Review: Dragon Quest by Ava Richardson

Title: Dragon Quest 

Author: Ava Richardson

Series: The Stone Crown Series # 2

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Relay Publishing

Publication Date: January 29th, 2020

Edition: Kindle Edition, 291 pages

Source: NetGalley

Purchase: Amazon US 

Synopsis

She can save her people—or doom the world.

  Narissea faces an impossible choice. Armed with a map discovered in the hidden shrine, she’s forced to lead Inyene’s heir through the wilds of the Plains to claim the ultimate prize. For only the wearer of the Stone Crown can command all dragons, and take the High Throne that rules over the three kingdoms.

  To place the crown’s power into Inyene’s hands is unthinkable. Yet failure to obtain it means certain death.

  But the small band is not alone. Vicious mercenaries seek the crown for their mysterious patron and attack Narissea’s expedition when they least expect it. In the ensuing chaos, the map is torn in two, forcing Narissea to rely on her memories of landmarks and stories passed down by the village elders to make her way through the Plains and its treacherous Sea of Mists.

  When Inyene suspects betrayal, she sends her mechanical dragons against the beleaguered band, and the sands erupt in an epic clash of forces. Narissea’s desperate decisions threaten to alter destinies, but she’ll do whatever it takes to save her people.

No matter the consequences.

  This book had a much slower pace than the previous book did for me. It felt like it took forever for things to really get going. That being said, once they did things really took off and I flew through it.

Narissea really grew on me as a character in this book. In book one, I didn't really connect with her all that much. But in this one, I saw more sides to her character and it made her more complex. Ymmen is still my favorite character, but being a dragon he gets bonus points.

The rest of the characters are sadly kind of forgettable for me. Abioye, Inyeye's brother, I had to look up his name because I keep forgetting it, I don't know what his role is supposed to be. I know who he is in terms of being against what his sister is trying to do. I just find his character boring. That and he is the most unwilling part of the group. He says he wants to stop her but expects someone else to stop her. He just doesn't take any actions, or not enough action, to seem committed to preventing her from what she's doing.

Montfre is a more interesting character and I wish he was the one who was recruiting people to help stop Inyeye. He actually seems committed to preventing the threat of a dictator that she possesses.

We meet a large number of Narissea's clan/tribe, I am hesitant to call them a tribe since I don't really know what they are supposed to look like, or if they are based on any existing culture at all. Their customs are still pretty vague for the most part. It seems to be a matriarchy. Which is cool, but their customs are really vague for the most part.

I still did enjoy reading this book, and I will be reading the third book. I just wish there was some more consistency with actions and decisions characters made.