In this post I discuss chapter 20-35 in The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood, which I read with Sarah from Dragons & Zombies.
SPOILER ALERT!
I was happy, when I finished part one, because I have had enough of the action for the moment. What followed was mainly raising a dragon baby, bonding with the dragon, worrying if brother Darian and the other guy would survive their injuries and dealing with religious idiots and idiotic family members.
I really really enjoyed especially the parts with Kirr – the dragon baby – in the focus. I loved how the author described the bonding with Maia and Kirrs behavior. Kirr – learning human language, Maia trying to understand dragon language. How they share emotions, how they learn to understand each other without words. I felt comfortable and soothed and that were scenes why I wanted to read the book in the first place.
What I find annoying are the rest of the characters. Every male person in the story seems to be an controlling asshole – or worse: a weak coward. They still talk a lot about the religious shisma. The break between the old religion (mainly they believed in a greater truth and searching for wisdom etc.) which is forbidden nowadays and the new religion with Korruzon, the almighty and immortal dragon, in the focus.
The old religion says everything is in a permanent change – so everything will pass eventually – so it is a threat to the new religion, because it would mean that Korruzon will also die someday. I don’t think I got the whole issue yet, but I got enough to not be interested in the religious schemes anymore. Mostly I am confused.
There is also another danger – next to the Harodhi and their Skrakks. Some kind of mental entity, who can drag himself into the thoughts and feelings of a person and scare them + control them. There are some hints, that this entity is what drives the Harodhi to conquer and kill – and there are also some hints, that it is a creature which was known by the old religion. Somehow it is focused on Maia – which the religious idiots want to see as a dark sign again.
At the moment I am a little bit bored. There is still a lot of dragon/human interaction, which I like, but all the militaristic preparations for the upcoming war and the talking and talking and talking is a little bit to much.
Maia tries to find out some more about the old religion, but there is never time – or the situation is wrong. It feels like the reader has to wait for more pieces of information on purpose. But instead making me curious, this is what makes me angry a little.
I still don’t know where the plot will lead me to. Will there be war at the hatchery, or will there be a quest again or will Maia flee with her dragon?
Also there is some romance luring around. The guy Maia seems to be into seems like a nice guy so far. Not very interesting, but not as worse as the other males around. I only hope, we will get a slow burn romance – if there is any – and not some kind of insta love with Maia thinking about nothing more than the guy.
Sarah and me planned on finishing the book until Sunday evening and I still hope I will manage it. I also hope, that there will be some more action soon, or at least some exciting and thrilling parts – some emotions or stuff. In general I would say – the pacing isn’t the best so far. The action parts felt to long, the slower parts now again feel to long too. But all in all it’s a decent read – not a page turner, but still a quick read, thanks to the dragons and Maia!
Weird Words Within 