The Dragon's Price (A Transference Novel)

Bethany Wiggins

Feb 2017 · The Transference Trilogy Book 1 · Sold by Crown Books for Young Readers

About this ebook

Fans of Julie Kagawa’s Talon and Renee Ahdieh’s The Wrath and the Dawn will devour this action-packed fantasy adventure about a girl who chooses to surrender herself to a deadly dragon rather than marry an enemy prince.
 
When two warring kingdoms unified against a deadly dragon laying waste to both their lands, they had to make a choice: vow to marry their heirs to one another, or forfeit their lives to the dragon. Now, centuries later, everyone expects Princess Sorrowlynn to choose the barbarian prince over the fire-breathing beast—but she is determined to control her own destiny or die trying.
 
As she is lowered into the dragon’s chamber, she assumes her life is over until Prince Golmarr follows her with the hopes of being her hero and slaying the dragon. But the beast has a different plan. . . .

There are no safe havens for Sorrow or Golmarr—not even with each other—and the stakes couldn’t be higher as they risk everything to protect their kingdom.

"[A]n exciting and magical adventure, with heaping helpings of romance." —Booklist

"[For] readers looking for new fantasy works about princes, princesses, and dragons." —SLJ

Ratings and reviews

I started this book with a good feeling - you know, dragons are amazing creatures and a story about a girl who defeats a dragon sounded pretty good. The protagonist, Sorrowlynn, a closeted fourth princess, is now in line to be sacrificed to the dragon, Andromeda-style. She has two choices - marry the heir of their neighboring warrior-filled kingdom as a part of a binding contract that keeps the dragon imprisoned, or allow herself to become the dragon's dinner. The main part of the contract is the offering, and she can be spared if the heir doesn't want her, but our girl defies everything and choses to be dinner instead. She hopes to have a quick death rather than live in an arranged marriage - I can get behind that, sure. But imagine my disgust when her main objection is that she is to be married to the 'barbaric' horse-lords who rule that kingdom. If you are getting Dany-Dothraki vibes, you aren't wrong - there is even a side character called Melisande in the second half. Anyway, what my problem with this scenario was that her kingdom and family was white af - her sister were blonde haired, blue-eyed beauties, while she, the brown-haried, green-eyed one is 'less beautiful'. The other kingdom, of the horse-lords, they are people of color - black haired, and brown-skinned or tan. And within the first 30 pages itself, she refers to them as barbaric, or brutes, or savage so many times that if you were playing a drinking game, you would be drunk. Like, she doesn't even give them a chance before deciding to believe all that she has heard about them. And it is rich of her to call them barbaric, when her own father hits her regularly. She is all Victorian-era high noble - everything is scandalous, even associating with the royalty of the other kingdom. *eyeroll* And then when I got past all this blatant racism, there was a mediocre plot, to say the least. The princess, now having won the dragon's treasure, has to get out with the prince and they have to now protect themselves from other dragons coming for their blood. From a world-building standpoint, I liked the mythology of the different elemental dragons and their 'treasures' being metaphorical than physical. Also, that doomed prophecy sure adds a nice touch of drama. But stuck in a mediocre star-crossed-ish romance with racist undertones is not my idea of a good book. Also, you can imagine dragons but you can't imagine even one kingdom without patriarchal values? Fedora-whatever had a Queen and a lord consort, but the lord was more powerful. The horse-lord kingdom has female warriors and acknowledges that women are more fierce warriors but still has men in the places of importance. It's like this book didn't even try to execute a good concept well!

This book is so awesome

About the author

Bethany Wiggins is the author of Stung, Cured, and Shifting. The Dragon’s Price came to life one night at dinner, while the Wiggins family was having their customary mythical beast conversation and Bethany’s son asked about the worth of a dragon’s scale. Bethany lives in the desert with her husband, five quirky kids, and four black cats. You can follow her on Instagram, and on Twitter at @wiggb, and visit her at bethanywiggins.com.