No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished/One Good Dragon Deserves another – finishing the Heartstriker series

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A couple days ago I reviewed Nice Dragons Finish Last, and since then I’ve finished the next two books in the series.

Thank god the fourth book is coming out this summer, I’m dying to see where this is going.

I rated the second book a 4/5 and the last book a 5/5.

The second book had me rolling my eyes a bit, and the dialogue was a touch too monologuey at points. Julius, the main character drives me a little nuts sometimes, he is over dedicated to being ‘good’ to the point where if he was a human he would be driving me nuts as well. He absolutely, positively, refuses to kill anyone despite the fact that there are multiple attempts on his life. He’s completly dedicated to changing the nature of dragon culture, even if it means letting murderers go. That’s a bit too pacifistic for my taste, so the second book got a 4 start just because I was annoyed a few times through the book.

However, it wasn’t enough of an annoyance for me to be disappointed with the book,  I was still enthralled with the plot, the side characters, the world building. Marci is still reigning as my favorite main character, and Bob is still deliciously strange and mysterious. He’s probably one of my favorite side characters ever. I think part of it is just how awesome the narrator, Vikas Adam portrays him, he really brings him to life. I never would have imagined his voice the way it’s narrated, but it’s absolutely perfect.

The third book I was going to give a 4 for the same reasons I gave book 2 a 4 star rating – but the ending was top notch, and was good enough for me to give it a 5. The third book was also more serious than the last two, instead of just having a fun romp that’s fresh and unique, it actually brought out some emotions from me.

Bethesda is rivaling Dolores Umbridge on characters that make me want them dead. A ridiculously bitchy and vicious character that although she’s funny, I also kind of want her head on a spike.

Amelia, the oldest dragon sibling in the clan is awesome and entertaining, and Chelsea the Enforcer of the Heartstriker clan gets really fleshed out and I loved every moment of that.

Both books are well paced and tightly written which let me tear through them in a number of days, despite the fact that they are both over 100 pages longer than the first book. I stayed up all night with these books getting very little sleep trying to get through to the end – I had to know what happened.

The third book is also setting up for a big war coming between the spirits, and the humans/dragons. The end of the second book introduced the true power of the spirits and they are PISSED at the dragons and humans for wreaking havoc on Earth, their home. The spirits have been eternal, and humans and dragons are polluting the Earth and are viewed as parasites needing to be erradicated. There’s probably going to be an alliance to fight some of the strongest forces the Earth has to defend itself against the residents that live in it.

Ghost, the spirit bound to Marci takes a bigger part in both books and I absolutely love him too. Rachel does an awesome job creating characters that you really get attached to and that’s part of the charm to these books.

Although Julius drives me fucking nuts, the other characters more than make up for it and I REALLY enjoyed this series. Can’t wait until the fourth is out so I can tear through that one too.

I can’t say too much more about the books without giving things away. If you read the first book and enjoyed it, I do recommend the next two in the series – and DO try out the audiobooks, they are superb. Vikas Adam actually won an Audie award for the third book, and it was well deserved.

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