England, 1915. Raised in an orphanage in a rough corner of London, Lora quickly learns to hide her unique abilities and avoid attention. Then, much to her surprise, she is selected as the new charity student at Iverson, an elite boarding school on England’s southern coast. Iverson’s eerie, gothic castle is like nothing Lora has ever seen. And the two boys she meets there will open her eyes and forever change her destiny.
Jesse is the school’s groundskeeper—a beautiful boy who recognizes Lora for who and what she truly is. Armand is a darkly handsome and arrogant aristocrat who harbors a few closely guarded secrets of his own. Both hold the answers to her past. One is the key to her future. And both will aim to win her heart. As danger descends upon Iverson, Lora must harness the powers she’s only just begun to understand, or else lose everything she dearly loves. (From Goodreads)
I knew I had to read this book when I saw that it was recommended for fans of Libba Bray and Lauren Kate. Then I got so excited when I relalized we were dealing with dragons (or drakons). I've finally begun watching Game of Thrones and Khaleesi is my favorite, so I was pretty psyched about this. It got even better when it was 1914 England and a super gothic boarding school. I think by the time I was 100 pages in, I was so hyped up that the rest was ultimately disappointing.
The reason I couldn't quite get on board were the characters. The setting is perfect, the history is awesome, and the paranormal aspect is so cool. But I had no idea who Lora really was. One minute she's a passive woman in accordance with her time peroid and then the next minute she's sassing a duke and threatening high born girls. She ahs this bizarre confidence that doesn't really seem to come from any where, especially when the rest of her character feels uncolored - her witty moments felt too scripted. There are two love interests as well (kind of) and neither are appealing. One's instalove, the other is (kind of - I guess it's more that he's attracted to her) insalust and both boys are cookie-cutter. Jessie is mysterious to the point where you know nothing about him and the other is a bored rich boy with a bit of an edge. The connections between them feel forced and flimsy.
It's just such a bummer, because everything else is beautiful. This book is exactly what I think of when I think of purple prose, which I actually found kind of funny since it seems that the only color she metions in the book is purple - her eyes, the sky, etc. It's flowery and could easily be excessive, but it works quite well. It's just that with out solid characters to latch on to I felt a bit like I was wandering through a dream of a world that looks like this, rather than being completely transported.
So here's my thing I hestiate to recommend or to not recommend this book. I'm firmly in the middle. Because there are a lot of awesome things happening and other readers will probably connect to the characters in a way I just couldn't. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt, and if it sounds like this book is up your alley then give it a shot. I mean it's dragons, England, 1941, boarding school - the worst that's going to happen is you feel like you're in a dreamland for a little while.
