Arc Review: Havesskadi

Hello everybody! How are you? And how are your readings going? Here is snowing… it’s not a blizzard, but it snowed and it’s snowing now, too… I like the snow, but I don’t like to have to wake up earlier for it! And this week I had to wake up really soon, sigh! Anyway… I’m here to talk about a book that just went out, so let’s begin!

Thanks to NetGalley and to the editor. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Title:  Havesskadi
Author: Ava Kelly
Publication: February 28th 2018
Page count:164 pages
Nevmis, the red dragon, is hunting her own. Up in the icy peaks of the northern mountains, Orsie spends his lonely days hiding from her, but eventually he is found and his dragon magic stolen. Cursed to wander the lands as a mortal unless he recovers his magic before twenty-four rising crescents have passed, Orsie embarks on an arduous journey. Spurred by the whispers in his mind, his quest takes him to a castle hidden deep in a forest.

Arkeva, a skilled archer, is trapped in an abandoned castle deep in the woods, his only company two companions—one kind, the other cruel. Then a stranger arrives, a young man who soon finds himself confined by heavy snowfalls—and in danger from what slumbers in the shadows of the castle.

 

The cover is really beautiful, isn’t it? And the plot is not bad. We have dragons (and that’s a big plus!) and a quest: Orsie has to find is magic and take it back, and the time is limited, so all was good and I started this book with a lot of expectations (and this is not always so good!)

So… this book has an interesting idea (to be honest, while reading we will find a lot of good ideas, the author has a great imagination and her world is an interesting one, for the parts about the culture of dragons) and has dragons so… yeah, I was expecting quite a lot. And some of my expectations were disappointed because it’s a good read, yes, but it’s not a book… it’s more a long story, and they’re not the same thing!
In a book we have characters with depths, and if the book is a good book then we have also secondary characters of some relevance, and the story happens while we are reading, we see the same things that the characters see, we feel what they feel and so on… in a story we have the main characters, and we know quite a lot about them, yes, but they lack something, they aren’t so well characterized as in books, the story is just told and we don’t live it with the characters, the secondary characters are almost non-existent and all is almost but not enough.
And that’s the case with this book. Yes, Orsie and Arkeva are interesting, but I wanted more from them. More development, more characterization, and more feelings. And we don’t have secondary characters. Yes, we have other characters beyond the two MCs, but we just saw them for a couple of pages and then they’re gone. The author didn’t give us enough.
It’s not that I didn’t like it, I liked it, especially the writing, the writing is really good because it’s vivid and full of life, some parts seem painted and not just written, and that was great! And it’s quite a fast reading, with a smooth writing and a good pace.
There are a lot of good ideas in there too and you have to take that into account, because the dragons’ castles, for example, is really original and also the mating thing, I really loved the originality of all of it, but I wasn’t satisfied with the reading, even if I enjoyed it and it was quite pleasant, because something was lacking all around. 

and half! 

So… that’s all. What about you? Did you read this book? Or are you planning to read it? Let me know!
Happy reading!
S.