Book Review: The Dragon Whisperer by Vanessa Ricci-Thode

I picked up a copy of The Dragon Whisperer last year at Ad Astra and was pleasantly surprised by the story hidden away in the pages of this small book (I say this due to the novel being just a little over 200 pages).

The story follows a young couple by the names of Reiser and Dionelle who are attempting to settle into married life as best as they can when Dionelle is forced to become the court dragon whisperer a person who in the story is responsible for speaking with dragons on behalf of the ruling lord or lady. This all occurs when the current rulers, the Dunhams, find out about Dionelle's beauty as well as fire immunity. Reiser throughout all of this is worried about his wife's involvement with the dragons, causing conflict within their relationship. When Dionelle goes missing, Reiser must learn to reason with the dragons in order to enlist their aid to find his missing wife, despite his apprehensions about the creatures.

What I did find the story lacked a little bit in was description and sometimes I wished there was more lore in terms of how the world worked (the magic system, the demons, ect.). Much was left to fantasy tropes to handle and while this is not a bad thing, I was left with wanting just a bit more. What it was lacking in this however, it made up in characterization, particularly how Dionelle was struggling to adapt to her life as Reiser's wife. As a young woman who is transitioning into adult life, I found I could relate to her a lot. A light fantasy read that will keep you engaged until the final page.