Official Review: The Dragon Throne by Chrys Cymri

[HalcyonFlower]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Dragon Throne" by Chrys Cymri.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Dragon Throne by Chrys Cymri is the first volume of The Four Kingdoms series, a series which focuses on the politics between dragons, unicorns and humans. As the series name states, Cymri creates four different kingdoms in her fantasy world: the First Kingdom of unicorns, the Second Kingdom of dragons, also known as The Family, the Third Kingdom of Secondus and the Fourth Kingdom of Primus, with the latter two belonging to humans. Legend states that the royal family of Secondus and dragons are related whereas Primus’ royal family are the descendants of unicorns.

The first volume centres on two protagonists: Fianna, a female heir to the Dragon throne, and the Prancer, the next unicorn to lead his herd. Although their kingdoms are rivals, the Prancer has a vision that Finna’s meant to be his ally in his journey to reclaim his deceased milk-brother’s horn. This is a complication as the Prancer vows to challenge the dragon that killed his milk-brother and the dragons are her kin. In Secondus, Fianna has to prove herself a worthy candidate after running away four years prior due to jealousy of her now deceased father’s new bride. Along with these challenges, there is an unsaid threat of war between Primus and Secondus.

Dragons intrigue me and this is the primary reason I chose to read The Dragon Throne. I adore the care the author has placed in creating The Family as her dragons have the gift of time-travel and abrasive characteristics. They’re distinct from the unicorns, a group that dwells on the past and the origins of the Land’s children. One reading is that the Unicorns represent faith and hope whereas the dragons symbolize science and rationality.

In regards to female protagonists of medieval times, Fianna is a breath of fresh air. Her flaws are prominent and she comes across as an immature, selfish young girl. These attributes makes the story intriguing through her perspective since she’s not a typical good-natured, innocent girl. Political thoughts are always on her mind and very rarely does she feel sorry for herself. Her core values can be considered moral but Cymri depicts Fianna’s actions and decisions in such a way that the reader can’t label her a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ person. She’s realistic and I appreciate other characters for critiquing her without holding back.

For contrast, the Prancer is the perfect character. He’s a young unicorn, indecisive and insecure but as he begins his journey and meets humans, he develops significantly. In retrospect, I find the Prancer serves as a feminist mouthpiece and in combination with his naivety of human ways and thoughts, his opinions are amusing. As previously mentioned, the Prancer seems to represent faith and he’s among the few able to sense the decline of magic in the Land. He and Fianna aren’t complete opposites of one another but their chemistry makes the chapters after they meet much more interesting, especially the differences in their thought process.

While Cymri scores high in plot and characterization, not the same is with technicalities. The world building isn’t as translatable as it could be to the general audience and this leads to a lot of confusion. For example, as much I like dragons time-travelling, it isn’t made clear in the narrative that they have this ability. We learn through this dialogue but that can be frustrating since there’s a noticeable effort placed in keeping the dialogue Shakespearean. It distracts greatly from the narrative. The speaking points are valid but not the delivery. Another diversion was the incorrect punctuation surrounding quotation marks and capitalization. Even though these issues increase further into the novel, the plot twists tends to overpower them.

Based on all the points mentioned, I rate the novel 3 out of 4 stars. I would like to give it a full rating but the technical errors are very noticeable. The climax is unexpected but I only realized at the end that it was the climax. This is due to the word choices and sentence structure that downplay the dramatic aspect. The best recommendation I can give is the next book should go through a beta reader and professional editor prior to publishing. Though it doesn’t receive a full rating from me, The Dragon Throne is worth being an addition to the bookshelf because of its content.

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The Dragon Throne
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Like HalcyonFlower's review? Post a comment saying so!

[kimmyschemy06]

Sounds like a very interesting book. I love stories about dragons and unicorns and Fianna seems like an intriguing and relatable character. I hope I get the chance to read it. Great job on the review.

[HalcyonFlower]

Thank you for the comment! I was impressed with the animosity between unicorns and dragons. Fianna's nature was a plus =)

[Rachaelamb1]

Excellent review. It sounds like an interesting story. I love dragons and unicorns!

[HalcyonFlower]

Dragons and unicorns are definitely a good mix Thank you for your comment, Rachaelamb1!

[LivreAmour217]

Very nice, detailed review! It sounds like a good story, and I really hope that the author takes your advice about getting a beta reader and/or editor.

[HalcyonFlower]

Thank you for the comment, LivreAmour217 I wish more indie authors placed priority on editing. It's a shame because the plot is quite good!