Redheart

Redheart (Leland Dragons, 1) by Jackie Gamber, 2008. 275 pages. Published by Seventh Star Press. Source: from publisher for review.

Kallon Redheart lives with his back turned on his fellow dragons, on humans, and on everything he once understood. Riza Diantus is a young woman with dreams too wide to fit inside her village fence. Their unexpected friendship is risky in Leland Province, where drought has stripped the land and superstition has cowed its people. And the danger only grows. Fordon Blackclaw, Dragon Council Leader, resents Leland's time-worn venur system. He has inflamed tensions between dragons and humans to the brink of war. He wants to trample humans into utter submission, or wipe them off the face of the land. Anger erupts, scorching innocent lives in its path. When Riza is threatened, Kallon is the only one with the power to save her. But first, he must confront his past and the future he stopped believing in. He must claim his destiny.

First Sentence:

Kallon soared.

Too me there's nothing more worrisome when a book starts out kind of slow, which is what happened in the first twenty or so pages of Jackie Gamber's Redheart, but regardless of the slow start Redheart turned out to be a truly original and satisfying fantasy read. Once it picked up speed, I just devoured it.
What really made this a unique read for me was that the dragons (i.e. Kallon among others) were the main characters, I thought it brought a new (and as far as I know) unexplored aspect to the fantasy world.

One of the biggest things that will pull me into a book is character relationships, the more odd the pairing the more I seem to like it and Redheart was no exception. I loved how Kallon and Riza overcame their differences and came to rely on the one another.
   While I loved Kallon and the journey that he went though as he continued to deal with the loss of his parents and his resurgence back into the dragon community. I also really enjoyed how began to open up
   I almost forgot about one of the more prominent characters, Jastin the dragon hunter. He was one of the characters were as you learned more about his history and why he is the way he is that you couldn't help but feel bad for, but at the same time his actions throughout the book made it hard to actually like him.
Other than the dragons playing a huge factor in the story, I liked how the underlying message seemed to be about trust and friendship.
The pacing of Redheart, once I got pass the first twenty pages or so, was just right. It wasn't so fast that you flew through the pages only to realize that you missed something, but not so slow that you were like get to the point already. It was just right for the story that was being told.

Even though I kind saw how the book was going to end, I still enjoyed what happened and think that it was definitely the only way to go with Riza's character. I'm evil, now ya'll are going to be wondering what happened to her. *laughs manically*

What I liked best about Redheart would have to be how Ms. Gamber put a new twist on fantasy with her version of dragons and the HUGE role they played in the book. 

My least favorite thing about Redheart would have to be that it starts off a bit slow and takes a few pages to get going, but once it does pick up I find it hard to put down.

Final Verdict: Redheart was a fascinating start to a promising series (I loved how it came with a set of collectible illustrations). I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where the next book will take the characters and the story, especially since things were left unfinished at the end.

Redheart earns 4 out of 5 pineapples.



Dear FTC: This book was received for an honest review. All thoughts express are mine and are in NO way influenced by out side forces.