The Dragon's Price (Transference, #1) Review

**Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me an ARC of the book in return for an honest review. 2.5 to 3 stars!!! When I first got into this book, I was pretty excited. The story is very reminiscent of Game of Thrones except it is targeted to a YA audience. You have a Kingdom ruled by genteel noblemen while the other is ruled by a horse clan (this reminded me of the Dothraki tribe in GoT). The story is centered around two warring nations that are united together by a ceremony where their heirs are married to each other or risk being sacrificed to the dragon that would otherwise terrorize them. Sounds nifty right? But that's where the joy ends because the rest of the book was fairly average to me. We have the usual tripe associated with a YA novel in this book - you have a female lead, insta-love, angst, etc. Though there were parts that I did enjoy, I wasn't completely blown away. The story was rather formulaic and cliched all the way through. I'll now go into detail into what I did like and which parts didn't do it for me. The worldbuilding was alright at best. The story is set in a medieval sort of world filled with various rulers. We don't get a map but are told that the world consists of rebels and mercenary factions. As a reader, we have to visualise most of the world that our characters live in. I found that this was rather difficult because if characters are moving from one location to the next, how do we know where each place is located. However, I did appreciate the author's description of the dragon cave and battle scenes. I found those parts to be exhilarating. I also enjoyed reading the descriptions of the dragons and the MC's interactions with them. As a MC, I found Princess Sorrowlynn to be a dismal and irritating character. I found her background to be interesting. She has spent most of her life sheltered from the outside world and has a rather broken relationship with her family. At the beginning, she appeared to be a girl who was willing to take her destiny into her own hands and strong willed. But after that, her character became almost unbelievable and downright laughable. I get that the author wanted to make her into a special snowflake but to turn someone who would be socially inept to a battle-wielding bad-ass is so far fetched in my opinion. She completely lacked credibility as a lead. On the other hand, I did love Golmarr. He is the perfect book boyfriend. He is so noble, kind, protective and not to mention exceptionally handsome. I found his interactions with Sorrowlynn to be the most noteworthy in the book and I loved their scenes together. Although, the romance aspect plays a huge role in the story, I didn't find it distracting but rather a integral part of the overall story. I get that it was all insta-love but I can look the other way here because it was just swoon-worthy. I also loved that the author decided to stick with the traditional version of dragons - the type that lust for blood and flesh. Unfortunately, I would have preferred if the magic component associated with them was a little more complex. I found everything to be too easily resolved. I think this would have made the book seem better. I like plots where the characters have to actually work for things and that they face failures. Not where things seem so cut and dry. With regards to the plot progression, the novel was an easy read. There aren't too many plot reveals or shocking secrets. So that was equally disappointing. I would have liked to see more betrayal, deception and the like which was lacking in the story. I feel this would have lent depth to the overall story, making it more multi-layered. In conclusion, I can say I enjoyed the story for the romance and some certain parts. The story has potential and I hope the sequel focuses more on character development along with plot complexity. I would recommend giving the book a try, but just don't expect a truly epic fantasy.

#youngadult #dragons #fantasy #BethanyWiggins