A brilliant Fantasy

I can highly recommend this brilliant piece of fantasy I have also read the book and to have it read for me by a great narrator brought a whole new dimension to the story. When Harper is transported to a far away land the adventure began.Finding herself with a band of misfits.The Dragonheart that transported her is being persued by the Kings spymaster in a land of stolen magic Elves and Dragons and a King who wants to possess everything.all this and a rising evil how can she survive when she has yet to discover her own powers.

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Really good start!

I really enjoyed this book, I've not listened to fantasy for a while as I'm usually into Sci-fi so this was a breath of fresh air for me.
The story follows our 3 main characters Harper, Dimiti and Aedon.
Harper is my favourite by far, an unexpected heroine she comes into possession of the lost Dragon Heart and finds herself right at the centre of events, her story is so well done I simply can't wait to continue.
It was a really great adventure and I can't wait to continue reading the series.

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Strong start to this series

In another series by this author, I found the world-building to be strong, but the characters weren't as engaging and the series was weaker than it should have been. So far this new series seems like it maintains the strong world-building of that one, but crucially for me, I found the characters to be far more interesting and they helped to draw me into the book that much more strongly.

The narrator of this book also helps to enhance the book with a strong and distinctive performance that helps to bring the cast to life in an enjoyable manner.

Overall, this book worked very well as both a standalone and as the first part of a series and I am enthusiastic about subsequent books.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

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Dont Listen to the other review:

I thought the wild variation of reviews on this book was weird. Some gave it a 5 and some gave it a 1 so I checked the Audible US reviews. People LOVE it! All the reviews there are positive. Ignore what the 1 star review says.

Personally I loved this book. The characters are well fleshed out and Jack Voraces gives every one a unique and fitting voice.
The plot was extremely engaging and had me coming back again and again to find out all the twists and turns with each character.

Do yourself a favour and check this one out.

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2 people found this helpful

Generic Tolkien-style fantasy

Heart of Dragons is the first book in the Chronicles of Pelenor quadrilogy, written by Meg Cowley. We follow the young and poor orphan girl Harper, who gets whisked away to a different place by a magical dragon heart. Here she meets a group of thieves on a mission, which she teams up with, and it doesn’t take long before she gets involved in matters she would have preferred to be without. Certain members of the royal court, wants to get hold of the dragon heart, for their own personal gain, and Harper has a hard time doing, what she believes to be, the right thing. At the same time, the royal spymaster Dimitri, is plotting to overturn the current ruler, in order to improve living conditions in the kingdom, and get personal revenge.

The book was generally well written. Dialogs were good, characters in general were likable, there’s a clear plot and is relatively easy to follow. I enjoyed the banter of the group of thieves that Harper hangs out with, and the second main character, royal spymaster Dimitri, was very nuanced and was by far the most interesting character in the book.
We don’t get too much world building though, so there’s a distinct lack of information on where we are. At the same time, the world is a cookie cutter Tolkien world: We have sexy elves, artistic underground dwarves, generic thieves, magic everywhere, runes, goblins that overtake dwarven strongholds and mines, etc. Nothing new there at all, at that is somewhat sad. I could also have liked a bit more descriptive prose, to really set the world apart, especially since that which is there, is always copied from Tolkien style unfortunately.
The plot is also relatively simple, and I could have enjoyed a little more depth there. It moves quite slowly the first part of the book, and is used mostly to introduce characters. But it could have moved a bit faster in my humble opinion. They talk and banter a LOT. The book sets up nicely for a sequel.

The biggest problem I had with the book was the main character Harper. She’s about as intelligent as an overripe pineapple, and she acts like a gullible child all the way through. She grew up alone, and in poverty, so you would have assumed that she had the will and foresight to act through life, but she appear to have no idea as to what she is doing. Also, she’s magically transported to another place, and she accepts that almost immediately. She also suddenly appears to have magical powers, and it also takes her only a short moment to accept. We find out she has elven heritage? Fine, why not! All in all, she’s not a very interesting character, as she is about as deep as the leaves on said pineapple. There’s a bit of character development, but not nearly enough to make her interesting. The only major question is wether her heritage is important. Similarly, Dimitri seems to like her, but even he can’t explain why. Neither can I!

I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Jack Voraces. He did an overall excellent job, with great distinct voices for different characters and thoughts, randomly added accents, and clear narration that moved very well in pitch with the written text. My only ‘but’ is that he has a somewhat ‘goofy’ way of reading, making the book appear more comical than it actually is. So while his narration as such was expertly done, I don’t think he was the right choice for the book. My immediate thought was to expect a book akin to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or the Discworld series, yet it was definitely not, as it was much more serious. Your experience of his reading may differ of course, and it is merely my personal preference. By the second book, I was really enjoying his reading mind you.

All in all, an overall enjoyable fantasy story, that doesn’t push any boundaries. Go for it if you want an easy Tolkien-esque fantasy read, with likable characters (Other than the main character) and a plot that is easy to follow.

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Reasonable story, awful narration with cringeworthy accents!

The character accents fluctuated throughout- with the only consistency being their cringeworthy awfulness! Particularly the accent for Dimitri was hellish and would have induced me to give up on the book - had I not have paid for it.
Read it instead!!!!

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The intrigue of elves

An excellent start to a new series. The book introduces you to the politics and intrigue of elves as a young woman is catapulted into the middle of it, with only the help from some unlikely friends to see her through. It is well written and narrated leaving me very much looking forward to the next one.

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