Off the Bookshelf: NO GOOD DRAGON GOES UNPUNISHED, Rachel Aaron

 

Heartstrikers Book 3

Narrated by Vikas Adam

One evil dragon seer dead. Evil mother dragon overthrown. Friendly dragon apparently, temporarily in control of the Three Sisters clan and willing to be an ally. Mating flight completed. Friendly siblings supporting him.

You'd think everything would be looking up for Julius, the runt of the litter and nice dragon. Nope. Human politics are bad enough, but dragon politics make Washington look like a bunch of kindergarteners with dirty diapers. And then there's the water spirit, Algonquin, who has destroyed the newly awakened Three Sisters and declared war on all dragons. And Algonquin's territory sits in the middle of Heartstriker territory. Not good. Then there are all the assassination attempts and threats on Julius.

All he wants is to spend time with Darcy, but both of them keep getting dragged away by opportunities and duties. Suddenly, Darcy has a chance to be the first Merlin. She's being targeted by a supersoldier with Raven for an advisor, and a snotty mage who considers himself a better choice for that plum role and title.

Warning: you won't like what happens to some of your favorite characters, dragons and humans.

But I've started listening to Book 4, and there's light at the end of the dragon tunnel. Maybe. Of course, with Book 5 waiting ... that might just be a dragon-sized train coming!

Can't wait to find out how this all gets resolved....

Off the Bookshelf: NICE DRAGONS FINISH LAST, by Rachel Aaron

 

Heartstriker series #1

Wry humor, constantly rising stakes, an incredible new zoology thanks to the weirdness of rogue magic, and the incredible worldbuilding where Detroit has turned into a wild west of magic. Love the DFZ books. 

I guess I'm reading backward, because I started with Minimum Wage Magic, and this seems to have come before it, with Heartstriker #1.

Aaron makes you care about her characters from the beginning. Which is good, because poor Julius needs someone rooting for him, from almost before the story begins. The runt of the litter, he's managed to survive by being quiet and lying low -- until his mother, Bethesda Heartstriker, who has dragon-sized ambitions (naturally) locks him into his human form and throws him into the one place on the planet where dragons are outlawed, and gives him a month to prove he's a real dragon (whatever that is) or he'll probably end up a midnight snack. For her!

Things seem to improve, only slightly, when he meets a mage named Darcy -- until all her problems, starting with a gangster on her tail, catch up with them. One simple little job, to start proving himself, turns into a nail-biting adventure that could get them both killed a dozen times over. Then dragon politics get involved and things get really dicey ...

Fun. I'm addicted. Thank goodness I have another Audible credit in my account, because once I catch up on my podcasts, I'll need another dose of the DFZ and dragons.