Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this one. It did take me a few chapters to really get into it, but A Dragonbird in the Fern is a fun, encouraging fantasy learning to believe in yourself and your own power. Jiara is a princess who has dyslexia, and unfortunately for her it's never formally named or understood by her people. But she does not allow the things that she believes makes her weak to hold her back, and her difficulties with reading never stop her, not even when she ends up queen of a foreign country where she doesn't even speak the language. In addition to the challenge of having to adjust to living in a new place, Jiara also has to build a relationship with her new husband, find her sister's killer, and figure out some key secrets that are being hidden. The plot is exciting and kept me on my toes, and the magic was really unique and interesting. I'd definitely recommend this book for lovers of YA fantasy, 4.5/5 stars!
Rueckert wrote a complex standalone fantasy that's simultaneously refreshingly original and full of the many tropes I love in the genre. It's even perhaps because of how well executed the stranger in a strange land element of the story is that I enjoyed this one as much as I did.
Princess Jiara's future was supposed to be simple, a marriage of convenience to a local lord and no pressure to learn a new language or deal with politics. Something she's very happy about because she's always struggled with learning. But when her older sister is murdered and she ends up getting married to the young king of a very foreign land she's suddenly tasked not only with learning a language and culture she has no grasp of, but also with figuring out who killed her sister and why. And she better hurry because her sister's restless spirit is demanding revenge by putting everyone she loves in danger.
I love how Rueckert made it so that Jiara's unrecognized dyslexia was only a minor element of her character that played no role in her being able to find her sister's murderer and save the day. Her difficulty learning is acknowledged, but she works hard and figures out a way that works for her.
Overall, it's a story of family, revenge, and politics (with some blossoming romance for good measure) that has some fun twists and turns while keeping the elements of magic and paranormal elements as a steady backdrop to the complex machinations that drive the plot forward. A quick, enjoyable, and memorable read that is sure to entertain.
Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Flux for the engaging read!
Princess Jiara's future was supposed to be simple, a marriage of convenience to a local lord and no pressure to learn a new language or deal with politics. Something she's very happy about because she's always struggled with learning. But when her older sister is murdered and she ends up getting married to the young king of a very foreign land she's suddenly tasked not only with learning a language and culture she has no grasp of, but also with figuring out who killed her sister and why. And she better hurry because her sister's restless spirit is demanding revenge by putting everyone she loves in danger.
I love how Rueckert made it so that Jiara's unrecognized dyslexia was only a minor element of her character that played no role in her being able to find her sister's murderer and save the day. Her difficulty learning is acknowledged, but she works hard and figures out a way that works for her.
Overall, it's a story of family, revenge, and politics (with some blossoming romance for good measure) that has some fun twists and turns while keeping the elements of magic and paranormal elements as a steady backdrop to the complex machinations that drive the plot forward. A quick, enjoyable, and memorable read that is sure to entertain.
Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Flux for the engaging read!
I chose this book randomly when I signed up for the Everand app. I enjoyed it! I love how the narrator pronounced the different words and places in the book. I love how the author created the world, she shows the different belief systems in the world she created. I love the take on ghosts, and how it flows into the fantasy worlds beliefs. There was just enough spice to make it a romance, but very much young adult appropriate.
Enjoyable YA with some twists although I would say the main plot is fairly obvious from about halfway through. Protagonist has undiagnosed dyslexia so she's dealing with a lot of internalised ableism. The dyslexia does have plot implications and there's a nice moment towards the end where she realises it's ok to ask for help with writing. Characterisation is perhaps a little simplistic for my tastes but works well in YA and the plot is nicely rounded off.
"They might very well have made a difference in many individual lives. And that is also a worthwhile thing, is it not?"
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Content warnings: blood, murder/death, antagonist mocks dyslexia
Thank you to Flux Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A Dragonbird in the Fern follows Jiara, a seventeen-year-old princess from a beautiful oceanside kingdom who has just lost her older sister, Scilla. Jiara, who had her own quiet life carefully planned out for years, is now forced to live in the shadows of Scilla, taking on her roles and marrying the betrothed she left behind. This betrothed, Raffar, is a young king from a foreign land, with different weather, culture, and an entirely different language. As if this wasn’t enough of a challenge, Jiara must also try and solve the death of her sister, before her sister’s ghost murders their entire family out of spite. Can she handle her responsibility and avenge her sister before she runs out of time?
I am a sucker for the arranged marriage trope, so I signed up for this tour with no hesitation! Boy, was I in for a treat. The arranged marriage is one of my favorites I’ve read, and Jiara and Raffar are such sweethearts. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen dyslexia represented in a book other than the Percy Jackson series, so that was great to see as well.
The writing in A Dragonbird in the Fern is an atmospheric delight and learning about each kingdom and its customs, religions, culinary dishes, and geography was lovely. I also enjoyed that while this book is heavily about Jiara’s marriage and growing accustomed to a new country, the romance is not at all rushed, and actually not even the primary part of the story? This book touches on many different ways the word ‘family’ can be defined, on the pressures and responsibilities of trying to live up to familial expectations and reputations, and the challenges of learning a new language through immersion culture! As someone who learned American Sign Language through classes, social outings, and week-long immersion camps where we were not allowed to communicate in any other method than ASL, I found this incredibly relatable and realistic.
I am not the most avid reader of thrillers/mysteries, but the mystery aspect of the plot kept me on my toes throughout the entire plot, too! I kept making different guesses, and while I did at one point almost guess correctly, I quickly changed my suspicions to someone else
I would absolutely try another book by Laura Rueckert as A Dragonbird in the Fern ended up being right up my alley!
Would recommend to lovers of: arranged marriages, slow burn romances, mysteries, and family bonds!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Content warnings: blood, murder/death, antagonist mocks dyslexia
Thank you to Flux Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A Dragonbird in the Fern follows Jiara, a seventeen-year-old princess from a beautiful oceanside kingdom who has just lost her older sister, Scilla. Jiara, who had her own quiet life carefully planned out for years, is now forced to live in the shadows of Scilla, taking on her roles and marrying the betrothed she left behind. This betrothed, Raffar, is a young king from a foreign land, with different weather, culture, and an entirely different language. As if this wasn’t enough of a challenge, Jiara must also try and solve the death of her sister, before her sister’s ghost murders their entire family out of spite. Can she handle her responsibility and avenge her sister before she runs out of time?
I am a sucker for the arranged marriage trope, so I signed up for this tour with no hesitation! Boy, was I in for a treat. The arranged marriage is one of my favorites I’ve read, and Jiara and Raffar are such sweethearts. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen dyslexia represented in a book other than the Percy Jackson series, so that was great to see as well.
The writing in A Dragonbird in the Fern is an atmospheric delight and learning about each kingdom and its customs, religions, culinary dishes, and geography was lovely. I also enjoyed that while this book is heavily about Jiara’s marriage and growing accustomed to a new country, the romance is not at all rushed, and actually not even the primary part of the story? This book touches on many different ways the word ‘family’ can be defined, on the pressures and responsibilities of trying to live up to familial expectations and reputations, and the challenges of learning a new language through immersion culture! As someone who learned American Sign Language through classes, social outings, and week-long immersion camps where we were not allowed to communicate in any other method than ASL, I found this incredibly relatable and realistic.
I am not the most avid reader of thrillers/mysteries, but the mystery aspect of the plot kept me on my toes throughout the entire plot, too! I kept making different guesses, and while I did at one point almost guess correctly, I quickly changed my suspicions to someone else
I would absolutely try another book by Laura Rueckert as A Dragonbird in the Fern ended up being right up my alley!
Would recommend to lovers of: arranged marriages, slow burn romances, mysteries, and family bonds!
I’ve had A Dragonbird in the Fern on my radar since last year, so was incredibly excited when I was approved for it on Netgalley. It’s such a brilliant coming of age story with a fantastic heroine and a sweet romance arc, shocker, I loved it. Princess Jiara is still getting over the death of her older sister Scilla when her betrothed arrives and asks for Jiara’s hand in marriage instead. Jiara is wary, not only because this was the man promised to her sister, but marrying him means moving to another country, one where she doesn’t speak the language, and her dyslexia causes her to fear she will never be able to communicate with her husband to be. But that’s not all Jiara should be worried about, rumours are the person who killed her sister is from the King’s own country, and Jiara could be next on their list.
Jiara was such a fantastic character, she was strong willed and determined to find out what happened to her sister so that her spirit could finally rest in peace. Living with dyslexia has meant she has always struggled with the written language and she fears moving to Farnskager and having to learn a completely new and foreign language, but she will do it, to protect her kingdom and to help her sister. She constantly fights an internal battle between denying her growing feelings for her new husband, wanting to help him and her new kingdom, and wanting to find out who exactly killed her sister. Seeing her overcome her fears, learn the language and blossom into a just and fair ruler was such a great journey, and I just loved seeing her character grow throughout the story.
I loved the world building in this book! Jiara and the people of Azzaria believe that when a person is violently killed their spirit lingers, wanting justice for their death, and if justice doesn’t come they can act out causing harm and sometimes death to those they loved in life. This was such a unique idea and I loved how the author wrote it into the story, seeing Jiara not only having to deal with moving to a new country with a completely different culture, but also having to deal with the spirit of her dead sister who desperately wants justice for her death. There were some violent scenes, but also some soft and sweet ones where you could tell Scilla knew she loved Jiara, and was sorry for the pain she was causing. In Farnskager they have a completely different belief system, they pray to the watchers, beings who bestow their blessings through the elements. To be chosen by a watcher, and given a token is a rare and Honorable gift, for the token has the ability to bring you back from death one time. Both these beliefs play a HUGE part in the story, but I can’t really talk about them without giving away spoilers.
I felt that Jiara’s dyslexia was dealt with brilliantly, we really feel for her in the first part of the book. She is terrified not only of moving to another country, but having to learn that language or face the inability of not being able to communicate with her husband and people. With no one knowing of dyslexia she faces constant criticism for her inability to learn the written language. There are times when she gets frustrated, wants to throw in the towel, but the more time she spends with her people the more she wants to communicate with them. She grows so much from a shy and naive girl to a Queen many of her people would follow.
As well as this being a fantasy story, we also have a murder mystery. Who exactly killed Jiara’s sister? We spend a good portion of the book on this and I will admit to guessing the culprit early on, but it was still a shock when it was fully revealed. There are plenty of twists and turns, some slightly predictable and others that definitely threw me, but they made for a fast paced story that I struggled to put down. The romance was sweet and went at a nice slow pace. Jiara has always found the King of Farnskager attractive, but he was meant for her sister, and she spends a good portion of the book trying to overcome her feelings of betrayal and let herself love the man who clearly loves her. I would have loved for Raffar to have had a bit more page time and character growth. Because of the language differences he doesn’t really make as much of an impact as I would have liked, and I would have loved a chapter or two from his POV.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The pace moves fast and the author builds a world I would quite happily go live in. The story is wrapped up nice and neat, but the author leaves just enough of an opening for further stories in that world, and I would definitely pick any up that were released.
Jiara was such a fantastic character, she was strong willed and determined to find out what happened to her sister so that her spirit could finally rest in peace. Living with dyslexia has meant she has always struggled with the written language and she fears moving to Farnskager and having to learn a completely new and foreign language, but she will do it, to protect her kingdom and to help her sister. She constantly fights an internal battle between denying her growing feelings for her new husband, wanting to help him and her new kingdom, and wanting to find out who exactly killed her sister. Seeing her overcome her fears, learn the language and blossom into a just and fair ruler was such a great journey, and I just loved seeing her character grow throughout the story.
I loved the world building in this book! Jiara and the people of Azzaria believe that when a person is violently killed their spirit lingers, wanting justice for their death, and if justice doesn’t come they can act out causing harm and sometimes death to those they loved in life. This was such a unique idea and I loved how the author wrote it into the story, seeing Jiara not only having to deal with moving to a new country with a completely different culture, but also having to deal with the spirit of her dead sister who desperately wants justice for her death. There were some violent scenes, but also some soft and sweet ones where you could tell Scilla knew she loved Jiara, and was sorry for the pain she was causing. In Farnskager they have a completely different belief system, they pray to the watchers, beings who bestow their blessings through the elements. To be chosen by a watcher, and given a token is a rare and Honorable gift, for the token has the ability to bring you back from death one time. Both these beliefs play a HUGE part in the story, but I can’t really talk about them without giving away spoilers.
I felt that Jiara’s dyslexia was dealt with brilliantly, we really feel for her in the first part of the book. She is terrified not only of moving to another country, but having to learn that language or face the inability of not being able to communicate with her husband and people. With no one knowing of dyslexia she faces constant criticism for her inability to learn the written language. There are times when she gets frustrated, wants to throw in the towel, but the more time she spends with her people the more she wants to communicate with them. She grows so much from a shy and naive girl to a Queen many of her people would follow.
As well as this being a fantasy story, we also have a murder mystery. Who exactly killed Jiara’s sister? We spend a good portion of the book on this and I will admit to guessing the culprit early on, but it was still a shock when it was fully revealed. There are plenty of twists and turns, some slightly predictable and others that definitely threw me, but they made for a fast paced story that I struggled to put down. The romance was sweet and went at a nice slow pace. Jiara has always found the King of Farnskager attractive, but he was meant for her sister, and she spends a good portion of the book trying to overcome her feelings of betrayal and let herself love the man who clearly loves her. I would have loved for Raffar to have had a bit more page time and character growth. Because of the language differences he doesn’t really make as much of an impact as I would have liked, and I would have loved a chapter or two from his POV.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The pace moves fast and the author builds a world I would quite happily go live in. The story is wrapped up nice and neat, but the author leaves just enough of an opening for further stories in that world, and I would definitely pick any up that were released.
★★★★☆ 4/5
thank you to flux and netgallery for the arc!
this book felt like a breath of fresh air in the YA genre, it was so unique. definitely not what i expected, but it was fantastic nonetheless. maybe it was a little long and dragged on in the middle, but the pacing was better in the beginning and end. this book tackled a lot, but i didn’t feel overwhelmed at all. i definitely recommend this if you love super immersive high fantasy.
thank you to flux and netgallery for the arc!
this book felt like a breath of fresh air in the YA genre, it was so unique. definitely not what i expected, but it was fantastic nonetheless. maybe it was a little long and dragged on in the middle, but the pacing was better in the beginning and end. this book tackled a lot, but i didn’t feel overwhelmed at all. i definitely recommend this if you love super immersive high fantasy.
A fun and easy reading story. It was a nice and refreshing story. It had a nice plot and lovely characters. It had a wonderful ending and wrapped everyting up.
Following the untimely death of her sister, Scilla Princess Jiara of Azzaria is betrothed and wed to the neighbouring King of Farnskag - her country's allies. But there is a problem: she hasn't trained for a life of politics and diplomacy, she doesn't speak the language and, due to dyslexia, cannot read. She relies heavily on the court translator until a translation error puts her life in danger and forces Jiara to take her learning into her own hands. Meanwhile she is also dealing with the unquiet ghost of her sister demanding justice Eventually Jiara uncovers the killer, along wth treasonous plots against her new kingdom. Will the Watchers - guardians of Farnskag - be able to save her before it is too late?
This was a fun read with lots of strong worldbuilding in it. I enjoyed the mythology of the Watchers and the two different cultures within the story. Jiara did seem at times to be a bit of a "Mary-Sue" type character, being the one to unearth plots and discover key things otherwise hidden to the locals, but as this is a YA novel this was not exactly a bad thing. As the main character was 17 and her husband older, there was a interesting tangent relating to consent and the age of majority which was refreshing.
Overall, this was an enjoyable fantasy with believable worlds and mythologies. 4 stars
~ Many thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review~
This was a fun read with lots of strong worldbuilding in it. I enjoyed the mythology of the Watchers and the two different cultures within the story. Jiara did seem at times to be a bit of a "Mary-Sue" type character, being the one to unearth plots and discover key things otherwise hidden to the locals, but as this is a YA novel this was not exactly a bad thing. As the main character was 17 and her husband older, there was a interesting tangent relating to consent and the age of majority which was refreshing.
Overall, this was an enjoyable fantasy with believable worlds and mythologies. 4 stars
~ Many thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review~