Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

DNF at 56%, skimmed the rest.

This is too boring for a book about dragons and a revolution.

The characters don't have a personality, we don't learn anything about them. Ignius who uses they/them pronouns like all dragons and Kathely, who also uses they/them pronouns and identifies somewhere under the nonbinary umbrella, have been bonded since birth but there is no development of their relationship, we are just told they care about one another.
I was not invested in them joining the Far Patrol, going on their first solo adventures or anything else that was happening. Whatever underlying tension might be between the dragon classes, it was not communicated. There wasn't much when it comes to worldbuilding, historical, societal or otherwise. The writing did not work for me at all, it's surface level and bland.

3.75 Stars

This is the first book in an expected series, as it’s not fully resolved by the end.

Ignius is a dragon who is bonded with his Chosen human, Kathely. Both of these individuals are from the upper class of society and Kathely had talked to Ignius nearly all the days of the seven years it took them to hatch. For the past twelve years Ignius and Kathlely (now 19) were together always and trained on the daily so that Ignius could learn to read, converse and have proper court manners. They are now considered grown enough to find their own path in the world. This world is mainly ruled by upper class dragons, and their human Chosen, but it is run by the smaller middle- and lower-class dragons who maintain the backbreaking underpaid labor that keep the upper class folk in steaming baths, delicious food, and beautiful clothes. These lower-class dragons, and most of the mids, do not have human Chosen, and live in abject squalor, not that the upper class dragons much care. Ignius does not question his place in society, because he’s an upper class dragon and all of his superiors believe themselves to be superior, based on size, color, and lineage.

Ignius’ lineage is one of several in the upper class caste, and his aunt is the head of the Dragon Council that governs their land. Ignius wishes to follow his mother’s lead and be selected to Far Patrol, guardians of the borders of their land. His race of dragon is almost never selected to the North post, due to it’s extreme cold, but Ignius is proud of their placement until he experiences the bitter cold, and their first solo mission becomes a trap for themself and Kathely. Rebels from the lower class wish to raise the hue and cry of their plight, and Ignius is their first pawn in a strategic plan to gain equality.

Ignius is at first outraged, and wounded by Kathely’s frustration with the situation. They need a rescue but the Council is reluctant. It’s a daring situation, that leads Ignius and their friends into peril and punishment. Being sent back to the capital city gives Ignius an unprecedented look into the lives of the middle and lower class dragons, and their sympathies begin to waver. However, the dangerous ideas they are experiencing are nothing compared to the power play their aunt is hatching. It’s clear that politics is not Ignius’ strength, however their sense of right and wrong, their morality, is not undeveloped, and Ignius’ sure the recent political issues will lead their society into war. They want to stop it, but can they?

This was an interesting read, and I think it will be very much appreciated by fans of non-binary and ace fiction as well as lovers of high fantasy. I will admit to struggling at times with the pronoun situation, as Kathely is addressed as “they” like all the dragons were, and that was an anomaly which caused confusion for me. Also, there are SO MANY names and dragons and pairs of dragons + Chosen and names of the dragons houses and the human houses and ACK! It became really hard to keep them straight. Ignius seems to be asexual, as well as non-binary, and has underdeveloped social skills as well. They struggle to manage even the smallest of interpersonal interactions without double-thinking or consulting at least two others. The indecisiveness got a little wearing, especially as the stakes kept growing. It becomes clear that society is unraveling in ways that Ignius and their friends cannot abide, with ancient rites being adopted and cruelty on the regular. It’s time to stand for what is right, and Ignius and their friends position themselves in opposition to their families–for the first time ever. I liked Ignius, but I had not expected this story to be fully narrated by a dragon–not a dragon shifter. It was a bit of a switch for me. If you like fantasy and adventure without a romance arc this is probably a good read for you.

Thank you NineStarPress & Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ♥

2/5 Stars

When people give me free stuff, and I don't like it, I feel real bad, but sadly, that's exactly the case with this book. Before I get into the review, a quick question: Is this the setup for a sequel? Because if not ... well, let's just say, that it makes the ending of this book even worse.

I'd start with a list of things that I enjoyed, but there isn't really that much positive stuff to talk about:

+ It had dragons, with the MC being a dragon themselves. That was cool.

+ As someone who feels really strongly about alien and magical creature rights, I couldn't help but smile, when we gendered dragons. Not once, not once! did we call someone "it". I don't think I can explain in words, why I feel so strongly about this, but I do. So thank you! Because you see, when you go and claim that your human has a special and strong bond with magical being X and then you can't even bother to treat them like an equal, what's even the point.

+ They/Them MC Slash Nonbinary Rep.

+ Blind rep

+ I want to make the ace rep a plus point, but I don't really like the execution. I guess I can give it a point for existing? Maybe?

+ The character of Carrius. Yes. Just them and I will explain why. But they were great and I liked them a lot.

I did not give the characters themselves a + point, nor the worldbuilding, and I here's why.

Characters:
So, you see, I think the chosen bond connection partnership thing between humans and dragons is cool in theory, but we didn't really do anything with it??? Especially since, after the action started to happen, we kinda ignored our human companions and their opinions and wants like they weren't even there and like it didn't even concern them. Yeah, Kathely is allowed to say someting from time to time, but their characterization was not done really well, so there's that. And why do I claim that their character was done poorly. Lots of reasons:
Ignius loves to tell us how Katheley is and isn't and it drove me mad. There are a few scenes where it is implied that there could be conflict between the both of them, but we never do anything with it.
There are two scenes in particular, regarding the rebels, where I thought:

"Oh! They both want to handle the situation differently. Are we gonna explore what war can do to personal relationships? Are we gonna raise the stakes by forcing the two of them to fight each other? BOY this is gonna be good!" Until it wasn't because while they did disagree with each other, they - and by they I mean Kathely - eventually just ignored the opinion that they were expressing and changed it without a real reason. Yes, later on it is clear, why they and Ignius do what they do and think what they think, but not in the beginning. Like come on. Those rebels were gonna hurt your choosen! You can't tell me, that you decided: "Yeah, you guys kidnapped us, and hurt us and made me consider to off myself, but eyyy, that happens to us every sunday, so we're good."
Their actions don't make sense. Their feelings don't make sense. I couldn't tell what character the book wanted Kathely to have. Which is why they felt a combination of a) not developed enough and b) out of character.
But at least they had something like a character. Other characters were just there.
I'm gonna quote Hexana

"I don't know why I'm even here".

Because yes, I too didn't know why you were there and what all of the supporting characters motives where. They were just there and that was their main purpose. Well, with a few exceptions.
Carrius for example being one of them. They were handeled really greatly. Their development and arc was build up just like I wanted Ignius's and Kathely's arc to be, but while they were lacking, Carrius wans't. You can hate them if you want, but you can't deny that they were a great and fantastic character. Jack was kinda going in that direction too, but also not really because of spoiler reasons.

Worldbuilding:
I like parts of it, but they are outweight by the stuff that I didn't. You have this cool dragon society which is amazing... if only you hadn't forgotten about the humans. There is this really really weird sub plot that I'm not gonna explain or mention for spoiler reasons, but it's the first time the book actually takes the time to talk about what the humans want in all of this. Their motivation is just a bunch of ??? though. You don't hear from other humans, you don't see them and you don't feel like they are even there, if it weren't for the few choosen partners that were following our dragon squad arround. We established early on what it is that dragons can do and want. But what about the humans? If you have establishe a human - dragon partnership as an important part of your world, you have to handle both partys with the same care and love.
A lot of the worldbuilding was also told and not shown which I didn't like in itself. Especially after it became clear that a lot of the stuff wasn't even that important to beginn with. So again, if this wasn't a setup for another book, what was the point.

What was the point I ask, as the book goes on an on and ends. We take so long to build the conflict up and then it's over before it even started. I also wanna say, that this was giving me heavy communism/nazi vibes and the very last sentence reminded me of the 'Weiße Rose' (White Rose, not sure if that's the name the english speaking world is calling them). The Weiße Rose was a resitence group of young students that were not ok with what Hitler was doing and that wanted to help and rebel in the fight for what was right. Look it up/Google it and you'll see, that there is a very clear parallel between the book and the group. So clear, that it had to be intentional. Which isn't really a critic in itself. But! and here is my critic. If you wanted the book to be that from the start, you could have build it up differently. You only have so many pages. Use them to enrich your book.

Before I end this review, I - an asexual - want to say a few things about the ace rep. Look, it's fine if the character questions themselves and if they struggle, because haven't we(aces) all? What I didn't like was:
That they have sex and it is implied that while it wasn't the best thing in the world, they do believe that they can still find the right partner and it will be good.
That their partner leaves them after the sex.
That they NEVER - not once - talk. Communication? Ever heard of that? Pleeease.
I don't like so many of Ignius's thoughts. Like, how every grown up feels that way and how they will to once they are an adult. There is a scene where they compare their aceness to another characters disability and that rubbed me the wrong way. Because we never correct it. If you wanna make that claim, fine, but don't leave the character with their internalized acephobia.
The way they handeld the disabled character - and I don't mean the blind one, that part was fine - was rubbing me the wrong way as well. Abelist. Absolutly abelist.

Could I have enjoyed this? I think I could, if a bunch of stuff had been different. However, the pacing was off - again, if this is part 1 off a part 2 series, it gets a pass, if it isn't, just nope. The characters weren't developed enough and all the stuff that happend - when it finally started to happen, should have been handeld with more time and care.

The end result just feels lacking and that's sad, because the book had lots of potential.

Humans and dragons - that has certainly been done before, way before How to train your dragon or even Eragon. I remember a book by german fantasy author Wolfgang Hohlbein about dragon fighters and their human riders, being published 1991. I've read it back then, and remember it being the second book in a series.

So why and how is Far Patrol different from other books like that?

Firstly, because dragons and humans live in synergy, without one race dominating the other. And secondly - all the other books are (high) fantasy, while Alex Powell throws us into a different setting and sub genre. Which is refreshing. And thirdly - the main plot. You wouldn't guess it at the start (neither by looking at the description), but this is not an adventure book. This is a book about political intrigue and civil war. (We'll come to this later.) So it's a totally different cup of tea, and it might just be one you like.

I found the world really interesting, and it had a fresh feeling to it because of the way the dragons and their chosen interact.

So, let's talk about plot. Our heroes apply for the Far Patrol, which apparently brings great adventure and fame, even if the borders have been secure for at least a century now. Only the best of the best are accepted.

Sadly, this book is not about adventures at the borders, despite the title. Far Patrol ends up taking less than a third of the book, before it simply stops mattering. That threw me off, because like I've said, I was expecting something different.

While this might start to look like a grand adventure in the beginning when everyone talks about Far Patrol, it quickly turns out to be more along the lines of a rebellion and a dooming civil war. I kinda had the feeling that the plot set out to do something different before faltering in to this story.
There are also some parts that tend to look like coming of age, and those parts could have been left out. They are not adding anything of interest to neither the story nor the involved characters.

Speaking of which: I think a lot of the characters remain rather shallow, including the human part of our main protagonist. Granted, we see the story through the dragon's eyes, which makes them more important to the story, but since they care so much about their chosen, it's a shame that Kathely does not bring more to the table. In fact, the whole human population seems to be more deco than anything else for most of the time. Fortunately, there is Jack - the proposed villain for a while, but also the most likable character.

This is the time to say a few words about gendering. This book uses gender neutral pronouns (especially for the dragons who don't identify as male or female), and as I haven't read many books in this style before, I was curious if this would hinder me in any way (which is a common cliche associated with those pronouns), and to make it short: no, it doesn't.

Though I have to admit that it is kind of mildly irritating at times - when the dragon does something, it's neither she/he and her/his, but they and them. I immediately associate those pronouns with plural and expect more than one entity to act. But to be fair - that irritation quickly fades away, and I got used to it within a few pages. That being said, I'm not sure this really adds to the story. It felt kind of forced on, for the sake of just using it. And it makes things awkward when a dragon addresses another dragon with Sir, because of military hierarchy. If dragons are neither he nor she, then they should neither be a Sir or a Maam. But that's just my two cents.


So, finally, what have we here? To put it together:

The world is interesting and feels kind of new.

There are only a few likable characters, and a lot of really uninteresting ones. Especially the human population.

The plot is where things go south for me. I have the feeling that there are really interesting points getting lost, like the first dragon of the Lockden line being chosen for north patrol in, like, ever. There could be a story behind that - but it's never explored. Far Patrol might be the title, but it doesn't really matter and makes the first chapter totally irrelevant.

There are some plot points that gave me the feeling of being very constructed, breaking the inner coherence of the world just to get from A to B in the story. And I'm missing the dilemma parts of the plot points, which too often fall flat. There's no drama there that makes me feel for our protagonist. Major spoiler: Even when our group of heroes are found out by Ignius's cousin to harbour sympathies for the rebels, they don't really act. A decisive act of violence in this situation was all that would have been needed to bring the group over to the other side. It would have meant something. Like I said, the way this resolves, there is no drama. And it feels so wrong that they simply don't act at all.

There are some minor points that feel not right, like the prison bars used to jail a dragon melting by the dragon's breath. And what's the sense of having a secret police if they harbour their own very recognizable logo? I get the nazi reference, by the way, but I find this lacking in coherence and logic. Don't call it secret if you are going to portray it, call it the special police instead.

All in all, I rate this book a solid 5 out 10, or 2.5 out of 5. The fate of our heroes left me mostly cold. Since there is potential in this world for future installments (I really liked the setting), I'm going to round that up to 3/5.