GA Aiken - Bring the Heat

I, Aidan the Divine, am . . . well, divine. My name was given to me by the Dragon Queen herself! I’m a delight! Cheerful. Charming. And a mighty warrior who is extremely handsome, with a very large and well-hidden hoard of gold. I am also royal-born, despite the fact that most in my family are horrendous beings who don’t deserve to live. And yet, Branwen the Awful—a low-born, no less—either tells me to shut up or, worse, ignores me completely.
I’ll admit, I ignore Aidan the Divine because it annoys him. A lot. But we have so much to do right now, I can’t worry about why he keeps staring at me, or why he always sits so close, or why he keeps looking at me like he’s thinking about kissing me. We have our nations to save and no time for such bloody foolishness . . . no matter how good Aidan looks or how long his spiked tail is. Because if we’re going to win this war before it destroys everything we love, we’ll have to face our enemies together, side by side and without distractions. But if we make it out alive, who knows what the future will hold . . .

Comment: This is the 9th installment in the Dragon Kin series by author GA Aiken. I think this is probably the one I've disliked the most simply because I didn't feel much connection between everything that was happening.

In this book we have a story mostly focused on Aidan and Branwen, two recurrent characters from the series. They are brought together due to a mission but soon see themselves in all sorts of adventures trying to help Keita (Branwen's cousin and a protagonist of a previous book) reaching a certain point although her task isn't always clear.

I think that, no matter how easily one might read this, it's not advisable to read out of order. The plot is too mixed up with what happened previously in other books that a newcomer might feel this makes no sense.

What made me addicted to this series was how, in the first book, despite the differences between humans and dragons, Annwyl and Fearghus still fell n love and proved they could be together. Then his closest brothers were part of the story and they too had their own romances with human women. Then we had stories featuring dragons as key characters but always the bonds between humans and dragons was there. Then new characters were introduced, new "species" if one can say that...and with time and each new installment, things progressed to a point I no longer recognize these books as romances.

In this specific book I just think there no other factors or details to make think differently or that let me switch my attention from that idea, that things aren't as balanced and connected as before.

I don't usually mind multi plots, having information about several characters, as a sort of status report to see what they are doing. The most recent books have showed this a lot.

What now truly bothers me and why I graded this story less than all the others is the lack of caring and compassion, feelings the first books had. Were they mostly weird characters? Always. But they expressed themselves in a way I could empathize and accept.

Now I just feel everyone is as crazy, violent and uncaring as possible, both in their personal romantic relationships and in treating others. I've always known and accepted family members play with one another, treat each other with some mocking but deep down they love one another and that showed somehow. Now, however, it seems the point is to just be as fun and crazy as possible. Every scene seems to be as violent as the characters can be and they show no remorse unless a close family member is in danger. I just miss the -let me use this word - more "human" side of these characters, their softer emotions, that almost vulnerability to one another the first books showed.

So, no, I don't mind the craziness nor the multi POVs but... it seems the stories are no longer focused on the romance nor the relationships and it just feels sad.

As for plot purposes, it was nice to see many situations solved. There are still some secrets but if no other book came, I'd feel happy anyway with the way things ended.

I know this is not meant to be a serious book but when comparing, I just feel the first one was the best ever and I miss the feeling.

Grade: 6/10

G.A. Aiken - Feel the Burn

War makes strange bedfellows.
I, Gaius Domitus, one-eyed rebel dragon king of the Provinces, know that better than most, since I have to fight off half my ungrateful family on a regular basis to keep law and order here in my lands. But I never expected to have to consort with a barbarian human woman.
Kachka is beautiful, if you like them fierce—and of course I do. But she keeps complaining about how spoiled and decadent I am, and how a feared Daughter of the Steppes has no time for foolish dragons. I think she likes my eye patch, though. It is quite dashing. With death always at our tails, we take our passion like we take our allies. As they say, love the barbarian you’re with…

Comment: I've had this book in the pile for a long time, more or less sine it was published and released, therefore more than a year. It's not that I didn't want to read it but with so many books to read and knowing a new book wouldn't be released so soon, I just decided to space out the reading a bit.

This 8th book in the Dargon Kin series follows almost immediately the things that happened in the previous one, Light my Fire.

This book features Kachka, sister to Elina, the heroine from the 7th book. Kachka comes from a demanding family and she is used to be a warrior and not being lazy. And lazy is what she feels after a time In Queen Anwyl's court where there's nothing to do but kill boars for dinner. 

When the queen asks her to do a task for her, Kachka accepts and there she goes in search of a team to help her defeat the queen's enemies in the regions where she can't go herself. On the way of this adventure, Kachka's team helps Gaius, the One Eyed Dragon and after that their paths are always meeting. Can Kachka put aside her wilder nature and accept a dragon as a mate?

It's very difficult to explain this series to a new reader if someone chooses to start with this book; I don't advise it because it's so complex and there are so many situations that can only be understood by knowing previous facts that reading out of order wouldn't be easy nor as interesting as if we follow the book's path. Also, the "tone" of the books change as the story moves along so a lot of information would not only be lost but misunderstood.

Basically, this is a sort of medieval society but with dragons as characters along humans and with a comic/violent twist because all characters don't seem to care about rules. The story focuses on queen Annwyl, the Bloody and her attempts to make her kingdom protected.

When the series started it has an obvious focus on romance and world building but a few books ago it started to slowly evolve towards fantasy and not as strong in the romance, although it's still there. Many readers also dislike how there are too many POVs and constant switches in the focus but personally I like this style of story telling, reading about several characters and knowing a bit of what happens to everyone.

What I miss is a more romantic love story, I really feel that, fr instance in this book, Kachka and Gaius' romance wasn't very obvious, wasn't always as strongly presented as I would have liked and because we don't see the focus on them more it almost feels like that their relationship isn't true love, just a convenient one. I think this is where the first book will always beat them all, the romance was key there. I think letting the characters act a bit more sweetly at times or when it comes to their mates/romantic interests if they could be slightly different or more vulnerable it would highlight the relationship. I do miss this and this couple, like the previous 3 or 4, is an example of how weak and uncaring a relationship can look like to the reader.

In terms of plot, more of the same, this time we had some intriguing adds and even a twist I was not expecting, I'm looking for to read the next just to know what will happen.

The secondary characters were strong as always, even one doesn't care about targeted romance couples, it's obvious who is secondary or not. My favorite secondary character here was Zoya, every time she spoke or acted, she was funny and I laughed..it's very easy to imagine her in a comedy movie. 

This is another aspect often commented by readers that has been missing lately. The humor is no longer there some say, but to me, I still liked it and amused myself in some scenes.

The problem is the overall tone, that the author has turned into something a bit more violent and the characters act a bit more cynical. Then the humor seems to not be funny but corrosive. I understand and although I laughed, I concur it would be better if the books could maintain the balance they used to have in the beginning.

Well, after thinking about this for a while, I still like the world, the characters, the sort of plot but yes, a return to a stronger romance focus and less violent thinking (even if not acting) would surely improve everyone's opinion and the story itself.

Grade: 7/10

TBR Challenge: GA Aiken - Light My Fire

The trouble with humans is that they're far too sensitive. Forget you put a woman in the local jail for a few months - and she takes it so personally! And yet she is the one trying to assassinate the queen. And now I'm trapped with Elina Shestakova of the Black Bear Riders of the Midnight... gods! That endless name!
But what am I to do? I am Celyn the Charming with direct orders from my queen to protect this unforgiving female.
Even more shocking, this unforgiving female is completely unimpressed by me. How is that even possible? But I know what I want and, for the moment, I want her. And I'm sure that she, like all females, will learn to adore me. How could she not when I am just so damn charming?

Comment: This month the theme for the TBR challenge is series catch-up, meaning we should read about in a series we're behind on. I picked this one because I was two books behind and now that I've read this one I still have another to read, which I'll try to do soon.

 

Light My Fire is the story of Celyn and Elina, two characters in the imaginative and mixed historical and fantasy world created by author GA Aiken, about a family of dragons and everyone, human and dragon, they meet and are related to, namely queen Annwyl the Bloody, the character in the center of it all.

In this novel, we keep following the lives of all the characters we know, and the story starts with Elina arriving at dragon queen Rhiannon's palace to kill her but all the dragons make fun of her and she's not really into it, so she doesn't mind if Celyn takes her to a cell. However, she is forgotten for 8 months until Rhiannon and Annwyl decide to get a treaty with Elina's people, a matriarchal society in the deserts of the north. Elina is then charged with the task of trying to get the agreement of her people for the treaty but things aren't as simple and Celyn goes with her. Although at first Elina can't understand his usefulness, they get used to each other and they almost made it but then there's a slight problem that changes everything...

 

I've been a fan of this Dragon Kin series since the beginning. I loved the world the author created and the first story felt more romantic than fantasy because it was more focused on the main characters. As time and installments have gone by, the focus started to be more dispersed and nowadays, this title included, the series show multiple characters, the focus is on everyone, many POVs. I understand more dedicated romance readers feeling the lack of it in the last books, but personally I still enjoy more the book as a whole and it's so much fun to keep up with everyone. In this I feel the author has managed to add and infer a wonderful sense of family and connections, even if the relationship between the characters isn't as simple or "normal" as we would like. Many of them fight and act tough but that's just the way they are.

 

I still feel amazed by how interested and captivated by this world I am, considering the author has other series under another name but the titles I've tried other than the ones by GA Aiken haven't won me over. I can tell some similarities but this world feels so well structured, so amazing and fascinating, while the other series - with a more contemporary setting - lack so much in my opinion.

 

This story wasn't as thrilling as some of the previous titles for me, though. Despite not caring much if the focus isn't always on the main couple of course that's part of the attraction and I want to see the romance well developed as well, but in this case, I got the feeling it wasn't a part of the story as worked on as other issues. I understand the flow of the story and how small things or seemingly inconsequential things are what we are supposed to get in terms of proof for the intensity - or not -in their developing relationship but this wasn't the best romance in the series. Celyn and Elina had a lot of interaction, some chemistry too, but their personalities weren't always a match. I got the feeling they sort of let themselves go with the flow but I can't say I saw proof of their feelings. They just accepted it based on one or two things... In this yes, I fear the too close proximity to the author's work as Shelley Laurens tone, where the romantic relationships are often too easy or not as structured and realistic. I would like to keep seeing a bit more focus on their feelings and thoughts and not only silly or loud behavior/opinions.

 

The plot is interesting, but let you be warned enough: yes the books can be read as stand alones, but honestly I don't think that's wise if one wants to keep the happenings straight. Many things might make sense now but there's a lot that happened than justifies or explains many situations we hear about or which are alluded to of course, knowing what happened before adds a lot more interest and layers to certain scenes and character's actions. In this novel, the focus is pretty much a treaty and a fight against an assassination plot, but certain things make more sense if we had read the previous books.

Overall, there's an understanding about everything, but it can be confused to follow without prior knowledge.

I also think this book in particular was a bit too dispersed on several subjects. Too much time spent dealing with things not always very important, especially in the first half. It's certainly funny and helpful to ascertain the character's personalities and choices, but quite repetitive in some cases without much advance to the plot.

 

Still, I'm a fan and so far the series hasn't disappointed me, despite my personal preferences and wishes for different details. I'll keep reading, I'm interesting in knowing more and seeing what will happen. There's always something else to know about every character and why they are like that. It's quite the feeling, how each book is an installment on a family and not only on the world itself.

Grade: 7/10

G.A. Aiken - How to Drive a Dragon Crazy

Some things never go away, like vile enemies, bad ale, and annoying kin. But I thought I was finished with the one dragon I’d have done anything for: Éibhear the Blue, a big, gorgeous, blue-haired beast who thinks the world belongs to him. The world and, apparently, me.
So if Éibhear wants to play the caring hero and travel into the most forsaken of Gods forsaken lands to protect the one woman who doesn’t need it -- namely me -- I’ll let him. Because while I’m trying to fulfill a ridiculous quest for a pushy god, I’m going to draw this overconfident warlord much too close, rekindle his fires, and enjoy every minute of his delicious defeat... 

 Comment: Another one of the series I keep updated. The moment a book by this author comes out, there I am getting it and reading it. Funny, but I've read books she writes with her other name (her real one apparently) and I didn't like them that much, they were chick lit in paranormal, not a paranormal romance for me. But these books about dragons are romances and funny and the stories keep me addicted to them.

This is the story of Izzy and Éibhear. They've know each other since book #2, when Izzy's mother and Éibhear's brother got together. So they're like uncle and niece...not. There's not really a blood connection between them so the attraction grew but Éibhear has always felt guilty to have not so much innocent thoughts about Izzy. In a previous book, because of a jealous reaction, he has said something about her and she got mad with him, but she never put her feelings for him aside.

In this book, 10 years separate the last time they were together. Now, Éibhear has finally come to terms he really likes Izzy and goes after hr. After this, their relationship changes and at the same time they have to deal with the politics in their world and what is happening to their family.

I absolutely love, adore, I'm crazy over these books! The stories are always funny and interesting to watch. There's a certain sense of family comedy and I eagerly expect each book to know what else is going to happen. I think the author has done a great job in making these books look lighter in terms of content but they are full of family ties, politics, war strategies and brotherly affection. I love to keep seeing beloved characters and what new adventures they get themselves into.

The main couple..I wanted their story since it became obvious they were meant to be together, and I was quite expectant to see how the author would deal with and I was surprised to see how easily it all was. I guess if i could change something is how they accepted the evolution in their romance, I thought it was treated too lightly and I think it would have suited them a little bit more of seriousness, considering how much time it took them to acknowledge it and to live it.

There's many sub plots around, and we keep seeing how the younger cousins are getting by. in this book we seem preparing for their lives and now I can't barely wait for anew book where I can know what is happening to them.

Several other characters make an appearance and it's always a pleasure to see them to.

I liked this book a lot and recommend it to anyone who enjoys paranormal, comedy and dragons. Loved it!

I really think the author is doing her best in this series. She writes great stories, very adventurous and with a cast of characters that grows on you. I hope she keeps writing this for a long, long time.

Quick new comments

I was raised for battle. And as the first daughter of a warrior family, I've earned my reputation the hard way. Yet now I fight alongside uncivilized male Northland dragons who think a female is only good for breeding and waiting back home in the cave. But it's the foolish and foolhardy who would try to stop me, Rhona the Fearless, from doing what I do best - destroying the enemies of my kind. So the smartest thing wily barbarian Vigholf the Abhorrent can do for me is stay out of my way as we risk all on a deadly mission in enemy territory. I don't care if he's fascinated by me, even though he is as attractive as he is resourceful. He's having far too much fun putting me in difficult situations and testing my sense of duty to the limit. And I'm going to enjoy challenging his insufferable confidence, outwitting his schemes, and making him surrender in the wildest ways...

Comment: I loved, loved, loved this book. I really liked seeing so many subplots taking place and how everything worked out. So good to see beloved characters and new ones, who might become protagonists. I think this is the best series with dragons I'm currently reading. Love this world, it's auto buy for me at this point.

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The first time he laid eyes on her she had come to his rescue with a sword in her hand. Still Morvan Fitzwaryn had never seen any woman who aroused his interest and his passion more than the unconventional Breton warrior beauty. Anna de Leon took him into her castle and nursed him back to health, little knowing the spark of desire she was feeding with her caring ministrations. It wasn't long before Morvan had vowed to protect and conquer this unconquerable woman with all the sensual weapons at his disposal.

For her part, Anna de Leon had no interest in men as lovers or husbands. She was used to commanding men in battle. But she suddenly had the strange feeling that her well-fortified defenses could be breached by this dark-eyed, smolderingly handsome English knight. When her castle is besieged by an old enemy who claims both her and her lands, Anna finds she has no choice but to accept Morvan's aid -- even if the enemy outside her walls is no match for the ally within, who with every tantalizing kiss and forbidden embrace threatens to make her a prisoner of her own fiery passion.

Comment: I like this author but I must say, in small doses. She's not my favourite wrioting historicals, being them medieval or regency. In this book I was often divided between hapy for Anna for being independent and resigned to see her capitulate part of it because of the times she was living in. Anyway, the romance was convincing and in the end I had a good time reading it. Also, it was good to see past characters. I alway love that in my books!