This is the first of my new series of recommendations based on the animals they have in them! We all love our furry, scaly and feathered friends in our reads and I’m starting off with dragons.
There are so many different types of dragons. We have the classic evil one who eats maidens and must be defeated by the knight. We have the greedy gold hoarding ones. We have intelligent dragons and animalistic dragons and dragons with magical powers. We have dragonriders, dragon trainers and dragon fighters. But I digress.
Our first dragon rec is quite a famous one but it is honestly one of the books that really got me into the fantasy genre and Saphira is just perfect dragon vibes throughout the series.
The Dragon book is, of course, Eragon by Christopher Paolini!
From this beautiful illustrated edition to the beaten up paperbacks I read over and over Eragon never fails a reread!
Thanks to Net Galley for this e-ARC read and all opinions are my own! Pub Date: Apr 01 2025 Publisher: Rachel Taylor Thompson Genre: Alternate Reality, Heist, Urban Fantasy Age Category: YA
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that originated at Breaking the Spine but has now linked up with Waiting for Wednesday at Wishful Endings. It is always a fun chance to display books that are going to be joining our bookshelves very soon in 2025!
13+
This was so good!
I went into this expecting a fun frolic and it didn’t just deliver it gave me everything I wanted and DRAGONS. I know it was in the title, but I had expected a few dragons, not a glorious world full of different varieties. We have seadragons, truedragons, even beedragons!
Sasha was driven character from the beginning, and we are swept into her delightfully morally askew world as she witnesses a seadragon die and steals it’s Semis. The Semis is something huge in her world – the last time it happened there was a huge man hunt and several deaths but as far as Sasha is concerned there was also millions.
Throughout Sasha had a really fun narrative voice to read, rampant with ‘Clemisms’, sayings her (just a little crooked) family have raised her on which support all of her decisions in the beginning. It was really lovely to see her motives change and grow over the course. At the beginning of each chapter she keeps track of her finances (such a lovely way of reminding about her motives and how money is such a huge thing because of the lack of it in her life) but it also reminds us of the ticking clock behind her – the whole country is out for her, the whole world’s governments are looking for her and the Semis and she only has a few grand with which to avoid them with. oh and that’s all that’s left of her collage money too!
Plot – 5/5 – it was fast but we also got all the details that my little worldbuilding heart needs so just perfect!
Romance – 4.5/5 – Soft Romance – I just love a good dreamscape scene, when both lower their boundaries and just talk without the pressures of the real world and this had several glorious examples of how well this can be done! Ari was adorable too – and how sweet he was with the dogs! (did I mention that there are three dogs named after the Bronte sisters along for the heist???)
Characters – 4/5 – I loved Sasha, she was such a good character and I love that Rachel Thompson didn’t make her family too likeable (they had flaws but still came out to support Sasha in their own non law abiding way)
World – 5/5 – DRAGONS! I have mentioned the dragons but they were glorious so I will mention it again! The rest of the world was really well defined too – Sasha crosses huge swathes of land but every place she goes to has its own feel even through she never goes to any huge landmarks.
Content Warnings: some sexual harassment to the mc, but she gets out of the situation quickly so only 1/5. Threat.
Such a fun read and 100% worth it this needs to go on your TBR for 2025!
As someone who has read the entire series multiple times I have to say that this might be my favourite book. After (spoiler – Hroombra’s passing) Jahrra and Jaxx travel into Liden, the city where she is supposed to go to university. Jahrra had fought back against this decision vehemently in the previous book, taking it as an attempt of Jaxx’s to take her out of her comfortable life. However, Liden is honestly one of my favourite cities in fantasy. It feels so real and rounded out, with the university, and the backstreets with their little hidden shops. Despite Jahrra’s inexperience with cities, higher society and slightly rocky path it was a joy to finally get away from Ellysian and Eydeth.
One of the huge things that stood out to me was Jahrra’s maturity. In this book, despite a few scenes where we can see the old Jahrra, she is mostly balanced and emotionally perceptive. This is a much needed change from the hot headed girl she used to be which constantly butted heads with Jaxx and ran huge risks just because she could.
We see Deneah the Mystic again, and another Mystic whom adds depth to the development of just who is she really is and her motives but her role in the story is quite minor as Jahrra is now surrounded by a whole city full of people who know her human heritage.
I LOVE the spirit stone shop, it is such a delightfully fantastical place with a twist on the usual magic. I love it when magic in books is used for everday yet special things. In this case, spirit stones are a way of keeping a bit of a loved one with you, (not creepy I promise, just a bit of hair or a nail clipping!) which is put into a potion that becomes a shining jewel of a stone with a heart fleck which represents that persons love for you. I want to go sooooo much, it is definitely on my top ten fantasy locations to visit.
Plot – 4/5 – Honestly it is still her preparation for the true Chosen One journey, but we are certainly reaching the end of that so expect much more plot points being hit in the next book!
World – 5/5 – Love the city, the spirit stone shop especially and I JUST HAVE to love Jaxx’s mansion with its sweet little touches.
Characters – 4/5
Romance – NA – Its not really present, there is a mention of someone having a crush on someone but it evaporates.
Things to be aware of: Manipulation, but very minor and only to characters around her.
This book is the second in the Oescienne series and it just builds on the world and characters that were established in book 1! This one follows Jahrra from about twelve to seventeen and see as she grows and develops in her character with the trials that are put against her.
We get to see the world developed more as Jahrra travels to different places within it and we get to see even more of Denaeh, the Mystic. I love Denaeh, she is a complex character who often goes against what other characters think is right for Jahrra and tries to slowly prepare Jahrra for the reveal of the Prophecy which is looming. She disagrees with Hroombra and Jaxx about keeping Jahrra’s race a secret from her, but it is also interesting that she doesnt outright tell her. I cant say any more because of spoilers but she is such an interesting character!
Jahrra still doesnt know that she’s human, and the Crismon King’s influence is slowly spreading into the sheltered world Jahrra lives in. It is a really interesting portrayal of a fantasy character being raised. It is quite common for them to either have been raised in the capital, fully aware of their power or to have been raised on a farm somewhere in the middle of nowhere. However Jahrra is raised being already trained and turned into the hero that Oescienne needs. Sometimes I am literally begging her to take a step back and think about why she is being prepared for such random things.
One of the facets of Jahrra’s character is her stubbornness and I think this plays into a lot of her interactions with the characters, she stubbornly hates Jaxx (but lets be honest he doesnt help at all there and is very antagonistic), she stubbornly tries to prove over and over that she is as good as Eydeth and Ellysian (the Resnai bullies) by completing challenges that should be impossible. She also is stubbornly trusting despite other people’s warnings. Her friends are wary of Denaeh, but Jahrra trusts her almost blindly despite proof to the contrary. However I do enjoy her stubbornness because it comes from a place of love, not arrogance like a lot of fantasy leads.
World – 4/5 – In the next book we get to see so much more of it and it is sooooo good!
Plot – 4.5 /5 – It starts coming together in this book as we start to go on a more classic heroine’s journey towards her realisation.
Characters – 5/5 – and on a separate note Denaeh may have won a whole extra point for her mysterious and yet in a way oddly trustworthy actions.
Things to be aware of: The bullying from the last books continues into this book and earns it a B because it steps up a bit. There is death and grief like the last book.
I love this book! It was like revisiting my childhood again reading it. The interesting world which slowly unfurls over the series, showing us more and more just how deeply Johnson planned the lore and mythology of her land is exquisite. I just love it, the way that despite the fact Jahrra essentially only travels around a few locations around her home they are so detailed and separate in my mind.
The people inside the world are just as defined, the rushed manner of Raejaxxorix, the slow carefulness of Hroombra and the young eager excitement of Jahrra and her friends. The people of Oescienne are divided essentially by a class and racial barrier. The Resnai are the upper class because they possessed more elfish heritage (yes there are elves! and dragons! and different races of dragons! ) and the Nesnans have less elfish heritage (which is why Jahrra as a pure human can pass as one). Both races have some human blood from before they were wiped out by the Crimson King but how much is incredibly important to some of the individuals which leads to natural introduction of the racism (even if how much elf blood exactly you have to have to be a Resnai and a Nesnan is never set in stone).
Another thing I love is that Jahrra is so young. This first book follows her from being a baby to five/six (that is when the narrative focuses on her, previously it had been told through various other presences) to about twelve. This slower storyline – and she doesnt even know that she is the prophesied one yet! – really allows us to relax into the world of Oescienne and Jahrra as a character. She is already incredibly driven, especially against (tiny spoiler) the two siblings which bully her at school for being Nesnan.
This is the start of an epic five book series which follows Jahrra the prophesied human that will free the land from the Crimson King.
Plot – This is really tricky to rate because nothing and everything happens in this book – I’m going to give it a 3.5/5.
Characters – 5/5
World – 100000/5 – I’ve already ranted about it in my main review so let me just say – Its sooooooo good!
Things to be aware off: She does get bullied at school and there are some racist comments (she goes to a Resnai school as a Nesnan and is looked down upon for having less elf blood). There is also some death in it – none on the page and not graphic at all but as a result of illness and subsequent grief.
It was tricky to give it an age rating – I read it when I was about eleven and I really enjoyed it!
Damsel in Delight 