Dragonfly by Julia Golding: meh

Dragonfly 

by 

Julia Golding

              There is a man who has been systematically taking over the known world piece by piece (think Attila the Hun or any Roman dude ever). War by War he draws ever closer to two nervous nations. In desperation, the Blue Crescent Islands offer their youngest princess Taoshira in marriage to Ramil of Gerfal. Sorry I just got flashbacks to every fantasy romance novel ever, complete with Weird Name of Weirder Name (Sorry, sorry back to the summery). The two, of course, get along like cats and dogs. At least until they’re kidnapped by said Attila the Hun look-a-like and they have to work together to escape.

Characters

Tashi: I don’t even know how to describe this character. Thing is she really isn’t like any other character I’ve read (at least not one that I can remember). The Blue Crescent Islands have a weird way of electing their princess’s when the old one dies which vaguely reminds me of Naboo. 

(yeah that might not have been a good thing) 

So technically Tashi has only been a princess for a few years at the time of the book. Meaning that she’s only just managed to suppress her more wild side in favor of the ritualistic poise of a princess. It was an interesting dilemma and I liked the way Tashi chose the strongest parts of both sides of her and combined them in the end. It was a nice way to admit that neither option, wild or poised, was without fault.

Ramil: is kind of a jerk in the first few chapters, but that just means he has the best character development. Honestly, I’m rather fond of Ramil now. Sure he was an idiot at times but he had a good heart. And when he finally admitted that he loved Tashi it was both adorable and hilarious. Sir I can’t tell if your flirting needs work or if it’s brilliant.

Gordoc: full disclosure I only included this character because he reminds me of Fezzik from Princess Bride. Actually, there’s a good bit in here that reminds me of princess bride. No R-O-U-S’s though so I suppose it’s got to fall short there.

Likes

As soon as you get past the cliché ‘I don’t want to get married!’ and ‘everything is so unfair!’ it’s an enjoyable read: Even if they do seem to spend eighty percent of their time being captured by one group of people or another. The secondary characters are hilarious and interesting even when they are at their blandest. Heck even the horses have personality. It’s good simple fun and I enjoyed it.

The different cultures were fascinating: It was actually really funny watching Tashi and Romil bumble about insulting each other on accident because they didn’t understand the other’s culture. Cultures in books are so often one dimensional and often bland copies of real life civilizations. That was true for a few of the different people groups but there always enough for them to be interesting. It was a nice change pf pace.

Dislikes

Ending why? I will never understand why authors separate their characters for the climax. Especially when the characters are having two very different climaxes. Romil was busy leading a nationwide revolt while Tashi was having a much more spiritual/emotional confrontation with herself and her people. Both were of course perfectly fitting for the character’s arcs but can you imagine trying to appreciate Tashi’s debates and reasoning and personal victory while Romil is busy trying not to die? 

A lot of people have given this book four or more stars. I would certainly be exaggerating if I said I enjoyed it that much. Dragonfly was a perfectly enjoyable read and was quite impressive when it came to its treatment of the world and the secondary characters. Otherwise it was rather unremarkable. It’s just one of those books that has fallen squarely in the middle for me.