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She Dreamed of Dragons Elizabeth J M Walker 9780994749055 Books

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She Dreamed of Dragons Elizabeth J M Walker 9780994749055 Books

Firstly, I know this is marked as a young adult book, but in my opinion, it's a solid middle grade novel, and I'm going to review it as such.

This reminded me a bit of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL by Soman Chainani. Trina is a dragon mage, something which is very rare, and she's a powerful one at that. But as a dragon mage, she doesn't fit in at the school of mages. But then the school of mages itself is an outcast in a kingdom ruled by witches and wizards. Not much time was spent on the School of Mages (which is a good thing) since the real story happens at a tournament, where from 200 partakers, one will be chosen as the kingdom's heir.

This entire set up was wonderful. I'm not usually one to get into dragon, witches and castle stories, but this one pulled me in right away. Trina is an enjoyable character, who has several kinks, but knows right from wrong and has a heart of gold. She's easy to cheer for and adore. The rest of the characters are fun and entertaining. I know several of the reviews here say that there isn't enough character depth, but for middle grade readers, it's perfect.

There's action, and the plot is very well-paced, never leaving a reader of the 8-12 age group time to set the book down. And the dialogue was peppered with humor among the tension, creating a great atmosphere.

The scene descriptions are vivid but never wordy. Most of the book is pushed along through the dialogue and adventure, but this is something I enjoy.

The only thing which I felt was a little lacking were the subplots. The story is pretty laid out, and there's very little happening with the other characters in the group or any secret, side-line tale. If there'd been a little more of this, I believe this story could have ridden along with the best.

As it is, SHE DREAMED OF DRAGONS is a super, fun read. I can only recommend it to fantasy fans ages 8+.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.


Tags : She Dreamed of Dragons [Elizabeth J. M. Walker] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Trina is a fifteen-year-old dragon mage in a kingdom ruled by witches and wizards - the same people who have brought dragons and other magical creatures near extinction. Trina can barely control her fire powers and is desperate for an apprenticeship,Elizabeth J. M. Walker,She Dreamed of Dragons,Mirror World Publishing,0994749058,FICTION Fantasy General,Fantasy - General,Fiction - General,Fiction : General,FictionGeneral,General,magic,magic; wizards; witches; romance; adventure; tournament; fantasy; epic; dragons; fire; princess; kingdom; young adult,witches,wizards

She Dreamed of Dragons Elizabeth J M Walker 9780994749055 Books Reviews

She Dreamed of Dragons is a fun fantasy that fans of Harry Potter would enjoy. Although billed as YA, I think this fits better as MG and my rating is based on an MG classification, otherwise would have been a bit lower. In Ms. Walker’s beautifully imagined world, mages and witches don’t get along. The witches harbor the secrets to their magic carefully and blame mages for turning their king into a spider. Mages, along with fairies, pixies, and other creatures are pretty sure witches eat puppies along with other terrible things.

Trina is a dragon mage, one of the rarest, so there’s no one for her to apprentice to. Her father died trying to restore the king to his human self, but still, the witches don’t trust mages. A sentiment encouraged by some who’d like to take advantage of the weakened queen as she’s (obviously!) unable to bear children to carry on the line.

So a tourney is organized to find the best witch or wizard to become the new queen or king. Mages weren’t invited, but the head of the mage school makes sure that Trina crashes the party and has a little help getting into the competition. Trina has no interest in becoming queen, she only agrees to go to keep an eye on her impulsive pixie cousin.

But soon Trina finds herself at the top of the competition, much to the chagrin of her witch roommate and the powerful Etiquette teacher who’s determined the roommate is the proper lady and potential queen that a mage could never be. It seems the contest is rigged and only if Trina learns to control her dragon powers can she fulfill her destiny as well as complete the job of saving the king.

This was a fun story, with training, testing, and magical points counters similar to a bit of the Harry Potter series, but it’s not nearly as dark of course. There’s a lot of fun like a device that transforms clothing and hairstyles magically for events like the dancing competition and a Halloween party. Trina has to fight her dragon powers overwhelming her and accidentally setting everything on fire. The ending was great (not giving away any spoilers!)

The only complaints I had were a bit of a slow start, not enough conflict with the nasty roommate, and when Trina sets off to master her dragon powers, it’s a big, unexpected leap – and the reader doesn’t get to see any of it. She returns and is able to save the day. It felt like this was a much longer book, but something had to be cut to keep the word count down. Personally, I would have sped things up in the beginning and let us see this training. A minor nit, at times the POV was close third with Trina, but occasionally it would slip into an omniscient voice with a couple head hops. I think only writers would notice this.

Recommended! Kids will certainly enjoy She Dreamed of Dragons.
2.5
My Thoughts
She Dreamed of Dragons is a young adult book, although I think it would be better in the middle grade market, that creates a lovely new world of witches and mages. I liked the tension between the wiches and the mags because it added to the history behind them. Because they were in a constant feud, we actually learned a lot more about each of the races. There are all different kinds of mages, and one of the rarest of all is the dragon mage. I personally think the mages are more interesting than the witches. They have the power of various creatures living within them.

She Dreamed of Dragons has a main character, but this is more of a book with a cast of characters. I liked the main girl, Trina and a few of the other characters, but for the most part the characters were kind of lackluster. And that was my main problem in this book. No one had any real depth, which is part of the reason that I think this book would work a lot better as a middle grade read. It was more simplistic and the plot was kind of one dimensional. It wasn't bad by any means, but it wasn't overly complex or overly interesting. I liked the idea behind the story a lot and that kept me interested enough to want to finish the book, but it was kind of boring for me throughout.

It felt too young and everything felt too overly happy. There was not enough conflict added into the story to make it appeal to older readers. But I think it would be a hit with readers looking for a younger feeling book. It was age appropriate and fantastical to hold young readers attention. It just wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be older feeling and maybe even a bit darker with the mages and even a curse going around. I can see other people really enjoying this fantasy book, but it wasn't what I was expecting and it fell a bit short for me.

*disclaimer- I got a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest review. I was not compensated for my thoughts.
Firstly, I know this is marked as a young adult book, but in my opinion, it's a solid middle grade novel, and I'm going to review it as such.

This reminded me a bit of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL by Soman Chainani. Trina is a dragon mage, something which is very rare, and she's a powerful one at that. But as a dragon mage, she doesn't fit in at the school of mages. But then the school of mages itself is an outcast in a kingdom ruled by witches and wizards. Not much time was spent on the School of Mages (which is a good thing) since the real story happens at a tournament, where from 200 partakers, one will be chosen as the kingdom's heir.

This entire set up was wonderful. I'm not usually one to get into dragon, witches and castle stories, but this one pulled me in right away. Trina is an enjoyable character, who has several kinks, but knows right from wrong and has a heart of gold. She's easy to cheer for and adore. The rest of the characters are fun and entertaining. I know several of the reviews here say that there isn't enough character depth, but for middle grade readers, it's perfect.

There's action, and the plot is very well-paced, never leaving a reader of the 8-12 age group time to set the book down. And the dialogue was peppered with humor among the tension, creating a great atmosphere.

The scene descriptions are vivid but never wordy. Most of the book is pushed along through the dialogue and adventure, but this is something I enjoy.

The only thing which I felt was a little lacking were the subplots. The story is pretty laid out, and there's very little happening with the other characters in the group or any secret, side-line tale. If there'd been a little more of this, I believe this story could have ridden along with the best.

As it is, SHE DREAMED OF DRAGONS is a super, fun read. I can only recommend it to fantasy fans ages 8+.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.