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MY ⭐️ RATING: 3.5/5
Format: eARC
🚨 I received an advanced reader copy, provided by the author for an honest review. 🚨
This did not impact my rating in any way.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Zee Tarrow’s dreams are finally coming true.
While the road to acceptance into Triumf’s Citadel Academy has been filled with pain, suffering, and more joy and surprises than Zee could’ve possibly imagined, now is his time to shine. After all, he’s the first kraken rider in more than a thousand years! Who could possibly defeat him? Except now he must be separated from his best and most loyal friend, the kraken, Jessup, as they both must complete basic training individually in order to pass and become full-fledged cadets.
Easy, right?
Not so much. Rival flights will stop at nothing to defeat or even destroy them, but Zee and Jessup will face far graver danger from mysterious powers who despise them simply for existing. Assassination attempts, monsters of the deep, and the challenges of rising from the sea to live in a world that prefers dry land will thwart them at every turn.
All the while, an evil deadlier than the most powerful dragonrider to ever exist lurks in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to come forth and destroy…
If Zee and Jessup are to survive much less thrive, they must forge new friendships, overcome the odds stacked against them, and, above all else, continue to progress their power to levels that haven’t been witnessed in a millennium.
MY REVIEW
This tantalizing cover by Daniel Kamarudin and Shawn T. King, just oozes beauty and excitement, with that said, I really enjoyed book 1 of this trilogy and all it had to offer, but Thunder Kraken, unfortunately doesn’t live up to its predecessor, and I’m not happy to say this, but it was a bit underwhelming and suffers from middle book syndrome.
I still love that Dyrk and Estes combine for a lighthearted edginess that creates a such a good story, it’s fun and enjoyable for all ages, reminding me of Enders Game and Percy Jackson because of the cadet academy and some of the training that took place. I love the characters and the progression aspect of this story but because it’s only a trilogy, the progress moves at a pretty fast pace, which creates some missed opportunities, which is where I feel it fell flat the most and the reason my rating is so low.
Character building was much better this time around since it focused on the “right now”, without time jumps. Zee & Jessup are very fun to read and I love them both, I do have to say, I miss Midge. There were a host of new characters that were introduced as Zee and Jessup joined the Triumf Citadel Academy. The friends he makes along the way, are great, especially Sallison, she was a favorite early on, but I did like the others as well. Though one thing I noticed is that a character or two from Book 1 got a far smaller role, and I wish their parts were bigger since I started liking them so much in the first book. The character list is very long and could use a glossary of characters, dragon types, locations, and progression ranks to make it easier to understand everything. I had to rely on past notes to figure some of that out. The Wraith are such an interesting addition, but they were kinda relegated to just a guest appearance, and even their reasoning for showing up felt like much ado about nothing.
For the plot, I do wish there was a “story so far” section added, but they did a good job sprinkling in info to help remind you of things. The reason it fell flat for me is because this book was essentially one large training montage. The characters level up, and there are some good fight scenes, but they’re mostly simulations, so no real danger for a majority of the book. Then there’s a bit of intrigue with a mystery added in—I was really excited to see how Zee and the gang would handle their training and solve this mystery… but that didn’t happen. The mystery got solved off-screen and only brought up near the end when they confronted the person. Then there’s another mystery with the beasts that’s immediately solved, and the reasoning just didn’t make any sense to me. And there’s still another mystery that seemingly gets forgotten or maybe solved later, but it’s never brought back up. Also, there’s still no “Release the Kraken” Clash of the Titans reference! How do we have a book about a kraken and not use the most famous kraken line there is!?!? lol.
I thought the trials were fun and added a good mix of training and action, but like I said, most of the action was in simulations without real danger. However, near the end, there is a good battle that’s very dangerous and exciting. I will say that Dyrk and Estes did a great job with the dialogue between all the characters, it made up for the minimal action some, and had me giggling often. Seeing all the authors I know pop up, and even more added, is always enjoyable. I really really wanted to love this as much as I loved Book 1, but I just couldn’t find enough highs to match the lows I felt. Though I had many criticisms, this was still enjoyable for what it was, and I have my fingers crossed that Book 3 will be a lot better, because what they’ve been building up to might just be one incredibly epic finale.
Wolfmantula.com 