The Dragon's Library

Given

Given is a Wattpad published book by Nandi Taylor.

As a princess of the Yirba, Yenni is all-but-engaged to the prince of a neighboring tribe. She knows it's her duty to ensure peace for her people, but as her father's stubborn illness steadily worsens, she sets out on a sacred journey to the empire of Cresh, determined to find a way to save him at any cost, even though failure could mean the wrath of her gods and ruin for her people. One further complication? On the day she arrives at the Prevan Academy for Battle and Magical Arts, she meets an arrogant dragon-shifter named Weysh who claims she's his "Given", or destined mate. Muscular, beautiful (and completely infuriating), he's exactly the kind of distraction Yenni can't afford while her father's life hangs in the balance.

But while Yenni would like nothing more than to toss Weysh the man into the nearest river, Weysh the dragon quickly becomes a much-needed friend in the confusing northern empire. Yet when her affection for the dragon starts to transfer to the man, Yenni must decide what is more important: her duty to her tribe, or the call of her own heart.

1.5 stars. This book is a 1.5 star. Just so you can be braced for what type of review this is going to be.

This is a book published by Wattpad, if you couldn't tell by the giant Wattpad logo on the cover. Now, I will not say that makes a book inherently bad. I have found amazing books on Wattpad. I am excited for a few of their upcoming releases. I still strongly recommend reading The Summer I Drowned by Taylor Hale / when it comes out.

But this... This was the epitome of what people mean when they say "Wattpad books" in a bad way.

First, I'm going to focus on the writing. We get the joy of having actual examples when I review this one. There are a few things this book did that made me cringe, but one of the things was this:

"Ahead the n'ne shimmered in the sunlight, the black hair of its haunches flashing blue, then green, then gold."

"N'ne" is a Yirba word for a deer like creature. And like all other Yirba words, it is italicized... The first time it appears. Every other instance? Nada. Just written like a normal word... Like, choose one thing or the other. Don't just start it then... Stop? If you italicize it so that people know it's a made up word, come on. Readers are smarter than that. If you italicize it to show it is a word said that isn't in the normal way of speaking... Don't do it once then stop? I know this is a small thing, but it bothered me so much.

The editors definitely let a decent amount of things slip through that more admired publishing agencies wouldn't have, like I saw a "he would he would" in there. And a time when a new speaker's dialogue was in the same paragraph as another's....

But worse about all of this when it came to the writing? Well, I have described it this way to a few other people: It is as dry and as flat as a skeleton's breasts. The narrative was so told and nothing about the writing really packed a punch. My favorite scene to demonstrate this with is the first usage of magic we ever get described in this world:

"Later in the day, Yenni sat in her bedroom on a wide reed mat beside her hammock, mixing runepaint. Once it was the right consistency, and the perfect shade of blue-tinged white, she took up her runebrush, dipped the coarse boar's-hair tip in, and started the rune for strength on her bicep. As she drew she sang the hymn of strength, and her song infused the paint, making it glow, until she tied the hymn off with a final low note and the rune set, seeping into her skin. It would stay there until she used it up.

She nodded in satisfaction and went back to mixing. The circle of prongs that made up her new blackwood whisk clacked against the shiny, matching bowl—a going away present from her older sisters. Blackwood was incredibly hard to come by, but it was best for blending the purest runepaint. Typically only the Masters, in their temples along the coast, had access to the sacred wood. How her sisters had come by the set she had no idea, but the two of them were bright eyed, sweet voiced, and charming, and tended to get their way more often than not. Yenni had not inherited their same powers of persuasion, but she had been able to sway her parents on the thing that mattered most: tomorrow she would leave for the Empire of Cresh."

I want to make one thing clear: I adore this book's magic systems. The runelore is absolutely fascinating and the Cresh magic system of source that is almost more European is still creative and interesting. I loved that applying rune paint to dragons made them even stronger, showing a benefit of the runelore as dragon kind cannot use Cresh magic in their dragon form.

Heck, I even liked the fact that they drew the line between dragons -- huge, fearsome beasts -- and dragon kind -- humans gifted the ability to shift into dragons.

The religions were even really nice and were interesting to see their impact on the characters and how they could clash with each other.

The world was my favorite part of this book, which is why it hurt so much when all of it was conveyed to us in such a dry way. The world is magical, and it deserved more magical writing to bring it to life. It never did. Like the narrative, the world building was very telly and boring.

Now, for the plot. My gosh, the plot...

I will give Nandi Taylor this: she tried to subvert expectations. She tried to make the mate trope something more in her book. She just... She didn't.

First off, I am majorly insulted that the mate trope has infected my precious dragons. But, whatever. I read the summary. I still got the book. Human and dragon-kind romance was obviously appealing to me.

But I got the book because the summary made it sound like it was more a thing happening alongside the plot. The Given (mate) thing was there, sure, but the summary was so focused on other things I thought it would be fine. Relationship that developed alongside the plot.

And the plot that I thought I was getting into sounded interesting. A mysterious sickness plaguing her father and Yenni having to go to another land to find a cure? Cool. I expected a lot of world exploration, clash of cultures, and learning to understand others.

Instead I got a book where all this happened in the background where I never really saw it happen, being told Yenni was struggling with classes, and all the focus going on Yenni and Weysh -- the dragon kind man -- having their spats that went like this:

Weysh: You are my Given. You must be with me.

Yenni: I don't wanna

Weysh: But you must!

Yenni: Nuh-uh

Until suddenly she was falling for him? Like, seriously, out of nowhere, she had a 180 and was just like "ya know, he isn't that bad." Then the stuff became basically the same as above, except her convincing herself they couldn't be together while Weysh kept doing things to mess stuff up and make her mad until, finally, they get together!

I wanted to chuck this book so many times... The intriguing plot promised to us got tossed in a fire to burn away while we focused on the most annoying drama I have ever read. Why? Because, quite simply, I despised Weysh.

Oblivious is one thing. Desperate to prove himself as a dragon is another. Treating his Given like she has no voice when apparently he is very kind to and considerate to every other woman he has been with, and constantly acting like she has no free will because they're Given?

I do not DNF books. But oh goodness, did I want to.

Also, the villains? Absolutely 2D. A knowledge maniac who wasn't set up very well to go as far as he did and a random classmate who ended up being crazed.

The writing was blah. The plot that was set up lost all its focus because romance. Romance which was blah between characters that were blah. World? Amazing. I liked. It's the only reason this is 1.5 and not 1.

*sighs* Such a waste of an amazing cover and world...

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be trying to forget Given ever happened.