BLOG TOUR & REVIEW|| 7 Reasons to read Blazewrath Games by Amparo Ortiz // A super fun book with a sports competiton, magic and dragons

Synopsis: How to Train Your Dragon meets Quidditch through the Ages in this debut fantasy, set in an alternate contemporary world, in which dragons and their riders compete in an international sports tournament

Lana Torres has always preferred dragons to people. In a few weeks, sixteen countries will compete in the Blazewrath World Cup, a tournament where dragons and their riders fight for glory in a dangerous relay. Lana longs to represent her native Puerto Rico in their first ever World Cup appearance, and when Puerto Rico’s Runner—the only player without a dragon steed—is kicked off the team, she’s given the chance.

But when she discovers that a former Blazewrath superstar has teamed up with the Sire—a legendary dragon who’s cursed into human form—the safety of the Cup is jeopardized. The pair are burning down dragon sanctuaries around the world and refuse to stop unless the Cup gets cancelled. All Lana wanted was to represent her country. Now, to do that, she’ll have to navigate an international conspiracy that’s deadlier than her beloved sport.

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Publication Date: October 6th, 2020 (Page Street Publishing)

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: violence, murder, illness, alcoholism, mentions of homophobia

Today I am going to talk about 5 Reasons You Must be reading Blazewrath Games and why it’s an amazing debut!

A Super Enjoyable Story

Blazewrath Games is a story about Lana Torres who’s dream is to compete in the competition and represent her country, Puerto Rico. The story is so much more than just that though. It takes you on a journey and it’s full of twists and fun moments and it is truly such a fun experience reading this book. It discusses many important themes and at the same time keeps it a story about a fun sports tournament and honestly, its amazing.

A Fictional Sports Tournament

Reading this book made me realise that I have not read many YA books based around sports and this one was so good! It was like watching a movie and I love books which make you feel that experience. I loved reading about Blazewrath Games and everything in this book is so detailed and at the same time not being too dense and keeping it interesting. It’s truly such a solid debut and I will definitely be looking forward to more of the author’s books after this.

Amazing Writing

The writing in this book is simple, effective and amazing right from page one. It goes well with the pace of the book and I feel the writing just tends to bring everything together really well, giving it the complete awesome feel. And in such happening books with action and sports, writing plays an important part and this one really does it well. There isn’t any info dump of any kind. I also loved how the start of every chapter started with a snippet about the history, moments or news about the Blazewrath Games.

Fast-Paced with lots of Action

As I mentioned before, that this book reads a lot like a movie. Its fast paced and there’s always something happening so there’s never a dull moment. I love fast paced books a lot and for this book especially the fast pace works well with the story and vibes of the book.

Diverse Set of Characters

The main character of this book is Lana, who lived in Puerto Rica and was whisked to the US by her white mother and we read about how she yearns for Puerto Rico and wants to represent the country. She is a character who goes through a lot of changes and as we get to know her more, you can’t help but like her.

This book also has a many amazing supporting characters and we get to see fleshed out relationships too. The supporting include trans woman, a bisexual girl, two gay boys, two gay men (married), the Russian Blazewrath team is entirely comprised of queer players.

Stunning World Building

The world building is stunning in this book. It has a magical world with a tournament and there’s history given about the tournaments and the world and its so intriguing. It also has magic and I love the magic system a lot as well. It was intricate while also not being too heavy at any point and this was amazing.

DRAGONS!!!

Honestly saved the best for the last. I love dragons and books featuring dragons are simply awesome! This book does an amazing job and the way dragons and portrayed and written about? Simply stunning. There are different types and all I kept thinking was how amazing it would be to see this on screen.

Overall, Blazewrath Games is a book I truly enjoyed and I highly recommend to all fans of contemporary fantasy with magic, sports tournaments, dragons and an enjoyable story. I definitely recommend this book!!

Thank you to Caffeine Book Tours and Page Street Publishing for making me a part of the tour and for providing me with a physical arc of the book. All opinions are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amparo Ortiz was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and currently lives on the island’s northeastern coast. Her short story comic, “What Remains in The Dark,” appears in the Eisner Award-winning anthology Puerto Rico Strong (Lion Forge, 2018), and SAVING CHUPIE, her middle grade graphic novel, comes out with HarperCollins in Winter 2022. She holds an M.A. in English and a B.A. in Psychology from the UPR’s Río Piedras campus. When she’s not teaching ESL to her college students, she’s teaching herself Korean, devouring as much young adult fiction as she can, and writing about Latinx characters in worlds both contemporary and fantastical.

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