Tori's Review: Flying Blind by Deborah Cooke

Paperback - 336 pages
Price: $9.99
ISBN: 978-0451233882
Released: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Penguin
Author's Website: Deborah Cooke
Buy it: Amazon
Obtained: Publisher
Genre: Paranormal, Young Adult
Series: The Dragon Diaries
Book Order:
1. Flying Blind

Zoë Sorensson is perfectly normal, except she's been told she's destined for great things. Zoë's the one female dragon shapeshifter of her kind. But Zoë is at the bottom of the class when it comes to being Pyr and her powers are AWOL, so she's sent to a Pyr boot camp.

Zoë quickly realizes that she has to master her powers yesterday, because the Pyr are in danger and boot camp is a trap. The Mages want to eliminate all shifters and the Pyr are next in line-unless Zoë and her friends can work together and save their own kind.

My Rating:

My Opinion:
FLYING BLIND's beginning was the embodiment of what I needed in a YA right now: it was refreshingly unique, combats bullying in a satisfying, physical way, and leaves a sweet taste my mouth when I think about teenage girls pining for their "soul mates." Alas, the entire book does not continue on such a strong note--especially the last 15% of the novel.

Zoë is a reject in high school who's forced to deal with the popular girls on a daily basis. Thing is, when said girls take their bullying too far while torturing Zoë's best friend, things take a turn for the worst. You see, our young heroine is a dragon--a wyvern, to be exact--and she's got a short temper. Go figure the dragon in her would reveal itself at the most inopportune time.

The remainder of the book explores dragon life. I thought that all of this information was presented in a clean and crisp way. I wasn't bogged down with overwhelming amounts of information all at once, and because this is a spinoff series, I wasn't left in the dark (too much), regretting not reading the other series first.

Zoë is likable enough in the beginning, but as the story progresses, her immaturity quickly got on my nerves. For a 15 year old, she behaved pretty abhorrently at times, which lessened her in my eyes.

By the time the "first" bad guy is vanquished, I was ready to close the book and call it a night (which I did). I felt that the story began to lose its momentum the closer Zoë got towards her real transformation. During the first showdown, I felt some moments were corny, and I actually cringed at how many times Zoë lifted her claws up in the air, ready to fight. I wish that, instead of overusing this, Cooke thought of a few more creative ways for the fighting newbie to prepare herself for battle.

After the crew learned the fate of the other dragons (or Pyr), I could confidently say that I was done with the story. I was emotionally exhausted after all the drama, and was not ready to pick myself up and continue on. When I finally did, about four days later, a lot of the initial magic and excitement for this story dissipated.

I think I'm being a bit generous by giving FLYING BLIND a 4 star rating. Initially, I wanted to lower it to 3.5, but I think that my physical and mental exhaustion played a role in my lack of interest with the ending of the book. I also wanted this higher rating to reflect how I was unable to put the book down; I began it in one evening, and was up until 2AM (had to get up for classes at 6:30AM). Would I recommend this to others? If you're not sick of dragons, and if you can deal with an immature heroine, I'd say go for it!