Elena
Time-traveling witches, dragon lairs, a world pulled straight out of a fantasy. Except, this became my life overnight, and I had no idea how to handle it. One minute, I was walking through European woods with my family. Next, I was thrown into a realm beyond my wildest dreams. Danger lurked around every corner, and the only one willing to help was the lord of the Crimson Dragon House.
Then I met his son, Killian. Words can’t even begin to describe how much I despise him. Arrogance runs through his veins as strongly as my hatred runs through mine. When I became a dragon rider, I was about to face grueling challenges and Killian was determined to make me fail. With no way back to my own time, my only shot at survival was to master dragon riding and Killian won’t stand in my way. I just have to figure out how.
Killian
She ended up in my lair by accident, but her very presence makes my blood boil. My father’s decision to welcome her into Moltenclaw Keep and let her train as a rider was beyond me. The old man must’ve lost his marbles.
On top of dealing with my mother’s death, now I have to train this weak human girl who can barely hold a sword. And if that wasn’t bad enough, soon the Hungarian king will summon us and four other dragon houses for the Time Tournament.
But no matter what, one thing is certain. I’m going to drive that girl out of my lair, my life, and my mind.
The Time Tournament is Book 1 in the historical romantasy series, Order of the Dragon, that melds real historical events with even greater fantasy ones. “Let the dragon games begin!”
*The book ends on a cliffhanger
initial thoughts
I was immediately drawn to this book as I’m a huge fan of dragons. And not only are dragons involved, but they’re actually dragon shifters. *cue heart eyes*
AND. The MMC is supposed to resemble the Henry Cavil in The Witcher…
main thoughts
This book started a little slow for me. The MC’s attitude in the beginning toward her family was incredibly irritating, which didn’t exactly endear the character toward me, so I felt I had to push through it. It wasn’t until the FMC finally met up with the dragon shifters that I felt like I was starting to truly get interested in the story.
While I did enjoy this story as a whole, something about it fell a little flat (for me). I’m not sure if it was the author’s writing style or what it was, but it just felt like there was something missing for me. However, with that being said, I do think it’s worth reading if you’re a fan of fantasy–especially dragons.
bullet points
- this book is super lore-heavy with a ton of history. If books with heavy world-building and lots of lore aren’t your thing, I would venture to guess this one isn’t for you.
- Killian, the MMC, is kind of awful for the majority of this book, lol. And honestly, the way he seems to go from hating Elena to suddenly being head-over-heels in love with her was a bit of a whiplash. I’ve read plenty of books with dark MMCs, so I’m not sure why he in particular bothered me so much, but there was just something about him that aggravated me and I didn’t find him believable once he “fell in love” with her. I don’t know. It could just be a me thing here.
- As someone who was and still is a huge Hunger Games fan, I did love the tournament aspect here.
- I really loved the friendship between Elena and Tarra.
final thoughts
All in all, I did enjoy this book. I would probably rate it a 3.75. I wouldn’t say it’s a favorite read , but I enjoyed it and I think a lot of people will enjoy it as well. I definitely would recommend any fantasy fan to read it and try it out for yourself 🙂
looking for some scarily good reads in time for spooky season?
Check out my curated list on Amazon: Spooky season reads
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