I thought about spacing these out a little more, but as they say in every single fantasy book with a blacksmith (read: all of them), strike while the iron is hot. Please take a moment to read my review from last week on The Heartstrikers book one, Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron, or a lot of this review won’t make any sense. It was an impressive introduction to a dragon based urban fantasy, and despite its flaws I immediately bought the second book in the series (One Good Dragon Deserves Another) and started reading it. I wanted to jump into a follow up review for book two because it addresses a number of problems I had with the first book, whilend taking the positives and kicking them up a notch for an incredible read. The Heartstrikers is rapidly jumping up my recommendation list and I am super excited I have three more books left to read.
So what’s better about One Good Dragon? Well for one, it’s about twice as long as its previous novel. This gives it a huge amount of additional space for plot, world, and character development. The first book ends with a devious plot from a rival dragon gang foiled, and Julius surviving his mother’s wrath by the skin of his teeth. The second book simply picks up right where Nice Dragons left off, as the aforementioned rival dragon clan comes back for round two. A big theme of The Heartstrikers books is destiny, and the abilities of dragon sages to see and influence the future. In One Good Dragon, an enemy sage has learned a way to force fate down the paths she desires – making things truly unpleasant for the Heartstriker clan. Julius, concerned for the potential destruction of his family, steps up and involves himself in the plots of his mother and enemies to try and save everyone. The plot of book two is a lot more complicated, but a lot more rewarding. Book one felt like a prologue compared to One Good Dragon, and the step up in complexity lead to a much more fulfilling and exciting read. However, I will say that my one complaint for book two was that I had a slightly difficult time understanding some of the internal logic of Rachel Aaron’s world near the end of the story, and she might want to make the workings of some elements of her story a little more clear.
That being said, holy cow did the world building and character development take a significant step up (and it was already strong to begin with). In Nice Dragons Finish Last most of our world building was centered around the Heartstrikers and New Detroit. While it was excellent, it was somewhat narrow in scope – especially compared to the second book which sees an explosion of new characters and cultures introduced. Several new kinds of magic, cultures, and places show up in One Good Dragon and the series has reached the point where I am excited for each new page to see what Rachel Aaron will dream up next. In particular, I loved her “dragon hunter” from the Scandinavian Fjords in this book and hope she continues to work in magic from all over the world (which I am sure she will).
The characters were the big sell from book one, and somehow they have gotten even better. Rachel continues to introduce the reader to a number of Julius’ extended family, each a personality that makes the Heartstriker melting pot more delicious to dive into. In particular, book two brings us Julius’ oldest and most powerful sibling, Amelia, and I can’t get enough of her. In addition, some of my previous complaints about Julius and his repetitious thoughts are gone. His character felt much more coherent and enjoyable to be around, despite still liking him a good deal in the first book.
Overall, One Good Dragon Deserves Another is bigger, better, faster, and stronger than its previous novel. Rachel Aaron clearly improved her already good writing between the books, and I am now selling this series even harder than I was before. The Heartstrikers is turning out to be a real treat and I recommend you check it out as soon as possible. P.S. I am really enjoying the naming conventions.
Rating: One Good Dragon Deserves Another – 8.5/10
-Andrew
