Review: The Dragon Lantern by Arizona Tape

Posted June 6, 2023 by Lola in Contemporary, Fantasy, Review / 2 Comments

The Dragon Lantern (The Griffin Sanctuary #4)
Arizona Tape

My Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Age Category: New Adult
Type of romance: FF

Blurb:
Drama stirs when Charlotte goes to Myths & Monster for an exchange program and she has to play nice with the other apprentices.

Meanwhile, a mysterious illness plagues one of the elusive lantern dragons and time is ticking for apprentice veterinarian Charlotte to figure out what’s wrong before her light goes out.

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The Dragon Lantern is book four in the modern fantasy Griffin Sanctuary series. It is packed full of adventure, mythical creatures, and an f/f romantic sub-plot.

My Review

This is the fourth book in the Griffin Sanctuary series and I enjoy reading about this sanctuary for mythical animals. This book had a lot going on with Charlotte visiting another sanctuary for an exchange program and then getting back and dealing with a sick lantern dragon.

It was fun to see another sanctuary in this book and I was excited to read about that. Unfortunately Charlotte was only there for half the book. It felt to me like there was a bit too much going on and it didn’t have one clear animal issue like the previous books. Add in the romance, another issue with two unicorns fighting that gets mentioned a few times, her intern friends hearing whether they get a job and Charlotte at times doubting herself and her work. It just felt like a lot going and this book felt a bit all over the place due to that. I still enjoyed it, but less than the earlier books.

This book was all about dragons, I like the unique touch that there were dragons here that are bioluminescent, which was interesting. Both the other sanctuary visit deals with one of these dragons as well as the sick dragon Charlotte helps when back at Griffin sanctuary. I just wished we had seen more of either. Charlotte leaves before the dragon at the other sanctuary lays eggs and then the lantern dragon at the griffin sanctuary gets diagnosed relatively quickly and we don’t see how the dragons ends up doing when back to their new habitat.

The romance has been a bit hit or miss for me in this series. I like how they connect over their love for animals, but sometimes the romance seems to go well and then they hit another obstacle.They have some communication issues in this book and it bothered me a bit how Charlotte handled things. I liked when they cleared things up and the ending finally seems to have a clear direction when it comes to what they both want. I also liked when felicity showed a more vulnerable side to Charlotte and opens up a bit. I just want more of those moments and to see them connecting more.

To summarize: I liked returning for another visit to the Griffin Sanctuary. I felt that this book was trying to do a bit too much with a visit to another sanctuary, then Charlotte returning to Griffin sanctuary as well as various side plots, some of which are ongoing. It just felt like a lot and like not everything got enough space to fully get explored or maybe that’s just because I wanted to know more and a few slower and fun moments. I liked reading about the bioluminescent dragons and would’ve liked to learn a bit more about them. I wasn’t a fan of how the romance progressed for most of this book with some issues and troubles they have to deal with, but I liked how at the end things seem to improve and there are some scenes where Felicity is showing her more vulnerable side which I liked. I look forward to the next book.