Společenstvo draků – Zkouška věrnosti

There are a few minor spoilers in this, but they really don't give enough of the book to deserve a tag. You've been warned, though.

Honestly, Alex knows how disappointed I was in this book, so I'm not going to bore anyone with my slow and painful descent into my disappointment.

Really, I had so many problems with this book. So. Many. For one, I really didn't like any of the characters. If there was one character I liked, it was Dante, because his actions made sense with his character.

Dante = basically brainwashed = obeys Talon's every desire

Logical, right? Others were not as logical. Ember, the main character, really pissed me off. She was selfish and, to be frank, pretty stupid. Proof, you ask? Well, she immediately trusted Riley despite the fact that he was hella creepy and stalkerish. I mean, seriously, this lad was raising all of the red flags. And yet she did it anyway. Garret, as a character, didn't make my head throb as much as Ember and Riley, but he wasn't perfect. The problem was, it seemed like he had two character traits and... nothing more. He was either St. George-Garret or in-love-with-Ember-Garret. There was no in between or anything more.

Besides the characters, I had other issues with this book. Unfortunately.

The romance made me want to gag. We've all heard the expression “insta-love” before. However, if you want the definition, you don't need to look any farther than this book. The second Ember and Garret looked at each other, they were kind of like “omg this person is so beautiful, and hot, and gorgeous, I have this strange feeling in my gut, they're beautiful, I'm basically in love, did I say they were beautiful?”

And it was the same way with Riley. Because, of course, it was a love triangle. Now, I am not someone who loathes every love triangle I come across. Some of them are really well-written. This one was not one of those. Mostly, it was 90% Garret, except for the times when Riley popped in. And when that happened, he was more of a predator than a love interest. She clearly didn't ask for his interventions, but he was all “She wants it, I can see it in her eyes.

How about no??

Finally, the thing that killed me most about the book was the plot. The plot seemed so good. It has so much potential. I mean we're talking dragons here! What's not to love? The problem is that the plot is completely drowned out by the romance. It simply reads like a romance novel. Practically every other chapter, Ember was on a date. And maybe her training sucked or Dante was acting like a prick (still loved him, no shame), but that was just mentioned as an after-thought. I wanted drama and just more. Before the romance, these elements were there. But after it was introduced, it simply fell apart.

Long story short, I wasn't impressed. I just don't think Julie Kagawa is the author for me.