, is that I am a little older than the target audience.

Having a read a lot of books, some events and the character's reaction to said events in this book were hard for me to digest. Take for example, the three main character's leaving from their village. They complain a lot and blame Keriya for having to leave. But in reality, they didn't actually have to leave. I am not even sure how Roxanne gets mixed up with it. She was simply in the vicinity of Keriya, but so was the village elder's daughter. Nothing happened to her.

From the same situation, when Keriya asks Fletcher, why he is complaining since he didn't even like his family. He exclaims, "I love them." and goes on to think that she will never understand family. What makes this dialogue atrocious is that this happens immediately after Fletcher's brother disowns him and even attacks them. These inconsistencies were aggravating and kept me from being truly immersed in the book.

There were so many other such plot holes and inconsistencies in the character or their actions. It could have been better thought out.

This book did pick up in the second half and I liked it far better. There were a lot of original ideas in the fantastical world that the author created, that I simply loved. The powers that the main characters have and the way of life that is described was quite riveting.

In conclusion, I like this book. But I feel I would have liked it much better if I was 5 years younger!

This book was a nice surprise. It has intriguing characters and interesting plot. And it has dragons. Or exactly, one dragon. Actually, he may be ma favorite characters, sometimes he was very cute, just imagine dragon smiling, okay.

There are some very interesting things left unexplained in the book so I am sure the next book will be as good as this one.

I got this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thanks.

This book has good moments. It starts off quite well, introducing us to this world where most humans have magic, a girl in a small village and her rag tag friends. She gets chosen to go on an adventure. Good, great! But I found that the end of the book was written very differently to the beginning. I felt as though the main character lost the personality that had been so carefully explained at the beginning. Even when you're on a quest where danger is on every corner, you still remain a person with fears and thoughts. Does she never think of the man who raised her? I surely would. Anyway, the story is pretty good but it gets to a point where it's a little repetitive and I did put it down for a week. Once I picked it up again I managed to finish it but the ending was slightly anticlimactic... there was a whole build up to... really not much? It seemed to easy. Unless the ending isn't all we seem, which I guess could be good, but I didn't get that feeling. Not my favourite but some very good ideas and some great scenes. I would have liked to see more of the different character's personalities, as I don't feel like I know them enough.

This novel was a slow burn. It took me almost a quarter to a third of the way through before I was invested enough to want to know or have to know what happens next. The characters and their dialogue are well thought out and engaging; however, at times awkward. The imagery on the other hand was as lyrical as it was beautiful which at times felt in contrast with the awkwardness of the character interaction.

Book: Dragon Speaker
Author: Elana M. Mugdan
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, Shivnath Productions, for providing me with a free copy.

I really didn’t know what to expect whenever I went into this one. This is another one of those books where I’ve heard nothing about it or the author. I was looking for a good high fantasy book and that’s what I found here. Overall, I was just very surprised about how much I ended up liking this one. High fantasy is one of those genres that could go either way for me and I just love it whenever I find one that I actually enjoy.

Like with most high fantasy books, we have a full cast of characters. While there’s not as many as A Song of Ice and Fire, there’s still plenty to keep straight. Now, I really didn’t have a hard time, which is actually a very good thing. This means that Elana has them so well developed and written that it’s very easy to remember not only who is who, but their importance to the overall story. I feel like this is very important. Often times in fantasy, there are these characters just randomly placed throughout the book that really don’t add anything to the overall story. I didn’t get that feeling here.

Keriya is our main character. She is born without magic, but discovers that she has this gift to talk to dragons. Don’t get me wrong. I think that this is actually a very cool talent to have. However, I really felt like Keriya didn’t have that touch that I’ve come to expect from characters. There was just something missing from her overall character that kind of made her a little unlikable. I don’t know if this was Elana’s goal or not, but there was just something about her that kind of made it difficult for me to connect with her.

Anyway, the world was a typical high fantasy world. This is something that I really love. I like how we have this medieval world with elements of magic. I know a lot of people don’t, but I do. There’s just some kind of good vibe that I get when I’m taken to these made up lands.

The dragons were a great touch. The only thing I have to say about that is that I wish there were more of them. This book is called The Dragon Speaker. I just wish that we had seen a little bit more dragon and maybe a little less human. I don’t know…

Anyway, this is a great start to what I hope will be a very promising fantasy series. I am looking forward to more from both this series and this author.

Dragon Speaker is the first book in the Shadow War Saga. The story is based in a well-built world, where all humans are magical - except for our heroine, Keriya Nameless. Berefit of natural magic, parents, and without even a name, she struggles with her place in her society and in trying to find a sense of belonging. Keriya is a 'typical' teenager in a lot of respects - at times very self-centered, quick to anger, lacks understanding of the wider world and her place in it. Throughout the story, we see clear development in Keriya's character as she is forced to grow up and she learns what it is to love and be loved through her friends - and her dragon!

This is an intriguing world, where the politics (even when they don't directly relate to the heroine) are muddy and the boundaries of 'good' and 'evil' are not clear. I am very much looking forward to the next in the series - only need to wait until May!

An ARC was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, let me start by saying that the world building in this book is amazing! The effort that was put into the world-building of this book is clearly shown. It's very obvious that the author worked hard planning this and is very passionate about her work. There's so much complexity to the universe in this book.

The book is packed with action and adventure. It's got great character development as well. I love how Keriya sets out to prove her village wrong. It's also got some sweet friendship moments as well as some romance.
Most of all, the world building is amazing. The plot is also very well structured and fast-paced.

The protagonist, Keriya Nameless frustrated me at first, but I grew to like her. As she went on her journey, she changed from an overly stubborn and selfish girl to a strong and caring friend and protagonist.

Overall, it was a great book and an interesting read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised reading this book. The characters were believable, though the romantic tensions felt a bit out of place and sporadic as the novel went on. I enjoyed the dragon scenes, and look forward to the next book. It was a relaxing read that didn't require me to put too much effort into figuring things out, and the author did a great job at describing the world. Fight scenes and magic scenes were a bit.. off, for me, it seemed as though it was too easy for the main character to have everything go right even though friends were wounded (everyone ended up alright) - loved the addition of the princess at the end who can 'see' things.

This was such a fun, rich fantasy read! I adored the magic system, the dragons, and Keriya, our main character. I will always root for the underdog, and Keriya was nothing if not that. She's the only one in her village able to do wield magic, yet she taken notice by the dragon goddess. She finds that she is a Dragon Speaker, although she's in need of a dragon.

I also really loved the secondary characters and appreciated the time the author took to introduce each of them. I fall hard for anything that has to do with dragons, and this eye-catching cover and synopsis was hard to say no to. I'm so glad this book lived up to my expectations, and I can't wait to read more!