Review: The Dragon Whisperer by Lucinda Hare

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Quenelda has always had a magical bond with dragons, and her greatest wish is to fly one and fight alongside her father in the war against the hobgoblins. Root, on the other hand, wishes only to avoid the fearsome creatures, so the role of Quenelda's esquire is the last thing he needs.

Review:

The Dragon Whisperer by Lucinda Hare was an interesting read. It began well, with a gripping prologue which made me want to read more. It tells the story of an aristocratic girl named Quenelda and her dream of becoming a dragonrider and fighting alongside her renowned father against the hobgoblin swarm. What Quenelda does not know is that she has many more enemies than she could imagine who are much closer to home and her extremely rare abilities as a dragon whisperer places her in even more danger.

The Dragon Whisperer is exciting and packed with action and suspense. There are also a few shocking deaths and Hare does not shy away from describing extremely traumatic events in minute detail.

The characters are well-rounded. The main characters, Quenelda and her esquire Root, undergo dramatic and profound character development over the course of the book. The hobgoblin enemy however, seems to be 1D. They are, like in many other books, indistinguishable from the monotonous legions of the dead or the demon host, which is disappointing. I also think that there is plenty of scope for certain characters to be developed further as they have only been briefly shown in this book (such as the Queen).

The Dragon Whisperer contains quite a lot of modern military style vocabulary although it is set in a medieval world. Hare also assigns new names for the hours of the day and for the months of the year which takes some getting used to and forces one to do some rapid calculations. The book is well paced but ended abruptly as this book is only the first in a series. I definitely think The Dragon Whisperer is well worth a read and I am eager to begin the next.

Book Rating: 5/5
Cover Rating: 5/5
Author: Lucinda Hare