Half-human and half-wyr, Pia Giovanni spent her life keeping a low profile among the wyrkind and avoiding the continuing conflict between them and their Dark Fae enemies. But after being blackmailed into stealing a coin from the hoard of a dragon, Pia finds herself targeted by one of the most powerful–and passionate—of the Elder Races.
As the most feared and respected of the wyrkind, Dragos Cuelebre cannot believe someone had the audacity to steal from him, much less succeed. And when he catches the thief, Dragos spares her life, claiming her as his own to further explore the desire they’ve ignited in one another.
As the most feared and respected of the wyrkind, Dragos Cuelebre cannot believe someone had the audacity to steal from him, much less succeed. And when he catches the thief, Dragos spares her life, claiming her as his own to further explore the desire they’ve ignited in one another.
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This books suffers from two things - two unfortunate things - that caused me to wait a while to read it. 1) bad back cover blurb and 2) too much hype.
I know, I can already here you asking - how can there be too MUCH hype? Well I'm telling you that if I hear/read/whatever too many glowing amazing reviews for a book then I am less likely to read it. I become filled with foreboding, the sense that a book cannot possibly live up to all the good things said about it. And once I reach that point I don't want to waste time on a book that obviously must have something wrong with it, or why else would everyone be talking about how fantastic it is?
And #1 is another important consideration for me in terms of whether I read a book or not. The way the set-up is written you get the feeling that Dragos is going to be an ass and Pia is going to be persecuted, meaning that most of the book will be spent with her trying to convince him of her innocence and him riding the jack-assery train straight to hell.
Luckily both of my problems quickly became non-problems as I realized Dragon Bound really is that good. Instead of falling into the theif vs curmudgeon trope, we have two characters who use their brains and hearts when in consideration of each other. Pia stole a coin because it was the most innocuous thing she could think of to take after being blackmailed and Dragos, once meeting Pia, is quickly more interested in learning why he likes her so much than 'punishing' her about the theft.
Combining two great main characters with just the right touch of fantasy, magic, and shapeshifting results in a wonderful story and what I'd say is a must read for anyone who likes urban fantasy. I'm already half way through the second!
Overall Feeling - Thumbs up.
Series - 1) Dragon Bound 2) Storm's Heart 3) Serpent's Kiss (10/4/2011)
