This book had all the facets that I love.

Dragons – check☑️

Dragon speaker – check☑️

Bond between them – check☑️

Magic wielder – check☑️

Good vs evil – check☑️

Underdog heroes – check☑️

A fab villain – check☑️

A Goddess with secrets – check☑️

Worldbuilding – check☑️

Fast pace – check☑️

The book took me a long time to read, almost 4 days or so. The book was the cumulation of the author’s brilliant imagination. There were some serious magic and politics in place. Elana Mugdan used the basic concept of good vs evil and dragons and dragon speakers and their bond and magic to write a story that could work in a 3D movie.

The politics and the landscapes of the regions were well detailed. The backstory was that each region/king wanted the dragon and the dragon speaker for their own benefits too. Till the shadowbeasts and the dark lord Necrovar tried to come in power. But the main character Keriya had no magic in her, she had been selected by the goddess to fight the evil Lord and given some hidden magic which could be wielded only at times of strife.

She had to go on a quest to find the dragon and bond with him and save him. Her village mates were forced to join her due to circumstances.. This unlikely, unfriendly gang set out from their village and met other mercenary men, kings, princesses, spies, evil beings, shadowbeasts, bogspectre.

The book had the potential to be so much more because the trellis of plot was fantastic. The author just had to allow the vines to crawl slowly over them. But that didn’t happen. The characters were introduced at rapid speed, the magic and its rules were thrown on to my face along with the politics of the land without giving me time to assimilate and imagine how this land would be.

Action was great, the magic per se had me wanting some of my own… The dragon Thorian was the cutest, he was a tiny dragon who came into picture perched on main character. He met the rest of the gang and he was totally confused. And I could just identify with him. I was too!!

The 2 main niggles, the main character Keriya whined and had this vision of grandeur, to be a hero walking down the street with people praising her, that she grated on my nerves. She hardly did anything in preparation for that. She was rude and very unfriendly. I wished she would grow up in the entire book. And there were soooooo many characters that not only the dragon, even I got confused. I gave up trying to keep them in line.

The rest of the book was great, if I didn’t think too much or try to understand the subtle sub plots. There were too many to decipher. So an enjoyable book overall. Thorian the dragon stole my heart and now I want a dragon too..

I received a digital copy of the book from the author, and this is my review, straight from the heart.

Elana A. Mugdan is an author and semi-retired filmmaker based in New York City. She has received many accolades in the film industry, including a number of awards for her feature film Director’s Cut, which she wrote, produced, and directed, and awards for feature-length screenplays.

An avid reader, Elana is a lifelong fan of fantasy and science fiction stories. She is described by her friends and family as “the weirdest person I know”, and wears that weirdness proudly on her sleeve. Some of her favorite authors include J.R.R Tolkein, Philip Pullman, and Robert Jordan.

Elana currently resides in New York, living a quiet but eccentric life with her pet snake, Medusa.

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Everyone knows this story: an unlikely young hero is chosen by divine providence to save the world from a terrible evil.

Except Keriya Nameless is crippled, without the ability to wield magic—in fact, she’s the only person who doesn’t have powers of her own. The god who chose her is a mysterious dragon with a knack for exploiting loopholes in rules. Oh, and that terrible evil the world needs to be saved from? Maybe it’s not quite as evil as everyone says.

As Keriya ventures into the magical realm of Allentria, she learns things aren’t black-and-white, and not everything is what it appears to be. Her quest would test the courage of even the bravest hero, and as the chosen Dragon Speaker, she quickly learns she’s at the center of an age-old war . . .

A war that will decide the fate of everything.

Publication date : 1st October 2018

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