Dragons and a Dragon Riding Academy? Sign me up!

The writer did a great job of pulling together a well thought out plot with politics and throwing in some of the tropes we expect from this type of fantasy writing (magical school, the FMC learning how to control her new found magical powers, dealing with rivals and discovering her ancestry etc). There was plenty of mystery and action to keep you interested and lots of excellent likeable characters to keep you entertained.

All in all a great easy fantasy adventure to get lost in!

Such a great book! We follow the MC, Eva, through her new challenge: graduate as a dragon rider at Fairspell Academy. Life for her there is uncomfortable, at least. She is the oldest of the first year students and doesn't know ANYTHING about magic basics. She thinks she can compensate this with her knowledge as a dragon rider, but even if Perrel, her dragon, makes an effort, most of the assignments are difficult to her because she is smaller than ALL the other battle dragons. Their careers as a dragon rider and a battle dragon are at stake because of these... and both of them will do everything they can to stay at Fairspell Academy and end their training.
I can't wait to read the next book!

Fairspell Academy is the second in the Dragon Defenders of Destia series. I did NOT read the first book, but I found it unnecessary. The author does a great job of filling in the missing pieces as the novel moved along which didn’t leave me feeling like I was missing a lot. I enjoyed this one so much I would love to read the others in the series. Dragon riders, found family, forbidden magic, conspiracies...this book has a little bit of everything.

I... did not enjoy this book. I knew around the 50% mark I was losing any interest I was having in this series. I never grew to have an attachment to Eva or Perrel in the previous book, and in this one, I still don't.

I knew there would be hurdle after hurdle of incidents as soon as the twist was revealed about Eva so we could get to the 236 pages, and I just really stopped caring. Sadly, I also predicted the end and did not enjoy it either. It also felt rushed, and I would have preferred having it all be a bit more detailed.

The epilogue was sweet, and I quite liked it, but in total. I didn't enjoy the book and won't be picking up any more of the series. This book may be more suited to other readers, but it doesn't fit my tastes.

This is a fantasy adventure novel for which I got a free pdf from netgalley. This was my fantasy treat after a long time. The writer did a very good job of hooking the audience through the plot because the plot was very well written. The struggles of the heroine and her dragon perrel while they were in the academy, all was decided with a perfection but the execution could be improved a little bit.

The heroine was a very independent girl according to me but she can be a bit firm in her thoughts too. Her thoughts waiver too much and that becomes the reason to delay the audience of her secrets that Selena would provide.
I loved the way she was determined to prove herself and throughout the novel her character progresses to accept herself as she is. A lot of acceptance is required but that would definitely be left for the final book.

I also thought sometimes the character of Selena was there to prolong the story because she didn't add much importance to the story until the end. She was just giving her judgements on how Eva was progressing which we as readers were seeing.

This is the second book so I guess that is the main reason because the final book will be a blast according to the ending when we will get to see a proper fight between heroine and villain.

Christmas is coming and it is always so hard to think about Christmas presents. I think I have just uncovered a genius solution for those of you who have young adults to consider. If you haven't heard of her dragon books already, let me introduce you to Ava Richardson. Richardson has authored a multitude of books in her fantasy dragon world, and Fairspell Academy is book two of her latest trilogy about the dragon defenders of Destia.

For those of you familiar with the scifi/fantasy genre, imagine Anne McCaffrey's dragons of Pern and Leigh Bardugo's magical realm of Ravka combined, and all of them living at the Winx academy. This is the world Richardson has created in Fairspell Academy. It's a heady cocktail which skirts the danger of overcomplication really well. As I mentioned, Fairspell Academy is the second book and I haven't read the first one - Pack Dragon - yet, but I have already bought it and it is sitting on my Kindle right now to read along with all of the previous books in this world because Fairspell Academy really is that good! (And yes, I have preordered book 3 too).

The great thing about the way Richardson writes is that we can piece together the history of the story even though, as in my case, I might not have read anything coming before it. This has the potential to become laborious for an already addicted audience, but I think it is done with a light touch so that you don't really quite feel like it happened.

If you are a true addict - and I was certainly one of those pre-teens who had to read every book in every series written by any author I loved - you will be totally invested in this story moment by moment. For initiates, this is like the Goblet of Fire book in JK Rowling's Harry Potter books. It's full of intrigue and practice and competition you can't put it down. I haven't stayed up to finish a book in ages, but I had to do it with Fairspell Academy.

Eva Thirsk is a private in the Destia army, who accidently bonds with a small pack dragon. She is a farm girl orphan and her dragon, Perrell is too small to be a fighting dragon despite it being her great dream. The first book, Pack Dragon, is about how Eva finds her magical powers and how she and Perrell find themselves in a battle they are the key to winning.

In the second book, Fairspell Academy, Eva has formally been admitted into magic school with Perrell by her side. Eva has to start at the bottom, in magic classes with students several years younger than her. She soon discovers her magic is a bit different than everyone else's and she and Perrell also have to figure out how that brave little dragon can compete in strength contests with the bigger fighting dragons.

The magic of Fairspell Academy is more than the usual isolated child overcoming insurmountable odds, and secret pasts, and inherited talents. Normally in these kinds of stories the protagonist is the one with all the shortcomings and everyone has to gather around and work as a team to help that person reach their true potential. In Fairspell Academy though, as well as mastering her own arts, Eva has to work with her dragon to help Perrell find ways to achieve her goals and dreams too. Thus, in Eva and Perrell we have a beautiful pairing which goes far beyond selfish ambition. This tale is about team work on a much deeper level than was found at Hogwarts for example.

The beauty about giving these dragon books by Richardson as a Christmas gift is that the world is so well developed the stories will sustain your young adults for possibly the whole next year. They are the gift that will keep on giving! (Oh, and why not give them the McCaffrey books too?)

5 Stars

Even better than the first one, if you are on a fourth wing withdrawal maybe this will be for you. Though sometimes the dialogues fall flat the plot is very good!

CAWPILE score 8.86, which is 4.5 starts

I was kinda hoping this book will focus more on Eva's studies, but I enjoyed it anyway. It's continuing the plot regarding the Warlock.
I liked the fact that Eva isn't the best in her class just because she's got field experience, and instead she's working hard to become better while discovering her roots.
There is just a little bit of romance, more like a hint towards a possible relationship than actual romance, so if you like more romance than fantasy, you might be disappointed, however, it's a nice, relaxing story with dragons (who doesn't love dragons, right?!)