Dragonfruit review

4/5 stars
Recommended if you like: fantasy, dragons, Polynesian characters, quests

This book has an interesting premise: dragons in fantasy Polynesia. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the magic system of the book and found myself interested in the plot. However, this does feel like a younger YA or MG book rather than a typical YA. Even when bad stuff happened to the characters, I didn’t really feel the teeth of the novel and knew everything would be okay. The stakes just weren’t there.

That being said, I did enjoy learning about the dragons. I found them to be interesting and Hanalei knows a bit about them as a result of her job. They’re mostly aquatic creatures, but at times will venture onto land and change their morphology slightly to accommodate land living. The parts of a dragon are also a hot commodity, particularly the eggs, which can grant wishes. Through her studies, Hanalei has a deeper understanding of the creatures than most people do, though even among everyday people there seems to be a wide range in how people perceive the dragons. The dragoneers hunt them for their parts, but the people of Tamarind don’t want to hurt them unless they themselves are being threatened.

Hanalei was exiled prior to the start of the story as a result of her father stealing a dragon egg meant for the crown princess in order to save her instead. But through a string of bad luck, she ends up back on Tamarind. It’s clear from the get-go that Hanalei feels a lot of guilt over what her father did, and when given the chance she’s willing to do almost anything to make it up to the royal family, people she once called friends. As the journey progresses, Hanalei begins to learn even more about the dragons than she already knew, and we see her developing a better grasp of how their magic works as well as a deep empathy for the creatures. She’s very practical about things, even when emotions are running high, and I liked seeing how she worked to solve conflicting problems.

Sam understands his responsibilities, but he chafes at the choice before him. When Hanalei and a nesting dragon come to Tamarind, he’s excited both to be reunited with his long-lost best friend but also to have another chance to save his mother. Despite being a warrior and prince, Sam is a warm and compassionate person, and he knows his people well. It’s clear he’s a great leader, even if he’ll never have the title ‘king.’

The side characters in this book were definitely side characters, though I liked most of them. Rosalie (I think her name is Rosalie, I can’t quite remember) was catty to begin with, but she grew on me. I thought she and Hanalei were going to have a jealousy problem, but it ended up being a different conflict and it chilled out pretty quickly. Rosalie ended up being one of Hanalei’s close confidantes and co-trouble-maker! I also liked William and thought his eagerness to learn was charming. I was hoping to see more from him and Sam’s cousin, but oh well.

There is a minor (major?) character death that I was kind of surprised stuck. It didn’t really make sense in my opinion, I feel like there’s a level of magic that should’ve been at work there. But my biggest problem with this death is that I…..didn’t really feel anything. Like, obviously it’s supposed to be sad, and the characters are sad, but the death didn’t pack a punch the way I think it was supposed to. It didn’t really raise the stakes.

One thing I particularly liked about this book is the sense of family and community, as well as an underlying thread of forgiveness. Hanalei is welcomed back by (almost) all with open arms. The royal family understands that it was her father who stole the egg meant for the princess and that while it went to Hanalei, that she had nothing to do with it. Likewise, over the course of the story it becomes clear how much community means to the characters, particularly those who grew up on Tamarind like Hanalei and Sam. Even characters who mess up in the story (and some of them in a very big way) are eventually met with forgiveness and a second chance.

Overall I enjoyed this book and found it to be interesting. I really liked getting to see Polynesian culture(s) in a fantasy setting. Dragonfruit is a pretty unique story. That being said, the characters felt younger than they actually were and I felt like the book lacked tension, even in moments where it’s clear there should’ve been high stakes.