Dragon Rider (The Soulbound Saga, #1)
Taran Matharu
Author Taran Matharu’s debut adult fantasy series introduces a world of magic, warriors, and dragons, in which a fearless orphan and an ambitious handmaiden flee from the empire that would imprison them, with a dream to return to their homelands and a determination that’s unbreakable… Can an orphan captive learn the secrets of the Dragon Riders to stand up and avenge his people? Jai lives as a royal hostage in the Sabine Court—ever since his father Rohan, leader of the Steppefolk, led a failed rebellion and was executed by the very emperor Jai now serves. When the emperor’s son and heir is betrothed to Princess Erica of the neighboring Dansk Kingdom, she brings with her dragons. Endemic to the northern nation, these powerful beasts come in several forms, but mystery surrounds them. Only Dansk royalty know the secret to soulbonding with these dangerous beasts to draw on their power and strength. This marriage—and the alliance that forms—will change that forever. But conspirators lurk in the shadows, and soon the Sabine Court is in chaos. With his life in danger, Jai uses the opportunity to escape with the Dansk handmaiden, Frida, and a stolen hatchling. Hunted at every turn, he must learn to cultivate magic and become a soulbound warrior if he has any chance of finding safety, seizing his destiny…and seeking his revenge.
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I’m the first one to yell about how much I love dragons and political intrigue but the execution was unfortunately not there for this one. The pacing was uneven, huge action scenes with slower traveling and training between without a real clear sense of why we should care about these characters. This book feels like a long prologue.
I think I would like this more if I were new to fantasy. Sort of in the way I loved Eragon as a younger reader. But now that I have been steeped in the tropes of fantasy for so long this fell flat. We follow our main character Jai through many of the classic dragon fantasy story beats, young protagonist bonds with dragon, has to go on the run, meets old mentor, etc.
What made this less engaging than some of the other books of this persuasion was that the main character was being dragged along by the plot rather than him making actions/taking steps to move the story along. I did not feel like there was any agency for him even when there were decisions to be made.
I didn’t dislike it out right though, I enjoy the subversion of the trope of kind wise mentor character. And per usual the dragon Winter is the best character.
Overall this book tried to do a lot and succeeded in some of it. Long stretches in the middle were repetitive and too expository. The story and themes would benefit from stronger writing, but the story as a whole had enough that was interesting that I kept reading. Not sure if I am invested enough to check out a sequel though.
ARC from NetGalley.
2.5
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