Cassandra Lost in Books

***Received the book as part of a tour for Avian (book 2) for an honest review

The cover is awesome.  I love the dragon on the cover, and I think kids will be drawn to it because it reminds me of how dragons are depicted in video games like WoW. 

Okay, I wasn’t sure what to expect in this book because Nicole Conway is an author I have never read before, but I know from the first time I saw the cover and read the blurb that I wanted to read it.  It definitely exceeded my expectations, and I loved reading it.  The book is like the movie Eragon meets Lord of the Rings kind of vibe…well at least to me. :)

I love Jae’s character because even though he is treated badly and abused by just about everyone he is so brave and loyal to the few people who are very worthwhile friends.  He is so tenacious and never gives up.  This is so hard to demonstrate to high school students.  I know in high school, there is always so much strife and mistreatment from student to student going on, and when one of my students is upset, I always ask them if the person is their friend.  When they tell me no way, I tell them then why care what they think?  Don’t let someone else ruin your day or your image of how you think and feel about yourself!  This was not something anyone ever told me in school, and I had to learn it much later in life.

Felix is another awesome character.  He will not stand for someone picking on or hurting one of his friends.  He comes from money but does not let that define who he is.  He lets his actions speak for him. 

Of course, you can’t leave out the fierce dragons who are awesome all by themselves.  Mavrik sees something in Jae that no one else did, and they have an amazing partnership.  I try not to give specific details in my reviews because I would never want to spoil your adventure into reading this book :)

Nicole Conway does a fantastic job creating her world and describing it in a way that the images fill my head while reading.  I can’t wait to read Avian next. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading dragon books!  I especially think this will be a phenomenal addition to my classroom library when I can afford to buy this series.  I’m sad to say it, but my classroom library is severely lacking in content to attract high school boys into reading, and I think this book would help in this area.  My high school students get such a kick out of me sharing my books with them, and they are even more amazed when they see that an author has signed the book and that I still share it with them.  I will be reading this book again with my son in the future :)