Goodreads Book Description: Wilde Island is not at
peace. The kingdom mourns the dead Pendragon king and awaits the return
of his heir; the uneasy pact between dragons, fairies, and humans is
strained; and the regent is funding a bloodthirsty witch hunt, hoping to
rid the island of half-fey maidens.Tess, daughter of a blacksmith, has visions of the future, but she still doesn't expect to be accused of witchcraft, forced to flee with her two best friends, or offered shelter by the handsome and enigmatic Garth Huntsman, a warden for Dragonswood. But Garth is the younger prince in disguise and Tess soon learns that her true father was fey, making them the center of an exciting, romantic adventure, and an ancient prophecy that will bring about peace between all three races - dragon, human, and fairy.
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
My Review:
Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey has been on my TBR list for a while now. It's definitely a different tale, but I struggled to get a rating for it. It's somewhere between 3-3.5 stars.
Dragonswood stars Tess, a young village girl, who seems to have a power that she shouldn't have. That's not a good thing to have when there are witch hunts running rampant. She also has a longing for Dragonswood where the fey live. A witch hunter has noticed her going there, and she becomes sentenced as a witch. From there, she meets a ranger named Garth, and also takes with her some dear friends that are also in danger. The rest is a mixture of magic, containing fairies, dragons, and hidden treasures.
The writing is pretty good. The biggest issue I had with this book is that it really drags for the first 80% and that's really way too long for a book to drag. The last 20% is VERY good, and that made me feel sad I had to give it less than a 4 star rating. But there is way too much development going on. Add the fact that Tess is not a very likeable character for most of the book, and it led to me skimming until I hit the interesting parts. I liked the world building and the twists were wonderful (but again most of all the twists happened in the last 10% of the book). I also really liked the dragons-- they were probably my favorite part of the book. I noticed that this is the first book in a trilogy, and I wonder if the other two books have similar issues.
Overall, an interesting world mixed with fairies, dragons, and magic-- but the magic waits too long to happen.
What did you think?
I hate it when the last part is the only good part. Like the book is a challenge or something and only those who persevered to read til the end will be rewarded. This is on my wishlist, I think I will skip it. From your review I might end up DNF-ing this.
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