Sean Grigsby

I'm underimpressed. The idea sounded good, firefighters fighting dragons. And it starts out alright. But too much of it didn't make any sense to me. This whole 'sink or swim' business is ridiculous. Learning by doing is fine, but how on earth is it a good idea to send someone out into a dragon fight who hasn't had any practical training at all? Really, great moment to figure out how your weapons are working.
And why is everyone ok with being treated with such callousness? Being angry with someone after they got super injured when his wife got attacked. Makes no sense. Let's all just be pissed that this guy didn't wait for his friends before going to his wife's aid. Then withholding pain medicine to get an answer to a question? By a colleague, about a kiss? That's despicable. Telling someone their husband is dead when they're not? Equally despicable.

If these were all supposed to be bonding experiences, I would rather go join the dragons. Eugh.

And that's really too bad, because this could have worked. Story is nice, writing style nice. But despicable characters, and they're not being made out to be despicable. That's the problem. These are not the bad guys, these are the good guys doing despicable things and nobody's really commenting on it. Ok, the guy lying about the death got hit in the face. But that's it. We conveniently step over it, and nobody is taken to task for the other things.

Actually, now that I'm thinking it over again, I don't think this is worth 3 stars. I would go with 2.5, but since that's not an option...… (lisätietoja)

DNF. I know a lot of people enjoyed this one, but I'm bailing at 42%.

I want to like it more, particularly the older, competent character! But the author's style bores me, and I just can't get around it when there are so many books I enjoy more.

One star for the concept, and another for the MC. But minus three because the action is uneven, and for all he's not stupid, the MC's missing something that to this reader is a flashing neon Impending Plot Twist Moment. Plus, the basic dragons vs. humans plus wraiths over time... I was never sure of the events timeline, among other plot issues. I wish I had figured this out soon enough to return it for credit.… (lisätietoja)

Thanks to NetGalley.com and Publisher/Author for the ARC in exchange for a review.

The Smoke Eaters are back again! I wondered if there were going to be any more stories of these dragon fighters, and was so happy to see another book come out. This one is centered more on a new-to-be Smoke Eater, who went AWOL from the New USA Army. While growing up he was a fan of the Smoke Eaters, who have now been disbanded by the NUSA. Gilly is surprised to become one of them, and finds himself on an adventure with his heroes.

Grigsby has done a good job in creating this futuristic apocalyptic US, and a new kind of hero the average American can do nothing but love. I wouldn't recommend reading this as a stand-alone novel, as part of the story line and characters are developed from earlier books. I was happy to see the return of CB, and the new twist that the Smoke Eaters have to face is not unexpected, though was curious how Grigsby was going to put it in story. Definitely recommend to others to read, if they start with the first one!

#FlameRiders #NetGalley… (lisätietoja)