Rebecca Kim WellsReseñas

This book is amazing! Would highly recommend!!

Well, if you put dragons in a book and you have humans interacting with them you're pretty guaranteed to have me at least trying the book out. A determined young woman seeks to rescue her girlfriend from the empire they live in and along the way finds herself.
I'm a sucker for dragons and this ticked several boxes. Interesting to see a bisexual character feature and to have a different love triangle and a very cute baby dragon.½

I feel like this book is a little mis-sold. Both the cover copy and all the recommendations for it that I've seen emphasize the f/f romance, but in fact it's f/f/m, with the f/f established and largely off-screen while the m/f is center stage getting all the typical YA budding-romance plot beats. The male love interest isn't even mentioned in any of the marketing. I support YA novels featuring poly relationships on principle, though it's not something I'm particularly personally interested in (especially in this gender combination), but I think the way this book is being portrayed is going to make it so that it doesn't find its way into the hands of some of the people who would love it, while also disappointing readers who wanted a focus on f/f.

The good points -- girls in love! normalized same-sex couples! POC characters! dragons! heroine learning to value herself!

The rest -- I found this to be a relatively unremarkable read. It's fine. It tells a decent story. I think it's definitely one that could be appealing to teens. I wanted to know what would happen next.

I did feel a sinking disappointment when it looks like Maren is going to fall for the disguised prince (of course he is a disguised prince) and as a bi person, that should not cause me much dismay. However, honestly, must you set up a love triangle, just because it's YA? And must that love triangle possibly model choosing heteronormative romance over the early lesbian love? I'm hoping that they work out a poly relationship -- that would be cool. I'd have to read another book in the series to find out what happens. If I get over my fantasy-slump I might look that up.

Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss.

This book has all of the ingredients, but didn't work for me.


Ingredients: f/f romance, bisexual heroine, DRAGONS


But... the female love interest is taken away from their village at the beginning of the book and the main character's epic quest is to get her back. This is all well and good, but we don't see the love interest again until the last few pages of the book. Major bummer.


Worse? There's a boy with a big secret (you will easily figure it out) and they're eventually on the trip together... and flirting. There's so much flirting that it felt like cheating. The MC is even thinking about how she's not really cheating? But maybe? It's a love triangle which is not for everyone, but I'm definitely more into LT's if the MC isn't already in a relationship with one of them. I'm also pretty solidly over the conceit that the MC is attractive to literally every person she meets, and I had a hard time separating the love triangle from the stereotype that bisexuals are cheaters.

So. Dragons are good. I like dragons. And this book has the trappings of a traditional epic fantasy series, but with Asian and queer rep.

A lot of people have enjoyed it, so maybe check out some other reviews.

Content Warnings: sort of kidnapping?, lots of violence, fear of poisoning


Suzanne received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Curses, a touch which kills, deceit, hidden magic, and a girl, who needs to figure everything out...this one promises everything to make an amazing adventure.

Lena is on the run with her father again, thanks to the curse a witch cast on her when she was born. Everyone she touches dies a horrifying death. Their new hiding spot sits on the edge of a forsaken land, the Silence. The mysterious forest calls to those who draw too close and makes them go insane if they don't give in and enter the deadly realm. Lena feels drawn, too, but not in the way others seem to be. When an injured girl crawls out of the forest, Lena learns that her father has been keeping the truth from her, and that her history isn't what it seems. In hope of finding a way to break her curse, she follows the girl into the forest. But deceit lies thick with those who seek power.

The writing in this book is very well done and drew me into the world from the very first page. In some ways, the atmosphere reminded me of Shadow & Bone by Bardugo with it's dark tones, a girl who is more than she appears, a dangerous barrier, and those who lie and want to use her for their own power, but in a way mixed between true feelings and selfish interests. There is tons of potential in these pages and the tale does lure in. Combine that with the well-done world building of shadows and unexpected secrets, and it is a lovely read.

While this has so many aspects to make it a wonderful read, there were simply things which distract...and I think that much of this is due to the problem of trying to pack so much into one book. This could have made an awesome series. While we get to know Lena during the first chapters and gain sympathy for her situation, other characters are introduced a bit too superficially. Character depth and even the necessary depth to ground and explain many of the Lena's decisions is lacking. Several scenes come in and disappear again too quickly, leaving the sense that something more is missed and me wondering why they even happened in the first place.

Lena's scars, thanks to the lack of physical contact, are well done and especially came across in one aspect of the romance. This also explained some of her over-willingness to find a friend in the beginning, but the deceit and betrayal should have impacted her more as the tale went on, and made her much more wary. This also caused issues with Lena's decisions concerning her final choice on the romance end.

I definitely enjoyed this author's writing style and did find many wonderful moments in these pages, which made it, despite the problems, more than an enjoyable read.
I received an ARC and am giving this one 3.5 stars, while rounding up.

The beginning of this book is slow, and the end is a cliffhanger, but everything in the middle is wonderful.

I love the dragons - they feel somewhere between Temeraire and Dragon Prince dragons, but they didn't strike me as derivative. The worldbuilding is intriguing, if not fully fleshed out. And I am all about a bisexual protagonist with hints of polyamory! I'm not generally big on established relationships in fiction, but I really enjoyed what Wells does with the relationship in this book. All in all, good fun.

This review is based on an ARC I received from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. This was fun!

Think, a super diverse high fantasy with dragons and a bi mc who is one of very few who can communicate with them. The first half was pretty slow paced but the second half was considerably more exciting and that ending was very cool and makes me excited to see what will happen in the sequel.

I liked the mc & the world & the dragon aspect was super cool (once they were actually introduced - it took a hot minute). My main disappointment was the romance. I was expecting it to be very centred around a f/f which it wasn't. The premise is, when in reality the mc is only really interacting with her girlfriend for about 3 chapters in the entire novel - it's very centred around an almost m/f romance. As someone who's bi myself, I do love seeing bi characters in other relationships not just same sex (it makes you no less bisexual to be in m/f relationship despite what some people think lmao), but it wasn't quite what the premise of the book was promising so it felt disappointing as I was hoping for something different.

Apart from the romance, I would say this book delivered. Loved the diversity (there's like... not a single white person in sight folks - and there's also no discrimination against lgb relationships), I loved the dragons (baby dragons being cute and mewing!!), and while a lot of the plot / character twists felt typical of young adult fantasy tropes, it was still satisfying and the ending was just... Badass.

That is all. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

Shatter the Sky was a surprisingly quick read. I turned the last page and expected there to be more, but the book simply stopped after something major happened. The main plot was mostly resolved, but there was a lot left unsaid. I know it sets up a second book, but cliffhangers are annoying.

As for the quickness of the read, the story felt short and shallow. Maren travels all over the country in seemingly no time at all, and I wish there had been more details to fluff up the story. She's at the fortress for weeks, but it felt like we were only there for a few days. The overall concept was interesting, and I wanted to know more about Maren and her surroundings, but we jump from one thing to the next before really experiencing each place. It was almost like reading an outline, or a very well-edited rough draft. This was an ARC, so it's possible more was added before it was published.

The characters are faced with challenges and inconveniences, but everything felt like it clicked into place a little too easily. Something bad would happen, and then poof! A solution. Maren is trying to save her heartmate (love that word!), and is willing to risk her life to do it, but I never felt like her life was in danger. She lived with the enemy for weeks, and her time spent there was mostly unremarkable. I thought she would do something daring and heroic, but her actions fell a little flat for me. She was also a tad too predictable.

I was also disappointed with the lack of secondary characters. It's mostly about Maren and what's she's doing, and I wish there had been more meaningful friendships and relationships. It's either Maren, or Maren and Sev, and even then they barely got to know one another. They have secrets, they slowly reveal those secrets, and then they find out there were more secrets.

I loved the dragons, but hated their circumstances. I wish that had been elaborated on a little more as well. I wanted to know how their bonds worked, if they could communicate, how the emperor was able to make them do whatever he wanted... there were so many questions that never got answered. Again, I feel like this story had the potential to be more than it was.

I liked that this book included different F/F romances, and that it's normal and unquestioned. Love is love is love.

Despite Maren leaving home to fight for her heartmate, she stumbles into insta-love territory when she meets Sev. Yes, they were together for awhile at the fortress, but their encounters were few and far between. Once they start traveling together, some magnetic pull brings them closer, and I just could not get on board with it. I wish they'd remained friends and learned to trust each other without throwing romance into it. Now there's insta-love and a blooming love triangle.

I know it seems like I have a lot of complaints about this book, but I really enjoyed it overall. I just think there could have been more. The core of the story was incredibly unique and fascinating, and I really tried to immerse myself in the world, but I never felt like I was sharing the experience with the characters. Sadly, Shatter the Sky made me feel more like an observer than a participant.

Originally posted at Do You Dog-ear? on August 2, 2019.