Dragon Moon: Part 1
Shadows hide our true friends as the light illuminates our enemies. Recruited as a magical apprentice, Samara trains under a head sorceress with other apprentices. The Sacred Flame coterie is renowned for its reign and raises powerful magic wielders-each member bonds with a familiar to boost the strength of their power beyond any ordinary sorcerer's. It is an honor to be recruited by the coterie and fight the force rising against the kingdoms. Samara's service means that she can help protect the kingdoms, and her family will be provided for and removed from slavery and poverty. Except Samara can't find a familiar. Having no familiar means she must overcome a formidable opponent that far outweighs her in size and outmatches her in fighting ability. If she fails, she will no longer be a coterie member and will end up either dead or enslaved, and the Sacred Flame coterie will no longer provide for her family. In her darkest hour, she meets a sarcastic and grumpy dragon who curses himself for finding her companionship appealing. Together, they uncover the secrets of their world and find trouble that tests their skills.
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1 primary book#1 in Dragoria: The Lost Dragon Realm
Dragoria: The Lost Dragon Realm is a 1-book series first released in 2023 with contributions by Katrina Cope.
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DNF at 75 Pages (Chapter 10)
The beginning felt agonizingly slow and failed to capture my interest. I made it through nine chapters, but by then, it felt as if the entire plot had already been revealed:
The FMC is the last to find a familiar, which she'll either discover by chance or during a challenge to keep her place in the coterie. Likely, this familiar will be a dragon—who, as it turns out, may actually be a shapeshifting elf. Meanwhile, the head sorceress, who serves as both the headmistress of the coterie and ruler of the realm, seems to be a tyrant who subjugates other species under the guise of “keeping the peace.” She appears to cultivate powerful soldiers by training and fostering students, extending this support to their families as well.Quote: “Each of the students' families had benefited somehow when Callista selected them. What each family needed in return varied, whether it be prestige, wealth, food, or something else. Samara's family had needed help to set them on a more stable path.”However, Callista's support is conditional, and her standards are brutally enforced. Students who don't find a familiar are sent into a challenge that could end in victory, death, or even enslavement, with their families losing any benefits Callista granted.Quote: “Callista's gaze was stern and unflinching as her cool blue eyes landed on Samara. ‘Yes. That's correct. And if the student doesn't prove their magic worthy and defeat the attackers, they may face death, or the opponents may decide to keep the student as a slave, to use as they wish.'”
These are my assumptions based on Chapters 1–9; I'm unsure if I'll skim the rest of the book (48 chapters in total!) to see where it goes. I typically love dragon stories, but this one just didn't pull me in—neither the writing style nor the characters resonated with me.