Book Review :: House of Dragons by Jessica Cluess

House of Dragons by Jessica Cluess
ISBN: 0593305442
Series: House of Dragons
Published by Random House
on 2020-05-12
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 431
Goodreads

When the Emperor dies, the five royal houses of Etrusia attend the Call, where one of their own will be selected to compete for the throne. It is always the oldest child, the one who has been preparing for years to compete in the Trial. But this year is different. This year these five outcasts will answer the call. . . .

THE LIAR: Emilia must hide her dark magic or be put to death.
THE SOLDIER: Lucian is a warrior who has sworn to never lift a sword again.
THE SERVANT: Vespir is a dragon trainer whose skills alone will keep her in the game.
THE THIEF: Ajax knows that nothing is free--he must take what he wants.
THE MURDERER: Hyperia was born to rule and will stop at nothing to take her throne.

Last updated on 10 November 2021

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My thoughts on House of Dragons

After reading Cluess’ series, Kingdom on Fire, the first book of which is A Shadow Bright and Burning, I was eager to check out her latest book, House of Dragons. House of Dragons, as the description so aptly puts it, tells the story of Emilie, Lucian, Ajax, Vespir, and Hyperia, young dragon riders taking part in the greatest challenge of all: the fight for the title of Emperor.

The story follows the five underdogs as they partake in challenges to become America’s next top model the country’s next Emperor, but as the tale unfolds it is revealed all is not as it seems.

While I didn’t love this book as much as A Shadow Bright and Burning, I do really enjoy the worlds that Jessica Cluess creates. The world in House of Dragons is split up into family-run lands, and each time an Emperor dies, the firstborn of the five families are summoned with their dragons to fight it out to become the next Emperor. While things go a little differently for the main characters, the concept is really cool.

One of my favourite aspects of the Kingdom on Fire series is the characters. Each was very different and their own quirks, and I love rooting for some and not for others. But despite there being five main characters in House of Dragons, none of them really spoke to me. It’s not that they were bad, per se, or that they weren’t different and quirky like those in the other series (and I really do hate to compare but I’m doing it anyway), it’s just that I didn’t love them. There wasn’t one that stuck out from the rest as a favourite or one that I really wanted to see be crowned Emperor. One theory I have is that they were all too much of the main character. In her other series, Cluess has Henrietta Howl as the main character and the other characters are definitely slightly to the side of her … and that worked really well. But in House of Dragons every character seemed equal. Which, again, not a bad thing, but it did mean I found it harder to be cheering one on over the rest.

The plot was a lot of fun and dragons are always going to draw me in. The partnership between the characters and their dragons was brilliant, and I liked how they were all equal in the sense that it wasn’t just the elite families or people with higher positions who had dragons. It was nearly everyone.

If you’re into Young Adult, Fantasy, dragons, and a bit of Hunger-Games-esque trails, then House of Dragons is going to be the book for you. Overall, I really enjoyed it, and despite my ambivalence to the characters, I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series, War of Dragons.

Have you read House of Dragons? What did you think?