Customer Reviews

Destiny Kills (Myth and Magic, Book 1)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book was a pleasant quick read. I've read Keri Arthur's Riley series and I'm a big fan of those. This book just didn't live up to that series.

PROS:

1. There was just enough character and plot development to make this book an enjoyable read. I felt the beginning of the book had a lot of potential and the ideas were good.

2. This was a very light read. While this fact probably leads to my negative points, it is nice to have a light read every once in awhile to clear the brain. However, I wish I'd known to expect this before I started reading as I wasn't looking for such a light read at the time.

CONS:

1. The character plots (especially the romantic element) were resolved too quickly for a series. At the end of this book I was left with no desire to learn more about the main characters. However, if this is a series where we get a different main character each book then I might come back for more. If it's the same characters then I probably won't be back. The one exception is that the book hinted that both the main characters were special/different than most dragons but this was never thoroughly explored. I might come back if this becomes a central theme.

2. Very similar to number one but the plot resolutions were just too easy and quick in general. If not for the sex scenes I'd almost think this book was young adult. There was so much potential and I wish time was taken to explore the characters and cultures in this book. I felt it barely scratched the surface. After reading the Riley series I found this very disappointing.

destiny wakes up on the beach with a dead man beside her and no memory (for awhile)of what happened. the book starts out slow and builds up quite nicely. i love the aspect of dragons,adventure and romance. i did not know this was the start of a series as the ending seemed like a true ending and not open ended like her riley jensen series. overall i liked the book and will invest in the newer chapters of this series.

Keri Arthur writes the kind of books that I have to read in one sitting. And I like to revisit them. I don't get tired of reading them.

Destiny Kills is her latest book, a foray into a different urban fantasy series, this one about sea dragons. Think Loch Ness. Destiny is a sea dragon who can assume human form. She's just escaped from a lab that's been experimenting on her and her family and is running for her life. She meets up with the required male for the romantic element of the story.

I wish I could say it lived up to the Riley books. It had a slow and confusing opening, and I had trouble getting past the first couple of chapters. Nearly a hundred pages passed before it started to get into the story. The characters literally spend most of the novel running from place to place while bits and pieces of Destiny's life laboriously unfolds. There's a stone that's supposed to be an important bargaining chip in the story, and then hardly anything gets done with it. Despite all the chasing around and some action, the pacing was surprisingly slow and often flat.

A disappointing read from an author I like.

Destiny wakes up on a beach with a known male, although he is dead. She doesn't know her name or how she got there.
I admit the opening of the story was a little slow, though mostly i just wanted to know what was happening. All information was layed out though through the chapters. This was the first novel i've ever read about dragons. Sea dragons and air dragons. I thought it was interesting and different. Destiny is a sea dragon that just escaped a research facility doing expirements on her mother, 7 children, the dead air dragon and herself. With the help of Trae, an air dragon, she escapes the clutches of the hunters several times on thier pursute of the truth and opening to the research facility in order to release the dragons. Trae and destiny have unique talents/magic that make the book fun. Their growing relationship and Destiny's memory returning was a good combination. Destiny relives her tsorture and experiences new grief. I enjoyed the book and would definately read the next which involves Trae's sister Mercy.

I would rate this as a 3 1/2 to 4 star read, the storyline was pretty good, I liked the dragon shape shifting theme, but there was an awful lot of running here, running there or maybe I should say, flying/swimming/running here, flying/swimming/running there.

What bugs me the most is, on the front cover of the book it says "She's got a mysterious tattoo, a dangerous secret, and powers far beyond the human..." WHAT TATTOO? Was there a tattoo? Am I crazy? I don't remember reading about a tattoo! On the front cover there is even a picture of what looks like a snake with wings tattoo on a womans bare back. While reading the story I kept expecting a mention of a tattoo, or for a tattoo to mysteriously appear on her back. Excuse the rant, but that is just annoying.

I bought this book and really wanted to like it. Unfortunately, it wasn't my type of book. That is not to say that it isn't well written and suspenseful - it's a good, solidly written story (that's why it merited 4 out of 5 stars). Unfortunately, it didn't quite fit the description released by the publisher. ...I wish the Amazon description and the publisher's description for this book included the information that the main characters are humans who shapeshift into dragons - I wouldn't have purchased the book. I'm not a big fan of shapeshifting fantasy stories. If you like paranormal romance with shapeshifting as a main focus, you'll like this story.

The premise of this book was interesting, a woman wakes up with a dead man next to her, no memory of how they got there. I thought this would be a journey to regain memories and take revenge on whoever killed her man. Instead, the woman meets a new man who isn't very interesting and they run from place to place finally ending up easily taking over the evil scientist antagonist. Yawn. I like that this was about dragons but there just wasn't enough substance here to make a novel. Since the main character regains all of her memories a few pages into the novel there is no mystery. She knows who her enemy is and where the enemy is located. All that is left is going there. This could have been much better. Maybe if the book started with the experiments and being captive, escaping, losing memories, then going back to finish off the baddies it would have been tolerable. I would not recommend this book as a mystery, action, or romance novel.

Keri Arthur is known for her Riley Jenson, Guardian series. 'Destiny Kills' is the first in a very different new series by the author and one which this reader felt is very promising.

Destiny McCree wakes up on a beach with just a dead man for company. Unfortunately she's also lost her memory although she knows she's trying to escape some people who are after her and who were responsible for the death of the man beside her. Fortunately for Destiny she gradually begins to recover her memory, aided by meeting up with Trae Wilson, a master thief who has some secrets like her own.

Destiny and Trae are somewhat more than human and their preternatural abilities are what makes this book such fun. However they both have missions to complete, to rescue those in trouble who are dear to them, and these missions aren't necessarily compatible. As the action moves from Oregon to Loch Ness, we see Destiny at her most resourceful and supported by Trae with his own rather unusual skills.

The book reached a satisfactory conclusion although there was an extra plot thread still to be explored, presumably in the next in the series. Overall this was a really enjoyable read with a lot of action, an interesting premise and a plausible romance. The story was perhaps a little thin on characterisation but the characters were nonetheless appealing and I was rooting for them all the way.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

Not a bad book, very easy to follow. New creatures; not your normal vampire/werewolf types. Definitely a romance formula, but not so much angst it's unbearable. Not much that really pulls the couple together, though. It's just "love at first sight." But the world and mythology are interesting enough for me to want to know what comes next.

This background of this book was an interesting look at legends of Dragons and their interaction between humans. The story itself was a good read and opened the door for the next book. I hope she continues in this series. I have read other work by Keri Arthur and this was a favorite.