Not entirely sure how I feel about this story. The world building is intense and I felt a little lost at times but the journey with the fmc herself was an enjoyable one. I was invested in her story (although not maybe the romance aspect of it ?) and the ending was a nice little surprise that I wasn't expecting.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this e arc

Publishing date: 01.03.2023 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Thank you to NetGalley and Menaris Books for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

TLDR: An interesting magic system, an also interesting world, but too many made up words, too much info in bulks, and the focus seems to be in the wrong places. 2 stars

In this book we follow Quen, who has two souls. Suddenly her town is ravaged by a dragon and she sets out to get her revenge and follow a certain someone who holds the answers she needs to several things.

I felt no particular way towards any of the characters. Neither like nor dislike. The arcs were fine and the characters had clear motivations and reasons for what they were doing, most of the time ... Overall they felt fleshed out, but I couldn't bring myself to like or dislike any of them.

Pacing was strange. It started off by dragging itself and moving slowly, but towards the end everything was moving incredibly quickly. Slightly jarring.

Story was nothing really new, it felt like something I had read before.

Now we will get to my gripes, I have a lot of them. The worldbuilding here has good bones, but the bones feel very messy. You have to be prepared to learn the names of an ever growing cast and keep track of multiple subplots that may or may not resolve during this book. Most of your memory however will be committed to learning oh so many made up words. There can be a whole paragraph of them and you will know nothing about them.

Seriously, I could pull any sentence out of this book and I guarantee you will understand only half of it without context. I feel like this book would benefit greatly from some proper infodumping early on in the book.

A few more quick points:
- Descriptions are inaccurate and the world is a little hard to imagine
- Mainly third person, but internal thoughts from FMC are in first person. This was very jarring
- The overall tone in the world does not match dialogue

I think the intended audience here are those who appreciate some romance in their fantasy, but set in a darker and more serious world. Adult audience definitely.

This is a book that should have worked for me, but it really didn't. Just be warned if you have the same tastes as me that it might not work out if enough of the negatives is enough to wrinkle your nose. Sadly, this is a two star for me.
Will not be picking up the sequel.

Season of the Dragon by Natalie Wright is a fast paced fantasy narrative that pulled me in on page one and wouldn't let go till long after its final words were read.

What I loved
1. Character arcs felt fully fleshed out with clear motivations and dynamic interactions
2. Dialogue felt naturally while being skillfully employed to flesh out the world our story takes place in.
3. The world's religion was well developed.

What Didn't work as well for me
1. the pacing was wildly lopsided with the first fourth of the book dragging on a bit and the last fourth moving so fast there was not time to breathe.
2. Tone control between the narrative and the dialogue is unbalanced in a weird way. ( This does seem to have resolved by the time of the second book I read in this world)

who I would recommend this title for

Fantasy lovers looking to dive into a rich and diverse world full of magic and mayhem are bound to enjoy diving into Season of the Dragon. Buckle in For a wild ride.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I thought this book would work for me but it didn't. I could'nt get into this book for more than 50 pages, has a good storyline but it was not for me

Season of the Dragon was an intriguing start to an epic fantasy series. We launched straight in, but the world building was nicely handled, so we gradually found out more about the world and its peoples as the chapters progressed. I liked Quen as a principal narrator and was ready to get behind her as a heroine. This story ticked all the fantasy boxes, but I would recommend it for readers who don't mind a growing cast of characters and a lot of subplots and mythology to hold in their minds as they read, as it was on the more complex side by the end of this first volume. Dragons feature in this first book, but it looks as if they will have a bigger part to play as the series continues. There are some romance elements, but that is not the main thrust of the narrative. I am giving this opening book 3.5 stars. Recommended for fans of epic fantasy and dragons.

This book was pretty good, but it fell a little bit flat for me. The dialogue was not my favorite. But the magic system was nice

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a great start to a series, though some plot points were very repetitive. I am excited to see where this series goes.

I really wanted to love this book. The setting was excellent and the world felt fully worked out. The plot of the story was also great! It kept you engaged and didn’t drag. The problem for me was in the dialogue and Quen’s internal dialogue. It often felt like it fell flat. The overall book is still really good though.

It's a no for me. The writing is disjointed. Author uses language in a confounding way instead of using it to help paint the image and breathe life into the character's. Nothing is accurately describe to pull in the reader.

I will not be sharing this book socially to help not tank the work

What a ride!
It took me a while to get into the story, and I have to admit that for a long time, I was terribly confused and just had to trust that it all would make sense eventually.

I enjoyed Quen's perspective, her journey and the mystery around her. I also really liked the found family aspect and hope we get more of it in the next book.

I found the religion and mythology of this world absolutely fascinating, even though it was so confusing in the beginning. I'm very grateful for the Note About Religion and Magic; I just wish I'd found it earlier. I need to know more!

The story definitely picked up for me in the second half and the ending was fantastic. I even cried a tear or two, which is rare for me, and high praise ☺️ I feel like I want to pick up the next book immediately! I definitely recommend it if you like high fantasy with a strong female main character and dragons!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book.

DNF @ 23%

I had to put this book out of its misery when it said "her loins tightened" not once, but TWICE in as many chapters.

Other exacerbating issues:

• Approximately 95,000 made up words, gods, and terms coming way too fast and thick. At a certain point, if you have to stop and infodump you have to stop and infodump, or contrive some reason for a character to have a conversation about the world's political structure or god pantheon, instead of constantly tossing out fake words and then giving parenthetical explanations. ("The Sulmere's roving bands of vigilante justicars, Jagaru wouldn't bother carting a Kentaro killer to a Dynasty prison." Like, BRUH.)

• Weird tone. Overall, the tone of the story is serious and more on the formal side. Then you'll have a character suddenly say, "What is her beef with that guy?" It's jarring.

• Some odd word usage: "Wetness played at Santu's lids, making his eyes twinkle." ← Pretty sure this is supposed to indicate being teary-eyed with distress. At one point "the man she loved" is used referring to the main character and her dead father. GIRL NO, don't say that about your dad!

• The narration is in third person, but the main character breaks in at least once every three paragraphs with italicized, first-person thoughts. I hate this. Commit to third person and actually do the work to convey your character's thoughts, or just write the book in first person. Half of these italic asides are pointless and could have been cut out completely, or just switched easily to third person to avoid the annoying POV break-ins.

• Unfortunately, I couldn't connect to the characters. If I could have, I probably would have loved the book and the rest of this would have been a mere side note. (I love The Goblin Emperor, after all, which shows that my issue with too many nonsense words is entirely situationally dependent.) Instead, Quen seems like a marionette, jerking back and forth with the semblance of agency and emotion, but it's just inauthentic and off-putting.