booksandcats
Written on Oct 14, 2016
But it was just too much for me. First of all, I did read all of the books of the dragon series. I did not, however, read many of the other books of Katie MacAlister. And here's where my problems started. After Sparks Fly, the last book in the series of the light dragons, I had the image, everything was fine more or less, they had some troubles with the red dragons but the world was great. And I started reading Dragon Fall, and I had absolutely no Idea, what was going on. And I don't think the story got explained very well. I think, as a reader who has followed this series, it should be possible to follow the whole plot, without having the need to read all the other books of that author.
However, another reason I didn't enjoyed that book very much: the characters. They had huge potential. I really like a little macho man and I always loved the clash of the old male dragons with medieval attitudes and modern women. But in a way, MacAlister overdid (is that a word?) it in this one. It seemed like she cared more about the witty conversations, than about a proper storyline. And as a start, the conversations were funny. Not laughing out loud funny, but funny. But it just wouldn't end! Neither Kostya nor Aoife seemed to adapt a little bit or grow closer or whatever. And they really lacked chemistry for me. The love between the characters has always been one of my favorite things about this books. But with those two, it just seemed off. The only time, I really felt some chemistry, was when they made out. Which isn't the point for me! The chemistry should be in looks and little touches and everything. You should be able to feel it, even when you aren't kissing and ripping each other's clothes off!
Now the storyline. Wasn't really my favorite too. First, because like I explained, I was surprised, I had no idea what was going on at first. Second, it doesn't really happens that much! It was always more: a long witty conversations, where Aoife set the record straight, Kostya ignored her; a little bit of action, they have to run/fight; witty conversation again, where once again Aoife sets the record straight yet again and Kostya doesn't cares.
Now, another reason, it didn't do so well for me, i the fact, that it dipped in some really tough issues. Kostya, who was captured for so many years and suffers from PTSD. Aoife, who was in a mental health institution and sufferd electro shocks there. Her sister, who put her there. But in a way, those issues were barely touched. They were mentioned once or twice, and seem to just fade away. I would have loved it, if Dragon Fall would have been a little more serious, than the books before, because, let's face it, Kostya has to be a serious character after he has gone through. Either, you make it a light story throughout all the book and don't mention those problems, or you deal with them thoroughly.
So, maybe another reason I didn't enjoy it that much is, because I read it at 2am in the morning, because I couldn't wait until the next day and I was just too tired to enjoy all the witty and funny conversations. But maybe, after something around 10 books, I'm just tired of the same conversations happening over and over again. So maybe the book is just as good as the ones before and I just wasn't able to really take it in. Judge by yourself, I'm really glad I read it anyway and I'll probably read the following books too, just because I really love the concept of the dragons. I just hoped for a lot more with that book.
