Audiobook review: One Good Dragon Deserves Another by Rachel Aaron
NOTE: This series has been on my TBR for a while, at the recommendation of Linda and Melanie. I recently listened to the five-book series as a buddy read with Anne. The reviews were written at the time the book was read.
One Good Dragon Deserves Another is the second story following nice dragon Julian and his best friend mage Marcy. They’ve been living and working in the Detroit Free Zone for about four weeks, with their new business doing okay, but not great. Several events happen all at once, forcing Julian and Marcy to make new allies and trust old enemies.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. SO MUCH HAPPENS. We learn more about Marcy and Ghost, they make war with Algonquin, the Heartstriker clan is changed because of Julian, The Clan of the Three Sisters gets a new head dragon… and at the end of the book, a couple of the supporting characters are missing. I love the mythology and world, the explanation of how magic works and what spirits are, and how seers work and destroyed the original dragon plane. It’s utterly fascinating, and I love that the author provides logical reasons for everything – not “it’s magic so it is”.
I adore Marcy and Julian as a team. I love that they are learning to express feelings and hope for so much more. I worry about Marcy and her thirst for knowledge, but she’s proven time and time again in this book alone, that she values Julian’s friendship over power. She’s also getting smarter and less obnoxious around powerful beings.
I was a bit disappointed about how easily a powerful foe is destroyed before they ever get the chance to prove their reputation. I would have liked to seen them in action before they were written off.
Narration: The story is shared via shifting third-person POVs, with the primary POV being Julius. Vikas Adam uses a neutral male voice while narrating all POVs, altering dialogue based on gender, age, and species for each character, except Julius, who shares the same voice as the narrator. With this second go around, Adam’s performance is growing on me. I don’t LOVE it, but I liked it more than the initial listen. I can hear the subtle differences in all characters. I love some of the voices. Some of the females are still a bit silly sounding to me, but they are more feminine than the male characters. Adam’s performance is very exaggerated when the character is emotional, which can create a cartoonish vibe. His accents for the Three Sisters’ clan (Russian or Slavic) is very strong. I really liked his voice for Von Jagger, the dragon hunter.
With all that has happened and everything left unfinished or untested, I cannot wait to see what happens next.
My Ratings
Story: B+
Narration: B/B+
Jen
About the Book:
As the smallest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: keep quiet, don’t cause trouble, and stay out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn’t fly in a family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has finally reached the end of her patience.
Now, sealed in human form and banished to the DFZ–a vertical metropolis built on the ruins of Old Detroit–Julius has one month to prove that he can be a ruthless dragon or kiss his true shape goodbye forever. But in a city of modern mages and vengeful spirits where dragons are considered monsters to be exterminated, he’s going to need some serious help to survive this test.
He only hopes humans are more trustworthy than dragons…
Author: Rachel Aaron
Narrator: Vikas Adam
Series: Heartstrikers #2
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Audiobook Release Date: October 13, 2015
Publisher: Audible Studios
Length: 18 hrs and 35 mins
Source: Purchased
Audio Speed: 1.5x
Purchase info:
Audible/Amazon (affilate link)