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I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons
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I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons [November 1, 2024]
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Thank you!This is a Cozy November Thread! See the planning and general thread here: [Link]
audio: not on Hoopla or A+
ebook: not on Hoopla, KU, or Open Library.
Currently less than a credit on the sitewide audible sale, but not by much.
It's a Kindle US Daily Deal today for $5.
I am listening to it now and I like it but it's also not that interesting. Despite it being marked as an adult, it kind of reads like a middle-grade/YA. I keep forgetting the characters are actually around 19.(view spoiler)
For some reason, royals are illiterate in this world but it has no explanation.
I'll be joining if I ever finish Oathbringer lol
I just started Oathbringer as an eye read. Ongoing together with other 4 eye reads lol. That's why this one I had to listen or skip. At least I am mostly caught up with my audio BRs now.
I hear you. I can only manage one eye read and one audio at a time though :)
Narilka wrote: "I hear you. I can only manage one eye read and one audio at a time though :)"That's my preference too. Even like this I usually just begin all the books to ehm make them count for BR but then pick them off one by one. Sometimes putting one on hold when new higher priority BR shows up. I do want to read all at once though. I used to be more fine with juggling many books at once. I hope this group will motivate me to binge less and be more fine with coming back to books and not remembering everything. I am noticing some improvements in that regard already.
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Nice! Yeah, you don't need to remember everything if there's a BR thread, especially if it has some discussion going. Usually there's enough comments for reminders.
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I finished it and I liked some parts and the ideas but the main plot was lacking. I don't even know how to describe my issues with it. It was just not appealing to me. It's a shame because the beginning seemed more interesting but it took a weird turn.
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Anyway, 2 middling responses, and a new to me author, and just the Middle-grade vibes in general gives me an excuse... looking at Peter S. Beagle's bibliography, it seems they usually write Middle-grade books, and are like 90 years old...
I read this as well and once again I am jumping back on my "This is not cozy" soapbox. (view spoiler)
Honestly I don't want to imply anything about the author's mental capacity but one of my thoughts when I read it was that the guy is probably very old now. So I don't know if his age might be a factor to why the plot felt kind of disjointed. Anyways, I don't think the book was particularly cozy story. More like fairy tale with some humor but also some darker parts.
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I throw around the word cozy alot, especially this time of year...
And sometimes I disagree with Ann-Marie on the definition... but in this case I agree I'm misusing it...
Timelord Iain wrote: "I agree/understand... the title sounded cozier than the blurb, to me...I throw around the word cozy alot, especially this time of year...
And sometimes I disagree with Ann-Marie on the definitio..."
Well the book is tagged as cozy on Goodreads so you are not alone with having different expectations. I also thought it would be more cozy read from the synopsis.
My requirements for cozy are definitely more strict than most around here but, for instance, heroines do not cut their own finger off in cozy books and this is a hill I will die on lol
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lol... Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries
Tried listening to this and immediately disliked the narrator; didn't even last a chapter lol. Will try eye-reading it to see if it goes better
Ann-Marie wrote: "My requirements for cozy are definitely more strict than most around here but, for instance, heroines do not cut their own finger off in cozy books and this is a hill I will die on lol"I totally agree with you and after reading all the comments on this thread I am glad that I wasn't in the mood for this book now.
Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "My requirements for cozy are definitely more strict than most around here but, for instance, heroines do not cut their own finger off in cozy books and this is a hill I will die o..."The anti-cozy cozy story.....
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I've started yesterday and the first thing that surprised me, was one of the names of the Three Wise Women: Brugge. That's the Dutch name of the city I live in. In English it would be 'Bruges'. I like that the names are Dutch, French, German...It's a pot pourri of different languages for names.About the prologue, I'm a bit lost what the relation between the prologue and the first (or the rest of) the chapters is.
But after reading all the comments and the spoilers here, this won't be a cozy story at all. I'm not sure to continue. I'm not so fond of the writing style either. I remember starting 'The last unicorn', but dnf it.
Well, I got to 30% and abandoned it after reading some reviews. Could easily have finished it, it's not that bad, but life is too short to waste time on books that I know will at best mildly frustrate me and be a very generous 3 stars read.My biggest gripe is that the tone was very inconsistent. I actually don't mind much that it reads like a MG book if it stayed that way, had the themes and fun I associate with MG books. I hoped for a fairy-tale satire with layers of interpretation (and cool dragons). I would have settled for a fun MG coming-of-age adventure (with cool dragons). Instead, I got a weird book that reads like a satire one paragraph, then a fun adventure the next, then a gritty fantasy (pitiful dragon massacre :o), and then... suddenly the female character becomes enamored of Mr. My-only-trait-is-being-handsome and loses her few brain cells...?
It was all over the place, and the reviews crushed my hopes of it actually going somewhere. One review I read described it as "a fairly okay high fantasy adjacent story that only ever comes close to being clever, close to subverting expectations, close to irreverence, close to dismantling tropes, but always always always falls just short" and I think that's pretty accurate. I know I sound pretty critical, but it was honestly "fine". Not good, just good enough not to be bad I guess.
Virginie wrote: "Well, I got to 30% and abandoned it after reading some reviews. Could easily have finished it, it's not that bad, but life is too short to waste time on books that I know will at best mildly frustr..."Yeah, I pretty much agree with all that. It really was all over the place and unfortunately it only got worse not better. I am still thinking if my three stars aren't too generous. It was very one edge of "I liked it" and "it was fine" and it left me feeling disappointed.
The group's comments has dampened my enthusiasm about reading this. I think I'll make it a lower priority for the moment. It's a shame as I loved some of the author's other works.
I read this a few days ago--kept putting it off 'cuz I was hoping to eye read, but never found the time--and I think I liked a lot more than most of y'all did, closer to Lea's POV. Being a bit forewarned helped--I read y'all's comments mid-Nov so I was already mentally prepared for a sub-par narrator and meandering message. With that in mind, I really enjoyed it. It kept giving me *hem* cozy vibes--perhaps nostalgia vibes would be a better description? Reminding me of books I loved reading when I was younger, part The Last Unicorn and part The Paper Bag Princess, Tamora Pierce's Alanna series and a dash of Belgariad and so on--made me think of the time when a princess taking up a sword was a plot twist instead of expected, and before "farm-boy gets the girl" was un-politically correct. I thought the writing itself was somewhat whimsical, and it was an easy read. It definitely skirted a lot of edges though--hinting at going deeper and then shying away from it.
Only 20% to go until finish and it wasn't what I expected. I'll post my final thoughts when finished.
Finished! I've never finished The Last Unicorn for reasons I've forgotten, but I enjoyed reading this one. At the beginning I had a bit of annoyance about the writing style, but it was just a matter of getting used to it. I liked the 3 witches in the prologue, because one of them was called 'Brugge', the same name like the city I live in. Also, there was a French influence in the names: Bellemontagne, Cerisse, Robert...What I really hated, is the slaughter of the dragons. They were used like cattle and were nothing but vermin. That was just really sad.
The storyline was good, but a bit confusing at times, because the story itself, seemed to give the feeling that it was a confusing mix of genress: middle grade, adult, fantasy, romance...Sometimes it went all over the place. Over all, it felt more cozy to me. The only thing I really enjoyed, was the wizard Dahr and then the encounter with one of the King - dragons.
I can relate to the other comments here in the thread. It wasn't what I expected to be with a title like this. You expect it to be a bit humoristic, but the title implicates that it is meant as something negative: 'vermin'. But also, the title didn't cover the load of the story. The story itself was more like a fairytale, with lack of depth.
It's interesting how most of us had a hard time pinning down the genre feel of the book....
Yes, very interesting. It gave a lot of mixed conclusions about the book.
It's pretty interesting that more and more books blur the line between genres these days (imo), but this book doesn't so much straddle the line between different genres as hop back and forth.Reading about @Nirkatze's reaction, I wonder if part of my annoyance with this book stems from the fact that the nostalgia vibes didn't appeal to me at all since I probably grew up with mostly different books than native English speakers.
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Virginie wrote: "It's pretty interesting that more and more books blur the line between genres these days (imo), but this book doesn't so much straddle the line between different genres as hop back and forth.Read..."
Hopping back and forth is a good description. And I can definitely see how no nostalgia could really alter the tone... I grew up with The Last Unicorn one of the few VHS to watch when I was home sick...
Wow, yeah. I started reading this one as it was on my Kindle and shorter as I was waiting for an appointment. I have no idea how this was marketed as Cozy. It's not cozy at all. Through CH 11 (view spoiler)
I honestly can't remember enough anymore to say one way or another... I think it had sweet parts...
Fantasy Buddy Reads
Books mentioned in this topic
The Last Unicorn (other topics)The Last Unicorn (other topics)
The Paper Bag Princess (other topics)
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (other topics)
I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons (other topics)
Happy Reading!