It is with some regret that I have decided to make this a DNF at page 280 or so.
The regret comes from the fact that I think that somewhere, under the terrible, choppy writing and the complete lack of characters there is a great story trying to come out and I want to know how it resolves. Does Jordan get free? Does Alex ever do anything worth while? Do any of the great ideas behind this book ever break free into an actual story?
It is just not worth the alternating pain and boredom to find out however and at the point where I realise I am skim reading all the time? That is time to quit.
This book gets straight into the story without going too much into the previous two books - that was fine. It seems to me however, that with each book the quality of writing decreases. The first was good; there were characters, there was plot, there were events. The ability to write characters vanished in the second book and has not returned. The plot - needed more time and thought put into it. Perhaps the first one had more time spent getting it right than subsequent books, more feedback, more rewriting. Also I feel like the 'Y' in the YA is getting younger and younger as the writing gets more and more basic. Alex is meant to be seventeen, I think, but while she sounds her age in the first book, by this, the third one she is so underdeveloped she comes across as maybe twelve at best.
Here is the plot in a nutshell ; Alex gets into something, Deus Ex Machina gets her out. In chapter 1, she gets caught in a building, Deux Ex Machina is the Medoran Zain. Chapter 12, Alex is in trouble in a forest Deux Ex Machina this time is a dragon with which she is gifted an Anne McCaffrey like bond that is then completely wasted as it is barely mentioned thereafter. Chapter 20 Alex is Deus Ex Machinaed by the library (another wholly wasted, potentially great plot device). Somewhere else she is in trouble in a tavern, DEM again.... I am sure I have missed some because, really, there was no surprise or thrill to them, it was always a bit blah because there is always a DEM for Alex.
Here is my major problem with the book, while there are some great GREAT concepts none are ever fully developed, all are insufficiently expanded on - my heart wept when we only got a coupe of pages of Draekora itself, what a concept! I wanted more... And Alex. Alex is a major problem by now and not only because Alex is not longer a believable character but because all that happens is Alex this and Alex that. Seriously, I was so bored by the wordy, unbelievable, lack of plot in this story that I started counting the number of times 'Alex' appears on a page. Here is a fun game for you: Open this book at random, count the number of 'Alex's on the page. I never found less than five per page and I think the average is seven or eight. Nothing happens except Alex this, Alex that, Alex has, Alex hasn't... Were the first books like this? Perhaps, but there was enough good stuff to keep me going, here I was just skim reading, waiting for an actual plot element and counting Alexes.
I am really sad about this series, it had so much potential and so many great ideas. It just feels to me like the author has this whole story arc that she is following but without taking the time to get quality writing along the way.
Also, how am I the only person bothered by the flaws in this book? There are so many of them, and so few redeeming qualities that all the five star rates boggle my mind.