Nice Dragons Finish Last

4,5 stars I didn't expect this book to be so much fun, party because the other thing I read by the author (some of the Eli Monpress books) wasn't brilliant, it was inconsistent and lacked being in any way coherent and refined. Partly because... honestly, so many similar books written in the last few years were just plain crappy. I will explain what I mean by that later. What we have here is some kind of a future scenario where magic returned to the world, with the technological advancements still going on, so basically it's a future with supernatural added to it without one or the other being completely inferior to the other. Julius is one of the big dragon clans, who all come with the ability of living in a human form and man, they are brilliant at it. Extremely competitive, greedy, calculating and just generally ones to get to the top whatever it costs, meek and laid back Julius is not really considered a good dragon at all, which results in his mother throwing him out, cutting him off when it comes to money and locks his powers completely, so he is basically just a super awesome human now. To get back his powers Julius needs to find the runaway daughter of another dragon clan and take her back home. For any of his plans to work he needs someone with magical abilities, so he recruits human sorceress Marci, who has her own problems, namely being pursued by a gang. We all love a good underdog story, am I right? Julius is kind of an awkward guy, not particularly outstanding at anything among his super talented siblings and honestly, he doesn't even want to compete for real. He could have easily become a total disaster. I mean many authors do the thing with the kind characters being ugly and being defined by what they lack, just to become beautiful once they get ahead. What I particularly loved here was how Julius wasn't a freak of nature. Among the humans he is actually considered handsome and quite agile, he's not at all repulsive or portrayed as kind because he is freakish. It's the opposite; among his people he is considered freakish BECAUSE he is kinda nice. Marci is our other protagonist. Nowadays, when female characters are so often portrayed as needing no maaaaan or being the only moral compass in the whole story, Marci was fine. She does her thing, she is good at it, but without having to undermine Julius to show how she is a “strong female character”. They both need each other to solve their respective issues and I loved that bond. I don't even mind how it's inevitably leading to a love story, which I generally don't like, because they do some kind of a chemistry and they complete each other without it being a stupid gotcha competition or annoyingly trying to play hard to get. The side characters have so much potential as well. We see some of Julius' siblings, all of them brilliant in their own way, but having all kinds of different characteristics. They are a group with cohesion in some ways, while having their own voices. I especially like Justin, the brother who is completely different from Julius (mainly great with physical combat, extremely hot headed, big on pride, etc.), but is closest to him. Is he could survive the series... I would love that, really. Another thing I loved was how it was a light, easy to read story and the situation of the protagonist was still a metaphor. Not an exceedingly deep one (basically how you should make your own way of life and expectations don't have to define you), but STILL. Why am I saying this? Because I feel more and more authors don't know how to use a metaphor in the theme of the book. Sure, they use it for smaller components of the story here or there, but then the protagonist turns to the camera and tells you verbatim. Some example would be [b:Sufficiently Advanced Magic 34403860 Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Arcane Ascension, #1) Andrew Rowe https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1488182235s/34403860.jpg 55506810] , where the author seems to believe we are too stupid to understand anything without him making the character do all the things his father will not like. (Then again, I think some readers are to blame as well. Namely the ones who bitch up a storm if their favourite social themes are not spelled out in the books for them to feel enough virtues were thoroughly signalled.) This was a first book, though. The very first little case in something that we are told is much bigger, so I refuse to give it 5 stars. There must be more of it out there, something that needs to tie it all together and I'm reserving the perfect rating for that thing. If it happens. Not sure. But so far I really had a blast with this. I feel the author working on her craft, having a better paced and planned story that makes sense and doesn't lack any element that is needed for a truly well-made book. I am definitely going to read the sequel. Have a nice day and don't leave this to last!

Julius has never been the strongest or the most powerful in his dragon clan. To survive, he has kept out of the way of his ambitious siblings and hidden. But his mother has had enough of his passive behavior. Sealed into a human body, Bethesda throws Julius into the DFZ. A land ruled by spirits who abhor dragons. Julius has to hit the ground running and prove he can be a dragon without being caught. Or else he becomes his mother’s next meal.

Julius is not the typical main character who is powerful and capable or even one who starts off weaker and grows into an alpha male. He’s never wanted to be a normal dragon, which means he isn’t going to be dominant or overbearing. He’s bullied by his family and looked down on for being kind and considerate. While at times his easygoing nature may wear on readers, there’s also the interest in seeing what exactly he can accomplish. His physical and magical skills may not be enough for his fellow dragons, but his mind can be just as influential.

Despite Julius being less dominant than his siblings, he is still determined to protect those he considers friends. When he and the mage Marci team up, they end up being pulled into each other's problems. But instead of abandoning her, Julius stays by her side and weathers the oncoming storms. Of course, it helps that Julius’s brother Justin is pulled into the mix.

Rachel Aaron chooses wisely to have Julius overshadowed by his brother Justin throughout the story. Justin is everything a typical dragon would be, and his plans are abrasive and violent. With such a huge contrast between the two dragons, readers are able to see Julius’ capabilities in a different light. And experiencing the two arguing about tactics was nothing less than entertaining.

I would recommend Nice Dragons Finish Last to readers looking for an action-packed yet simple to read urban fantasy. And if you’d like to see an entirely different type of dragon, check out this novel. Sure they may be able to breathe fire and use magic, but they also have a way of using posh politics to manipulate characters behind the scenes.

This story follows Julius, the youngest in the largest dragon clan. His family are all ruthless, dangerous, and they feel that humans are there to do their bidding. Julius doesn't feel that way, so he usually locks himself in his room and avoids them as much as possible. His mother, Bethesda feels that that has gone on long enough. She strips Julius of his ability to shift to his dragon form and sends him to the DFZ (Detroit Free Zone). He will either prove that he can act like a dragon, or she will kill him and eat him.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the magic, the world, and the characters are great too. I especially like Julius and Marci. Bob(Brohimir) is very entertaining, and the rest of the Heartstrikers are ruthless, yet fun to read about. I really enjoyed the humor and plan to continue this series.

Absolutely loved it.
I don't even know how I came to this book, probably a Kindle Daily Deal thing, and I don't regret trusting the title and cover.
I'm crazy for dragons, and I love to read new and different takes on dragons.
I found this book to be very light, fun and entertaining.
Julius is a very likable character and Marci is my favorite, of course. And to see all the other family members was awesome, each with his own personality. Bob is the funniest of all, which makes me scare of him in the future.
I also love the way the author was able to close the book with a proper and satisfying ending while still leaving enough opening for a series. Makes me want to read more, but feel I won't die waiting to see what happens next. If it was a one shot book I'd still be happy with the ending.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S NICE DRAGONS FINISH LAST ABOUT?
Julius is one of the youngest—and definitely smallest—members of the Heartstrikers, one of the most powerful dragon clans in the world. Like the best of dragons, the Heartstrikers are conniving, dangerous, cruel, and avaricious. Julius is everything they're not, he has all the usual dragon abilities (true, he hasn't developed them as he should, but he has them), but his personality and morality are the opposite. The word best used to describe him—and the one used most often in the book—is nice.

Now, his mother is giving him one last chance to become the dragon she wants him to be—she's trapped him in human form, removing most of his abilities, and he has to make something of himself with these limitations in less than a month. Oh, she landed him in the one city in the world where dragons are banned, too.

Julius teams up with a human mage (who turns out to be on the run from organized crime) to rise to the challenge, and...well, that's about it. That's the setup.

BOB
Julius' older brother, Bob (technically, Brohomir), is one of the three Great Seers in the world. Most of his family seems to regard him as a loon not worthy of paying too much attention to. But Julius seems to understand and respect his ability—especially since he saw the curse happening 4 months before it did, and made some provisions to help his little brother after it.

Why, of all the characters in the book, am I focusing on him? Bob's a hoot. He seems to have cultivated that insane reputation he has and enjoys playing to type. He's almost like the draconian answer to Julius Lebowski—off in his own little world, and having a hard time relating to his siblings (again, purposefully)

He has his own agenda for Julius, and it doesn't necessarily line up with Julius' plans and hopes. But—unlike most of his family—Bob wants his little brother to be alive. Which makes him a little easier to like.

But it's not that hard in the first place—Bob steals every scene he's in. He seems to be the world's second-nicest dragon, he's scheming and manipulative to be sure, but he's eccentric enough that it's easy to discount it.

HERE'S THE THING I DON'T GET
So we learn that Julius was never aggressive enough for the training his siblings went through, at a certain age, he's simply run from them (which, at least, had the advantage of helping him become fast. Eventually, he'd just hide out in his room and avoid the exercises. Instead of learning to fight like a good dragon, he played video games with humans online. This led to him having some empathy for humans—even liking them, he's able to see them as something more than tools to be used and exploited.

What we never learn is how Julius becomes nice. Are we to believe that despite the family and culture he's born into, he's just hard-wired to be nice? If so, where'd that come from? He's apparently the one dragon in existence (possibly ever) who's nice—is it some sort of genetic mutation? Or is it that he picks it up during his interactions with humans. But...since when does online gaming bring out the considerate, respectful, friendly, and helpful side in anyone? Just how does he turn out to be a kind, considerate, respectful, nice person when that's counter to everything he's taught and surrounded by?

Maybe in a subsequent book, Aaron will explain this. In the meantime, I'm going to keep asking that question. Is it enough of an issue to detract from my enjoyment of the book? Nah, it's a fun and sweet story either way. But it's gnawing away at the back of my mind.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT NICE DRAGONS FINISH LAST?
This has been on my Goodreads Want to Read list since 2014 (and on my Kindle since 2015). I cannot tell you why I put it off this long, but I am more than a little annoyed with myself over not getting to it until now. I should be thinking about re-reading the series about now, not starting it.

I had plenty of fun with this—I wasn't sure what to make of it at the start, but after a chapter or so I settled in and was able to enjoy the ride from there out.

Aaron did a good job of bringing the reader into the world, getting us invested in the characters—even some characters you wouldn't normally get invested in. A book like this calls for double duty—you've got to tell a solid story and you have to set up a world and series. Aaron handles that well, because not only did I enjoy this, I was eager to see what happened next in the series (hopefully, it doesn't take me eight years to get to it).

Am beginning to have high expectation of Rachel now and that's probably why this one just gets 3 stars despite me liking it quite a lot. The world building is pretty interesting and there seems to be a magic system that does have a trail of logic in it. The two lead protagonists are extremely likable and the YA love story is well handled. All in all a nice in flight read without getting too taxing on the brain. Onwards to the next book