Review of The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood

 

Read for: TBR Book/ Audio/ Dragons!

Synopsis: "The debut novel from the acclaimed illustrator—a high fantasy adventure featuring dragons and deadly politics.

Maia and her family raise dragons for the political war machine. As she comes of age, she anticipates a dragon of her own to add to the stable of breeding parents. Her peaceful life is shattered when the Summer Dragon—one of the rare and mythical High Dragons—makes an appearance in her quiet valley. Political factions vie for control of the implied message, threatening her aspirations, her aerie, her entire way of life.

The bond between dragons and their riders is deep and life-long, and Maia’s desire for a dragon of her own to train, ride, fly, and love drives her to take a risk that puts her life at stake. She is swept into an adventure that pits her against the deathless Horrors, thralls of the enemy, and a faceless creature drawn from her fear. In her fight to preserve everything she knows and loves, she exposes a conspiracy, unearths an ancient civilization, and challenges her understanding of her world—and of herself."

My Review: I have had this book on my TBR for a couple of years now, intending to read it in the summer and I finally managed. I have to say that this book is stunning physically, the illustrations are absolutely amazing! I was immediately drawn into the is story with the idea of riding and breeding dragons, clearly they were going to have an active role in the story. This book runs from one action packed moment to the next, I kind of feel bad for the poor characters, they never seem to have a moments rest. With that said it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I loved the bits we get to see of Maia learning to interpret dragon language and all the growth she has as a character in these difficult situations. On the other hand it turns into a lot of theological debate, not all of which is easy to understand because we don't quite have the full picture. It really felt like common sense was bowled over in favor of theology and religion which then takes on a more political angle as well. I don't mind these aspects in a book if I get a bit more of the picture. And maybe that was coming in future books but this one is now 5 years old, are we going to get another book? I may continue on with the series if it comes out in the near future, otherwise it might just go down as a good book but a lost cause series.

My Rating: This one definitely feels like we just saw the tip of the iceberg and that there is so much more to see, a lot more world to explore.  I am super curious but at the same time hesitant if too much time passes before the next book comes out, if at all.  I give it a rating of Three Paws and a Stump Wag.