Ascendant

Whelp I just found another 2022 favorite and another series to get lost in. This is an absolutely amazing read, and is one that definitely shouldn't be rushed. With the beautiful writing, the fantastic world building and easy-to-love main characters, this is sure to be an all-time favorite for readers of epic fantasy.

My favorite part of Ascendant is Holt and Ash and the bond they forged when Holt saves him. Ash may be blind, but that does mean he is worthless and deserving of death before he even hatches. I love the message that comes across with this act of love and humanity.

I haven't read a solid fantasy with dragons as a substantive part of the main story. I have to say I really enjoyed this. It felt like a mix of Merlin/Camelot, Eragon (movie as I haven't read the books ... yet) and How to Train Your Dragon. The banter and playfulness, the sarcastic thoughts and strong connection with their rider, really brought this home for me. I seriously need me an Ash right now

Gosh, I really enjoyed this. The relationship between the riders and their dragons being very equal and arguing with each other was awesome, and I really enjoyed the dynamics between Holt and Ash and also between Talia and Pyra. The focus on the main pair with Ash being blind and going into essentially dragon eugenics is such an interesting topic, and the Scourge is a really cool antagonist. And the writing is pretty good!

The only problem I had with this was the magic system being straight out of DnD or a video game. The idea of ‘leveling up' and using percentages of a magic pool, and having a cooldown of a few seconds after every named spell (by the way, who knows what a second is in medieval times?), and having buffs if one eats specific foods just really took me out of the battle scenes hard, and I really did not like it :/