(Amateur) Book Review #1 - She Dreamed of Dragons by Elizabeth J. M. Walker

A couple of grains of salt before carrying on with this review (also maybe an indirect Spoiler Warning):

-          - I do not often read YA fantasy novels, but have been known to

-          - My “three stars” rating for this book is meant to show that I think the author is on track, but has not blown me away (4 stars), or has ranked up with my favourite books (5 stars)

-          - My review is of course subjective, but also comes from years of book-nerdiness and some training on fiction writing

-        -  I am not a book critic! But I can be (constructively) critical of literature nonetheless.

She Dreamed of Dragons really is well done, especially for a first novel. Many of the early novels and self-published stories I have read – due in part to my relatively recent acquisition of an E-reader – have been bitter disappointments: no editing to speak of; not well composed; cheesy to the extreme. I would never fault anyone for the attempt, but it also doesn’t stop me from dropping the E-reader (on some cushy surface) and never, ever reading anything from that author again. That is definitely not the case with Elizabeth J. M. Walker’s world of mages, witches, dragons, and baked delicacy obsessed characters. The story is well constructed, obviously edited (thank you Elizabeth), and imaginative. I am always attracted to the misfits and marginalized people of literature, and am happy that the author chose to use them as the protagonists of the story. There is a great conspiracy and twist in the narrative that provides a good deal of complexity to the reading experience.

However, this does lead into my one of my criticisms (I still shudder at this word). Considering the complexity of the narrative, and the conspiracies that both help and hinder the main character, there was a lot more potential to bring it into the narrative from a very early stage. I think I felt too comfortable throughout that things would turn out for the good. When things started to go South by the crisis point, orchestrated by the antagonist, it was almost a surprise and did not make logical sense given all the previous successes of the protagonist. Maybe I wanted things a little more dire at this point, and for there to be more significant challenges leading up to it.

This leads to my second thought. While I know the end should ramp up in pace, the triumph of the main character seemed rushed and almost separate from the previous efforts of the characters. There was a good pace throughout, and then suddenly the crisis, and then suddenly the end of the crisis with barely a moment to catch my breath. This is of course highly subjective, but figure I would make the suggestion anyway.

I will agree with another review as well. This book had a younger feel than I expected. This may have had something to do with the comfort I felt throughout. Ultimately though, I would definitely recommend the read, and not just because the author is a fellow Windsorite / Essex County resident. It would be especially good for “younger” young adults looking for a fun adventure with a little romance thrown in. I look forward to reading more stories from Elizabeth.