| Title | : | Starlight (The Dragonian, #5) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle , Hardcover , Paperback , Audiobook & More |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | First published March 28, 2016 |
But what could the missing ingredient be?
And will she be willing to sacrifice her life if they don't find it before time runs out?
Starlight (The Dragonian, #5) Reviews
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I forced myself to finish this book so I would complete the whole series. Now, I wish I have never wasted my time reading this series in the first place.
This book is tedious, full of cliché, tackiness and unnecessary drama. To me, the whole thing, the war, the drama, the plot, the romance, the friendships, all are senseless. The whole book was basically stupid teenage drama, but with grown up characters now. Elena is even more unbearable than in previos books, which is saying a lot. I disliked almost every single though that came out of her. Blake, on the other hand, acts like a pushover the whole book and lets Elena get away with everything, arg!
Honestly, at this point I wonder if the writer knows what a healthy relationship is, and I am not referring exclusively to the romantic ones.
The whole series in general ends up being unoriginal. It is full of ideas from
Harry Potter and not in a good way. Harry Potter is epic from the first page to the last, this series has a general feeling of lameness to me. The worst thing is, there are not only similarities with
Harry Potter, but also with other YA books, an example would be the game with the flag that is a rip off from
Divergent.
I even think I am kind of morally opposed to many things that go on in these books, the way they are explained and exposed. Some examples:
- The whole Kara situation is horrible. In the end it is sold that her purpose of existing was so that Elena could live. So basically it was ok for her to die because it was more important for Elena to live. To make this even better, Kara's own parents, who should be the ones to protect her over anything in the world in my book, agree with that and chose Elena's life over their own daughter's. I find all this tremendously wrong and discriminating. I am quite disgusted by it.
- The beatings to the Rubicon. Really? Where those really necessary? I just think that there might have been other ways to achieve the same objective without having a father beating his son for his and the greater good. So to me, this shows lack of imagination in finding out a better solution without having such a message that could be easily, very badly misunderstood by teenage in a young adult series.
- The hypocrisy and chauvinistic way of how sexual relationships are portrayed. There is a clear difference between what Blake can do, and what his sister Sammy and Elena can do. This discrimination is shown by the parents and by the school. Again, I am very nauseated by this and I consider it a very bad message for teenagers since, IT PERPETUATES GENDER INEQUALITY. I am sick and tired of the enabling of this behaviors, specially coming from women writers nowadays.
- The portrayal of friendships here. The friendships that the girls have between each other as well as with the boys, is without fault repeatedly dishonest. They talk about not keeping secrets and yet in every single book and in several occasions, this people keep secrets from each other and chose to be mad with one another in behalf of another friend. In many cases, this omissions of truth are justified as being the best for the other person. To me that is not what friendship or even respect is. Once again I find another very bad message send here.
- The end to the game of the flag. The flag in the game was supposed to be something meaningful due to what it represented, it is explain to us as such repeatedly, (even though to me the amount of stressed put into it was ridiculous) and yet in the end it didn't really matter. So we have a senseless scene with an anticlimactic end. But that is not what really bothered me of the game. What bothered me was Elena's behavior. We can see at the end of the game how she basically let Blake give up something that we were previously told it was important to him, and he ends up not caring about the outcome. Does she know what loyalty is? Or it only goes one way for her, towards her? Dose she know what supporting someone is? Or it only applies if is something that benefits her? To me, she is not what a partner is supposed to be. To me she is whiny, self-center and of bad character. I wouldn't consider her as a human being worth of praise.
- The situation with Blake and Tabitha. First I need to say that it is tremendously cliché and unoriginal. But again, is Elena's behavior what bothers me most. She doesn't even show the guy an once of trust and blames him for her distrust, although I don't really see where he has proven to be untrustworthy before. Again, she behaves like a victim and a selfish person. She forgives him when she finds prove, not because she comes to trust the person she professes to love. To me, Elena is a very unlikable person who blames other people.
- How both Lucien and Tabitha have been pushed out of the way. Well, eliminated is more accurate. What a way to get rid of past lovers! One I can maybe accept, two, it is too much and it says something about the writer (and in case of doubt, it is not something nice).
- Wait until marriage. That's the last message this writer sends. I am so opposed to this that I wish I could give minus stars to this book. It sickens me. This was the last drop for me and if I had had any doubts from the messages before (which I didn't), this one would have sealed the idea that I would never ever read anything else from this author again or recommend her.
In conclusion, this book is a terrible end to the series. After reading the last two books, I don't even recommend a single book here because is a waste of time.
P.S.: I listened the entire series on audiobook and I must say that the narrator did a great job.
Firebolt (The Dragonian #1) -
What just happened.
What did I read?
I'm usually all over this series but this book and the one before it? Na uh. The story in its general being is amazing - the world, the characters, amazing. I mean dragons and dragon riders, hello! What's not to love?
But it seems like in the past two books Woods might have lost her vision or I actually don't know. I'm not the writer here, I just love books. It just seemed like a lot of extra drama and angst for no reason. And it was an incredibly cheesing ending. And there were enough grammatical and spelling errors for me notice - and that's quite a statement, I never notice that kind of stuff.
So yeah, kinda disappointed. Overall I'm still a big fan of this series, but I wish the last two books had stepped up to the plate a bit more. -
I thought this book was a whole-lot of drama, and too little action. I imagined this book would be filled with badass fighting scenes, kick-ass dragons clearing all the evil out of Etan. Instead, this novel is strife with a series of misunderstandings, and unnecessary drama, if you ask me. Time after time, we get a SUPER annoying Elena, who honestly, acts like a five year old child. As soon as she sees something she doesn't like, she runs away in the shower and hides away from everyone. She ignores ANYONE trying to reason with her. I am talking about Elena walking in on Blake and Tabitha...and OF COURSE, Elena just has to assume the worst, and basically forbids Blake from talking to her for months...I mean MONTHS! She will not listen to anyone tell her what actually happens, and instead of talking to Blake about it, she just blocks him off. This really bothers me, since I find this type of romance to be too immature.
Also, I thought this series was trying too hard to be like Harry Potter. We have Warbel Games instead of Quidditch. We have Dragonia instead of Hogwarts. We have a series of classes based on enhancing the skills of the students, Art of War, etc. We have an evil wizard Goran, instead of the evil Voldemort. And the list goes on from here. Except in this book, the action is BARELY THERE! GAHHHHH. We do not even get to see Helmet take on Goran. Instead, we hear about everything that happened to Elena in a summary paragraph.
And lastly, they said that Blake and Elena's love would be "the greatest love to ever exist". Why couldn't we get a taste of this? Instead, we get a pretty abrupt ending, if you ask me. And we never got to see the two kick ass together and their powers as true Dents. *utterly disappointed*
Overall, I would give this series a 3. Nothing special in my opinion. I felt like the potential was SO MUCH, but the delivery was seriously lacking. -
To quote
Tweebs,
*Grabs mic*
*Clears throat and begins to scream*
FUCK YOU
FUCK ME
FUCK THIS
FUCK THAT
FUCK EVERYTHING
I HATE YOU, ADRIENNE WOODS!!
No rating. No review. No nothing.
I hate you, Adrienne Woods. And I don't mean the I love you so much I hate you-hate you, I mean I really hate you.
I HATE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH!
Why couldn't you have left it alone?
The book was fine enough. Not the best end to an otherwise brilliant series but it was well enough. But no. You just had to attach that bonus chapter along too, didn't you? I couldn't even finish reading it, I only read a page of it and kept wishing I lived alone so that I could give into the ever increasing urge to start hysterically crying. I'm so pissed off right now and let me tell you something boys and girls, tears and fifteen-hour fasts don't mix well, they don't mix well at all, nor do they mix well with depression.
Something inside me died finishing this. I swear I am mourning the loss of something and I don't even know what. I am heart broken, you didn't just send me into a book slump, you sent me straight to the Book Graveyard without passing Go and without collecting my $200.
I don't know how to go on but after the past couple hours I'm clear headed enough to know my only two choices are to either Give up reading or go on a mind-numbing reading spree the book equivalent of The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.
Guess the coming days will show which path I take.
*The Arrow Voice*
Adrienne Woods,
You have failed this reader.
A small itsy bitsy part that Umaiya inherited entirely from her saintly mother realises how she might be overreacting and blowing it all out of proportions but the other larger part refuses to hear anything contrary to how she felt finishing the book and she felt betrayed your honour.
All the same itsy bitsy chibi Umaiya would like to apologise for any hurt feelings and she assures the reader that her bigger sister will in fact someday see the light and regret the temper tantrum and finally leave an appropriate review.
-Chibi Umaiya was not seen after this act of betrayal for a very very long time.- -
Really!! Is this the turn this series had to take. Why is there the pic of Elena in a warrior look, coz the book have everything else than the war. Its all nonsense drama and nothing else.
It bored me to hell with all the drama going on,I skipped most of the conversations and was just hanging to know the final end. But the misunderstanding part was the final blow and I can get on with this book any more.
It was a great series but the last two books ruined it and how.... -
WOODS IS ABSOLUTELY CREATIVE AND I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS BOOK!!! One of the best authors out there.
Update: these newsletters make me go crazy of wanting the book already -
I was really dissapointed in the Starlight. I loved this series and this book was highly anticipated but this book was probably my least favourite in this whole series. While reading it, I had to take long breaks and I even skimmed most of it, just to finish it and even the ending wasn't the best.
The plot was all jumbled up and felt like it wasn't even connected to the previous books. This whole book was based on the drama between Blake and Elena and Tabitha.
Most of the characters went downhill aswell. Elena, was the biggest one. She had improved a lot over the last few books, but in this book she was a more annoying version of the first book Elena.
I hated how after the dent, Blake's character changed fully. I miss the dark Blake sometimes with moments of niceness. So, basically book 3 Blake.
Sammy was basically non-existant in this book especially since I really like her. Also Dean! Beck had a bigger role, but I've still yet to like her.
One character I really liked was Ariana. I love how much she has devolped.
I was really excited to know about the dent, but I felt like the author hyped it up too much when realistically it was just confusing.
The war at the end was also very dissapointing. I felt it could have been written and explained better.
I though the ending was kind of sweet and a good closure for Elena.
I know there is a prequel being made of this book, but after reading this, my chances of reading them are very low. -
I really loved this whole series and am pretty sad about coming to the end of it. I loved all the characters, even if they annoyed me sometimes. I was a little disappointed about this book since all the other books were pretty much a build up for the war that took place in this book and even though this book was the longest, the war played only a little part in it and that was pretty upsetting. I felt like it should have been bigger, and not have ended so quickly. Really happy with how everything turned out for Blake and Elena though.
-
My Review:
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I expected more of this book. Especially since it was the last one. The pace was slow and it made the book feel too long.
They're supposed to be planning things, they're at war after all, but she goes back to the academy like nothing is going on. It also wastes time describing boring facts about her routine.
That plus the misunderstandings made want to pull my hair out.
It was such a let down until the very bitter end. What a shame! -
a stunning heartbreaking conclusion!
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The following review is for all 5 main books in the series and contains spoilers.
Overall rating of the series 6 of 10
Rating 6 of 10
First book in the series and pretty good as one. A bit slow at times. We get too much information in it though - 50 pages (okay, maybe a 100) and readers are already aware what Elena's destiny is. Her feeling for Lucian.... well, lets say I didn't quite believe in them. It lacked gradation, it looked almost like some insta-love but lacked chemistry. I can accept insta-love in between fated mates but Lucian is not her fated mate and at this point readers are already very well aware of it. I would personally have loved to see more about what Elena is learning, more interaction with other characters. Still a nice starting book and leaves you wanting more of the enchanting world there.
Rating 6 of 10
Biggest problem I had with this book - it completely ignored what Elena have been told at the end of book one - that she has blood that can turn weapons in some sort of special weapons for killing evil. And it made no sense. How no one of the main characters didn't notice it? Mention it?
Lucian and Elena's romance is still with no chemistry for me. More like I'm being told it's there but never really seeing it. Lucian and Blake had more chemistry than that. And Lucian's death? Pointless. He had so many possibilities as a character for when finally Elena's destiny became known, but the author took the easy way out and killed him before that. Such a pity.
Rating 5 of 10
At this point it's obvious the author is trying to trow readers of-course on Elena's destiny. Not really working. It only makes Elena look like she has the IQ of a squirrel. If the book was about Elena trying to figure out how she can be a rider and a dragon at the same time - it would have been so worth it, but instead it was about her still not figuring who she really is. Considering it have been almost spelled to her in the first book.... yeah, you get it, she looks like a complete idiot of a heroine.
Rating 3 of 10
Will admit it to considering dropping the series when I found out what is in this book. Decided that the author must have something really good planned to trow in such a huge trigger in and even thought I skipped the whole part 2, I pressed on reading further. Did I expect something really good? Yes. Did I got it? NO. The whole gang rape thing was a complete failure. It had no point in the story except to cause more rift between Blake and Elena, which was completely not necessary as they had enough other things between them already to last them for another book. And even Elena's recovery is not well handled. One-two-three - I'm fine. The vampire shrink was nice, yes, but still Elena should have struggled more, fear more. What we saw was exactly the same as what we saw at the start if the previous book - Elena staying in bed and having nightmares. The death of a friend/boyfriend/lover is not the same as being gang raped. The reaction to the one and the other is not and should not be the same. The book would have benefited a lot from some editing or at least beta reading so someone tells the author that some things are just too much and not all characters should giggle as five-year-old.
Rating 8 of 10
Finally what we all have been waiting for since book one. Really nice book and obviously better edited. Biggest problems I had with it:
- the whole blood thing has become a cliche - the missing ingredient could have been Sir Robert for example
- lack of character in some secondary characters - for example Dean was so unnoticeable in the whole series that I couldn't care less he died. If we at least have seen Sammy's claiming things might have been different but... missed opportunity here.
- what happened with the axes from the first book? Why no one took them into the battle? Why they weren't even considered as the missing ingredient? Practically after book one they completely vanished. Big plot hole.
- the dead people coming to say goodbye at the wedding, especially the queen - sooo not a good idea. The king is getting married, he must have made his peace with her death already, not cry and tell her he loves her. If I were Constance I would have felt as some sort of a consolation prize, not a loved woman who just got married.
Still the best book for me in the series.
The series as whole are really good. The author had too many ideas and not all of them worked well, but the world she built was magical. That and I love dragons. -
This is the final book in the Dragonian series. I finally decided to read it after I let it sit in my TBR for a long time cuz frankly, I was very tired of the drama between Blake and Elena. Mostly, Elena. She was one of the most annoying characters in the series and she does not disappoint, as usual, with this book. The overall Dragonian series story is very interesting. However, Elena always got on my nerves.
The story continues with Elena and Blake trying to reconcile with each other after the tragic and horrific events in Moonbreeze, her promise to Tabitha and overall, accepting being part of a dent. Elena is struggling to accept the dent and the huge change brought on in Blake cuz of that. I don't blame her. Considering how much of a douchbag Blake was to her and everyone else, I would be struggling to accept the sudden, wonderful, caring Blake as well. The fact that he was struggling with his darkness and trying not to succumb to it completely and blamed his douchyness to the "darkness" within him was an understatement. We are told via Blake's poems in the book how much darkness affected him and how Elena saved him. He tries to explain to her how it was for him ever since she entered his world. Blake, on the other hand, is willing to do anything to make Elena believe. So, on again, off again....it continues. A lot.
Dent, I was still overall confused. The explanation was not enough to clarify what it is exactly. The whole issue with dent that was built overall several books...at the end just felt meh cuz I didn't get it.
For 3/4 of the book Elena/Blake drama continues along with them trying to gather allies for the WAR that is inevitable. Everyone else is also trying to figure out how to free Etan despite Elena's father telling her not to do it. Elena, in Moonbreeze, had figured out how to enter/exit Etan. The prophecy was Blake and Elena together will be able to free Etan along with some missing ingredient. However, they had no clue as to what that missing thing was? TILL THE VERY END. Some of the questions have been answered yet it left me questioning as to the clarity of it all. We do find out about the orbs (what they do) much later in the book but, it wasn't explained what it was exactly.
The WAR, it doesn't happen until the last 100 pages or so. And, it is over before you even know it. We do not see much of fighting. We barely get a peek at the fight with Goran. Mostly, we're told how the war ended...who died and who lived. Another tidbit about Goran (which honestly was huge and should have been hinted at in previous books for a nice build up) was just revealed right at the end. Do we seriously NEED secrecy when it comes to life and death? Don't you think it should have been revealed early on who Goran was exactly so they had a better chance of winning? Saving lives?
Some new characters and POV were introduced which I found very odd as it is the last book in the series and again, I wish they were introduced earlier to matter more. Tabitha and Blake issue was sorted out poorly and it kind of left a bitter taste in my mouth how it all ended...just to provide a neat ending for Blake and Elena. The book neatly (and a tad abruptly) ends along with some sad parts to the story. There were some things I found very weird or rather odd towards the end of the book just to provide a happy ending.
I wish the book editor did the job well as there were a LOT of spelling/grammar mistakes which took away from complete enjoyment. I am ok with some spelling errors as it happens & I ignore them most of the time. At times, I also found myself confused by who was speaking the dialogues the flow was off. This one needs really good editing! Not to mention, I felt a bit confused during some parts of the story cuz it felt just choppy and disconnected. But, that's been one of my issues with this entire series. Along with there is a lot of telling....and not much showing.
I do recommend this book for closure/end of the series. I was a bit disappointed to say the least.
-
Never has a book needed an editor more or at least someone to track continuity. Storylines were abandoned with no explanation - the viden? Who with Cain tried to trick her to doubt her powers? Did the prophecy ever turn blue? AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GIRL WHOSE BED ELENA TOOK? Has no one there ever noticed that she went on her trip and NEVER came back?
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4.5 stars.
2020 review- I love this series! Elena finally learns to accept Blake after a harsh road. ANd I love the game she and Becky play on the boys. This book comes full circle and wrap everything up in a great conclusion. Old characters we thought were gone even get another moment. And an unexpected twist that nearly costs them everything! I love the how Blake and Elena have has to work for their relationship and I really loved learning more about what Dents are! Yet be warned, there is tragedy too. -
OKAY, I really love this series and the characters in it, but this book and Moonbreeze had MAJOR ISSUES. Like the horrible sentences that made no fucking sense. The wrong names and words that didn't even fit together were ALL OVER THE PLACE. It made me mad and took a lot away from the reading experience. This book felt like it had missed the final rounds of editing.
Also, Blake and Elena's relationship drama annoyed me. They already went through the running away/not doing this phase. I didn't need to see it happen again but with a different theme. The other thing that riled me was the missing ingredient. There was like no fucking time dedicated to finding it. Oh I was fuming by this point. But the ending made up for it. It was the right amount of crazy, good and sad. It wasn't perfect, but I loved how this series ended. I have no idea whether I want to read Moonbeam either cause it could ruin this series/time-space continuum and how I would be able to exist after that. -
I loved this series, even though it was a little.. well immature at times. I had pretty high hopes for the ending.. but i must say it was a little anticlimactic..
-
Review to come!
Update 6/4/16:
See more reviews on my blog
Novels and Necklaces
Actual rating 3.5 stars
This review is breaking my heart to write. I have been in love with this entire series since I first picked it up back in 2013. I have had a special place in my heart for all of these characters for so long (don't worry...I still do!!) but this finale was a let down in many ways. I actually considered not writing a review for this because I simply didn't want to write a review that wasn't raving over this book. However, I feel it's important to express my opinion on why I didn't like this book as much as the other 4 books in the series.
At the heart of this novel, the story was very good. Yes, there were a lot of elements of this book that I didn't like, but I do want it be known that I did enjoy the book. I just didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as the previous novels. If you took out all of the elements that caused problems, this book would be about 200-300 pages shorter, and would be nonstop action--and if this happened--I would have rated this book probably 5 stars (or at least a 4). Unfortunately, that isn't what happened, and it left me feeling like this
My first complaint was the countless grammar/spelling errors in this book. I'm not kidding when I say that I think I found at least 1 glaring error on every page. I can deal with a couple errors here and there, but not to this extent. It got to a point where it was incredibly distracting and even made scenes confusing because of the words being used. I felt as if I was reading a first draft of the novel, rather than the final, published book. My next major complaint was the (extremely) pointless drama between Elena and Blake. This was my face for most of the scenes in this book
I would have been fine with a little back and forth, but literally 60% of this book is ridiculous drama that shouldn't exist at this point in Blake and Elena's story. The drama was unnecessary and was just a series of misunderstandings. I'm not sure why this direction was chosen for Blake and Elena, but it was neither wanted or needed. This drama led to this book dragging on and on, and made me lose a lot of interest in the actual story. But the biggest problem with all of this drama was that it distracted from the great romance that exists between Elena and Blake. All of their drama overshadowed the supposed "greatest love to ever exist" and it left me extremely disappointed. I was looking forward to Blake and Elena finally, FINALLY being together, and it just fell apart.
The root of all of this drama though leads me to another problem. Who was the root of all this drama you ask? It was Elena. Don't get me wrong, Elena always had her moments, but she was always a very strong character. That basically went out the window in this novel, which is something I never thought I would say. She became extremely annoying and acted like a toddler for most of the story. She didn't want to listen to anyone, and god forbid anyone would try to actually talk some sense into her. Nope, Elena definitely wasn't having any of that. Ultimately, she became very immature in this book, and was not at all like the character I loved so much.
As I said, when this book was focused on the actual plot, it was great. But these scenes were few and far between for a good chunk of this novel. The action was virtually non-existent until the end (when it should have been a huge part of the entire book), and even when the story reached its climax...well it fizzled out. There was action, but not what the action should have been. Moreover, I still had a lot of questions. Now these questions might be answered in the spin-off books she is doing (Moonbeam being the first of these, which focuses on Blake and Elena again if I'm remembering correctly). So, I'm still holding out hope that because she is currently writing this book, answers will be revealed in the future.
Overall, I'm not sure what to say about this book because it truly let me down in many ways. I enjoyed it, but this was not what I was expecting of a finale for one of my favorite series--a series I recommend to everyone. I'm not giving up yet though, and have high hopes for Moonbeam!
Happy reading :) -
As the last book in the series – I am happy to say that Starlight didn't disappoint (as so many others sometimes do)!
I enjoyed the build up to the inevitable final conclusion and battle. I really couldn’t put it down!
I love that Adrienne doesn’t feel the need to dumb anything down for her readers – small little tit bits and clues are dropped along the way, and yes you are asked to connect the dots – and they all finally get tied up (which makes me so happy - as cannot stand to get to the end and not have clarification!) Whilst reading I had many Eureka moments, where things that happened in the other books were finally explained and everything started to make sense!!
Being that I am more into the older part of the Young Adult age category – I am so pleased that Adrienne does touch of some of the more adult language and graphic things that happen (in all of history and writing - battles and war aren’t fluffy and sugar-coated!). So I totally stand by some of the subjects she touched on in this series and it all just makes Elena our heroine so much stronger than some of the other frilly/sickly sweet ‘strong’ heroines we get.
Also due to the fact that I have read almost anything I can get my hands on in the YA field, often I find that I can predict or guess at some authors ‘massive surprises’ – but Adrienne kept me guessing up until the final page. I mean the explanation of a rider and their dragons dent – WOW – move over Twilight and your imprinting! I would take a dent over anything! Just perfect and totally not what I expected!
Some of the characters I didn’t like from the very first books made decisions that I would never expect and some came good – love that Adrienne after 5 books could still surprise us with the characters patterns of behaviour!
My only struggle was with my love/ hate feelings towards Becky who sometimes I feel can border on a bully, but maybe that’s just me. Yes at times I also wanted to slap her upside the head for the mean harsh comments she made, but then she would do something loyal and I would forgive her.
Elena sometimes did come across a little whiny, which did grate – but again very minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things! What can you expect from teenagers?!
It was a bittersweet ending, loved it all, we lost a lot and yes I did shed a tear in happiness and also in sadness but isn't that just so true to life!). I am so pleased to have picked up this series and followed through!
As a follower of Adrienne’s mailing list - I enjoyed all of her weekly chapter updates and sneak peaks! She really knows how to treat her readers+ fans - which also just adds to my enjoyment of this author and her books!
My only little thing - I read the story on the Kindle version (as I am from the UK) it was a little hard to get the actual book, there were quite a few typos which did cause a few re reads of sentences - but honestly the book was so good it didn't slow me down all that much!
If you love dragons, this will be a great spin on an already overdone genre! Definitely pick up this series and enjoy the character banter, love hate situations, tears and joy!
To get over the book hangover -
*I think you will also Love Melissa De La Cruz's Heart of Dread series or Jaymin Eve's Supernatural Prison series*
This review will appear on my blog:
https://pageswithpaola.wordpress.com/ -
I am happy, sad, hopeful, excited, so many emotions; I can't even put into words how much I've grown to love this series. It has been such an amazing journey. My love for dragons has grown over the past month I've been reading the Dragonian series. I've sobbed and laughed, and cried at school twice.
There has of course been ups and downs, a moment where I wanted to quit because it seemed hard to get through but I read on and it was all worth it. Sure I get confused and a tiny bit annoyed (just a tiny bit) every once in a while, and there are spelling and grammar mistakes, but overall I still enjoyed this wonderful series. It is easily one of my favorite series. I just cannot bear to give Starlight anything less than 5 stars.
The series was definitely action packed and full of plot twists. My favorite is definitely this one. I loved all the poems and songs in here. I think I just might check out poems now. I've never been interested in them before. But in Starlight, the song lyrics, Blake's poems were so so good I wished they were real.
"I've seen your hopes, experienced your fears,
As part of you, I've lived your years.
Come my love, come be still.
Wrapped you in the arms of lovers will.
Oh my love, I've been so wrong,
I know now where I belong.
My darkness has died, evil no more,
The bond we share shakes my core.
Do not part, it's too sweet sorrow,
I'm here, loving you till tomorrow.
Love, come be still.
I need you more than you'll ever know.
The light in me you make it grow.
I need you now, I'll make things right.
For you alone, I will always fight.
You keep my demons away,
Your purity, your innocence, you make me stay.
Always have, always will."
Seriously if someone writes me something like that I will die and come back to marry them. I NEED A BLAKE.
I KNOW I'VE SAID IT BEFORE BUT THIS SERIES IS JUST SO FRAWSOME AND AMAZING. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. PLEASE READ IT. I'M SAD NOW BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO PART WITH THE CHARACTERS BUT THERE'S A NEW SPINOFF IN NOVEMBER YAY. BLOODY HELL I CAN'T WAIT.
Also I forgot I haven't talked about the characters. I love them all. Elena, Blake, Sammy, Dean, Becky, George, Lucian, Isaac and The Shifters, hell even Emanual and the Mckenzies, the ops guys, literally almost everyone. Elena has grown so much and the character development is seriously good and it's amazing to have gone through all that with her. Blake is just fucking perfect I don't even need to say anything. Becky and Sammy are like the best friends ever and both are so fierce and strong and loyal. George is so goofy and I envy the relationship he has with Becky. I feel like we didn't get very much of Dean but he's a nice guy. Me likey.
So now I don't know how to end this review. I'm probably stalling because when I press 'Done' then it's time to move on to a new book. I hope one day I'll look back on this review and go through all the love and feels again. -
This is so bitter sweet. I have been a hardcore fan since Firebolt first released. And to read this book really made me emotional.
First, let me say how honored I am that I was a beta reader for this book, but some of my suggestions made it into the final book. I honestly have no words.
I have loved Blake from the start. There was just something about him that amazed me even when he was an a$$ and fighting his dark side.
I had always wished that he and Elena could be together. In Starlight we got to see so many sweet Blake and Elena moments. It was so beautiful and moving to see their love for each other grow and blossom into something that is so beautiful.
Tabatha has never been one of my favorite characters in the series. I saw her as weak and desperate. She showed us more of that in Starlight, but I have to say that after all of those times we have seen her be a weak little b!*ch, she majorly redeemed herself. She turned out to be a honorable dragon.
Arianna also redeemed herself in this book. She has really grown up. And I am happy for her.
So many amazing things happened in this book that made it not only epic, but definitely my favorite book so far this year.
So many surprising things happened that had me going "oh sh!t" while sitting on the edge of my seat biting my nails like a crazy lady.
And on the other hand I was riding an emotional rollercoaster while crying my eyes out. I think I may have used a whole box of tissues. haha.
But over all I am very pleased at everything that happened. The war was amazing, the dent was beautiful. The scenes with Elena and Blake were sweet. All of the characters were amazing. Becky, George, Sammy, Dean, Sir Robert, Isabel, just everyone. Loved, loved, loved.
If you are new to The Dragonian series, please give it a read starting with Book one, Firebolt. You will love it.
Thanks Adrienne Woods for writing a kicka$$ book, but most of all, an amazing series! -
I finished the series out of a need for completion, but there were so many things wrong with the whole series.
It first strikes as being poorly written, but I think that’s unfair. I feel it was poorly edited, and from the start.
My main issues:
Beating the “bad” dragons, and the way this is just accepted by everyone. One, no imagination. Two, who is reading this book? Who is it marketed towards? Young adults. Please, you want this to be an acceptable reason to keeping anyone in line?
Death and rape being a major issue for the character then just brushed aside when the author is bored of them. Dealing with a new partner after the death of an old one isn’t easy, and when you read of someone being gang raped but that’s ok as soon as the next love interest shows up? Again, look at your audience and try for some actual resolution.
Minor issues:
People just don’t ‘giggle’ every time someone speaks. They just don’t. Poor writing for sure, but something that should have been picked up in the editing/rewriting process. The same goes for leaping to yelling after every sentence that isn’t giggled at.
For the love of blueberries?!? Seriously? Another thing that could have been edited out.
The killing off of characters that didn’t need killing off. Lucien, ok. Tabitha? Lazy.
My gut feel is the author had a message, and when she dithered her support team were nowhere to be found. Too many plot points left unexplained, while other, unimportant things, had to be tied up neatly.
On the whole it read like a fanfiction, and could so easily have been polished into something breathtaking. -
i'm sorely disappointed. regardless of the eventual desired ending, the story was poorly written, in need of some serious editing, grammar reworking, and spell checking. i had to force myself through to the ending, taking multiple breaks between chapters, pages and sometimes even paragraphs. i don't remember the previous books being so poorly written but i hate that it ruins the story for me, especially when what i can remember was that i really LIKED the story :p
the only reason it gets two instead of one star is because i still appreciated the ending -
Well, thank goodness this series is over. I wanted to like it, the concept was good, however the characters were terrible. The main character is selfish and at no point redeems herself. She has very little character development even throughout five books. Blake’s character evolution is absurd and even when they try to explain it, it still doesn’t make sense. The concept of a dent is obnoxious and doesn’t feel genuine despite the fact that it’s supposed to be the most genuine thing in the world.
You would think that after five books it would have led to an epic battle, but it was mostly a flop.
Pretty much just all done with this. ✌️ -
I had to finish this series because after four books...well I just had too. I wished it would have had a lot less personal drama by Elena figuratively stomping her foot and refusing to listen to reason. I also could have done without the plethora of "F" words. Seriously, was there no other choices that could have been used to convey being tough or angry or frustrated? Aside from this I am glad there was finally some conclusion and wrap up to the series and I did enjoy a lot of it. I just don't know if I would recommend it because again, many elements seemed unnecessary and repetitive from the first three books which I enjoyed very much.
-
3.5 stars!
I will end this series with this book.
I don't care about the "what ifs" because usually you can't change the past. -
I always try to rate a book as soon as I close it so that I can capture exactly how I feel at the time and exactly where that book transported me to. This book is a wonderful example of why I do this because if I had waited until today to rate it, I probably would have dropped that rating to a three star, but truthfully this book was satisfying in so many ways and when I finally came to the close of it and reminisced about the entire story that I had read, I needed to give it the four stars because I really liked it.
There were so many great elements to this novel and in fact to this whole series, but there were also a huge number of letdowns. There were still, even in this last book published so many years after the first, so many glaring errors in both grammar and spelling. This has been a big issue throughout the entire series. I'm not sure if the physical books would be any better but the ebooks were pretty horrific.
Another factor for me that was more to do with the plot planning - revelation disappointments. The mysterious and elusive ingredient that was built up and built up from the previous book? I was so disappointed to learn what it actually was.
The mystical orbs of the mighty Rubicon were also such a let down and at the end of the day ended up being a way to tie up a loose end that probably didn't even need tying up. It would have been better left alone.
And the most frustrating of the plot-lines - angsty disputes and unnecessary misunderstandings. Yes, we have heard how these two main characters will share the greatest love ever seen blah, blah, blah, but we didn't get to see any of it. It would have been far nicer to read about the two of them finally getting along and working together for the entire book and then we could have focused more on the action of freeing Etan instead of summing it all up in a few paragraphs after Elena wakes from her coma. WE missed out on so much! There was just a lot of teenage drama where by this point of the series, when the main characters are now actually all adults, I was expecting further character development from these people and a heavier focus on what was actually happening in the world and a well written finale.
There are a lot of things that I could pick apart here, and in fact writing this review has frustrated me even more with this series, but at the end of the day I did love it. There has been a lot of growth from the Author throughout this series which excites me - I cannot wait to read more by
Adrienne Woods There is something so addictive about this world, something that kept compelling me to read and read and read. Something that made me fall in love with these characters despite all the flaws. Some formula that Woods has got entirely correct and that urges me to ask you to give this series a chance if you are thinking of trying it. I was thoroughly entertained and captivated by this and that is one of my greatest priorities for a good book! -
I have now read all 5 books of this series. I started in the mood for some light, fun fantasy. I liked the first 3 books ok. I found the fourth book to be the best of the four because it finally addressed the Etan plot. Yes, there was a lot of whining by Elena and I wanted to say grow the hell up but it was definitely the best of the four – then came book five. Let me start by saying that had the first book been of this quality then I would have never finished it let alone read all five. In other reviews I have read that the author split the last book into two. She should have cut out all the repetition and fluff and stayed with 4 books. There were many typos in book 4 that I never noticed in the first 3. It felt rushed and poorly edited but again I was happy to see Etan addressed so I overlooked most the things I felt negatively about. I couldn’t look past it in book 5. I probably skimmed over half the book dealing with Elena’s temper tantrums and immaturity, the mindless and non-ending chatter of her thoughts and the repetitive explanations. If I heard it once, even twice then I DON’T need to hear it one or two more times fcol. The author was just filling space so she could stretch out into a full book that which should have been incorporated into the fourth. The grammatical errors – OMG! I noticed them in book 4 but these were beyond ignoring, hiss instead of his, etc. It was overwhelming and on top of the dull redundancies, it made the ¼ of the book that was actually good not worth reading. I had already committed myself to 4 books and I was determined to witness the outcome. The story did have good points – just not enough to be worthy of a complete other novel. Again – 4 and 5 should have been reduced and combined to make ONE GOOD 4th book.
