5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Dragonfly, May 31, 2010
This review is from: Dragonfly (Hardcover)
A few years ago when I was just starting to explore YA Fantasy I would probably have thought this a great book. I was coming off reading romance novels and had not had a whole lot of exposure (other than classics read at a young age) to other fantasy-type novels.
Since then I've read Fantasy YA books such as Graceling & Fire by Kristin Cashore, the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare and the Studies trilogy by Maria Snyder. Also, I've also just come off reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. What does all of this mean? It means I'm a bit more critical now and my likes and dislikes are quite a bit more pronounced.
This novel felt like a toned-down romance novel. It had all the elements of the classic romance historical novel - a political marriage that results in jibes for a few days before both people realize they have love for each other. The kidnapping and basic formula to split the two apart making them realize that the love is true love. There's a bit of intrigue and rebellion because, goodness knows, you have to show that your hero has a backbone. Ugh, I could go on but honestly.. the result was that, in spite of REALLY wanting to like this book, I was bored by it. I knew what the ending would be, there was no excitement or twists or turns and the characters were fairly one-dimensional.
It's not as bad as some other YA novels out there are, but it wasn't what I was expecting at all and I was disappointed by it.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A book for people who like suspense, March 2, 2010
This review is from: Dragonfly (Hardcover)
Taoshira,or Tashi to her friends, was commonly known as
the Fourth Crown Princess of the Blue Crescent Islands.
Soon, however, she must marry Prince Ramil of Gerfal, and
she doesn't want to leave her friends and family. She's
not too keen on marrying a stranger, either. Upon arriving
at Prince Ramil's palace, she finds he's every bit as rude
as she imagined. Then the two get kidnapped by the enemy,
Fergox. They fight their way out of his prison after being
humiliated and tortured, but due to unforseen problems,
Tashi and Ramil are separated on their way home.
But will they ever reunite and defeat Fergox? Can they
bring peace to their two different countries? And will
they ever become friends?
I thought this book was well written. It gave me a clear
picture of what was going on.
Golding clearly describes just enough so that you don't
get bored, but not too much so that you still need good
insight. It wasn't very realistic though, and there was no
modern technology, either. There's lots of action.
Definitely a book for people who like suspense.
There was quite a bit of violence in this book. There was also a
lot about different faiths and religion.
Reviewed by a young adult student reviewer
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly boring, May 31, 2010
This review is from: Dragonfly (Hardcover)
Neither Tashi nor Ramil is looking forward to their upcoming marriage, but both are willing to submit in order to unite their people against a growing enemy kingdom. Culture clash proves to be too much for the pair, but just as Tashi is about to call off the union and return home, she and Ramil are captured by their shared enemy. They must put their differences aside and join forces in first escaping and then making the long journey back to Ramil's homeland before misunderstandings in their respective kingdoms about their disappearances lead to war across the land.
I really wanted to like this book, especially because I'm a sucker for the hate-turned-to-love storyline, but it just didn't click for me. The book was overly long and in some places even plodding. I found myself bored. Worse still, the characters were not very likable, particularly Ramil. Tashi was better, but she always felt closed off and removed. This was partly because of her personality, but that isn't a great personality for a character readers are supposed to form an emotional attachment with to have. I could not connect to either of them and their eventual romance did not resonate. On the flip side, the descriptions of the cultures, especially Tashi's culture and system of government, were interesting and well described.
Overall, this was decent, but kept from greatness by mediocre characters and overwriting.
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