The fourth book in the Heartstrikers fantasy series.

Publication year: 2017

Format: Audio

Running time: 21 hours, 25 minutes
Narrator: Vikas Adam

After the cliffhanger ending of the previous book, “One Good Dragon Deserves Another”, I dove right into this one. Our hero Julius, the Nice Dragon, has really landed in a bad spot. He’s now one of his clan’s heads together with his cruel mother and one of his brothers. He has also lost his beloved mortal mage Marci. But he doesn’t have time to mourn. His brother and the seer of the clan, Bob, has apparently done a terrible thing and Julius can’t trust Bob anymore. His hard-won allies are deserting him.

So, when the leader of the Chinese dragons, the Golden Emperor, lands on the Heartstriker Mountain with his army, Julius isn’t prepared. The powerful spirit of the Lady of Lakes, Algonquin, has declared war on dragons and since the Heartstiker clan looks to be weak and in disarray, the Golden Emperor decided to conquer them.

Meanwhile, Marci and her spirit friend are having their own adventures.

This was a very good continuation of the series. The next book will be the last, so this book really amped up the stakes and drama for the big finale. The plot is divided between the drama at Heartstriker Mountain and Marci’s adventures. While the scenes between Julius and the Chinese dragons are intense and dramatic, Marci finds out more about the nature of magic and the worlds while she has her own challenges. I thought it was a nice change of pace. I also enjoyed the explanations of magic and stuff but I can see how others could find them too long and boring.

Some of the drama was a bit obvious but for the most part, I liked it. However, the conflict between Chelsie and the Golden Emperor was too drawn out and made them both look pretty stupid in the end. I like Chelsie and I felt that she should have had a more dramatic secret.

Julius really gets to play the diplomat but it also means a lot of talking. It ends on a huge cliffhanger.

I enjoyed the characters and their interactions. I’m sure it could have been cut down (the audiobook is 21,5 hours long…) but I didn’t mind.

I dove right into the last one in the series.