Book Review - KRAKEN RIDER Z by David Estes & Dyrk Ashton

 

(Title: Kraken Rider Z / Author: David Estes & Dyrk Ashton / Publisher: Wraithmarked Creative / Publication Date: November 14, 2023 / Total Pages: 682)

Back Cover Blurb

If there's one thing dragons fear, it's a kraken.

Even lowly hull-scrubber Zee Tarrow knows that. Like everyone on the island kingdom of Tosh, he grew up frightened by fables and horrible tales of the great beasts of the deep. It seems an odd thing to impress upon the children of the realm, because--luckily for the dragons and their riders--no one has seen a kraken in a thousand years.

Then again, Tosh's lifeblood is the sea. Royal dragon Knights guard the king's ships from the constant threat of pirates, hostile empires, and the monstrous horrors that dwell beneath the waves. It makes sense that the people would fear krakens, even after generations of Knights graduate and take flight from the ramparts of Triumf's Citadel, the country's most elite--and therefore also exclusive--military academy. A school that Zee, who has barely ever had more than two copper pennies to rub together, should have no chance of getting into.

Thing is...Zee has a secret. He's not only seen a kraken.

He saved its life.

When that truth gets out, will Zee be hunted by the Dragon Knights he has always envied and admired, or will he become the first Kraken Rider in history?

Review

Let me begin my review by first stating that I am a huge fan of both Dyrk Ashton's Paternus trilogy and David Estes' Fatemarked series. Both are exceptional examples of fantasy at its most fun and entertaining. When I heard that the two authors were combining forces to put out a new series, beginning with this book KRAKEN RIDER Z, I was so excited to check it out. I had high expectations going in, and maybe that combined with some other things is why I unfortunately didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

I'll start with the good stuff and the aspects that I really liked. The pacing is quick and the action starts from pretty much the beginning of the book. And it never really lets up the entire time. There's not a lot of lengthy dialogue and some of the action sequences are pretty darn heart-stopping. I also enjoyed the worldbuilding quite a bit which wasn't surprising as both of these authors excel at creating new and imaginative worlds that are vast in scope. So those elements I thought were done very well and were a treat for me as the reader.

That being said there were a number of things that didn't work for me and hampered my overall enjoyment to be honest. I kind of had an uh-oh moment the instant that the kraken in the book began to communicate and talk with the main character Zee. This has always been a thing that I don't like in fantasy books. It's just a personal preference but it has to be done perfectly for me to not get completely distracted by it. And unfortunately the scenes where the kraken speaks to Zee just fell flat for me to the point that I almost dreaded getting to those parts in the book. Again, others will not have a problem with this but for me it is something that has ruined many a read. 

Another thing that made this not as good a read as I would have liked is the lack of character development. We sort of get thrown into the action, which is good in some ways but not really having much of a backstory to many of the main characters lessened my investment in what happened to them throughout the story. I get that not all books have to be in-depth character studies, I just would have appreciated a little more history to how we got to this current point in everyone's journey. There were also a few other aspects that didn't click and I'm disappointed that I couldn't connect with this book, being such a fan of both authors.

Ultimately this book wasn't what I had hoped it would be. However I know that many readers may enjoy this type of story so please don't be dissuaded from giving it a go on my account. I am hoping that book two might change my mind and bring me back into the fold with this series as that has happened to me with other series in the past. I am definitely not opposed to continuing on and seeing how my feelings might differ (or stay the same) in the next entry. Thank you to the authors for providing an advance copy of the book, I just wish I could have written a more positive review. 

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