Heart of Realms

Charassi's Fae Queen, Book 5

By: Ava Richardson

Narrated by: Mago Weston

Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

A dragon’s egg heralds a dark destiny for the Kingdom of Fae…

Strange new magic has been unleashed upon the Fae of Charassi, and King Corrin is wary. Disaster seems to follow in the wake of this wild enchantment. And all the while, a sinister force lurks in the shadows, tearing at the cracks between worlds.

Meanwhile, Queen Ophelia is determined to hatch the ill-fated dragonling known as Starstriker. A prophecy has foretold that this hatchling will bring doom to the Fae. But Ophelia herself was once prophesied to bring disaster to Charassi. Perhaps, like her, this egg can lead the realm to a brighter future.

Time is running out. Starstriker needs to hatch now, but the evil magic of the Wild Hunt has left her shell unbreakable. Ophelia and her dragon must embark on a dangerous journey to the mysterious Heart of the Realms, hoping to find a cure, before the hatchling dies.

And If she fails, Ophelia’s quest may lead to both her and her kingdom’s doom…

©2023 Relay Publishing (P)2024 Relay Publishing

Loved it!

Great book! Loved every page of this book and I can't wait to read more books from this author! I will definitely be recommending this book to all my friends!

Always something happening

Working out how to unoil the egg took a lot of work. Finally the baby dragon was able to hatch. Book 6 should be good.

Great continuation of series

Once again, Richardson created a fun tale. Charassi is a world anyone who enjoys fantasy should check out.

another great book

love this one and that Striker was able to hatch. Now to wait for the next book in this series.

Exciting story

This series is wonderful and the adventures keeping coming. Can't wait to see what happens next with the baby dragon. Narrator does an amazing job.

Heart

We have adventure, suspense, action, danger, and more. Charassi is trying to find a way to hatch the egg and save it? Can she do it?There is so much going on to save the hatchling and her kingdom, you will have a hard time putting this done.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Gripping story with action and dragons

I liked this book. It was exciting and fun. I do with I had listened to the other books first because there are several references that are important to the full story, but I’m willing to go back and listen to them. The narrator was nice and expressive and she has nice character voices.

Heartfelt with Surprises

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but I absolutely adore this author's young adult dragon fantasy stories and series. Even though she always writes, at least to my knowledge, in the same sub-subgenre of fantasy, she makes each series unique in several ways, like the all-important laws of magic and even the types of relationships between humans, fae, and dragons. For the latter, sometimes the humans and fae are paired with old and powerful dragons who guide and instruct, while other times they are paired with younger ones, even ones who have just hatched, and all learn together—and everything in between. I also like the richness of the magic in all this author's different realms. The magic in this particular series is an interesting blend of emotional, elemental, and artifact magic that those who know it weave together like threads.

Earlier in this series, we've seen magic confined only to those of the royal family who form a bond with a dragon, like the high fae king and queen (bonded to the dragon monarchs). So all heck breaks loose when suddenly non royal high fae are accidentally performing magic. Yes, they do not intend to, haven’t been trained by dragons how to do it, and so cannot control it. This first happens at a public gathering, causing near catastrophe everywhere, endangering lives and structures. What's causing this? What can be done to control it? At the same time, a high fae is sowing seeds of discord and even fomenting riot, causing the new magic welders to question what their king and queen do, although the reader knows both are relatively selfless and constantly put themselves in danger to help their people, even if the people don’t know the details.

These are just two challenges the hero and heroine (the fae queen and king) have to face. At the end of the last book, the dragon monarchs’ egg had been oiled, which means the young dragonling inside will not be able to hatch and will eventually die within the egg. They only have a few weeks to figure out how to unoil the egg; in the past every single dragonling this has happened to has died. About halfway through the book, the little dragonling in the egg has grown enough to communicate mentally with its parents and their riders. It was such a surprisingly heartbreaking scene, one like you don't expect to happen in YA fantasy! The little dragon expresses its feelings about being cramped, wanting to meet its parents, and its fear and helplessness. Awww.

Of course, an epic bad guy is causing the problems. While he isn't thoroughly vanquished in this book—and, indeed, the epilogue shows he will be a key player in the next book—after several unexpected difficulties, the baby dragon hatches safely. There was a surprising scene at the end I won't give away, but the king and queen meet a surprising group of beings as they all try to figure out what went wrong and the next best steps. While it made complete sense within the flow of the book, it was quite a twist! I'm a voracious book reader and audiobook listener, so I love it when an author can surprise me with next-level plotting. As always with this author's books, highly recommended, though you should definitely start with book one of this series to fully appreciate what happens in this one. I don't think you'd be confused if you started here, as the author does provide context and a well-integrated backstory at the start of the book, but you will not truly appreciate the characters and what's happening to them if you don't understand what's gone before the series.

threats

Ophelia and sunny go to get answers and save starstriker while Corrin and river are left trying to save the kingdom from a new threat.

Challenges....

love the challenge to follow story and keep up with adventure and prot3cring Star Striker!!