This is one of my most anticipated releases of this year and it was amazing! Dragon Cursed is everything I wanted and more. It’s full of dragons, authority which exploits, and our journey to rebellion. Keep reading this book review of Dragon Cursed for my full thoughts.
Summary
Since the dragons emerged–along with the scourge that ravaged our lands and people–there’s only one human city that remains standing: Vingard.
But the hellfire from above is nothing compared to the threat from within. For there is no worse fate than being dragon cursed. Slowly and excruciatingly, you’ll be transformed into a mindless beast who destroys everything–and everyone–you love.
Any of us could be tainted. Any of us could be lying. Any of us could be caught and killed by the authorities.
And I’m terrified that I might be next.
There’s only one other person who might suspect my secret. He’s like my shadow, following me wherever I go. Part protector, part tormentor, fully annoying. Sometimes I think I am just one of the million unfathomable secrets he keeps hidden.
Because Lucan definitely knows something.
And if I’m dragon cursed, death might be the only mercy I get.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Dragon Cursed begins with dragons and ends with an emotional story about authority using rhetoric to manipulate and how we can exert our own power. As someone who loves Elise Kova books, I needed to read Dragon Cursed. I love how Kova’s world steadily blooms. It begins with a spark – a quest for those who are lurking, cursed to give into their dragon side, and kids who are forced to endure torture and abuse on the off chance they are indeed cursed. And the world begins to simmer, to build in intensity, as Dragon Cursed explores the exploitation of power, of rhetoric in which everything is excused, and the embers of a rebellion which grow under the coals.
There’s so much to unpack in Dragon Cursed as we are thrown headfirst into a setting of surveillance, of being unable to trust ourselves or those around us. It’s a story that encourages reporting and abuse all in order to see if we’ve been cursed. In the name of all that is ‘holy’, the worst acts are excused. Dragon Cursed builds upon this foundation by delivering a story about a supposed hero who will save them, yet who fears she is cursed herself, and all she endures, the torture and abuse, in order to make her ‘stronger’. Her pain is supposed to manifest her powers, when in reality it just serves the Vicar to be broken and formed in his image.
Overall,
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Dragon Cursed is everything I wanted and more. It’s a story about deadly trials, about dragons and curses, and power. But it’s also about friendship which can bloom under these pressures and looking for our own power. If you love the idea of those facing monstrosity and wondering if we become refracted images of their monstrous reflection, check out Dragon Cursed. Find Dragon Cursed on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.