I’ll say the first book is the best, simply because it tries to do the least. It’s a simple and short story. It has a ridiculously cliché villain that has no characterisation, but the story still manages to be entertaining despite that. It also has one or two giant plot holes but it doesn’t ruin the overall story.
The second book starts out well but quickly falls apart under the weight of its characters and what it tries to do. The main story I barely remember at all, just all the teenage dragons being inexplicably sent off for a mission and still having romantic hijinks. Oh, and a Gratuitous Rape scene. Only two of the characters are at all interesting, and they’re not Spyro or Cynder. Spyro especially is reduced to a plot device that just ends up being a tool for the plot to slow down or continue depending on the author’s whim. The plot holes begin to pile up while the group are still in Warfang, and they just get worse and worse the longer it goes along. Honestly, the fact that every main character is in a pairing by the end is ridiculously annoying and becomes a collective Romantic Plot Tumour.
The third book basically concludes the story the second tried to set up. The plot is very simple – the heroes return to Warfang, defeat the villain, the end. It has less problems than the second as a result, but the romantic plot tumours get even worse with new characters added in. With the conflict escalating you would think it would take on a more serious tone, but the amount of Casual Danger Dialogue by the characters that blatantly ignores the death and suffering around them is aggravating to say the least. I can’t even remember what happened to the other characters who remained in Warfang, because it was mentioned in passing, and no closure was made for them.
The ending, or rather endings, are sloppy but good enough to satisfy anyone who found the series readable up until that point. However, the fact that there are two endings just goes to show that the author didn’t truly care about the overall story. One ending is deliberately gory and violent in the way an edgelord would make it, as if catering to fans of that type. And the other ending pulls a Deus ex Machina and gives all the OCs happy endings... while still ignoring pretty much everyone else.
I can’t completely say that this is a truly terrible trilogy, however. Despite all my criticisms which make the stories downright unreadable for me now, they were how I discovered the fandom, which I am grateful for. Give it a read if you’re new to the fandom, but I would steer clear if you’re looking for something of quality.
Mainstream, but not good.
I’ll say the first book is the best, simply because it tries to do the least. It’s a simple and short story. It has a ridiculously cliché villain that has no characterisation, but the story still manages to be entertaining despite that. It also has one or two giant plot holes but it doesn’t ruin the overall story.
The second book starts out well but quickly falls apart under the weight of its characters and what it tries to do. The main story I barely remember at all, just all the teenage dragons being inexplicably sent off for a mission and still having romantic hijinks. Oh, and a Gratuitous Rape scene. Only two of the characters are at all interesting, and they’re not Spyro or Cynder. Spyro especially is reduced to a plot device that just ends up being a tool for the plot to slow down or continue depending on the author’s whim. The plot holes begin to pile up while the group are still in Warfang, and they just get worse and worse the longer it goes along. Honestly, the fact that every main character is in a pairing by the end is ridiculously annoying and becomes a collective Romantic Plot Tumour.
The third book basically concludes the story the second tried to set up. The plot is very simple – the heroes return to Warfang, defeat the villain, the end. It has less problems than the second as a result, but the romantic plot tumours get even worse with new characters added in. With the conflict escalating you would think it would take on a more serious tone, but the amount of Casual Danger Dialogue by the characters that blatantly ignores the death and suffering around them is aggravating to say the least. I can’t even remember what happened to the other characters who remained in Warfang, because it was mentioned in passing, and no closure was made for them.
The ending, or rather endings, are sloppy but good enough to satisfy anyone who found the series readable up until that point. However, the fact that there are two endings just goes to show that the author didn’t truly care about the overall story. One ending is deliberately gory and violent in the way an edgelord would make it, as if catering to fans of that type. And the other ending pulls a Deus ex Machina and gives all the OCs happy endings... while still ignoring pretty much everyone else.
I can’t completely say that this is a truly terrible trilogy, however. Despite all my criticisms which make the stories downright unreadable for me now, they were how I discovered the fandom, which I am grateful for. Give it a read if you’re new to the fandom, but I would steer clear if you’re looking for something of quality.