Princess's Dragon by Susan Trombley

Look at the pretty front cover!

Flanked by two lovely and graceful sisters, Princess Casiondra Falanell Cristalona Ariva - Sondra to her family - doesn't feel confident or beautiful. In fact, she's an unconventional princess who spends her days trying to disprove the nonsensical ideas of magic and myth.

As she stands on the edge of achieving the life she has only dreamed about, Sondra's handsome suitor, Derek, prepares to propose, and her poverty-stricken kingdom of Ariva uncovers a valuable resource that will change its future forever.

Everything seems perfect in Sondra's life until she encounters a wizard who transforms her into a monstrous dragon. Forced to flee from the man she adores, Sondra blunders into the territory of Tolmac, a powerful and ancient black dragon.

Instead of killing her as she anticipates, Tolmac takes her under his wing, unknowingly training the human princess in the fine art of being a dragon. As Sondra soon discovers, she must constantly sacrifice to make the right choices as she grows to love and admire her new mentor. With her homeland poised on the brink of war, Sondra finds herself facing an unbearable decision; she must choose between her heart and her duty to her country.

I read this book over a week ago but I have been a bit lazy where my reviews have been concerned so I have just got round to it now…

Anyway, I really enjoyed this story. It is such a funky idea. A princess who doesn’t believe in magic (or magical creatures) goes and insults herself a wizard and gets turned into a dragon. COOL right!

Princess Casiondra Falanell Cristalona Ariva – Sondra – used to believe in Magic until her sisters played a trick on her when she was young. And, rather than be hurt the way she was again Sondra has shut herself off from all thing magical. Instead she work s to find logical explanations for the things that other put down to being magical.

My heart really went out to Sondra. Everyone – even her family – views her as an oddity because of her ideas and not even her family understands how deeply hurt she was by her sisters’ trick.

The twists and turns of the story were great ad the whole book was a really fun read - way better than I was expecting.

Despite the first meeting between Sondra and the dragon Tolmac being a little rocky it was lovely to read of their relationship growing closer and stronger.

There was some interesting tension and suspense added through the introduction of  water goddess and a city of other dragons and then the reappearance of the wizard.

This is another book that can join the ranks of having a love triangle I could actually tolerate. Derek – Sondra’s human suitor – is a rough and tough warrior who doesn’t flinch at doing what has to be done (torturing enemies of the state comes under than heading too by the way) but he had a soft spot for Sondra and he was gentle and affectionate with her. While Tolmac is a rough and tough ancient dragon who doesn't think he needs anyone (well we know he is wrong, don't we) who also has a soft spot where Sondra is concerned. Although I knew how it was going to end I felt torn between them both to the very end and a little bit depressed by the ending. 

Fantastic debut novel by the author and I can’t wait to read the sequel – which coincidentally I just found out about before I started typing this review. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good dragon filled, magical read.

4 out of 5 stars – really only because I wish it had been a bit longer…