Hunter

Author: Nicole Conway

Series: The Dragonrider Heritage #1

My rating: 3.1 out of 5

Weak, young, and naïve, Thatcher goes from fleeing a war in his hometown, to working in a prison camp, to a job in the castle stables. After bonding with a blind dragon, Thatcher is given the chance to assist a prince on a mission.

I think there are two series that precede this one. I’ve read several books from the first series, but haven’t finished it yet. While this series shares many of the same characters, it’s set about forty years later, and it provides enough background info for any new reader to jump in without feeling completely lost, but I think it would be best to read them all in their proper order. There were too many references that even with a glossed over summary, I felt I was missing some finer points and character history.

Thatcher is almost exaggeratingly weak and naïve, leaving him lots of room to mature over the course of the book. There wasn’t much of that growth at the beginning. It mostly occurred in the latter half of the book, as he bonded and trained with his dragon, and even more so once he left the castle on his quest with the prince.

The book was pretty slow paced until near the end. The whole series could probably be condensed into a single book by eliminating all the fluffy fillers. But sometimes you want to read and become absorbed in a slow journey. Yes, the book could’ve skipped a stall mucking scene or three, but it chose to focus on the small moments while it built up on the setting, introduced new characters, and developed the plot. Sometimes, I put the book down in favor of others, but it was still enjoyable to return to when I was in the right mood. There’s a dragon bond, where they don’t necessarily communicate verbally, but Thatcher and his dragon understood each other on a superficial level. Thatcher’s friendships were better developed, and the characters were fun, for a juvenile book.