why do you force me to make your life miserable?
piece by piece- Jaida+Dani's Dragon Soul review
(Selected twitter updates while I was reading to put this in perspective- )
- Braving the distance and heading to borders 3 towns over for jaida+danis new dragon book. Thom better suck SOMEONES dick in this one
I am 50 pages in and this gay dragon book has introduced 2 girls and 0 homos. Did Jaida+Dani get a ghost writer?
You know at this point im surprised /I/ dont have a piece of those dragons since so far EVERY MINOR CHARACTERS IS HAULING SOME AROUND
wow jaida+dani have written about ladies and they won't waste any time to show you they are SASS-SAY *snap* *snap*
Okay the climax of this book is happening and we still have about 50 pages left IF WE COULD KEEP THIS MOMENTUM I MIGHT SEE PROGRESS
Cait and I are in the process of making Unanswered questions in the Jaida+Dani books similar to Unanswered Lost questions video... It might exceed to youtube 10 min limit.
For all my critiques, here's something nice- The pacing of the third book is MUCH better than the previous two. Havemercy was choppy and you had to slouch through the Roy/Hal parts, and Shadow Magic was motherfucking brutal to the point I fell asleep at some parts (also NOTHING WAS ACCOMPLISHED. EVER.)-- but Dragon Soul moves well. There are some slow points at times, but that can be said about any book. It seems like after two years these chicks learned how to write a book instead of a fanfiction.net entry.
Characters are where I have the most problems, so we might as well move onto them.
Rook and Thom are back except you're not going to recognize them cause there's a shitton more whining in this book than they ever did before. I have no idea when this is supposed to take place (during Book 2? After?), but clearly in the time between Havemercy and Dragon Soul these characters became almost entirely unlikeable. Thom, who had at least some semblance of balls in the first book has lost them in favor of acquiescing to Rook's bad behavior. Bad behavior that's amplified only by Rook's miserable grieving of his destroyed "girl" Havemercy (uh and 3/4 of your friends?? I mean Adamo aside anybody you ever liked died bloody and tortured in Ke-Han but no don't mention it.) In their separate pov's, both men talk about how TOUGH their lives are because of their respective brother. Thom has to SUFFER through Rook's outbursts and VALIANTLY shoulders all "John's" digs and insults while feeling HELPLESS and USELESS. Rook at the same time is so BURDENED by dragging around his KID brother and knows things would be so much BETTER if he didn't have to BABYSIT him.
This is annoying, but a literary goldmine for drama! Seriously, the whole time I'm reading both guy's self-serving monologues about "sacrifice", I thought- Surely this will end in a big blowout where brothers realize the only thing they have in common is being brothers!! Why hang around someone you hate (then they make up and kiss) Well don't get too excited because this never happens. Thom snaps and attacks Rook briefly for insulting him late in the book... but then... they just shrug it off... and keep doing the same... fucking stuff. Their pov's are still like OH HE'S SO TROUBLESOME I DONT KNOW WHY I HANG AROUND HIM MAYBE BECAUSE HE'S ~*~JOHN~*~/~*~HILARY~*~!! I hate to nitpick (I don't) but I can tell you exactly why these two self-absorbed losers hang out with each other-
- + Thom doesn't remember his brother at all but feels obligated to create memories with him now because he's family. Having never had a family, Thom has no way of knowing what is or isn't healthy or what he doesn't or doesn't deserve. He figures whatever he and Rook has is better than nothing. He's been on his own for so long the idea of having SOMEBODY who gives a shit about him is so intoxicating he'll shrug aside most of his self-respect just to have Rook around. I wanted Balfour to show up so badly just to be like YOU KNOW THIS ISN'T HOW FAMILY WORKS RIGHT. YOU KNOW YOURE KIDDING YOURSELF RIGHT. LOOK INTO MY SILVER HAND YOU KNOW IT TO BE THE TRUTH.
+ Rook remembers his brother as a baby who died a grisly death that he coped with as a young man. He grew up surrounded by criminals in Molly which Malahide describes as being a shitty neighborhood that acts as a shitty family. When he joins the Esars frat house for dragon lovers he also got 13 new buddies and a bff talking dragon to form a surrogate family with. And then, you know, they all died. Rook's entire life has been about having a family and losing them- the best of which was probably the Dragoncorps. The fact is, when the dragondudes were around in Book 1 and Rook learned Thom was his brother- he didn't think that changed anything. Now that his family is dead, he'll take whatever's leftover ie; Thom ie; his ACTUAL family.
I understand that families don't always get along, and it's much more realistic to show simmering tensions that last for years before a huge family related drama... but.. you know these books have talking mecha dragons right? I think we left realism behind a long time ago. You don't even need to do the kissing but let's make this shit interesting okay.
MADOKA is next!! Dude guys I don't know. There are things about her that I liked and I feel bad saying this but there is some Mary Sueing happening here. I think it's largely unintentional but out of context this doesn't sound good; she's sassy, she's super strong (for no explained reason), she's really street smart, characters fall in love with her for no reason despite other obstacles. Like what is the DEAL with Badger? How'd he get to be a high ranking soldier so young? What is his actual name? Why does he like Madoka all of a sudden when Malahide shows up? Is it just because Malahide is so perceptive only she can see it? and going back to the girl in question- what does Madoka even look like? Because literally EVERY other main character in the three books has been described in tons of detail by others, but not Madoka. Sure, she's Ke-Han but does that really tell me anything? Also like.. how big is she? She keeps saying she's big and people call her a sow which can be chocked up to having low self-esteem. But then she says at one point she's bigger than some soldiers. whoa like. Wait so are we talking like, Rook sized? Al sized?? I'm fine with fullfigured ladies but I'm gonna need a better picture here. On top of not really knowing what she looks like, did we ever get any idea why the compass reacted to her or why she's so strong again pain motherfucking Malahide says she couldn't stand? You know what, let's just move onto that HBIC--
Malahide is wonderful, I have very few complaints on her. I will of course be referring to her as a HER because being a woman is the gender Malahide has accepted and calling her anything less would actually be super offensive to a lot of people INCLUDING me personally. what up. She's great, she's a freak, bitch is fucking with the provost and stealing shit and lying to the esar and making desert guys all hot and sweaty for her. I'm not sure what else I can say other than I would like her and Kalim to run into Caius and Al asap please. Book 5, thanks. My only problem with her is that both she and Madoka only get involved in the plot because of dudes. The asshole magician and the Esar sent both ladies on their quest. Both ladies have super special abiities- the compass and Malahide's Talent- but they were given to them by largely malevolent male forcuses dominating themselves over them. So really as cool as Malahide is, without her Talent and the Esar's orders she'd be as useless as Thom.
Since I mentioned Kalim and Badger earlier I might as well go into this. I criticized Jaida+Dani during Shadow Magic for only having lady characters who die or fall in love (Antoinette and Josette). When I started Dragon Soul I was surprised to see LADIES' POV and they were STRONG AND SASSY and oh fuck then they fell in love. That's nothing too bad though, I mean lots of characters fall in love. Except none of the MALE characters have done so since Roy and Hal. Rook, Thom, Al and Caius don't have a OUNCE of romance in any of their plots- why does it need to be in Madoka and Malahide's? As like an aside even, their plots function totally fine without it. I will give you we're like at 4 people not falling in love versus 4 who do, but I think we need a girl who is strong and sassy and alive and not used in any romance before I think Jaida+Dani made progress here. (fyi; Yana doesn't fall in love but I don't even know if she speaks English so whatever)
In conclusion, the pacing is much better, the action is spread out appropriately. However characters are only surface layer which comes off as lazy writing to me. Even on a second book we don't see anything deeper in Rook and Thom's personalities. First timer Madoka is sassy and that's really all there is (Why cant we mention her family?? Why does she have a connection with Havemercy? WHY DOESNT ANYONE CARE). Malahide is more fleshed out as Mamoru was in Shadow Magic, showing several sides albeit most is through sudden romance and forced exposition (ie; let me tell you my life story on the last two pages of my final pov).
Much like Caius and Al we're still left with what could be awesome characters that never really get off the ground. Every Jaida+Dani book so far seems to have characters who are superficial sketches of what a dynamic cast would be. Snappy dialogue actually doesn't help this- it detracts from it. I understand your character's voice, when are we going to address their backstory, their feelings, their motivations? How many books do I have to read before I feel I even know any of these people? Cause right now I'd like a full meal and all you're giving me is snacks.
In conclusion, this book cost $27- which means I've spent almost $60 on Jaida+Dani's foray into literature- So I think I'll make whatever observations I want. If you'd like to discuss any of these points or correct me on a mistake, I'd actually enjoy talking to anyone about these books seriously its just me and Arisato here
Sorry to break from the 50 days meme but reviews are my only unlocked posts. I will catch up on the topics in tomorrow's post!