Welcome to the first Reading Roundup of May 2024! Some of you might remember that I have been struggling to read books for a few weeks. I seem to have lost the ability to focus and concentrate on reading my usual type of ebooks – science fiction, thrillers, crime, fantasy – usually with a dark twist. Instead, my mind has been flitting from worries to fears to trivia found on social media to horrors in the news to card games on my iPad.

So I put out a call on here and Facebook last week for more soothing and easy books and had some helpful responses. I also had a look through my ebook collection and chose something that I thought would be a suitable distraction…

The book was Realm of Dragons by Morgan Rice, #01 Age of the Sorcerers. After the previous week’s attempt to re-acquaint myself with Anne McCaffrey’s work, dragons must have been lurking in my mind! Anyway, the book appeared to be a fairly straightforward Young Adult fantasy. Here is the blurb:

“REALM OF DRAGONS (Age of the Sorcerers—Book One) tells the story of the epic coming of age of one very special 16 year old boy, a blacksmith’s son from a poor family who is offered no chance of proving his fighting skills and breaking into the ranks of the nobles. Yet he holds a power he cannot deny, and a fate he must follow.

It tells the story of a 17 year old princess on the eve of her wedding, destined for greatness—and of her younger sister, rejected by her family and dying of plague.

It tells the tale of their three brothers, three princes who could not be more different from each other—all of them vying for power.

It tells the story of a kingdom on the verge of change, of invasion, the story of the dying dragon race, falling daily from the sky.

It tells the tale of two rival kingdoms, of the rapids dividing them, of a landscape dotted with dormant volcanoes, and of a capital accessible only with the tides. It is a story of love, passion, of hate and sibling rivalry; of rogues and hidden treasure; of monks and secret warriors; of honor and glory, and of betrayal and deception.

It is the story of Dragonfell, a story of honor and valor, of sorcerers, magic, fate and destiny. It is a tale you will not put down until the early hours, one that will transport you to another world and have you fall in in love with characters you will never forget. It appeals to all ages and genders.”

This is my response on Goodreads:

Realm of Dragons by Morgan Rice
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a very standard fantasy story aimed at the YA market. It was OK, but not an outstanding read. As the first book in a series, lots of characters were introduced and short chapters followed them in turn to advance the plot. I found this very confusing as it was difficult to remember so many characters. The main ones were the usual types: beautiful princess, brave prince, nasty prince, bookish prince, ill princess etc. Then some ordinary people. The plot was quite similar and certainly not anything outstanding or new.

I’m sure that some people will enjoy this author’s style, but it’s not for me and I won’t seek out the sequels.

View all my reviews

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Well, after that I am now reading a book suggested by a kind friend after last week’s post. I will tell you how I get on in next week’s Reading Roundup.

Happy Reading to you all!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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