Review: Dragon's Source by Ava Richardson

Title: Dragon's Source

Author: Ava Richardson

Series: Alveria Dragon Akademy Part 3: Reign of Chaos #2

Genre: Fantasy/Dragons

Publisher: Relay Publishing

Publication Date: May 27th, 2020

Edition: Kindle

Source: NetGalley

Purchase: Amazon US  

Synopsis:

   Prince Kai Afkarr-Younger hides a dangerous secret—he’s been infected with the Nightmare Plague. Exhausted from battle and illness, he must force himself to stay awake or risk spawning yet another monster attack on the already beleaguered city; an impossible undertaking without the strength of his tamer.

   Mari Asadottier will do whatever it takes to keep Kai’s infection secret from Alveria’s scheming Council. Without the power she offers through their bond, he’ll never make it through the coronation ceremony in his weakened condition. And without the strong leadership only Kai can provide, Bellsor will devolve into pandemonium.

   But their efforts to protect Bellsor are hampered when Kai collapses shortly after being crowned, spawning the deadliest monster of all. Driven to defeat what he’s created, Kai nearly loses himself in a rogue animalistic frenzy. Only Mari’s persistence brings him back from the brink, and sets him upon the path to discovering Chaos’s nightmarish plan to destroy the Sources of Magic.

   If they want any hope of defeating Chaos and protecting magic, Kai and Mari must hunt down and save the Primal Sources of Magic before they are gone forever—and Chaos reigns supreme.

   I have some mixed feelings about this sequel. I still love Kai and Mari as characters, I love their dynamic, and the growth they have together in gaining trust in themselves and gaining better control over their magic. I love where the plot went with Chaos, and how they faced and solved those problems. 

What I don't love is the subplot with Councilor Skymount. I don't currently feel like it really adds much to the main plot of defeating Chaos. It just feels really out of place right now, and I hope it has a big payoff in the last book, otherwise, it's wasted page time that could be placed elsewhere. Not sure what his game is with Mari and her magic, but I am glad that she didn't keep it completely a secret from him, I still felt like that keeping any part of it secret is a bad thing and I don't want that to come between them in the next book. I don't like it when people (characters) who are close keep secrets from each other with the intent to protect them, it never works out.

Both Mari and Kai have a lot of really important growth in this book, and their attraction to each other is really cute. I like how they both are constantly there for each other and have such a great bond that strengths each other in the best ways. The first half of the book was trying to hide the fact that he had been infected in order to prevent Skymount from being a dick and ignoring the main threat, the man clearly has no care what actually happens to the world, so long as he gains control of the country. That subplot isn't what bothered me, while it was annoying and it seemed that there wasn't a way to prove that he was being biased in his feigned concern for Kai going rogue. 

I am very excited to read the next book in the series, and I just love Ava's books so much. Her characters are always all so unique and interesting.