This was definitely a set up book for a promising series. I enjoyed the narrators and how they brought the characters to life. Made them enjoyable despite their character flaws. I would recommend this book.

For a story with heavy world building and too many interpersonal relationships, the narrators do a good job to keep the reader engaged and not lost in the weeds.

Many thanks to Orbit Books, Hachette Audio, author Devin Madson, and Netgalley for providing me the ALC in exchange for my honest review.
Public Release Date: August 27, 2024

***

4.5 STARS
One of the best fantasy releases of the year!

***

Between Dragons and Their Wrath follows three different characters navigating a world rife with political, socioeconomic, and racial tensions. Two different angsty romances linger on the fringes of the book but do not feel like they steal page time from the central plot.

What an awesome dragon fantasy book! Although dragons’ appearances on-page remains limited, it seems that explosive events are to come with dragons at the center.

I love how each of the three different character POVs give you a look at distinct pieces of this lushly built fantasy world. We have the privileged aristocratic son who was exiled to the dragon-riding corps of the military but has now collided with ugly truths. Second, a young woman goes undercover in an arranged marriage, planning to destroy the oppressors to her own people from the inside. Lastly, Naili the laundress gets herself embroiled with a criminal gang and a dangerous scientist. Each POV character represents a distinct worldview, from different socioeconomic stations and cultural identities, in separate parts of the broader world. At the start, they feel entirely disconnected, so it was fun to piece together their connections and make predictions based on foreshadowing as the plot unfolded.

Certain plot beats, worldbuilding elements, and characters reminded me of Mistborn (not the magic system!). I think this series is one to watch, because the threads woven here could lead to surprising and massive payoffs in future books.

AUDIOBOOK: The narrators struck the right tone for the book and gave excellent performances fitting for each character. Hachette Audio gives us stellar sound quality. I have absolutely no complaints.

DNF @ 41%. Stopping as I'm not invested in the story or any of the three POV characters and don't really care what happens plot-wise or character-wise. I don't think this is poorly written; it's just not the book for me at this time. Readers looking for a high fantasy novel with dragons, an arranged marriage, and anti-colonial political conspiracies may find that it's a book for them.

The audiobook has three narrators, one for each of the POVs, which I appreciate, though the two narrators for the female POVs sounded a bit too similar to me. The narrators blended into the story pretty neutrally - I wasn't particularly aware of them, meaning they neither elevated nor detracted from the story they were telling for me.

This book was an interesting concept that was very enjoyable start to a new series. I cannot wait to see how the main characters come together in the end. This is book one in a series so there is a cliffhanger. I thought the characters were well developed and thought through. They had their own vices and strengths that they use and work through to survive. There are plenty of twists and turns in the narrative and the imagery is great. That being said, I do think there are instances where the character's thought processes are not appropriate. One character in particular is constantly thinking about how attractive someone would be even in situations where it would not be appropriate or where you would expect the thought to occur, making that specific character one of my least favorites. Overall, the story is excellent and the concept is unique and I am awaiting the next in the series so I can see what happens next!

Such a well-written and immersive epic fantasy!

Lately, it’s difficult to find fantasy novels that aren’t just popular booktok tropes mashed together into a semi-coherent novel, but Beween Dragons and Their Wrath really impressed me. Sure, there are tropes, but they’re incorporated pretty well in this novel.

I loved how the audiobook has three different narrators for each POV character. I honestly wasn’t expecting that, but it definitely made for better listening. Each character was written well with their own quirks and traits, and imo the audiobook narrators did really well in distinguishing all of them apart.

This wasn’t a 5 star read for me because there were a lot of lulls to the point where it became hard to pay attention. This is a book with A LOT of politicking, which isn’t always easy to keep my attention. If that’s your thing, then you might like this.

While I didn’t really care about Tesha’s undercover rags to riches storyline, I did like the dragon riders and Ash’s quest to understand the world, along with his relationship to his dragon. I also liked Naili’s discovery of her plant powers, and her imbalanced relationship with her boss. (I can’t say no to forbidden romances lol)

I’ll definitely pick up the sequel to this one!

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for this arc.

This book was quite.. interesting. By the end of the book, I found myself going back to the synopsis with one question in mind- What was that?
The synopsis sounds so promising - a divided kingdom, a tribute bride, poison-making, magic, ruthless gangs, monsters, dragon riders, and of course, dragons. Unfortunately, this book did not dive deep into any of that. It focused mainly on the divided kingdom, but in a very mild manner- there are mentions of war but no first-hand action of the war, no uprising, only talks of it, basically none of the action and suspense we usually get when we travel into other divided kingdoms. We have a tribute bride who spends half the book practicing mannerisms, and the other half wishing her master was there to teach her about poisons. She mentions poisons quite a bit and in her current role as an infiltrator, she is heavily reliant upon it, however, when the poison comes into play, it is very, very brief. It was along the lines of "He took another sip, turned blue, yelled, then fell." Very uneventful.
I was also excited for the magic, but that too was very lackluster. One day, Naili finds out she, along with the other laundresses, have powers, unsure of how they came about, but can only assume it was the alchemist's doing. Naili gets tricked by another laundress into going to meet the alchemist, where the laundress later kidnaps her and brings her to a gang, which she is later initiated into. That all sounds great on paper, but the execution was done poorly. How and what goes on in between all of that are just little filler details - too much for such little action. The magic could have been great, however Naili only used it once, and it was to basically play Jack from Jack & the Beanstalk & shimmy down a plant. Once again, very unexciting. Naili spends half her time in the book picking flowers off her arms, and the other half lusting over everyone she lays eyes on. After she is forced to enter the gang, you would have thought some action would have happened there, but it remained flat. I'm not even sure where Naili's story ended to be honest- it wasn't quite memorable.
Most of the book centered around Ash, a dragon rider, who we know rides a dragon. (Dragon riding, divided lands, war, monsters.. great.) But he's ridden his dragon twice in the book - once when we first meet him (no action), and the second time when his dragon is pierced through her scales. We don't get any real edge-of-your-seat dragon action however. It felt like Ash was joy-riding on his dragon, viewing the ground from above, and then his dragon (whom he spoke to by the way, although all she did was insult him), was shot. And then the dragon disappears and we have no more of the dragon for the remainder of the book up until the very last paragraphs.This would have been alright, had this not happened in the first half of the book. Most of Ash's storyline is centered around his watcher. He has a crush on him but he's questioning his potential role in his life because of his nobility.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book. It felt like I was listening to a very, very, very long backstory or introduction. A 15-hr long introduction to be exact, while waiting for it to get good. There was no action, and I found it difficult to find a climax or suspense from each POV. The way the book ended was also very uneventful and flat, and when I was done, I was left feeling disappointed. After completing the book and gathering my thoughts, I read over the synopsis again, as well as the title and studied the cover. Unfortunately, my feelings remained - everything inside did not deliver what the outside seemed to promise.

I received this ARC courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

So first of all if I were only to rate the narrators, I would've given this 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. They did an amazing job bringing the characters to live and have absolutely pleasant voices. It was a joy to listen to them.

Now rating the book. There were parts of the story I really enjoyed. For instance the concepts of dragon riders, the eyesore that takes its toll on the riders and the political elements were intriguing and quite original. I will say Ashs storyline was probably my favorite and the friends to lovers Arc really cute.

Teshas story line was also interesting, I enjoyed her as a character, though we've seen the send to kill a King storyline before it was fun. Here comes my main concern with it because a sex scene between her and her ex lover didn't sit right with me (especially because we get one just like it later with Niley). In those scenes both girls tell their lover NO, to stop and they ignore it. Niley as well as Ash have a non consent kink which is fine when it's voiced and practiced safely. In both scenes Nileys and Teshas no is just ignored and them being hot for their lover doesn't make it okay to me. Because the book also didn't include any trigger warnings I had to take a star off.
The fact the author includes non-consent in all three storyline (kinks for Niley and Ash and a scene for Tesha) makes it seem like this is the authors personal preference, and if that's the case she really should know better to make the scenes less rapey or include trigger warnings. Same goes for the constant threat to get raped Niley has to live with when she enters the gang.

I liked each individual story, but they didn’t weave together very well until the very end. It made me a little impatient because I had a hard time grasping why we needed these three POVs - particularly since each unfolded rather slowly.

I also think I needed more dedicated worldbuilding: class differences, cultural differences (particularly since the “unification” is such a big factor in one POV), science and magic explanations (alchemy? Dragons? What else is magical - or scientific - and how much does the average person know or understand), education…

It was hard to really see the impact of what our characters learn without understanding the baseline of where they started.

But to have Soneela Nankani and Lauren Fortgang narrating the same audiobook was a definite treat!

I'm a sucker for a good romantasy with dragons so when I saw this latest from a new to me author I couldn't help clicking the request button. Luckily it did not disappoint. It was good on audio and perfect for fans of The fourth wing series by Rebecca Yarros. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I listened to the audiobook provided as a NetGalley ARC, and it was very well done! I really enjoyed this!

At first, I really enjoyed the novel, but by the end, I felt as if I had already read this novel. The plot and magic system felt cliched and unimaginative. I felt like the author took a couple of different books and put them into this one. The ending of the novel left me wondering what truly happened because it ended when the twin figured out that the main female character is an insult bride for his brother, and I was left like is that all.

I was blown away by this audiobook. I went into this really blind and just cannot wait for it to be released and everyone to read it. The political intrigue was so well written and I couldn’t wait to see where the story was going and how the three main characters we follow will all intersect at some point or how they’re all connected. I love the mystery around Tesha and am dying to find out in the next book how her story will continue. I love that this book also has LGBTQIAP+ representation and the tension between some of the characters was layered and beautiful and sexy, no spoilers though! I immediately purchased the other series Devin Madson wrote because their writing was just so interesting and intriguing. I was hooked immediately!

I thought the narrators did an amazing job, it was cast perfectly. The voices seemed to match the characters well and their cadence and flow really swept me into the story within the first chapter.

Thank you Net Galley, Hachette Audio, and Orbit for allowing me to read this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately I found this one quite boring. None of the characters truly captured my attention. The only perspective I looked forward to was Ash's. I found myself not wanting to continue with this book. The narrators were excellent.

This book managed to hook me from the get go and my interest didn’t sway once. When i was 30% through I went a preordered a signed edition ( something i almost never do. )
The book's prose is beautiful yet easy to read which is something I find preferable when I recommend books.
The story is split into three povs. All which I found intriguing and interesting. I loved the little references to how everyone is connected and I can’t wait to see more of that in the next book. I honestly can’t pick a favourite since they all had such different things keeping my interest.
I found all the characters fun and unique. They all got very different personalities making it easy to differentiate them and their journeys.
The book handles all its topics in a graceful way in my opinion. I liked seeing the native representation but also all the different queer identities.
The narration of the audiobook was also a delight. No real notes there.
I already made my friends pre-order. If so it's safe to say that I recommend this book with my whole heart. Please read it. Please.

Between Dragons and their Wrath explores a fantasy world filled with politics, spies, unique magic, and of course dragons, although less dragons than I thought there would be.

We follow three different characters, Tesha, a glass blower's apprentice who poses as a bride for a political plot, Naili, a laundress of an alchemist who slowly realizes she has an affliction that she doesn't know how to handle, and Ashadi, a dragon rider who realizes there are schemes and truths not shared with the warriors.

Although this book started out slow, as I continued I got more and more drawn into the stories. At first the three characters seemed completely unconnected, although as the stories unfolded we learn of the interconnections. This was definitely a denser fantasy than I normally read, but once I understood more of what was going on I found myself swept along for the story. I thoroughly enjoyed all the characters and I also appreciated the queer representation in this book.

The three narrators of the audiobook did an excellent job and really drew you into the story. They also made the fairly long chapters go by fairly fast. They also really personalized and gave more depth to each of the main characters.

4 stars

Sadly, I did not enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. The characters were so confusing to me that I had a hard time keeping my focus and couldn't keep pace with the story. As for the premise of the story, it seems very interesting, so I'm sure other people will also find this one very intriguing. Also, as a reader, I think it would be better for me to read it than to listen to it.

P.S. If you are expecting a book filled with dragons this is not the one. Though they are mentioned there isn't a focus on them as suggested by the Title and cover.

La verdad es que el nuevo libro de Devin Madson, Between Dragons and Their Breath me ha parecido entretenidísimo, divertido y con un punto picante que le viene bastante bien, pero adolece de un caso grave de comienzo de saga, por que los tres cliffhangers con los que termina la entrega son más escarpados que los acantilados de Dover.


En primer lugar me gustaría alabar la labor de los tres narradores del audiolibro, uno por cada punto de vista,a ya que se nota que Soneela Nankani, Lauren Fortgang y Ron Butler se han metido en el papel a fondo, en su representación de Tesha, Naili y Ash. La elección de la dirección del audiolibro ha estado muy acertada repartiendo los papeles, además me complace especialmente que haya variedad de voces para representar cada papel, creo que el hecho de que haya más de un narrador implicado lucha contra la monotonía del audio. También este conjunto de narradores ayuda con la extraña idea de la autora de utilizar múltiples puntos de vista, pero todos escritos en primera persona.

Como decía en el párrafo anterior, los protagonistas son tres, Tesha, Naili y Ash. Tesha es una sopladora de vidrio con inquietudes políticas que se acaba ofreciendo voluntaria para espiar al autoproclamado poder supremo de la cuenca en la que viven. Naili es una lavandera en la casa del Alquimista, donde se ve que hace ya tiempo que no pasa un inspector de riesgos laborales, ya que el tratamiento de las distintas sustancias del día a día la dota de “poderes” que serán de gran ayuda en el futuro desarrollo de la serie. Y Ash cabalga dragones defendiendo la cuenca del ataque constante de los monstruos del exterior.

Aunque en principio parecen historias muy separadas, lógicamente van confluyendo como afluentes de un río más caudaloso, la trilogía del Shattered Kingdom. Sin entrar mucho en la propia historia, Madson deja entrever una construcción de mundo bastante interesante, pero plagada de misterios que no verán su resolución en las 17 horas del audiolibro. Ése es mi principal problema con el libro, que no lo veo como una unidad completa e independiente en sí misma, si no como un prólogo alargado de lo que vendrá después.

Los personajes, tanto principales como secundarios, son muy atractivos y está muy bien llevado ese tono salaz de algunos capítulos. Es un placer ir descubriendo todo el trabajo de creación que ha habido detrás de la historia y me encanta el recurso de ir contando las noticias de cada día con los titulares más destacados de los periódicos, que no se imprimen habitualmente si no que se vocean por la calle para que la gran mayoría de la población, analfabeta, pueda tener acceso al contenido.

También me gusta el tono algo reivindicativo, de lucha obrera de clases, que se deja entrever en algunos capítulos. El colonialismo de aprovechar los recursos de los demás, el imperialismo de creerse superior solo por haber nacido en un sitio determinado… la corriente política subyacente a la trama es bastante importante y estoy segura de que estas intrigas seguirán a la orden del día en las siguientes entregas, que espero impaciente.

I'm not sure this book knows exactly what it is.

In parts, it tries to be fantasy. In other parts, it tries to be romance or romantic fantasy. At still others, it dips its metaphorical toe in the smut genre and wiggles it around a little.

In short, it's like a teenager putting on several different personalities to try to figure out who s/he wants to be when s/he grows up. Unfortunately, that made the book suffer.

If it had been a full-blown fantasy, I think it could have done really well. As it stands, though, it just seems like it's trying too hard.

The multiple attempts at racy sex scenes felt forced and really threw me out of the flow. And not to be "that guy," but many of these sex scenes were queer, so it almost felt like the author threw them in there to check off the representation box and appear hip. (Disclaimer: As a general rule, I have no problems with queer sex scenes. "The Song of Achilles" is one of my all-time FAVORITE books. It just didn't work in this particular novel.)

If you can get past all the thirsty characters, the plot is actually not bad. And the ending set up what I'm assuming will be the second book in the series quite nicely. As for me, I just couldn't do it. The thirst was too much for me.

I finished the book, but I won't be reading the next one.

Between Dragons and Their Wrath is an epic fantasy read that will keep you guessing until the end. The story follows three different individuals with vastly different status and roles. In true high fantasy fashion, the story is slow to start since there’s a lot of groundwork to lay. It also takes a significant portion of the story to see how the different POVs truly intertwine. Like with many multi POVs reads, I was drawn to certain characters over others. I was particularly fascinated by Naili’s plot particularly her interactions with the alchemist. I also really enjoyed Tesha’s POV. I was least drawn to Ash which was unfortunate since he dealt with the dragons. I also which they were featured more prominently. The plot pacing could use some work as well. I did really enjoy the ending, though, which was enough to make me want to read book two. I read this via audiobook. I appreciate the choice to use three separate narrators to match the three POVs: Soneela Nankani, Lauren Fortgang, and Ron Butler. I think it would’ve been a challenge to keep the characters straight if one POV had been used. I felt all three did well with their narration and were able to bring their respective characters to life. They were also able to keep my attention throughout the story.