When a powerful viceroy arrives with a fleet of mechanical dragons and stops an attack on Anlei’s village, the villagers see him as a godsend. They agree to give him their sacred, enchanted River Pearl in exchange for permanent protection—if he’ll marry one of the village girls to solidify the alliance. Anlei is appalled when the viceroy selects her as a bride, but with the fate of her people at stake, she sees no choice but to consent. Anlei’s noble plans are sent into a tailspin, however, when a young thief steals the River Pearl for himself.

Knowing the viceroy won’t protect her village without the jewel, she takes matters into her own hands. But once she catches the thief, she discovers he needs the pearl just as much as she does. The two embark on an epic quest across the land and into the Courts of Hell, taking Anlei on a journey that reveals more is at stake than she could have ever imagined.

With incredibly vivid world building and fast-paced storytelling, Stronger Than a Bronze Dragon is great for readers who are looking for something fresh in epic fantasy.

384 Pages

Out June 11, 2019

MY THOUGHTS:

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! Epic Wow! And a standalone, can you believe it? The world-building alone… wow!

Okay, enough of that. Nope. One more. Wow!

So, this is a beautifully, descriptive, incredibly written fantasy genre book. The style, oh the style… did the author visit this place? She writes like she had. I absolutely loved it. Ya, ya, there are things, like a forced marriage, beheading and gore… let’s put our big girl and boy panties on and plow through all that stuff.

Growth in characters is highly important in all books. This author begins her characters embedded in ‘tropes’ but quickly begins their journeys into growth and moving out of this type-casting so there’s really nothing to get hung up on. I agree, some modernish earth-bound phrases are used for a fantastical world, but let’s get over ourselves, those are so minor who cares…

The writing is in a league of its own. Words glide over the pages with a true story-telling quality that I felt the action pull me into the pages and give me a front row seat to it all. Just when you find yourself in awe over the originality of mechanical dragons, you’re hit with the clever adages of fierce sword-wielding brides and crazy steampunk elements, there’s good and bad spirits, demons and cyborgs… CYBORGS…

Oh ya, there’s some Chinese cultural issues brought to light, class system deprivations, politics, and yanno… stuff, but there’s CYBORGS! <sighs>

Corruption, corruption, and let’s get em corruption… but oh gosh… there’s so much more (bet you thought I’d say CYBORGS again 🙂 )

I’m reading this one again. I gave it: