Shadows of Mallin: An Isekai Progression Fantasy

Draka, Book 1

De: AvaritiaBona

Narrado por: Katherine Littrell

An otherworlder transported into a dragon's body must grow her skills, build her hoard, and forge friendships in the first book of a charming isekai series.

A single slip is all it takes. But the consequences of falling from a rock wall are usually broken bones and bruises . . . not waking up in the body of a dragon. So when a young bouldering instructor finds herself suddenly transported to a strange new world—and into a powerful black-scaled frame— she must rethink all the rules as well as her own expectations in order to survive.

Adopting the name Draka, the newly minted dragoness begins to explore the forests, mountains, and villages surrounding the city of Karakan. To survive and thrive, she must learn to spread her wings, discover the joys of growing her hoard, and figure out how to handle the seductively draconic voice encouraging her to find violent means to any ends.

But most importantly, Draka will need to overcome her intimidating shape to form alliances with the human adventurers she meets. Because sometimes even dragons need a little help from their friends.

The first volume of the hit fantasy adventure series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2025 AvaritiaBona (P)2025 Podium Audio

Mostly Good but a Little Disappointing

The author did a good job of showing the good and bad points of waking up as a Dragon. I especially liked the way they portrayed the need for gold and silver as well as the fear from humans. It was a good story in general but I felt it leaned way too heavily on the Gen Z checklist of what to include in modern fiction, namely: bandits bad, I kill bandits, oh no I'm terrible for not feeling bad about killing bandits, insert random gay characters here, oh no evil bad nasty filthy slave traders, I kill evil bad nastly filthy slave traders. The end. Applause.

Annoying

This book is pretty good but god, did the author HAVE to make the mc such a wuss? If the mc is a slime or a goblin or even a human I can understand but it's so annoying to listen to the umpteenth scenario or a DRAGON being tossed around and barely being able to take a hit. It would be one thing if she was fighting mythical creatures with magic powers but a bear is too much for her. A bear! That's stupid! What kind of dragon can't fight a bear?!

was pretty good

story was far more thoughtfull and expansive than I thought it would be. I liked it.

Relaxing easy going adventure I loved

The real world has been stressful and, for the last few days this has been my cure, and it's a good one.

The story follows a young woman who wakes up as a dragon, dealing with new dragon instincts and a new fantasy world. This kind of premise I've seen before, but this version was so much better executed.

My only negative was how long it took for Draca to come to terms with the fantasy elements of her new reality. But this was never intrusive enough in the story to diminish my enjoyment and I know I'm overly sensitive about this kind of pet peeve.

Overall, this is exactly the kind of Isekai or mild LitRPG to relax to after a long day when too much action would be just more noise to an already stressful day. I literally curled up with a blanket and chilled to this book like a warm fire on a cold winter day and I definitely want more.

Good balance, good worldbuilding.

This one shies away from stats and numbers more than most LitRPGs, and I think it works well with the author's writing style. It has a nice, relaxed, adventurous feel with no ominous building threat (thus far) pushing things forward, which gives the author plenty of time to flesh out characters and explore the MC's internal monologue. Good series if you like dragon main characters.

finally good monster main character

finally, a book where the main character is a monster, but they don't just immediately tell everyone they used to be human and ruin the whole. what the hell? a friendly monster moments for the rest of the book or get a human form and then just spend 99% of the time in their human form. completely ruining the point of monster main character. so this is a nice blend of human mind in monster body but accepting monster nature. that's always a great lesson

good read

Great book can't wait for books 2 come out Love the story.
Think it would be a greater one if you had had a skill sheet or something

Vivid characters and detailed world building.

How relationships between protagonist and adventurers were built was amazing. The way the protagonist stood out was really breathtaking!

this book is a game changer

most isakis are a power tip and giving the genre a bed rep. this book along is amazing and takes even bit of the genre by store in its delivery, setup and story contents, I shared with with some friends and they ended up buying a copy them self's. an 11 out of 10 all day. I can't wait for the next book and the narrator tops it off with her amazing voice!!!

good

good character development. a woman gets transmigrates into the body of a dragon. she befriends some humans, fight bandits, and stop slavers.