Urban Fantasy series' discussion

Our first *Unique Book Feature* is:

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron


Nice Dragons Finish Last



This was nominated by another group member. Her reasoning was: " I liked it a lot because it's YA without a lot of the angst and silliness. Good solid story and good solid "growth" of the characters. Some unique characters and a fun read."

What other readers are saying that have set this book apart as *unique*:

- “The girl gets the dragon. Normally I would have said that the other way around, but in this case, the human is definitely more alpha than the dragon.”

- “Rachel Aaron has bucked the classic hero prototype that heroes are generally a nice guy because that's their default setting. Instead being a decent person (dragon, whatever) is a burden to overcome. It's a fun twist to make the nice guy thing a disadvantage that he can use to against his foes.”

- “What I love most about this story is that It's a twist on the whole "tortured soul" hero theme. Instead of fighting his internal desire to be bad and succeeding by defeating those urges and choosing what is good and right, Julius is fighting *external* pressure, when all he actually wants is to allow his good nature to rule his decisions. Most of his life, that has lead him to abstain from any decision making whatsoever, so as not to be forced to choose between societal expectations and internal desire, but to survive his family's machinations, he has to figure out how to reconcile his nature within dragon society. He needs to figure out how to be strong without sacrificing who he is.”




BLURB

As the smallest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: keep quiet, don’t cause trouble, and stay out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn't fly in a family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has finally reached the end of her patience.

Now, sealed in human form and banished to the DFZ--a vertical metropolis built on the ruins of Old Detroit--Julius has one month to prove that he can be a ruthless dragon or kiss his true shape goodbye forever. But in a city of modern mages and vengeful spirits where dragons are considered monsters to be exterminated, he’s going to need some serious help to survive this test.

He only hopes humans are more trustworthy than dragons...

We did a buddy read of this book on my blog and the general consensus was: We loved it! I think it started a little slow for some...and it was kind of edgy what with the situation the poor guy was in...but these characters are definitely ones to love. I am anxiously waiting for the next book!!!

I just finished reading this book, and I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a couple months. Rachel Aaron has given these characters real personality that makes you care about them and want them to succeed. I'm anxiously waiting for the next book in this series.

Bill wrote: "I just finished reading this book, and I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a couple months. Rachel Aaron has given these characters real personality that makes you care..."

Yup, it's a keeper!

It was surprisingly good. :) Definitely will follow the other books of the series!

I looooved this!!! It was a great start to a wonderful new series!!!

I loved it but I wouldn't classify it as YA as all the characters are well into there 20tys, maybe NA but no sexy times, so wouldn't call it that either. He definitely is coming into his own but it is more of an adult with no direction, living in his parent's basement, until thrown out the dragon way.

I loved this UF as it is really different and has some great characters. There is a complex dragon society that really is not very "nice" and then there is Julius.

The second book is a bit longer than the first and I thought, "oh no", but actually there was none of the droning that 2nd books of a great 1st book start, sometimes have. It was just as good as the 1st and needed all the extra pages to get to where it was going. Now I just have to get some time to sit down with the 3rd book.