Rating: 2.25 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Dylan Ogmore is the last of a dying breed. Once, decades ago, the dragon riders of Wales were an elite and well maintained regiment. But now they’re kept as a matter of posterity to be trotted out when anyone wants to remember the good ole days. Dylan has a strong bond with his dragon, Derog, but he knows without leadership the Dragon Riders won’t last much longer. It doesn’t help that the dragons are expected to be a part of royal parade, but instead of guards, they’ll be apart of the show. Neither Dylan nor Derog are looking forward to the experience.
Complicating things are an intense one night stand and a frustrating run in with his ex, Andras, who was definitely the love of Dylan’s life before he left the regiment for a PR position. When the parade turns into an assassination attempt and Derog is wounded, Dylan is left fighting to protect his dragon from enemies he never saw coming. Before it’s over, Dylan will have to decide if doing the right thing is worth risking he cares about.
A Dragon for Sale is a pretty uneven read and I struggled with it right from the start. There were plot pieces that made no sense, pacing issues, and a general disconnection from the characters that left me underwhelmed.
So right off the bat is the business of selling dragons. We’re told the dragons are volunteers to the military and when they retire, they return to the wild. But suddenly, the military thinks they they have the right to sell them to private collectors. It’s never made clear why this is ever considered a good idea and, while Dylan is outraged that anyone would try to sell Derog, I don’t think the author fully establishes why this is happening in the first place. You’d think a book with dragons in it would make good use of them, but in A Dragon for Sale, the dragons feel like little more than afterthought. They’re on page to force forward the story, but there is almost no interaction with them. As readers, we’re never given the ability to really connect with them and I thought this was such a shame because there was a lot of potential here.
The pacing for A Dragon for Sale struggles as much as the plot and there were times the story just seemed to meander rather than having actual purpose. And given the book is fairly short, this occasional wandering really doesn’t help move the actual story forward. None of the characters are memorable and I never felt like I could connect with them. There just wasn’t enough depth available to let that happen.
A Dragon for Sale really didn’t work for me. From a plot that was uneven, to pacing that ebbs and flows, nothing really gels. Dragons never get much time to shine and the main characters aren’t compelling enough to carry the day. I’d have to suggest giving this one a pass.
