If you have been following – or lurking on – my blog for a longer while, you might have seen that Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu made it to multiple TBRs over the past few years. A book centred around dragons and their connection with humans immediately sparked my attention. I know it might sound a little like Fourth Wing, but I had a feeling that this approach would be very different. Besides, I really enjoyed the “Summoner” series when I read it back in 2017/2018 and this author’s other series, “Contender”, was off to a good start as well. Even though I never finished that series yet, I was wondering whether this first book in the “The Soulbound Saga” would be my cup of tea. Did it live up to my expectations?

About the book

Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu
Series: The Soulbound Saga #1
Published by Harper Voyager on April 25, 2024
Pages: 564
ISBN: 9780008517632
Genres: Fantasy, Young adult

New York Times bestselling author Taran Matharu’s debut adult fantasy series introduces an immersive story written in the tradition of the viral cultivation genre. Discover a rich world of magic, warriors, and dragons, in which a fearless orphan and an ambitious handmaiden flee from the empire that would imprison them, with a dream to return to their homelands and a determination that’s unbreakable…

Can an orphan captive learn the secrets of the Dragon Riders to stand up and avenge his people?

Jai lives as a royal hostage in the Sabine Court—ever since his father Rohan, leader of the Steppefolk, led a failed rebellion and was executed by the very emperor Jai now serves.

When the emperor’s son and heir is betrothed to Princess Erica of the neighboring Dansk Kingdom, she brings with her a dowry: dragons. Endemic to the northern nation, these powerful beasts come in several forms, but mystery surrounds them. Only Dansk royalty know the secret to soulbonding with these dangerous beasts to draw on their power and strength. This marriage—and the alliance that forms—will change that forever.

But conspirators lurk in the shadows, and soon the Sabine Court is in chaos. With his life in danger, Jai uses the opportunity to escape with the Dansk handmaiden, Frida, and a stolen hatchling. Hunted at every turn, he must learn to cultivate magic and become a soulbound warrior if he has any chance of finding safety, seizing his destiny…and seeking his revenge. 

My review

Expectations

I have been postponing picking this book up for ages. Somehow, I was eager to read it but not feeling it at the same time. Furthermore, as I hardly saw anybody talking about it on social media or on book blogs, my expectations were already tempered. Moreover, I wasn’t too sure whether the blurb still spoke to me. I therefore decided to not check any reviews beforehand and to dive into this reading experience blankly. This turned out to be a wise choice, because oh boy, was I disappointed.

Characters

This story is solely told through the eyes of fifteen-yer old Jai who has endured a lot in his young life already. His people are oppressed and as punishment for his father’s actions, he has been sent to the imperial palace when he was just a little boy. Here, he has to serve the old emperor. Now ten years has passed, and the old man’s health is deteriorating rapidly. Jai smells freedom and makes plans to finally escape. And this is the problem, he has a strong will, but less great plans. He is quite young for a main character and this shows. He seems to be otherworldly which isn’t that surprising regarding his circumstances and upbringing. However, it was hard for me to connect to him and fell for him. Unfortunately, this applies to all characters in this book (yes, even the dragons). There are so many characters with similar names that it was impossible for me to tell them apart. Furthermore, the dragons were less present than expected, which is a real pity when looking to the title of this book.

Writing

Despite the characters not being that great, the writing is fine. The story has been divided into approximately 100 really short chapters. This makes it possible to easily continue reading and just read one more chapter. However, Matharu choses to tell Jai’s story in third person and this doesn’t work so well in my opinion. This makes it hard to get to know Jai and feel any connection to him. I therefore zoned out a lot, I was never fully emersed into this book. But this has not to do with just the writing alone.

Plot

This book clearly is plot driven. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing, as the plot would have been interesting. For me, the pacing is off. There isn’t happening much, and the story was moving forward real slow. It took until the halfway mark before something significant happens and even after this event the book doesn’t pick up much speed. I was actually quite bored and unintrigued. The book isn’t quite eventful, and I honestly forgot all about what happened. I still have no idea what Jai wants to achieve. Both characters and plot didn’t leave any footprints for me. The worldbuilding was okay. I saw people commenting that this is based on the Roman empire and as I am unable to picture this, I have to believe them.

Final thoughts

As you may have guessed by now, Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu happened to not be the book I was hoping to read. In fact, I was pretty disappointed. This has mainly to do with the elaboration of characters and plot. Unfortunately, the pacing is too slow for me. I knew that this book is more of “regular” fantasy instead of Romantasy and it seems like I’m really struggling with this genre. I think this is just not for me. I therefore won’t continue with the rest of the series. If you want to read a book about dragons that isn’t Fourth Wing, this might suit you.