Review: Returner's Wealth

Info:
Title: Returner's Wealth
Authors: Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
Series: Wyrmeweald #1
Publisher: Open Road Media
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Source: I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis:
From the creators of the internationally bestselling Edge Chronicles comes an epic story of dragons!

The wyrmeweald is a hostile place, an arid wasteland where man is both hunter and hunted, and where the dragon-like wyrmes reign supreme.

Seventeen-year-old Micah enters the wyrmeweald intent on stealing a wyrme egg to sell for a bounty. With the riches such an egg will bring—returner’s wealth—Micah can go home to a life of luxury, and win the hand of the girl he loves. But the wyrmeweald is a treacherous place, and Micah quickly finds himself in mortal danger. When a tracker named Eli rescues him, Micah is forced to prove his worth, and together he and Eli defend a rare wyrme hatchling from kith bandits intent on stealing and selling wyrme eggs.

As Micah soon discovers, this hatchling has a guardian already—the beautiful, brave, and dangerous Thrace. Micah and Thrace make the worst possible match: Micah is a would-be bandit, and Thrace is a wyrme rider-assassin, devoted protector of the wyrmeweald. Yet their chemistry is undeniable, and soon Micah and Thrace join forces to protect the rare wyrme and battle the evil forces that encroach on their native habitat. But is there anything left in the devastated wyrmeweald to be saved?

Review:
  Returner's Wealth was a bit of a mess for me. With poor pacing, a weak plot, a weirdly inconsistent structure and generally boring characters, even the presence of dragons couldn't save this one.

my biggest issue with this one was that I found it boring. It honestly took me almost a month to read this one because I kept getting bored and starting other books. One problem was that I felt like I was thrust into the middle of the story without any background knowledge. Then there were the alternating chapters of past and present for a while until they abruptly stopped.

I also felt like very little actually happened in this one. There was a lot of wandering around with bits of action mixed in. I was expecting a big climax, but that also felt small and undeveloped.
I also had issues with most of the characters. Micah was stupid. That's really all there is to that. Thrace was weird and unlikeable and I really didn't understand what happened with her and Aseel at the end. And the romance was instant and creepy. Micah was checking her out when she is freaking dying from falling off a cliff! But her can't stop thinking about how hot she is. I did like Eli, although his personality was pretty mild.

My favourite part of this one was the world. You could tell how much work and thought the authors had put into creating this harsh world full of a variety of different wyrme species. However, as a mentioned above, I think the world could have been introduced to the readers more clearly.

Overall, I was disappointed with Returner's Wealth. I love dragons, but this one had too many flaws for me to enjoy it.

Fine the Book:

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

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Review: Soldier Dog

Info:

Title: Soldier Dog
Author: Sam Angus
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: April 16, 2013
Source: I received an ARC in exchange for a honest review

Synopsis:

With his older brother gone to fight in the Great War, and his father prone to sudden rages, 14-year-old Stanley devotes himself to taking care of the family’s greyhound and puppies. Until the morning Stanley wakes to find the puppies gone.

Determined to find his brother, Stanley runs away to join an increasingly desperate army. Assigned to the experimental War Dog School, Stanley is given a problematic Great Dane named Bones to train. Against all odds, the pair excels, and Stanley is sent to France.

But in Soldier Dog by Sam Angus, the war in France is larger and more brutal than Stanley ever imagined. How can one young boy survive and find his brother with only a dog to help?

Review:

I was very apprehensive to start this one for the same reasons that I've never seen War Horse. I'm a huge animal lover and I hate thinking of them being hurt even a little bit, let alone going through the horrors of war. But, I gathered up my courage and read this one anyway. And it was every bit as sad as I expected, but also more interesting than I expected.

This is one of those books you need to read beside a box of tissues. I kept a personal "cry counter" on this one and I believe my final tally was 5 bouts of tears. Two of which were full out sobbing. Just so you can't say I didn't warn you.

A book that makes you cry that much must be doing something right (although I'm sure I'd cry in a poorly written book on the same subject). I found Soldier Dog to be well written and engaging. I cared deeply about Stanley and even more about Bones and Soldier.

The thing I didn't expect was to be interested in the war aspect as well. I found this book to be very well researched and really informative. I'm about as far from a war buff as you can be, but I actually enjoyed learning about how dogs were used as messengers in WWI. So hooray for learning something!

The only other I'd question on this one is it's suitability for younger readers. The grade range on this one is 4-7. I'm not sure is a 10-year-old could handle this book. It destroyed me and I turn 25 this week! However, on that note, this book might be good for boys interested in war to get them reading. But there were images in this one that are terribly haunting and awful and I bawled as I read them. The use of gas was absolutely terrifying and devastating, so this one is not for more sensitive young readers.

Soldier Dog is an extremely moving look at the use of canine soldiers in WWI, as well as the journey of a brave young man who leaves his safe life in England to face the unknown horrors of war. This one will have you bawling you eyes out and feeling so thankful that your pets won't have to go through the terrible situations war dogs did.

Find the Book:

Goodread | Amazon | The Book Depository

Find the Author:

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Paranormal Reading Challenge: Ghosts

With Halloween coming up quick (has everyone decided on a costume?), the October theme of the Paranormal Reading Challenge is Ghosts! Yay! Honestly, I don't read a lot of ghost stories because they scare me. Ghosts are one of the paranormal elements that I haven't decided if they are real or not. So they can scare me the most by far because they might be real.

Source

This month, I'll be reading one of those books that everyone in the entire blogosphere has read, but I haven't: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. I hope it lives up to all the hype!

Be sure to link up your October paranormal reviews here!