Wednesday, May 20, 2015

*Book Review* Dragons Are People, Too by Sarah Nichols (YA Fantasy)

Series: Dragons are People, Two # 1
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Released: April 28, 2015
Source: NetGalley
Format: E-Book, 255 pages
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Never judge a dragon by her human cover...

Sixteen-year-old Kitty Lung has everyone convinced she’s a normal teen—not a secret government operative, not the one charged with protecting the president’s son, and certainly not a were-dragon. The only one she trusts with the truth is her best friend—and secret crush—the über-hot Bulisani Mathe.

Then a junior operative breaks Rule Number One by changing into his dragon form in public—on Kitty’s watch—and suddenly, the world knows. About dragons. About the Draconic Intelligence Command (DIC) Kitty works for. About Kitty herself.

Now the government is hunting down and incarcerating dragons to stop a public panic, and a new shape-shifting enemy has kidnapped the president’s son. Kitty and Bulisani are the last free dragons, wanted by both their allies and their enemies. If they can’t rescue the president’s son and liberate their fellow dragons before getting caught themselves, dragons might never live free again.



Dragons Are People, Too centers around 16-year old Katherine "Kitty" Lung who works for a secretive government agency called Draconic Intelligence Command (DIC). Think covert spies if you will but with weredragons. Kitty is a Chinese dragon with a purple stripe in her hair who can not only manipulate the earth’s magnetic fields in order to fly, but she can also make herself invisible. She is the daughter of two covert spies, one of which is her boss. She can speak 4 different languages, and has been training since she was 4 years old. While not on missions, Kitty also works for the Secret Service in protecting Jacob, the President's son while he is at school. 

DIC's main rule is to never let anyone know what you are. Thus, the idea of being covert. But, when Kitty's trainee partner Wallace panics and is caught on camera shifting from human to dragon, it sets in motion a path from which Kitty and her partner and love interest Bulisani "Sani" Mathe, an African dragon from Uganda, are forced to hide from the very same people they have supported most of their lives. The CIA rounds up her family and friends as being dangerous to the public welfare, but misses Kitty and Sani after Jacob is kidnapped by a rogue kitsune and unknown persons. 

Kitty is a character that made me scratch my head many times over. Here is a girl who is supposedly a badass operative, but she acts more like a 6 year old. At times, she made me forget that she's supposedly a heroine, and not a sniveling, bratty little kid who wasn't given enough breast milk when she was in her diapers. Kitty is one of the most self-absorbed characters I've read about. She spends a majority of her time lusting after her best friend Sani, while stumbling and bumbling her way into finding a way to save Jacob and her family. I won't say that Kitty is entirely over the top. At times her abilities and training do actually come in handy. Plus, the romance between Sani and Kitty isn't love at first sight, nor is there any triangle involved. 

Apparently, this isn't just a standalone novel. According to the author's response on Goodreads, there will be at least one more book in the unnamed series. Good. I totally hate when authors leave a story hanging like that. There are a whole bunch of unanswered questions, while only (1) storyline was apparently wrapped up. That leaves a whole lot of room for Nicolas to explore in any sequel. Let's hope the sequel is a bit longer! People complain about the lack of diversity in Young Adult novels. Perhaps if they choose to look a bit closer, they will find books like this right under their eyes.

**I received this book for free from (Entangled Teen) via (NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**


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