Emily

Recommended to me when I asked for books about starting meditation that don't have a religious angle. Going to assume the person who recommended this hasn't actually read it. Maybe two minutes was spent on actual instructions on how to meditate. That's not the reason for the two-star rating, but I'm trying not to do negative reviews in general here, so I'll end it there. This book wasn't for me.If anyone's looking for a book on secular meditation, I found [b:Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book 34962306 Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics A 10% Happier How-To Book Dan Harris https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1509153842l/34962306.SY75.jpg 56237226] to be more helpful, personally.

This was fun! This reminded me a lot of being younger and growing up online in fan communities, and then being super awkward in my offline life, haha. I'm apparently only a few years older than Cath too, based on her saying 9/11 happened in 3rd grade.

This is a coming-of-age story for Cath, twin sister to Wren, as the two of them move from Omaha to Lincoln to attend UNL. I bought the book because it was local and it sounded fun, even though it's outside my usual genre. Cath and Wren grew up as huge Simon Snow fans and would write/post fanfiction together. As they enter college, Wren is ready to put that childishness aside and enter the party college life, but Cath isn't.

I appreciate that even when Cath is obviously wrong and just being driven by emotions/anxiety/etc, we get into her head to understand that. A fair number of books I've read in the last couple of years had authors who seemed to forget you can do that, so it's refreshing to read this one. Some of her anxieties are ones that I relate to and her friends are there to help her figure out how to navigate the real world. Love all the characters.

Small complaint: It was weird that Levi eventually mentions "Harry Potter" when Simon Snow is obviously a stand-in for Harry Potter. It's kind of a double-take moment since it feels like we agreed that this is a world where Simon Snow *is* Harry Potter, and now brings up the question of what's Potter's place in the world? It only comes up once though so it's easy to forget.

No in-depth review since this was a kids' graphic novel, but would like to note: Dragons of the same breed unfortunatley are drawn too similar, and it's difficult to tell them apart. I kept having to flip back to the page where the five dragonets are introduced just to tell who the main characters were in any given scene. Otherwise, it was fun.

My favorite book. I read this in high school and couldn't remember much since, except the very beginning of the story: After Gareth talks about how heroic dragonsbanes are - riding into battle on horseback with a sword, charging down the dragon - John (an actual dragonsbane, and the only currently living one) explains this is the stupidest way to fight a dragon and will surely get you killed before you even reach it. The ballads had embellished dragon-slaying, and hearing the truth destroys Gareth's mental image of what a hero is. This premise is what brought me back to the book years later.

Jenny and John are both great, solid characters. Jenny is a solid woman protag who's unsatisfied with how pitiful her mageborne powers have always been, even after devoting her life to the study of magic. John is her nerdy, hilariously charming husband - thane of the Winterlands not because he wants to be, because he'd much rather be scouring old ruins searching for philosophy and history books. But he has to be thane, and people depend on him to be, and so he is. A genuine hero, not looking for the flashiest solution, but for the one that will actually work.

The personification of dragons is an interesting take, since it's done in a way that genuinely makes you feel that they think differently than us. Absolutely love the dragon, and the magic system. The journey and the other problems (beyond just a dragon attacking the kingdom) are all just as, if not more, enthralling.

This book is for adults, not so much for a “mature” content rating but more for being relatable. Jenny and John are around 40 and have kids. I don't think I really appreciated Jenny's problems the way I do now when I was in high school.

A lot of people don't like the sequels, but this book has a satisfying ending so you're perfectly fine just reading this one. (If you DO consider the sequels, read some reviews before deciding it's right for you. They are much different in tone.)

Not sure if this is the case in all editions or not, but the edition I read included a summary of the first three books before the book properly started. The tone of this book is much closer to the original Dragonsbane, so here's what I'd actually recommend:

If you like Dragonsbane and want to continue, read reviews for Dragonshadow. If you think that book likely isn't for you but still want to read more of Jenny and John, skip straight to Dragonstar. You'll get the summary of what happened in the previous books, which is enough to understand the story.

Full disclosure: I did enjoy the two middle books (most people seem to regret reading them) but they were hard to read at times. The content is very dark, which I knew ahead of time per a review - but even knowing that, I had trouble at points. I do think the middle books are good (I loved seeing more about how dragons think, especially compared to Morkaleb), but they are definitely not for most people and will leave you hurt. Dragonstar does not.

This book does talk about some of the darker things that happened in the previous two, but not quite as harshly, and there are more good feelings in general. This is still a book about demons, though, who continue to do what demons do. So if that whole concept is upsetting for you, then just read Dragonsbane and leave it at that.