Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn - Review

Synopsis via goodreads:

On one side of the border lies the modern world: the internet, homecoming dances, cell phones. On the other side dwell the ancient monsters who spark humanity’s deepest fears: dragons.

Seventeen-year-old Kay Wyatt knows she’s breaking the law by rock climbing near the border, but she’d rather have an adventure than follow the rules. When the dragon Artegal unexpectedly saves her life, a secret friendship grows between them—even though the fragile truce that has maintained peace between their two species is unraveling around them. As tensions mount and battles begin, Kay and Artegal are caught in the middle. Can their friendship change the course of a war?

In her young adult debut, New York Times bestselling author Carrie Vaughn presents a modern tale of myths and machines and an alliance that crosses a seemingly unbridgeable divide.

Voices of Dragons – well, hmm – I was not sure exactly what this story would be like when I picked it up...from the synopsis I was sure it would be good – I mean, dragons, friendship, possible war – what's not to get worked up about! So even though had not seen anything more than a few Waiting on Wednesday's about this book, when I saw it at the book store, I just had to give it a chance.

I am glad I did – though I did feel like it was a tad flawed, all in all, I enjoyed it.

I liked the main protagonist, Kay – though she was just OK for me, nothing special, nothing about her stood out or made me root for her, especially. She's just a teenager whom seemed a bit one sided. She wanted, it seemed, to do what was best for the dragon's and help prevent war, but all in all, I was not sure as to WHY this cause was so important to her.

I just really felt like I just did not know her well enough to like her, or not like her. All, I got was that she's a teen, a virgin, a rock climber, and has parents that help protect the borders; that's kinda it.

I did really like Artegal, the dragon – it was fun seeing how Carrie went about creating him, her words almost floating effortlessly off the page when referring to him. I felt like Artegal's strength, beauty and power, jumped off the page to where I could close my eyes and picture him standing there. The way his breath smelled, his effortless facial expressions...Carrie has what I can only call an amazing way with words, her descriptions were nothing short of awesome!

Carrie also created a world in which these characters lived with such beauty, I nearly felt like I was flying when Artegal would take off, could feel the rock beneath Kay as she dug in to a rock face, could feel the agony of the ropes cutting into Kay's fingers as she held on for dear life, when Artegal took her on there first flight. Carrie Vaughn has a way with words that I can only call effortless, and breathtaking!

With that being said though, I felt like Voice of Dragon's lacked connections, I really wanted MORE from the relationships between the characters! It felt like we, as the readers, got the whole story as to what brought on the war that ended with a division between dragon and human. However, I felt like Kay only scratched the surface when talking with Artegal – questions I was sure, I might ask, Kay never thought of. It's hard to describe really, I just felt like Kay's relationships with everyone around her were just one sided, we never got to dive deeper into her as a character or relate to her in such away to give her more depth, and in turn her relationships with the other characters more depth.

Bottom Line – Excellent new series, this one MUST have at the very least a sequel, because once the action really picked up, it ended, which, if I am being honest, bummed me out – but left me wanting more! I can only hope that we see Kay develop as a character; I also hope we get to see more Jon and Tam! I give Voices of Dragons 3 mushrooms, while I patiently await more from Ms. Carrie Vaughn.

Voices of Dragons
Written by: Carrie Vaughn
320 Pages
Published: March 16, 2010
Publisher: HarperTeen