Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
The Dragon King Chronicles, Book 1
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Description (taken from Ellen Oh's website):
The greatest warrior in all of the Seven Kingdoms… is a girl with yellow eyes.
Kira’s the only female in the king’s army, and the prince’s bodyguard. She’s a demon slayer and an outcast, hated by nearly everyone in her home city of Hansong. And, she’s their only hope…
Murdered kings and discovered traitors point to a demon invasion, sending Kira on the run with the young prince. He may be the savior predicted in the Dragon King Prophecy, but the missing treasure of myth may be the true key. With only the guidance of the cryptic prophecy, Kira must battle demon soldiers, evil shaman, and the Demon Lord himself to find what was once lost and raise a prince into a king.
This book starts out with a map of the Seven Kingdoms, and I love maps. I kind of referred to it every time a new city was mentioned. There's a king, the king's guard, prophecies, demons, and traitors. Something at every turn.
Kira, better known as the demon slayer, is a girl with unusual looks and an unusual gift. She has yellow eyes, and she can sense when a body is possessed by a demon. After saving her cousin, the prince, at an early age, she became his personal bodyguard. But being part of the army isn't a place for a girl, and the majority of the people despise her for it (and her yellow eyes). When kingdoms begin to be attacked and invaded by demons, a prophecy creeps up about the dragon king saving the kingdoms. And the monks think the prince is that prophesied king, so Kira must do everything she can to protect him and get him ready to fight the demons in a war of epic proportions.
I wasn't a big fan of this book. It felt too childish to me for me to fully enjoy it. There's mentions of killing someone, blood, beheading, and then we're back to Kira having the personality of a twelve year old (but she's seventeen in the book). I guess the character interactions and conversations just wasn't mature enough for me. And because of this, I could never really get into the book. I thought the storyline was great; I just couldn't love it.
I want to say this book reminded me of City of a Thousand Dolls, yet another book I couldn't get into. I would hand this book to a tween/younger teen with no hesitation. And if you're a fan of historical fantasy with a setting in Asia, you might want to consider this one.
But it sounds so good! I think will still read it anyway. Immature 17 year old and all. It wouldn't be the first time that happened in a book that I read.
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