Games of Flame and Dust

a dragon rider academy fantasy romance

By: Val Saintcrowe

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Fourth Wing but edgier.

Banyan Thriceborn has always been different, but it’s never been a good thing. Until now.

When she competes in a tournament for admission to the South Ridge Dragon Academy, she gets noticed by Odion Naxim. Odion is the most promising student at the Academy, brilliant and daring, the best hope the Trinal Kingdoms has to banish the menace of the Frost.

Odion sees Banyan’s potential as a soldier. And he wants her.

Before Banyan knows it, she’s enrolled as a student at the Academy. The curriculum mostly consists of wargames—battles in an arena, students soaring on gliders, pelting each other midflight with blunt arrows.

Banyan wins all the games, but being the best doesn’t endear her to the other students. Neither does being the purported object of Odion’s desire. His heated gaze follows her through the halls of the school, even as he does nothing to pursue her.

There are whispers Banyan is meant to bond the dragon mated to Odion’s, that they will be a bonded pair who will lead the fight against the Frost.

But for now, he is her rival, the only student she struggles to defeat in the arena.

All the while, the Frost is lurking out on the reaches of Ice Mountains, in the frozen peaks, waiting to strike.

This dragon rider academy fantasy contains mf and mmf action (yes, y’all, there’s a second male love interest), dubcon by dragon heat, ice zombies, fancy scaled peen, and plenty of surprises. Trigger warnings for one scene depicting attempted noncon—not involving the hero.

Great story. Oh the AI audio is the worst!

This story was very enjoyable but my goodness-Why why why the AI voice?? Not sure why there isn’t a human vo performers who could have brought passion to the reading. Yikes!!!

You Can't Make AI VO Sexy. It Fails HARD Here.

The voice AI makes the entire experience mediocre at best.

I THINK that the story is okay. I will try to find a print copy to read and compare. It is more difficult to tell when so much gets lost in the AI presentation. The characters are thoroughly described and the author provides enough detail to imagine easily. The world-building could have been more in-depth, but that's not why we read romance or listen to it in this case. The interactions between the main characters sound like they were written to be passionate and have the inner monologs to support their perceptions. The threat to the protagonists could have been expanded as right now it sounds like the "ice monsters" are just mean snowmen. You will get the fantasy-romance experience you are looking for withon the first hour or so and continuously throughout, however, I would recommend picking up this title in print.

There is nothing sexy about AI voice over, if you have ever listened to a textbook transcribed for an audio presentation, that is what you get here.

I will update once I have finished the title, but there is no inflection. The delivery can leave some parts of the story confusing such as when a conversation happens between characters and it sounds like the same block of text being read. if you purchase, you'll know what i mean quickly. Listen to the sample first.