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aquariandancer's review
4.0
Dragons of Bloodfire Book Three
Aura Ortiz has been running from her secrets for years, but when a Tempus instigates a hunt for Aura as a traitor, she decides to go to an old friend for help. Ryder Magnus has avoided his dragon side for longer than he can remember, but he is outed in front of his class and the world as he begins to shift. However, the media mistakes him for a wolfkin instead of bloodkin. Ryder is joined by his human friend and colleague, Walter, a vampire servant of Aura, Oscar, and Aura herself. Aura convinces Ryder that their only hope is to find the Bastard’s Eye.
If you love dragons, wolves and ancient artifacts, this story is for you!
*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Aura Ortiz has been running from her secrets for years, but when a Tempus instigates a hunt for Aura as a traitor, she decides to go to an old friend for help. Ryder Magnus has avoided his dragon side for longer than he can remember, but he is outed in front of his class and the world as he begins to shift. However, the media mistakes him for a wolfkin instead of bloodkin. Ryder is joined by his human friend and colleague, Walter, a vampire servant of Aura, Oscar, and Aura herself. Aura convinces Ryder that their only hope is to find the Bastard’s Eye.
If you love dragons, wolves and ancient artifacts, this story is for you!
*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
lindca's review
2.0
2.5 stars
I enjoyed the first two books in this series, but this one was a disappointment.
It started off well enough. Ryder was a powerful Bloodkin who lived among humans as an absent-minded professor whose hoard was books and who rescued stray wolfkin orphans on the side. His relationship with his human friends, looking through dragon eyes but trying to understand humans, was really fun. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. Aura, the heroine, had little to recommend her except for her supposedly incredible beauty. She lied, manipulated, and had the emotional range of a potted plant. I never quite believed Ryder and Aura's professed lust, much less love for each other, and the whole business of Aura choosing Ryder's half human friend instead of her supposed fated mate and then avoiding him for a hundred years after her husband's death never rang true.
I think this was at least in part because Kellison wanted to portray the two as non-human in their thoughts and relationships. As Ryder noted, “Bloodkin engaged in a formal courtship that was more a negotiation of assets and compatibility than what humans called being in a relationship. Love was incidental." Unfortunately, it was so incidental as virtually to be absent which made it rather sterile to this very human reader.
Add to this that the antagonist was more petulant brat than worthy foe, the quest was idiotic, and the story just fell completely flat.
I do like this world, though, and will look for the next book in the series, hoping it has some of the fun and likeable characters found in the earlier books but regrettably absent in this one.
I enjoyed the first two books in this series, but this one was a disappointment.
It started off well enough. Ryder was a powerful Bloodkin who lived among humans as an absent-minded professor whose hoard was books and who rescued stray wolfkin orphans on the side. His relationship with his human friends, looking through dragon eyes but trying to understand humans, was really fun. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. Aura, the heroine, had little to recommend her except for her supposedly incredible beauty. She lied, manipulated, and had the emotional range of a potted plant. I never quite believed Ryder and Aura's professed lust, much less love for each other, and the whole business of Aura choosing Ryder's half human friend instead of her supposed fated mate and then avoiding him for a hundred years after her husband's death never rang true.
I think this was at least in part because Kellison wanted to portray the two as non-human in their thoughts and relationships. As Ryder noted, “Bloodkin engaged in a formal courtship that was more a negotiation of assets and compatibility than what humans called being in a relationship. Love was incidental." Unfortunately, it was so incidental as virtually to be absent which made it rather sterile to this very human reader.
Add to this that the antagonist was more petulant brat than worthy foe, the quest was idiotic
Spoiler
Yeah, go retrieve this artifact of power that only certain Bloodkin can reach, knowing that the non-Bloodkin who wants it merely will wait for you to do all the work and then try to snatch it from you. No, it wouldn't have been better to leave it where it had been safe for thousands of years...I do like this world, though, and will look for the next book in the series, hoping it has some of the fun and likeable characters found in the earlier books but regrettably absent in this one.