Review: The Mark of the Dragonfly

 

Summary

Piper has never seen the Mark of the Dragonfly until she finds the girl amid the wreckage of a caravan in the Meteor Fields.
   The girl doesn't remember a thing about her life, but the intricate tattoo on her arm is proof that she's from the Dragonfly Territories and that she's protected by the king. Which means a reward for Piper if she can get the girl home.
   The one sure way to the Territories is the 401, a great old beauty of a train. But a ticket costs more coin than Piper could make in a year. And stowing away is a difficult prospect--everyone knows that getting past the peculiar green-eyed boy who stands guard is nearly impossible.
   Life for Piper just turned dangerous. A little bit magical. And very exciting, if she can manage to survive the journey.

Rating & Review

Man. This is a tough one for me. I don't know. It just didn't blow my skirt up. I don't even know where to start. Maybe it's too much fantasy. It's based in a landscape and world that aren't anything like what we live in today. There really isn't much for someone to relate to ... people's lives revolve around the meteor shower ... artifacts rain down from the heavens but most are broken by the time they hit and people go out searching for anything valuable to trade for things that they need. The people are nomads, just traveling from one town to the next, never really making any connections ... this part of the story just made the book seem more ... impersonal.

The characters were okay ... I liked Piper a bit. She seemed like a strong female lead for someone who was on her own when her father moved to work at a plant and then subsequently passed away. But she was just not a complete character for me. She lacked ... spice ... heck, I don't know how to explain it. For such a strong lead, I would have though she would have some more of that umph. I did like how she was with Anna, though ... taking her under her wing and everything. And Gee ... his transition ... was interesting and unexpected.

It was just paragraph after paragraph of descriptions and explanations and I found myself skimming more and more. Yes, there was some action, it wasn't totally boring but there just needed to be more dialogue. More something. Once you get about 80 pages in, things start to pick up big-time. But it was a rough 80 pages to trudge through.

After reading the last page, I'm left with more questions than answers. This book isn't logged as part of a series but I don't see how it can just end this way. In any case, I'm okay with it ending like it did. I don't believe that I would read a second book in this series if there was one.

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