Dragon Dreams (The Chronicles of Shadow and Light, #1)

by Dusty Lynn Holloway

[littleread1]

I am not sure how to review this. On one hand the story was captivating, and there were many times I found myself smiling while listening. On the other hand there were also many times I found myself rolling my eyes at the things the characters said/did/didn't say. I don't want to ruin anything by spoiling things, so I am going to try and be as vague as possible here ...

First - the story itself. Overall it was a good story, but I never found myself sucked in. There was talk about a past war, and a war brewing, and then all of a sudden (it seems) the war is here now. And these characters are pivotal to one side winning or losing. And there were secrets revealed and quests accomplished, yet at times it all seemed pointless. Like the story would have gotten the same message across if some of it had been cut out.

Next - the narration. I am super picky about men doing female voices. It is rare to find one that I enjoy. And this narrator is no exception. I think it is just difficult for a man to do a woman's voice without making her sound ... dumb? But fortunately most of this story is male POV, so it isn't often an issue. Though I do have 1 complaint - he often made the male lead sound like he was shouting. I am not sure if it was the voice, the accent, or what. But he did a great job making each and every voice distinct, which is always an amazing feat.

Finally - the characters. While not a romance story IMO, there is still almost a love triangle, which I think muddies up the story some. One man is more of a father type figure and the other is the obvious choice. No it isn't resolved in this story. And I didn't ever really connect with the characters as much as I like. But I did find myself wanting to continue the story, to find out what would happen with them, when they would meet up, and how things would be resolved or not.

Conclusion - While I enjoyed listening to the story, there were some issues that are pet peeves of mine. Of course that is going to affect the overall enjoyment of the story for me. However, I did like it enough to continue on to book 2 right away, and look forward to seeing where things go from here.