2.5 stars

It was a fun read but ultimately fell pretty flat for me.

I whole-heartedly did not like the dragon-fighting plot line. It was barbaric and cruel and one of the main reasons I didn't like Zarela's character. She kept defending the torture and murder of them by saying it was tradition.

Murdering animals that can't escape is not tradition, no matter how you spin it.

I am conflicted about how I feel about Zarela, she was strong, stubborn, and driven, but she was also naive, childish, and bratty.

Arturo was kinda of a nothing character to me, he didn't really stand out. I loved that he wanted to save dragons but that was his whole character to me.

Lola and Guillermo were forgettable.

Spoiler

I knew her father would die before the end of the book, although I thought he would die from his initial injuries, so Hector killing him was a surprise. Hector being the bad guy though...was not a surprise at all. Its always the uncle who's too close to the family and wanted to be with the dead mother - is that a trope? It should be - and I hate it.

I thought that Arturo sold them the dragon that killed her mother - that that was the secret they were hiding - but nope, it was an even more unbelievable one. How in the world did Zarela not know that he was the one fighting that dragon?? She was there that day!!

I will say that I didn't mind the writing, the story went by fast because of that (although I did start skimming at like 80%) and there were funny parts that I laughed at (i.e. the enchanted fern scene