I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley and was under no obligation to post a review. No compensation was received for sharing this review and all opinions are my own.
Published by Pronoun on June 1st 2017
Source: Netgalley
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 260
From the author of THE HALLOWED ONES and NINE OF STARS comes a new novel blending the magical and the real…
“This is war,” the dragon said. And she believed him.
Di fled rural West Virginia to study music and pursue a bright future as a violinist. But when a mining accident nearly kills her father, she is summoned back home to support her family. Old ghosts and an old flame emerge from the past. When Di gets a job as a bookkeeper at the same mine where her father worked, she is drawn into a conflict pitting neighbor against neighbor as the mine plans an expansion to an untouched mountain.
If the mining company’s operation goes forward, there will be more at stake than livelihoods or the pollution of the land: Di has discovered a dragon lives deep within Sawtooth Mountain, and he is not happy with this encroachment upon his lair. When catastrophe strikes, Di must choose between her family’s best interests and protecting the dragon – the last surviving bit of magic in Di’s shrinking world.
In every fight, sides are chosen. And there can be no yearning for what has been left behind.
Well, I’m going to be one of “those” and review a book that I did not finish. Say what?! Yep, I know, some of you book bloggers are going to be throwing rotten tomatoes at me for days. Oh well, I’ll survive.
I picked this book up because of the cover. My daughter is a violinist and we both love dragons. This book sounds like a win-win, right?
Wrong. Okay, I’m going to admit first and foremost why I did not finish. Some of you will eye roll and think I’m a prude but there are certain curse words that make me lay a book down. Well, one is more like it. I have a zero tolerance for a certain word that I find offensive to my Christian faith. Call me a prude all you like but I wouldn’t use a curse word involving ANY deity because I feel it is disrespectful.
Having said that, once this word was dropped, I kind of sighed in relief that I could stop reading. This book was so cliché. The hippies all smelled like pot, hugged trees and were barefoot. The new age shop owner also fit a stereotype. As did the just out of high school expectant mom and the crotchety old grandpa.
There were other oddities, like the mom complaining that her husband couldn’t see a doctor because he didn’t have accident or life insurance. (I think someone is confused as to what life insurance is)
Most of all, this read heavy on the contemporary and light on the fantasy. I can read urban and contemporary fantasy but it needs to be fairly heavy-handed with fantasy. I didn’t get that from this book. It read like your average angsty modern woman who needs to grow the heck up. Those types of characters grate on my nerves. Sorry, they just do.
This book just wasn’t for me. Like I said, yes, the word in question was my excuse to drop the book but I was having a hard time getting through it before hand.
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