The Dragon Kin - Tiani Davids

★★★☆☆

A clean read and simple story despite its shortcomings.



Elinta finds there is more to her bond with Zhayra than she thought.



Narrative Voice: 3rd person (limited)
Cussing/profanity: 0/5
Drug/alcohol use: 0/5
Kissing: 1/5
Sex/nudity: 0/5
Violence/gore: 1/5



This hurts. I didn’t want to give this 3 stars!

Let’s start with the good: the story is a clean read (something that’s hard to find nowadays). The world-building and magic system are easy to follow. Elinta sharing Zhayra’s emotions and abilities are refreshingly unique and my favorite part of the book. Niles is funny, and by far has the best personality. The emotional bond Elinta has with Zhayra really personifies the dragon, which I love, and makes Zhayra my favorite character. Also, she’s such a pretty dragon. There was a flashback scene I quite enjoyed as well. For a character that doesn’t speak, it was written well to still convey clearly what was happening. 


Now for the less-good: the dialogue is flat to where it almost feels like bad acting—if a book can even have that? It reveals little personality (except for Niles), and sometimes things are said just to move the plot along or transition scenes. I was hoping there would be improvement since book 1. The first half of the plot could have been stronger. With hardly any stakes, it feels weak. I wish the book had more faith in the reader to follow the plot. I’m also not sold on the romance. The writing style is very simple, easy to read, and more of a middle-grade level than YA, but The Dragon Kin is a good choice if you want a clean fantasy adventure novel.



All that said, I do want to see how Elinta and Zhayra’s journey ends.



Overall, the story is better than the writing.



3/5 would recommend

(I was an ARC reader for this)