Dragon Trials

Return of the Darkening, Volume 1

By: Ava Richardson

Narrated by: Tiffany Williams

Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

High-born Agathea Flamma intends to bring honor to her family by following in her brothers' footsteps and taking her rightful place as a Dragon Rider. With her only other option being marriage, Thea will not accept failure. She's not thrilled at her awkward, scruffy partner, Seb, but their dragon has chosen, and now the unlikely duo must learn to work as a team. Seventeen-year-old Sebastian has long been ashamed of his drunken father and poor upbringing, but then he's chosen to train as a Dragon Rider at the prestigious academy. Thrust into a world where he doesn't fit in, Seb finds a connection with his dragon that is even more powerful than he imagined. Soon, he's doing all he can to succeed and not embarrass his new partner, Thea. When Seb hears rumors that an old danger is reemerging, he and Thea begin to investigate. Armed only with their determination and the dragon they both ride, Thea and Seb may be the only defense against the Darkening that threatens to sweep the land. Together, they will have to learn to work together to save their kingdom...or die trying.

©2015 Ava Richardson (P)2016 Ava Richardson

A medium sized portion of mediocraity

Perhaps, I would have enjoyed it more if i was in the target audience of the book. (pre-teen).
I wish that audible would indicate the intended audience as a part of the books description.
The story was predictable, There is about a 50 / 50 chance that i I will continue the series

A new dragonrider series!

WHAT IT'S ABOUT
High-born Agathea Flamma intends to bring honor to her family by following in her brothers’ footsteps and taking her rightful place as a Dragon Rider. With her only other option being marriage, Thea will not accept failure. She’s not thrilled at her awkward, scruffy partner, Seb, but their dragon has chosen, and now the unlikely duo must learn to work as a team.

Seventeen-year-old Sebastian has long been ashamed of his drunken father and poor upbringing, but then he’s chosen to train as a Dragon Rider at the prestigious academy. Thrust into a world where he doesn’t fit in, Seb finds a connection with his dragon that is even more powerful than he imagined. Soon, he’s doing all he can to succeed and not embarrass his new partner, Thea.

When Seb hears rumors that an old danger is reemerging, he and Thea begin to investigate. Armed only with their determination and the dragon they both ride, Thea and Seb may be the only defense against the Darkening that threatens to sweep the land. Together, they will have to learn to work together to save their kingdom…or die trying.

MY TAKE
I found this audiobook through the narrator, Tiffany Williams, of whom I'm a fan. As always, she does a great with the storytelling and the characterizations.

As a huge fan of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, I was excited to read this story of dragonriders. Whereas McCaffrey's world (while appearing to be fantasy, it's not) is science based, Richardson's world definitely has magic in it.

The teen angst of both the main characters is true to the age. There's Thea who's got many issues to overcome, including living up to her family's reputation as dragonriders but she's also got an elitist attitude about the peasants. And poor Seb, her partner. He's a peasant who's had no experience with dragons before, but he's got a great heart. Thea's attitude toward him in the beginning and even into the middle of the story started to irk, but that's her character arc.

I'm looking forward to the next book, also narrated by Williams.

4 1/2 stars

Slow to start

Decent series launch, it's very YA so it's not very deep. I didn't find the characters all that likable, which makes it hard to enjoy the book. Still the writing and story was good. I'll probably follow up with future book and see if they get better.

The narrator gave a good performance.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Wow

Loved this story. Two unlikely people will help to save their world. Thea is determined to follow in her brothers footsteps and become a dragon rider. Seb is a young man who wants out of the poor upbringing that he has. Dragons are released every four years to choose their riders and these two are chosen by the same dragon. The three of them must work together to become a cohesive unit. Through guts, strong will and determination they become the best and are the only ones who believe the rumors that something terrible is about to happen. They use the same skill set they had in the academy to pursue and conquer this danger.
The narration added to the story. I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review via audiobook boom. This is worth a credit because it is so well written and engaging.

Continuity Issues

Enjoyable, but as the series continues the author struggles with continuity from book to book. Backstories for characters completely change, and lots of action appears to happen that isn't written about so that the story becomes confusing.

Took a while to get used to

The duel first person perspective was difficult to get used to. It was a pretty good story line after that a little reminiscent of the Eragon story line, but still different enough to have it's good points. Overt all I am planning on giving the rest of the books in the series a chance as well.

Great dragon book!

Enjoyed! Worth a credit.


This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com.

A nice opener for the series

Legal stuff first: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

That said, I enjoyed the book, and thought it was a pleasant way to spend a few hours. Tiffany Williams did a good job at all the voicing, enhancing the experience and making the characters more believable rather than less.

I enjoyed the overall plot (no spoilers) as well as the characterization of the dragons. It was an interesting take on the dragon/rider relationships and cool that the main characters were in partnership though forced initially.

I was challenged with the characters reactions though, and felt that they came across several years younger than their stated ages..which was a little jarring for me at times. In addition, I felt that Mordecai was a little too stereotypical and overplayed, which was also jarring at times.

Other than that, however, it was a nice series opener and I look forward to the rest!

Amazing Dragon Story

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.
I loved that the author brought dragon and man together in a way I havent seen before. This story is very enthralling and left me wanting more. I can't wait to listen to the next to see how much the characters grow. I wish I could be a dragon rider.

Really enjoyed this book!!

Loved the storyline! Seb and Thea are so real with their thoughts and emotions! Can't wait to start the next one!