Shadows of Karakan: An Isekai Progression Fantasy

Draka, Book 2

De: AvaritiaBona

Narrado por: Katherine Littrell

A human magically reborn into a dragon's body navigates friendships, alliances, and feuding gangs in the second book of this charming isekai series.

In the months since Draka woke up as a dragon in another world, much has changed. She's formed friendships, built alliances, navigated the magic and politics of her new home, and discovered how to wield some of her more useful draconic abilities. But even as her powers evolve, she finds herself contending with ever more perilous trials.

For one, the dragon's mind inside her own is growing stronger, becoming a near-constant force, with its own memories and desires. For another, Draka's friendship with Herald has landed her directly in the crosshairs of some dangerous factions. And after a betrayal by someone she thought she could trust, she's battling not only the dragon's desire to kill but also her own craving for vengeance.

Now, Draka must learn to control her baser urges and truly embrace her dual nature—before she ends up destroying the remaining links to her humanity and the only people she cares about in this new life....

The second volume of the hit LitRPG fantasy series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook!

©2025 AvaritiaBona (P)2025 Podium Audio

A bit grim in the beginning

While I do know and understand this book has darker themes, I felt like it could have eased in and not bashed us over the head with it.

Good continuation of the series

Feels pretty slow-paced, but that's not a bad thing and I enjoy the worldbuilding. I enjoy the MC's inner monologue and turmoil, and it feels very realistic to someone having her experiences. In a rarity for monstrous LitRPGs, she feels less human and *more* like a dragon now than when the series started. I will say, as much as I like the MC the supporting cast feels a bit flat.

unique

The book contains some very dark themes, but manages to be quite wholesome at the same time. Some sentences seem to repeat themselves and doesn't feel perfectly written but overall it's a very enjoyable book.

hmm

10 hours in and the same topics keep coming up, repeating the same thing over and over. the character development or lack there of is boring. the story is good tho so ma

great addition to the series

I like it it's a slow burn and things feel natural instead of crafted in the series. the narrator is amazing and has a soothing voice. she even makes draka FEEL like a dragon when she uses her voice.

it is also nice not to have a series that feels like they need to wrap up everything at the end of each book or have massive cliffhangers at the end. it just ends after some random meeting. not after skme big bad evil was defeated so you can never tell when a big climax is going to happen (again a massive plus in my oppinion)

each character feels unique and hand crafted. so many books base their characters off tv show characters and such. this one feels like each one had been actually crafted off of the authors vision for them rather than pirated from another place. very very light on numbers and skills (again another plus) and makes it feel more like the characters struggle rather than some numbers vs numbers thing.

It bothered me at first

I like how one of the other reviews called it DID (dissociative identity disorder), because that is pretty accurate to a human in a dragons body having a dragon in their head but, the specific order it was done in made me almost stop listening, I'm glad I didn't, and was able to shift my perspective to that of "dragon, with some human tendencies" instead of "human in a dragons body". because unlike the first book, this one makes it very clear that isn't the case. she is not a human in a dragons body, she is a dragon, through and through, with some slight human tendencies. it feels like a rug pull from both the first book in general, and the description given in both books.

don't get me wrong, I still like the books, they're still good, and I'm going to continue listening, but this book is a very drastic change from the first one, so understand that before you buy it

[spoilers]

The beginning of the book does a good job of making it feel like DID, but shortly after that it stops feeling that way. it starts to feel more and more like a loss of free will, which doesn't make for a good story. her actions suddenly flip, and she turns in an instant from being a human in a dragons body, to fully dragon, and the way it was done feels like she wasn't in control. it's even alluded to multiple times that the dragon is controlling her. I had the same complaint about "magical girl, mechanical heart" in that, while it might make for an interesting story, it doesn't make for a compelling one. it took me until 3/4ths of the way through the book before I managed to shift my perspective to that of "dragon with human memories" instead of what I was sold on originally, to still getting annoyed at it.

at the start, when human and dragon minds are talking, the dragon mind continually states that it is in control, and this is proven true to the point that I wonder why we're even calling this an isekai at this point anymore. it's basically a footnote that both doesn't matter, and doesn't truly impact the story in a meaningful way. you took an interesting idea of a human suddenly being put into a dragon's body, and then changed it into just a dragon being a typical dragon. the only real difference is that SOMETIMES she refers to people as friends instead of possessions, but I can imagine a real dragon doing that anyways so what's the point? if that was the end goal from the beginning, fine, but that's not what any of the first book truly implied, and not at all what the description was selling. don't lie to your readers about what you're selling them, it's a good way to have books refunded, I'm not going to, but I can very much see people deciding to because of that shift. you can lie to your readers about other information, but not about the core idea of what the book is.

A unique perspective done uniquely well

Never seen any author handle DID so well from a human perspective nevermind a human/dragon split. so very cool and an amazing story besides that one element. would definitely recommend

I dont know if anyone else felt this but...

The entire book had a pall over it, like storm clouds hovering on the horizon. The mentioning of dragon magic forcing or heavily encouraging people to follow Draka, feels like straight up mind control, and even the characters admit that it's forcing or heavily suppressing certain emotions on those around her. As a result all the friendship moments, all the important character development of various people, all of it feels fake, and like a lie. Every cute moment between Draka and Herald, or Draka and Mak, feels forced, but the author never really seems to address it, no efforts are made to stop the magic, no testing of it. Just "Man I SHOULD be angry right now but I'm not" and the book acts like everything is fine. As a result EVERY interaction Draka had with anyone is tainted by this idea that nobody is acting of their own volition, they're just puppets of Draka's will, so it was difficult to enjoy this book. The tonal change was also whiplash, going from Book 1 to 2. I'm not sure I'll be reading the third to be honest.

The "drama"

The major plot line is diverted for an intervention during a crisis rather than worrying about the raping, torturing, slavers. We get a bunch of people worrying more about a slaver's goons feelings.

I get that there needs to be a resolution to the inner group dynamics, but how about dealing with that after you find the rats that are in your midst and the actual threat to your life/limb.

It makes no sense. Why the hell would a group of medieval mercs care anyway, they should be more worried about people dying than playing therapist to a dragon.

Seriously what is this?

The first book was great. There was a story very interesting. Nobody is stupid. It’s impressed the fresh air. Second book there’s no story. It’s drama , feelings, and repeating what you said before in a different way. there’s 9 1/2 hours left in the book. They finally go back to the city. I’m thinking there’s gonna be more story. We’re finally gonna get to the story. no more drama more feelings more yapping. Yeah I’m done with this book. I’m not buying the next one. It’s a shame it started so well.