[Perry] Book Review – One Good Dragon Deserves Another

So, Julius, nicest dragon of the Heartstriker clan is back for another whirlwind adventure in draconic prophetic politics!

How WILL he get out this one next?

The same way he got out of trouble the first time, of course.

By being really nice.

One Good Dragon Deserves Another is book two of Rachel Aaron’s Heartstrikers…trilogy? It feels like it’ll be a trilogy.

I will start by saying that Rachel Aaron (and her evil twin who writes under the pseudonym, Rachel Bach), has rapidly become one of my favorite authors in recent times.

Her work isn’t as lyrical as Rothfuss’s work. Nor is it as hauntingly dreamlike as Guy Gavriel Kay.

But I’ll be goddamned if Aaron’s work isn’t just hella fun to read.

These are books that you read when you’re in the mood for a rollicking good time.

And One Good Dragon is no exception to that rule.

Being intentionally vague in order to avoid spoilers, I will say that I enjoyed this second installment a lot more than the first. The first Heartstrikers book was alright? But it didn’t grab me as much as say, the first book of her Paradox trilogy. But I enjoyed it enough that I hung in there for book two and I was NOT disappointed.

Julius, the nicest dragon of the Heartstrikers clan finds himself embroiled in another predicament involving dragon seers, rival clans, and the most dangerous threat of all? His own mother.

If I had a big complaint with the first book, something that I didn’t much care for? It was that Julius was a little TOO nice. At times, it got a little annoying to read about how he kept preaching about the value of being kind of people, making friends instead of pawns. Relying on being nice instead of intimidation or bribes. Over and over, this came up, ad nauseum, to the point that it started getting annoying.

In book two, Julius is still nice, the nicest dragon around…but now? Now you find out that there’s a purpose to it. There’s a story-related reason why he needs to be that way, and you know what? Honestly? Finding that out made it a lot easier for me to stomach it.

This is a totally personal judgement, maybe I’m just not in much of a mood to read about nice characters, but having that plot-related reason for why he acted the way he did? It made it easier to bear.

The plot thickens in book two, dealing with the history of dragons and how they came to the world. There’s also more world-building that’s slipped in beautifully, about the nature of magic and the spirits.

There’s a fine line walked here, gentlefolks. It’s enough worldbuilding and magic system information to give you an idea that it works according to set rules, but not enough to feel like it bogs down the narrative or feels like an infodump for the sake of infodumping.

The action in this second book really picks up as well. The fight and action scenes feel a LOT more bombastic and well-paced. Often, I was riveted while reading, totally picturing the climactic battle as a scene being played out in a summer blockbuster, or the final episodes of a tense anime series.

Keeping it vague, the battle scene involving a circular arena made of water? Holy gods, was I ever glued to the book. A page turner for sure.

Something I did find interesting? Were some parallels in character…archetypes? Between this Heartstriker series and her Eli Monpress series, especially when it came to the dragon hunter spirit and the storm lord.

Again, I don’t think that Heartstrikers is a…particularly artful series? I don’t think it’ll go down in history as a fantasy classic of our age.

But honestly? It’s just so fucking FUN to read that I don’t give a shit.

If you enjoyed the first Hearstrikers novel, reading this second is a no-brainer.

If you sort of felt the first one was…just sort of okay? Sort of meh? I really, really recommend that you give the second one a try because holy hell, does it ever turn things around.

If you end up giving it a try, or if you’ve already read it, I’d love to know what you think of it!