Review Going Down In Flames by Chris Cannon

3:30 AM

Morning Addicts. I've got a bit of a in interesting situation for you today. I signed up for a review tour of this book called BRIDGED BURNED (Going Down In Flames #2) by Chris Cannon, published by Entangled Teen. At first I thought okay, I'll have to read book 2 without reading book 1, but Entangled had a treat for me, and included a review copy of the first book of the series GOING DOWN IN FLAMES by Chris Cannon. I was very excited! I don't normally like having to read books out of order. However this left me with a bit of a conundrum. Do I put my review for both books in one post--along with the "dream cast" extra I'll be featuring, or do I do two posts. If you haven't guessed yet, two posts won out!
So here is my review of book 1: GOING DOWN IN FLAMES, gifted to me by Entangled Teen in exchange for an honest review. On to the Dragons!!!

Going Down in Flames

by Chris Cannon

Summary from Goodreads:

If her love life is going down in flames, she might as well spark a revolution.

Finding out on your sixteenth birthday you’re a shape-shifting dragon is tough to swallow. Being

hauled off to an elite boarding school is enough to choke on.

Since Bryn is the only crossbreed at the Institute for Excellence, all eyes are on her, but it’s a

particular black dragon, Zavien, who catches her attention.

Zavien is tired of the Council’s rules. Segregated clans, being told who to love, and close-minded

leaders make freedom of choice almost impossible. The new girl with the striped hair is a breath

of fresh air, and with Bryn’s help, they may be able to change the rules.

At the Institute, old grudges, new crushes, and death threats are all part of a normal day for

Bryn. She’ll need to learn to control her dragon powers if she wants to make it through her first

year at school. But even focusing on staying alive is difficult when you’re falling for someone

you can't have.

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MY REVIEW:

Going Down In Flames by Chris Cannon is pretty much what I expected it to be when I read the blurb. I don’t know if that is because Entangled has a “troupe” cheat code they love to use again and again, or if the blurb was just that specific. I think I was a little let down because of that, because it was exactly what I expected. However, E. Teen may have balanced that a little with yet another kick butt cover that I adore and grabs my attention right away.

The world building in Going Down In Flames is really well done. (And that includes the intrigue and excitement of the plot overall.) Having to create 4 communities of dragons—Red, Black, Green and Blue—is no easy task, even for the best authors out there. But Chris Cannon pulled it off with nice style and good hooks throughout the story that kept me reading. I would have liked more action scenes because they were very well written and flowed wonderfully. Honestly these two things are what saved this book for me. No set aside pile for this book. Though I have no problem saying I would have happily traded several of the more political feeling scenes for fight scenes!

The universe in GDIF was unique in many ways and read differently from other books. The flip side to the praise above: The whole “speciale schools” with “secret societies” and crazy separation “classes” is starting to feel a little over used for me.

Now on to the characters!

Bryn is our M.C. (heroine). She’s very special. She just found out she’s a dragon, and on her 16^th birthday no less! Even better (though not in her opinion) she’s a half breed. Half Red dragon half Blue dragon. That means several very interesting things for her—both good and bad.

The good: because of her duel heritage she has the power of both fire and ice. I’ve gotta say it was pretty entertaining when she accidently set her kitchen on fire trying to use her powers J

The bad side of her parentage: she’s considered a freak/abomination by the stuffy-stuck-in–the-dark-ages dragon society that believes no dragon should marry outside their color. (See my note up top about my feelings on the political aspect of this book) Even worse than being an outcast—she’s got someone out to kill her! Fortunately she’s got a pretty cool cast of secondary characters that are there for her.

Let’s start with Clint and Ivy. They both seem to fall perfectly within the whole two best supportive friends that stick by you no matter where your adventures take you that almost every YA book seems to have. But I’m not hating on them—in fact I loved them! I wish I could have gotten more about them.

Bryn also has Zavien. A 19 year old Black dragon who ends up being her secret boyfriend because of the whole class separation thing. I liked him a lot, but I wish Chris would have played up the mysterious, sexy side of him more. There were also times that I felt Zavien was too mature for Bryn. I still like them as a couple.

The parents were pretty cool too. It was nice to have a YA book with involved parents. A change from the norm.

Jackson was probably my favorite character. Or at least the one that I felt had the most untapped potential for character development. Despite him being and “asshat” to Bryn for most of the book, he came through for her when she needed him most. But such a sudden change in opinion of her felt forced/unrealistic for me.

The one character I haven’t really gushed over is Bryn. That was by design. Why you ask—simple: she wasn’t really a good heroine for me. Sure is just a 16 year old thrown into a harsh environment, but she was too whiny. She came off like she was 11. (The reason I felt Zavien was too mature for her at points) She’s constantly told to grow up I never saw any kind of growth from her in Going Down In Flames. I think her sassy attitude and the fact she did keep pushing through all the crap situations she was put in was what saved her for me though.

Over all I wanted more from all the characters. World building was great, just not so much the characters. If I had not known that there was a second book to this series I would have been tempted to think this a one off book, but since I knew differently….Anyways I am hoping that my issues with lack of character development will be addressed in the next book Burning Bridges.

GOING DOWN IN FLAMES is a solid 3 star for me today. I would recommend this to lovers of fantasy, action and dragons!