Zarela and her family are performers, they stoke the flames of their culture with flamenco dancing and dragon fighting (think bull fighting). When her father is injured and can no longer fight as a Dragonador, Zarela decides to take over his mantle herself to save their family arena. Enter the handsome dragon hunter who is Zarela’s only chance. We see her fighting for her chance to prove herself the rightful heir to the family business.
I would say this one skews towards the younger side of YA, it’s quite clean with the exception of one scene and the world building is not too complex. Magic is mentioned here and there but is not a huge focus. I loved the glimpses of the Spanish based culture (dance, food, architecture) and the beauty of a family working together building their own legacy. And of course dragons, nice to see dragons be a bit fearsome once again. That said, the love story was a little forced and overly sweet for me. This reinforced my feeling that this one skewed younger, Zarela was certainly experiencing the gooey-ness of first love.
It’s a solid, action packed fantasy read that will help you escape for a few hours but it didn’t feel like one that will stick with me for a long time. It reminded me in a lot of ways of Adrienne Young’s The Last Legacy where the focus was on the family business and a young, headstrong girl’s role in it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Thanks to Netgalley for advanced access to this novel. All opinions above are my own.
What’s your favorite mythical creature?
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