Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace Book

A weredragon teenager learning to cope with her new abilities sounds great, and that's why I decided to read this book. Unfortunately, the characters were one dimensional, learning about the dragons and their abilities was tedious, and the conflict and danger were bland. Like any teenager Jennifer is full of drama and isn't interested in the points of view of others. That doesn't make her very enjoyable or likable, which got the book off to a bad start. I was getting excited about the idea of a secret dragon retreat where other weredragons gathered, but even in that I was disappointed. I felt like I was reading a textbook instead of an interesting novel. There was nothing fun or interesting about learning new dragon abilities and that was just sad. I continued to read because I hoped for a decent plot, but again I was disappointed. The villains are stereotypical cardboard bad guys, after some object of power, just like they always are. I know this is a young adult novel, but I know that young adult books are capable of being complex and substantial. When I finished Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace I felt like I just wasted my time. Everything that happened felt unimportant, and I never felt a real sense of danger. The writing style didn't sit well with me from the start with the short choppy sentences and lack of description, and the characters were too flat to care about. If Jennifer showed some progression as a character, I may have enjoyed it more. If more of the novel was spent discussing the bad guys and less time was spent flying around the dragon preserve, then we would be getting somewhere. If more description and complexity were added, then we would have a solid three star novel at least. Overall, this book felt amateurish, and that is not a word I have ever used to describe a book before. I don't require too much out of a young adult novel to enjoy it, but every single one of those things was missing here. All I really ask for is enjoyable characters and a decent plot, and this has neither.