Scales and Honor started as a love letter to fantastical adventures filled with action, comedy, romance and of course dragons. Our adventure begins with Veledar, the most prideful, egotistical and obsessed dragon around. What could ever get him off his scaly rump for one of those heroic adventures? Perhaps the dragon hunter that arrives at his lair, complete with accusations most foul. Through happenstance their back and forth begins, unlikely allies brought together by honor. Friendship starts to form, between a pair who should be downright enemies. Along their misadventure they encounter teleporting spiders, lewd tongued dwarves, crafty and sly half-elfs, grand treasures, bandits, thieves, and possibly the kindling of a far greater treasure that lurks within one another.
Dragons are known to abduct princesses, but what about paladins who came to capture and slay them ? Yet this is the unlikely bet Veledar takes while Arcturus, caught in a moral dilemma, drowns in doubt. As they embark on a quest to recover a most precious item that was stolen from the dragon, the evolution of their relationship is a large part of the story. It is often a humorous banter and teasing (not unlike Fire Rising minus its humongous flow of puns), but with unexpected depths now and then as some hinted past of each of them lingers. A very enjoyable book in itself, with some questions left unanswered for the next book to provide for, likely.
I really loved this story from start to finish, and I'll be adding it to my collection of favorite books. I have no doubt I'll come back to revisit this story again some day.
It has a very Dungeons and Dragons adventure feel to it that I enjoyed, plenty of magic and magical creatures in this high fantasy.
Veledar awakes to find himself ensnared and captured by dragon hunters in his own lair. However, he is eventually released by his captor, Arcturus. Both dragon and paladin then embark on a quest to retrieve a stolen item and to find the reason for the dragon's capture order in the first place. They make new companions on the way while learning new things about the world and themselves...
The main characters are likeable and humorous. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the dialogues between them, especially when the topic of Veledar and Arcturus's relationship comes up. Given their backgrounds - Veledar the dragon who sleeps with a stuffed toy and Arcturus the dragon slayer - their partnership is most unusual and also the most entertaining aspect of the novel.
Some scenes could get violent and grisly, though they are easily offset by wholesome moments shared between the main cast. The PoV flips between the dragon and paladin. Would recommend for fans of fantasy with a dragon lead character.
Likes: Of course this has a dragon and human friendship. That's always a plus. Veledar is a dragon I would love to meet in real life if I could visit their world. He's just adorable and so nice to anyone that's nice to him. Veledar and Arcturus have some emotional moments and backstories. I also like the technology in their world, like the flying ships and magic powered weapons.
Dislikes: There were spelling mistakes and repeated words. The story seemed to stray away from the main mission for too long at some points. Everyone feels the need to make quips at each other in nearly every conversation which got a little tiring after a while. And about the cave...
DNF— I got up to page 59 and quit. The story and the world are alright, but the formatting is just so damn AWFUL! 😫😫😫 Seeing sentences being smushed together and not spaced out is like an eyesore—this completely took me out of the book. In short, this is a book with a promising world and an interesting dragon that suffers from horrible formatting. I will not be reading this eyesore of a book again.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It features a heroic knight, magic, playful jabs, witty retorts, lighthearted teasing, drunken gryphons, and of course, dragons! What more could you ask for? I give it a solid 5 stars.