Review: Dragon God by Ava Richardson

Title: Dragon God

Author: Ava Richardson

Series: The First Dragon Rider #1

Genre: Fantasy/Dragons/Magic

Publisher: Relay Publishing

Publication Date: July 26th, 2017

Edition: Kindle Edition, 352 pages

Source: Purchased

Purchase: Amazon US 

Synopsis:

 The new world is calling...

   Neill Torvald is desperate to prove himself—his father’s warlord kingdom depends on him. When a vicious attack on the way to the Draconis Order monastery nearly kills him, it becomes clear that grave trials await him on this path. Jodreth, the wise monk who saves his life, advises caution upon entering the sacred halls. His mission is to learn arcane magic from the monks that will help to cement his father’s power, but Neill will need more than magical arts alone to navigate the challenges before him.

   Among the monks’ students, Neill meets the lovely and mysterious Char, who senses evil deep within the ranks of the Draconis Order’s members. She takes him to a dragon she has raised, Paxala, and the three of them become fast friends. Neill soon grows in strength as he and his fellow students gain ancient knowledge, and his closeness to Char blossoms into something more.

   But when Niell’s brothers grow impatient and attack the monastery in a bid to seize power, he will have to decide where his loyalties lie: with his warlord father’s domain, or the new friends he has made in the wider world.

Review:

This book is SO GOOD.

At this point I have read six books by Ava Richardson, and let me tell you, each one has been fantastic. The characters are always fantastic, humans and dragons alike, and the world she has created is just wonderful. 

The reading order put this book at the start, but I don't know if it's her first book. The great thing is that you don't have to read them in order. They are loosely connected, but nothing gets spoiled.

Neill is a really fantastic character. Being an illegitimate son of a warlord, his brothers hate him, and his father seems to find him to be disposable. I might be wrong, I'll have to finish the series to find out what his father really thinks of him. His conflicted feelings about what he should do, and want he's been told to do bring a nice complexity to his character. He wants to please his father and show his value, but after finding out some truths about the Monastery and making some new friends he wants to protect them as well. I like a complex character.

Char, I also really liked her character. Though I would have liked to have more POV chapters for her than there was, maybe in the next book there'll be more.

She's also an illegitimate child, though this time it's a Prince of the Three Kingdoms. But in this case, it's because his wife is barren so all his children weren't born from his wife. She has a very interesting arc in this book as well and has a unique ability. Which is one of the reasons that I wanted to have more POV chapters for her.

The antagonist, I don't know how to feel about him yet. His goal and motives aren't exactly clear yet, unless I missed something. It could be about asserting control over the Three Kingdoms, it could be to control all the dragons. 

There was some mysteries yet to unravel, and I can't wait to.