I’m trying to do some genre jumping with my reviews, so today we’re going fantasy. K.M. Shea is kind of my idol of indie-authorship. She releases a book (get this) every 3 months! Yes, every 3 months. They are a little shorter at about 200 pages each, but still 3 months, people! I’ve read almost all of her books and it was a debate which to review first, but Princess Ahira won out!

 

 

This book is complete fantasy. Dragons, mythical creatures, and other magical stuff. Our princess is kidnapped by a dragon with a group of other princesses and forced to become a slave to a high-ranking dragon. But she LIKES being kidnapped, has always wanted adventure, and isn’t one bit afraid of the dragon she’s assigned to. There’s a lot of subtle mockery of other fairy tales, dramatic teenagers, and angst-like relationships in this book.

I’m going to start this review with what I don’t like or can see that other people might not like. This is book is suited for the younger side of Young Adult (12 and up). It is a fun story I would read to my kids. There isn’t much depth with the characters. The situations are never too intense or consuming. I would never say I was on the edge of my seat, but I was entertained.

Another problem with Shea’s writing is that there are some typos and grammar issues. I’m absolutely willing to accept these as a side-effect of her quick writing and editing, but some people might find them distracting. I feel like they are few are far enough in between that it doesn’t throw me out of the story at all.

The length is the last thing I don’t love. I think there are a lot of things that go unexplained or are rushed. These small plot holes could have easily been filled with a little more explanation and a few more pages!

Now to what I like. I love Shea’s character’s. They are strong and snarky without being overly dramatic. I love Ahira. She was optimistic and fun. I love the secondary character’s they all have so much personality and each add a little something to the story. In fact, it was a scene with one of the other princesses that made me choose this book to review. I rarely actually laugh out loud while I’m reading, but this scene was so hilarious I had to run and share it with my husband.

Shea’s dialogue is always great. Since there isn’t much written about the emotional journey of the characters, Shea convey a lot of it through their words and it is awesome.

All in all, I’m a huge fan of Shea’s. This is probably one of her lightest books, but she never gets too heavy. If you like Jessica Day George and especially her Dragon Slippers series. Then you’ll probably enjoy this too! To warn you, I’ll probably be reviewing more books by Shea, but there’s a lot of other author’s I’ll have to cover first!