Tuesday 5 January 2021

Dragon Twins - The Awakening by Chriss Bury

 Dragon Twins is the first in a fantasy series about Ambrose: a young man who lost his parents in a car accident and has been plagued by fantastical dreams ever since. 

Ambrose is once again sitting in Ms Davis’ office discussing his dream. The dream where he sees huge yellow eyes staring at him after the car crashes. She is trying to convince Ambrose that the eyes that he saw did not belong to a dragon. But deep down, Ambrose knows better. Stuck in an orphanage until he is sixteen, Ambrose must negotiate the tough world of school and bullies, with his only friends being Simon, a gecko, and Dre, an online friend that believes that Ambrose did see a dragon.

On his thirteenth birthday, Ambrose’s world is changed forever as he learns about his guardians, a twin sister, an evil dragon called Morfran, and the fact that he has cool new superpowers. When Ambrose discovers who he really is, the clock is set in motion for him to prevent the crossover of dragons and man between realms. But, as always, there are villains out to get him, and Ambrose has very few people he can trust . . . 

Ambrose’s character is written very well and his fears and joys are expressed realistically for his age. His relationship with Simon is endearing and when the reason becomes apparent, it’s a heart-warming moment. I did feel sorry for Ambrose in all he had to go through while his sister had a much easier time of it, but his genuine morals ensured he did what he knew was right. You could almost say he possessed the heart of a dragon! 

The story is relatively short and held my attention throughout. The ending of the book, however, felt a bit rushed as there was a big build up and then all of a sudden it was over. There is a lot of action to process at the end so it would have been more fulfilling to draw it out. Overall, the punctuation and grammar were good, except for a few mistakes. 

I really enjoyed this book but even though it is categorised as young adult, I would recommend it more for ages 8–14 and those who love dragons, action, and a heart-warming tale of good versus evil.

 

Thanks to Reedsy Discovery for the opportunity to review the book. 

https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/dragon-twins-the-awakening-chriss-bury#review

   


Monday 4 January 2021

The Mirrors - A Tori Hartley Mystery (Book One) by E.F. Townsend

Tori is determined to own her own antique shop, but spaces don’t come cheaply. As an avid antique buyer and seller, Tori must do what she can to generate income. She has a sprawling three-storey house in Old Louisville to rent out, but currently, only one storey is taken. And there is a problem. Her renter has gone missing. Craig Mallory has just up and vanished. With no solid clues as to what happened, and a strange abundance of mirrors placed strategically around the house, the police turn to Craig’s blog for ideas. However, in his blog, Craig claims that he has been trying to contact a ghost whose footsteps can be heard in the night. Craig’s mother then hires a paranormal detective, Hal Breakspear, to follow up on what Craig has claimed. Eager to get the mystery solved, Tori joins Hal in his investigations. But what they find has them more mystified than ever. Is it a ghost, or is someone trying to cover something up using a paranormal angle? Tori must help to unlock the secrets of the mirrors.

 

Unfortunately, the premise of the mirrors is never fully explored. The author has a great idea for a novel and is able to weave a few heart-in-throat moments in, but so much gets left “not quite finished.” The mirrors were a central part of the story but they are only really included a few times. The same with the introduction of things that had happened in the house or other paranormal aspects that could have been expanded on. I was left wanting more in places. The twist is fairly easy to spot early on, but the author manages to feed you enough to keep you going until the end to find out all the details. What I did enjoy was the description of the houses and the secret rooms they had. Definitely creepy. The paranormal aspects were not creepy enough, though!

 

I was on the fence about Tori’s character in that she was brave but foolhardy, and it seemed like she jumped into things without thinking first. I was also surprised at her rent issue with Scott considering her bravery with other issues. I found Hal somewhat condescending as he was not prepared to listen to other ideas in places. Tori’s friend Emma was a gem, and the perfect person for Tori to rely on.

 

The pacing was good and there were very few punctuation errors. The author has managed to blend a bit of mystery, paranormal, romance, history, and friendship into a good debut novel. I know as she moves further into the series, she will be able to flesh out some ideas more and in others tie them a bit tighter.