I don't think this is the book for me, I originally marked it as didn't want to review, but have since worked out I can now review retrospectively so I am just putting that this was a mistake and I no longer want to read.

Any fantasy book with dragons is bound to draw me in but the very thing that pulled me was underdelivered. While the premise was intriguing with a prince of an empire that lost to wider conquerors reigniting war and forging new alliances after bonding with a dragon, the story felt heavy with tropes that took away the depth of characterisation. I think this book suffered from the marketing viewpoint because the emphasis on action and politics left me seeking it endlessly, when in fact, it should've said the focus was more on a multiple-fronts war being witnessed through one prince stepping out of the boundaries decided for him.

A high fantasy with dragons and magic that has similarities to other works. But sometimes you crave a bit of familiarity, you know. You know what you like in that genre and like to see it done well. I really liked the world building, political intrigue and treachery. But, I think the book included a little bit too much detail at points; if the book was 100 pages less, it would not have impacted the story.

Honestly, this book has more cons than pros which is real shame. Winter and the ending portion of this book saved it from being rated lower.

It was just awfully draggy towards the middle. We spent a good 200+ pages not doing an awful lot. Not to mention how much time is spent talking about or cultivating mana. Jai was ok but felt on the naive and suffered from the 'naturally gifted' trope a little bit.

Plus the 'romance' between him and Frida felt oddly placed and very one sided. It felt a little more like teenage lust on Jai's part which I wasn't a fan of.

I won't be carrying on this series I don't think which is a shame because I'd love to see Winter grow into a badass dragon. But I don't want to have to read 200 pages of nothing to get to it.

I sadly could not get into this one, no matter how many times I tried. I just didn't care for the story and started to just feel overwhelmed.

Sorry!

The world building in this book was amazing, but quite dense at the start which made it a hard read to get into. However, it was well worth it for such a developed world and well developed characters. I like that I'm not sure what way the story is going to go after this first installment, and really enjoyed the chemistry between the cast.

DNF @ 28% - wasn’t for me.

I think this world was just a little too complicated for me to comprehend, I was so confused. I liked that the chapters were short, but even with picking up the audio to try and help me along I was so lost, even with the slow pace that appeared to be set for exactly this reason.

Solid story. I did enjoyed main characters and their interactions and the way they were growing up, learn new skills. Ending was open enough to think what can happen next. Overall easy to follow book, nicely written, great for young fantasy readers and older ones too.

This book was just plain awesome! It read fast, was gripping, wellpaced and has some amazing characters. I am so bummed to have to wait until April for book 2!

I’ve known the author since his Summoner series, and once again, he did not disappoint. Since this is only the first installment, it’s hard to predict how the entire saga will turn out, but judging by the quality of the first book, I feel confident. I really enjoyed the world-building, the dynamics between the empire and other nations, and the fact that the protagonist has endured many difficult situations. I also loved the concept of bonding with a dragon (and not just that) and the fact that all the characters in the book have distinct personalities. Honestly, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen during the wedding. Overall, I’d say this book is definitely worth picking up.

I did really enjoy this.

This is an epic high fantasy following Jai, an orphan who seeks the secrets of dragon riding. I really liked the writing, and wanted the pace to pick up which it eventually did after about 100 pages. I liked the slowburn and the chemistry was amazing. Although some points were quite strongly descriptive in the writing, which slowed down the pace a little.

Overall, a fun read about dragons and Jai discovering his newfound powers. I would recommend!

I thought it was a little slow. But overall entertaining. Honestly anything with dragons will always be my go too

The excellent start of a new fantasy series that made me appreciate dragons again. Fast paced, action packed, and well plotted.
I loved the storytelling and can't wait to read the next novel.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

i'm so sorry. i tried, but i couldn't get through this. such a slow start and it felt like the writing was dense but didn't actually explain much. hard to grasp the story and i'm not patient enough for this kind of narrative.

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.
Quite slow beginning, but the second half of the book delivers solid action and story development that truly makes you read till the end in one breath. Deep story, emotional development, dragons, the romance part lacks a little, but the magic system makes up for that. All in all intriguing book.

Thank you Publisher and Netgalley for this advanced copy

This is my first time reading Taran Matharu books, and I really enjoy it. I love the coming of age aspect in this book and the dynamic relationship between human and the dragons

I had high expectations for this book and maybe because of that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

The book is good and I would definitely recommend it to any dragon loving bookworms out there but for me it did fall a little short on the dragon side of things.

But the world Matharu has created has been done extremely well with a very intriguing magic system included.

This book definitely felt like a bit of a set up book so I will definitely be reading the second to see if it picks up.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishes for the advanced copy!

Wow! I don't have much to say other than this is EXACTLY what I wanted from a fantasy/dragon book. Would recommend highly!

Great book with good worldbuilding.
It has some great characters (and some nasty ones) and a compelling adventure.

3.5

I didn't end up being quite as immersed into this story as I was hoping to be, but I'm really excited to find out what is going to come next in the series. The worldbuilding is very intricate, filled with various politics, mythical creatures, colonisation and slavery, and a very intriguing magic system of soulbonding. The pacing is a little strange -with very short chapters, you can fly through it, but then you have pretty slow pacing, even in some of the action scenes.

I think my biggest issue with this book, is that despite the stunning cover, and the literal TITLE of the book being "Dragon Rider", there are not NEARLY enough dragons in here as I thought there would be. Although I adore little Winter, the hatchling dragon Jai comes across, I really thought other dragons would play a much bigger role and they really didn't. Of course this will change as the series goes on, but I felt quite disappointed given the title of the book hints at there being more dragons?

Anyway, this was a well-written book, I liked the characters and the political intrigue and I'm excited to see what will come next from this series!