Review of Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron
By: The Librarian's Cat
The book I'm reviewing is Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron. I will start off by mentioning that I like this author. She has a fun sense of humor and her worlds have an imaginative take on spirits and magic. Nice Dragons Finish Last does not let me down in either of these areas. It's the first book in a five book urban fantasy series and I enjoyed every one of them. For me, an added bonus is that this book series is already complete so no worrying about pesky things like when will the next book come out.
This book is about a young dragon named Julius who meets a college dropout mage named Marci and together they navigate the treacherous city of the DFZ (Detroit Free Zone) to find a runaway dragon. They are on a time crunch though, since this is Julius's last chance to convince his mother that he is a useful and properly ambitious dragon. If he doesn't then she will dispose of him like so many of the other useless children she had before him. It doesn't help that dragons are not allowed in the DFZ and therefore hunted down and killed on sight. If you add to that some humor, action, intrigue, and a hint of romance then you will have Nice Dragons Finish Last. It ends with a tantalizing hint of what is to come and is truly just the tip of the iceberg on what is really going on.
This book was a fun ride and the rest of the series is also really enjoyable. It is well written, the characters are relatable (and awesome), and the world building is unique and solid. My only warning is that the two main characters stay true to their personalities and sometimes make decisions I feel they should have already learned not to do. Julius is nice and Marci can be reckless, but the author shows how these traits that could be her character's weaknesses instead become their strengths. Let me also clarify that there are always reasons why the characters do what they do and I in no way think that this is indicative of poor or sloppy writing. I just sometimes found it frustrating, although my exasperation in the repetition of these two shows up in the later books more so than in this one.
That is my one main complaint and even with that I give Nice Dragons Finish Last 4 ½ stars. It is a fun and heartfelt ride and I am glad that I have read it.
Oh! Did I mention that there is a mob boss, a dragon champion, and a spirit cat named Ghost? No? I didn't? I wonder what else I left out. I guess you will have to read the book to find out.
