Tag Archives: Dragons

The Alchemists of Loom

Book Review of The Alchemists of Loom (Loom Saga #1), by Elise Kova

The Alchemists of LoomI received a copy of Elise Kova‘s The Alchemists of Loom from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Her vengeance. His vision.

Ari lost everything she once loved when the Five Guilds’ resistance fell to the Dragon King. Now, she uses her unparalleled gift for clockwork machinery in tandem with notoriously unscrupulous morals to contribute to a thriving underground organ market. There isn’t a place on Loom that is secure from the engineer turned thief, and her magical talents are sold to the highest bidder as long as the job defies their Dragon oppressors.

Cvareh would do anything to see his sister usurp the Dragon King and sit on the throne. His family’s house has endured the shame of being the lowest rung in the Dragons’ society for far too long. The Alchemist Guild, down on Loom, may just hold the key to putting his kin in power, if Cvareh can get to them before the Dragon King’s assassins.

When Ari stumbles upon a wounded Cvareh, she sees an opportunity to slaughter an enemy and make a profit off his corpse. But the Dragon sees an opportunity to navigate Loom with the best person to get him where he wants to go.

He offers her the one thing Ari can’t refuse: A wish of her greatest desire, if she brings him to the Alchemists of Loom. 

Review:
I’m vacillating on this book. Some aspects of it I absolutely adored. But I also found it painfully slow at times and was disappointed to find that it didn’t wrap up nicely in the end. It’s not a precipitous cliffhanger, but it’s not really and ending either.

On the positive side of the equation, I found that once I had enough information to understand what was happening (and this took a while) I liked the world and the characters. There is a lot going on here, with the large, multi-cultured world and several races. I appreciated that the romantic subplot was slow to develop and didn’t take over the plot when it did. And I think most of the writing was really lovely. It got a little purple at times, but mostly it was quite lyrical and a pleasure to read. Oh, and the cover is Awesome!

This was the first book by Kova I’ve read, but I’d be well up for another one.

Branded by Flames

Book Review of Branded by Flames (Dragon Soul #1), by Sean Michael

Branded by FlamesI received a copy of Sean Michael‘s Branded by Flames from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
For years, dragon-shifter-slash-firefighter Jake has been searching for his mate, but he’s beginning to tire of the search. Maybe soul mates are only for the lucky few. 

Then he meets Shae. 

A former navy welder, Shae is handsome, talented, into power play and rough sex, and covered in dragon tattoos. All of this suits the shape-shifting dragon just fine—until he finds out that Shae literally has Jake’s family crest already tattooed on him. A coincidence? Or something more… 

Jake must convince Shae to trust him as a man and as a Dom before the heat between them burns out of control. Becoming a dragon’s mate is not without danger, and Shae will need Jake’s guidance—and love—if he’s going to make it through alive. 

Review:
This has dragon shifters. Dragon shifters! I should have loved it. But I’m afraid I just didn’t. The book is too long by half and it’s all sex. I mean ALL SEX.

I understand that it is erotica, not romance. (Though, I didn’t realize that when I requested it from Netgalley.) So, it’s fine that the focus is on sex not relationships, but it is not enough to carry such a long book. I got so tired of sex scenes. You wouldn’t expect them to bore a person, but when it’s just the same thing on repeat, that’s what it is, boring. I literally fell asleep at one point!

And it was painfully repetitive. I mean, there are only so many ways to describe two men having sex. The word ass is used 168 times and cock 202 times, in the novel. Now, the book is 216 pages long. That means that once you take out the front and back matter, it’s basically once per page. So, you can estimate how much non-sex plot there is. Hint: essentially none. It might have worked for 75-100 pages, because Shae and Jake are likable, but not 200.

It also uses one of my personal pet peeves. I hate the whole ‘boy’ thing in BDSM books. Totally personal, that; probably doesn’t annoy others like it does me. But it’s nails on a chalk board, as far as I’m concerned. Maybe it’s because I’m from the American South and, while there is definitely a traditional power play involved in the term, it’s not one I find sexy in the least. In fact, I always unconsciously read it with an unnatural emphasis that rips me right out of a narrative. I just really hate it.

I also disliked that Shae started the book as a somewhat butch, tattooed, pierced, ex-Navy welder and as soon as Jake showed up, he turned into a rather camp ‘queen.’ Either would be fine, but the personality shift was jarring.

Outside of these irritants the writing is fine and there is some humor in the book. Plus, I rather enjoyed Jake’s uncertainties, though I also thought they didn’t match the rest of his character. I appreciated that Shae was supposed to be almost 40. It’s so rare to find older romantic leads. And, of course, the whole this is about dragons, which is always a plus for me.

In the end, I think this may just be a case of a poor pairing between a reader and book.

Under the Dragons Spell

Book Review of Under the Dragon’s Spell (Fires of Fate #1), by Ann-Katrin Byrde

Under the Dragon's SpellI picked up Anne-Katrin Byrde‘s Under the Dragon’s Spell as an Amazon Freebie.

Description from Goodreads:
Coming from a broken home, Adrian’s biggest dream in life has always been to find a loving partner and start a family of his own. But when his boyfriend kicks him out, it’s starting to look like that’s never going to happen. Worse yet, he has to move in with his brother to keep from living on the street, and the prevalent bias against men with the ability to carry children keeps him from finding a job of his own. 

He’s about ready to give up hope when he finds a job offer in the newspaper searching for someone to produce an heir for a rich dragon shifter. Having a baby with a stranger, even if he’s enigmatic and hot as hell, is not his definition of happiness, but when he finds himself falling for the dragon, he starts to hope again. 

If only it wasn’t for the competition…

Review:
This is one of those books that if taken on its own is a pretty poor showing, but if viewed within the confines of the Omegaverse, with all the pre-established tropes and expectations, isn’t too bad. It seems to conform with the expected rules, even if those rules don’t always make a lot of sense.

Outside that, the writing was ok. The editing was ok. The plotting was ok, etc. All ok, not exceptional by any means, but not wholly bad either. I thought there were some holes and the characters were not true to the personality established for them. But generally, if you’re in to the Omegaverse in a big way, you’ll really like this. If not, you’ll probably think it a lack-luster read. I kind of did.