Comment: One more book from my PNR hype years... I'm really determined to read as many as I can so I don't feel they're "holding me back"...
In this story we meet Bastian, a dragon shifter who, along with his band of friends, lives in our world and is determined to help humans and defend them against other dragon shifters who aren't as friendly. the dragons need some special type of energy to survive and some humans have it more than others, but the enemy dragons often kill those they feed from and Bastian ans his friends try to avoid it or to help authorities to help the victims. One day Myst, a nurse, is visiting a young woman who is pregnant and when she arrives, the girl is bleeding and Myst realizes there's nothing she can do to help the mother, but she delivers the baby and protects him, not knowing he is actually the son of a dragon. This is how Bastian meets Myst, immediately understanding she has a huge source of energy and at first sight he believes she is someone he can bond with and with whom to have a child. the problem is that humans who have dragon babies always die...
When it comes to the world of PNR, my favorite type of characters are the shifters. I somehow find it fascinating to read about shifters and how they can change their bodies and the usual inherent elements related to them such as bonding with a mate, being aware of scents and movements very quickly, that special something that makes them different but also intriguing. I've also been incredibly spoiled by some favorite series where shifters are not only well developed, but the world in which they live is complex and structured and layered (no matter other things, thus why I live Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series).
With this in mind, of course I'd expect to find gems in all worlds where shifters are key characters and that is likely why I wanted to read this book. dragons are special types of characters but I especially like those who are portrayed with a vulnerable, "human" side and sometimes are misunderstood. I was quite curious to see what the author would do with these characters and how they would be developed, but I wasn't as marveled by what I was reading after all, because there wasn't enough attention given to the characters nor to the world building, in my opinion.
We are introduced right away to Bastian and it becomes clear there's this feud between them and another group of dragons but besides the necessary antagonism, I suppose, there isn't much about why they are enemies to justify this ongoing battle. Having now read many other PNR stories, I'd have preferred the author to stick to world building, to make this a story set on the characters and the fact they are shifters rather than having a villain/antagonism to compare everything with. After a point, the plot became repetitive and not in a captivating way to me.
The dragon shifters exist due to magical stuff I can't really remember and the energy requirements for their survival a little silly, and in the way I see things, one more reason for them to mingle to humans, mostly women of course. As the story moves along, there are some scenes with the good guys helping or defending humans, then there's some content about who they are - certainly a series with one main character in each installment - but these elements never seemed to really mesh and sometimes I felt as if the author had had many things she wanted to use but the result was a little random.
The romance is one of those insta-love relationships that, sadly to me, were not helped by the fact I didn't connect with either protagonist. Myst seems to be a good nurse and I liked her in the beginning, but her character development was just too thin. Then there's the romance, which I imagine was meant to be evidenced in a certain way, very much alike many other books out there, but now feels superficial to me, and without enough scenes or situations where we could see and read about their connection and why would they be a good match. Just having energy combining and so on is not enough for me.
You know, if the premise of the series were, "all dragon shifter are male, and must mate with human women to procreate, but all women who bear dragon babies die in childbirth", and then the overarching series plot thread was about how to change that, and if the solution was internally consistent with the worldbuilding, I'd be sold.
ReplyDeleteBut to often authors of paranormals do not think through to the consequences of their own worldbuilding decisions, so it's either deus ex machina at the end, or the main conflict is left unsolved in favor of some temporary solution for a permanent problem.
It sounds like this is one of those, and with poor characterization to boot. Ah well, I hope the next book you try is a fantastic read.
Hello!
DeleteWell, the solution for that problem is surprisingly easy, in fact. I suppose the author might explain/add information about why they had this happening before, but I don't plan on reading the series to find out. To me, reading these books is worth the old saying, "one less out of the pile".
But I agree, often long series start losing sense because authors back themselves into an impossible corner...
Happy reading for you too!