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Dragon Student: Sythyry's Journal 1
A slice-of-life diary from a very unfamiliar world. Sythyry is a small hermaphroditic dragon of distinguished lineage, and vast reserves of magic, inexperience, and confusion. This is zir diary, as zie sets off to the big city of Vheshrame to attend college, learn the ways of sorcery, mingle with the nobility, and in all ways but one to become a young aristocrat. But zie is unprepared to confront the perils of city and school — roommates, bakers, classes, grandparents who date back to the beginning of time, upset countesses, advanced magic, and, of course, inappropriate romances.
748 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 5, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 19, 2024
Shortly after I was recommended Mating Flight, I was also recommended this story, Dragon Student, also by Bard Bloom, who wrote Mating Flight, which I simply adored. Dragon Student tells the story of Sythyry, a small little blue dragon (also referred to as ‘small cave lizard’) attending a magical school. Like Mating Flight, this story is told from the point of view of the protagonist. Sythyry is a smart, pompous, friendly little dragon who is just trying to make it through her classes. All the while, she deals with the trials and tribulations of an eventful life full of roommates, evil neighbors, emotions, and of course, romance.
Bard Bloom’s charming writing style is still spot-on in this slice-of-life novel and I greatly enjoyed it, though a little problem with the story is it seemed to always go all over the place, and there were quite a few sentences that didn’t seem to make grammatical sense, but nonetheless, I ignored all of that and had a really enjoyable time reading the adventures of this adorable little blue derg. I can’t wait to continue Sythyry’s adventures!
And with that said… Good night
Bard Bloom’s charming writing style is still spot-on in this slice-of-life novel and I greatly enjoyed it, though a little problem with the story is it seemed to always go all over the place, and there were quite a few sentences that didn’t seem to make grammatical sense, but nonetheless, I ignored all of that and had a really enjoyable time reading the adventures of this adorable little blue derg. I can’t wait to continue Sythyry’s adventures!
And with that said… Good night
July 24, 2018
"There is no bound to Havune's kindness; certainly no lower bound." -Sythyry
I picked up this volume of "Sythyry's Journal" after reading it years ago, and am smiling at it again. Sythyry is a Zi Ri: a small hermaphroditic immortal dragon in a world with eight main intelligent species, magic used every day for ordinary purposes, and cities on the branches of a limitless tree, never far from the monsters on the edges.
Bard and Victoria Bloom love "xenofiction", stories focusing on exotic settings and cultures. This story is based on their tabletop game "World Tree RPG", which is available on Amazon and has about 100 pages of entertaining setting before you get to the rules. It's also in the world of "A Marriage Of Insects". If the Blooms wrote a "Star Wars" book it would have several chapters about the Gungans, and it would be worth reading anyway.
This particular story is what happens when you apply this strange magic-filled setting to a laid-back social plotline. Sythyry is also a fussy, naive college freshman trying to take Choinexian History and Flirtacious Dancing, find a good seat in the lecture hall, complain about the berserk cafeteria chefs, get laid without stumbling into the politics of dating outside your species when you're the only Zi Ri around, and keep "zir" famous enchanter parents pleased enough to keep paying tuition. I rarely see this ambitious a feat of world-building. The downside is the danger of everything being so strange that it's overwhelming, especially if the author "calls a rabbit a smerp" with bizarre terminology. I faulted Bard for doing that in a different book, but it's not a problem here, because there's enough of a familiar concept to hang onto.
So, it's a social-focused story written with humor and lots of world-building. If you stick with the story you get to the part where Sythyry is named ambassador to Vae (a monster powerful enough to rate one) and arranges a highly aggressive breakfast delivery equivalent to a nuclear missile test. It makes sense in context. Check it out.
I picked up this volume of "Sythyry's Journal" after reading it years ago, and am smiling at it again. Sythyry is a Zi Ri: a small hermaphroditic immortal dragon in a world with eight main intelligent species, magic used every day for ordinary purposes, and cities on the branches of a limitless tree, never far from the monsters on the edges.
Bard and Victoria Bloom love "xenofiction", stories focusing on exotic settings and cultures. This story is based on their tabletop game "World Tree RPG", which is available on Amazon and has about 100 pages of entertaining setting before you get to the rules. It's also in the world of "A Marriage Of Insects". If the Blooms wrote a "Star Wars" book it would have several chapters about the Gungans, and it would be worth reading anyway.
This particular story is what happens when you apply this strange magic-filled setting to a laid-back social plotline. Sythyry is also a fussy, naive college freshman trying to take Choinexian History and Flirtacious Dancing, find a good seat in the lecture hall, complain about the berserk cafeteria chefs, get laid without stumbling into the politics of dating outside your species when you're the only Zi Ri around, and keep "zir" famous enchanter parents pleased enough to keep paying tuition. I rarely see this ambitious a feat of world-building. The downside is the danger of everything being so strange that it's overwhelming, especially if the author "calls a rabbit a smerp" with bizarre terminology. I faulted Bard for doing that in a different book, but it's not a problem here, because there's enough of a familiar concept to hang onto.
So, it's a social-focused story written with humor and lots of world-building. If you stick with the story you get to the part where Sythyry is named ambassador to Vae (a monster powerful enough to rate one) and arranges a highly aggressive breakfast delivery equivalent to a nuclear missile test. It makes sense in context. Check it out.
September 24, 2023
I picked this book after reading (and thoroughly enjoying) the two Mating Flight books.
While both are presented as diaries of young and unexperienced (and delightfully blundering) characters, and share a similarly caustic style, they differ in many ways too.
Sythyry's journal is social focused, the MC is tiny among other species and far from being allmighty.
As a side note, I found it a bit challenging to read. The amount of world building and invented vocabulary sometimes make it overwhelming, especially if english is not your native language.
Anyway, Sythyry is an endearing character and I'll follow up, even if a bit intimidated by the size of the next (vol 2 and 3 are longer than this one).
While both are presented as diaries of young and unexperienced (and delightfully blundering) characters, and share a similarly caustic style, they differ in many ways too.
Sythyry's journal is social focused, the MC is tiny among other species and far from being allmighty.
As a side note, I found it a bit challenging to read. The amount of world building and invented vocabulary sometimes make it overwhelming, especially if english is not your native language.
Anyway, Sythyry is an endearing character and I'll follow up, even if a bit intimidated by the size of the next (vol 2 and 3 are longer than this one).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews