Customer Reviews

The Dragon Lord's Daughters

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When I purchased this book, I had no idea who Beatrice Small was, or what type of book she normally writes. I grabbed it because of the story summary on the cover. The book tells the tale of 3 young women who all descend directly from the bloodline of King Arthur. The girls Averil, Maia, and Junia each have different mothers and the same father. Each is described as unique in appearance and as each of them prepare to marry they face their own unique circumstances. Averil is kidnapped by a young man looking to find a wife with a land dowery; Maia (and here the King Arthur bit came more into play) falls in love with a faceless man in her dreams - refusing all others and chosing to wait for the day he rides through the gates; and Junia who falls in love with a man from a family feuding with the Pendragons for over a century. Each story line is interesting and the book reads fast and keeps your attention. However, despite the lean toward historical fiction - and in the case of Maia, the definate sci-fi tilt to the story, this is definately a romance novel. I must admit that I found the ending a bit sugar coated and some of the love scenes and wording to be more "lonely housewife" than I would have preferred. There is one rape scene that I could have lived without and I was not thrilled that the woman in question continued to "love" the rapist - I think there is no place for any such suggestion in any type of literature, but that's a personal belief - you decide for yourself. If you want a tale about King Arthur - this is NOT it. If you want a decent, enjoyable read - it's not a bad choice. Knowing now that Ms. Small writes romance novels (despite any efforts at an historical twist) I would assume this is the only book of her's I shall read...but it wasn't a bad choice, just a bit predictable perhaps.

This was my first Bertrice Small book and I thought it was a very good book. My favorite character was Averil, her story was the best. I found Maia to be a bit whiny, but her hero Emrys was so cool! At first I was very disgusted with the rape of Junia, but when you think about it, it's very historically acurate. Most of the women in that time period had to endure rape, especially from their own husbands! And the fact that these women rise above their curcumstances and remain brave makes them heros in my heart.

Beatrice Small weaves a new tale conjured from the mists of Avalon. We are introduced to the descendants of Pendragon, three daughters from the Camelot line.

Averil The Eldest daughter is a great beauty, but bears the shame of being illegitimate. Her great beauty ensures she will make a good marriage and she works hard to make the best match she can. But fate steps in, spinning her life onto a path she did not foresee. Thinking to better his lot in life, a poor bailiff Rhys Fitzhugh, decides to abduct and heiress thinking they will be forced to wed. He kidnaps Averil not realizing she is not the legal heir. Once comes to face the fact he goofed, he must set about to win a very angry Averil's heart. It's great fun and well penned 'taming of the shrew' Camelot style.

The second tale concerns Maia - the legitimate heiress. Maia loves Emrys Lynn, the descendent of Lancelot and the Lady of the Lake. There are tales about Emrys' previous wives and their deaths and rumors Emrys is an immortal, but Maia is convinced love will solve all.

The last tale about the youngest daughter, Junia. She loves her freedom and roams the countryside. She meets Richard De Bohun, falls in love with him and continues to meet him on the sly, because he is the son of her father's powerful enemy. Little knows Junia, that she is risking her whole family by her secret love.

It's a heady mix of myth, sensuality and the love of three very strong women. Dead on target! An excellent addition to Grail fiction.

"The Dragon Lord's Daughters" is Bertrice Small's return to the short-stories-within-a-story format she used in "Vixens". Unfortunately, it doesn't work any better here than it did there. "Daughters" tells the stories of the three daughters of King Arthur's descendant Merin Pendragon: Averil, the beautiful and haughty eldest; Maia, the middle and only legitimate daughter; and Junia, the impetuous youngest girl. (April, May, and June; how --- ahem --- clever.) Each girl hopes for a fine and noble husband, but that's not always what they end up with.

The problem with this book, as with "Vixens", is that the individual stories are so short that they don't allow for proper character or plot development. To use "Averil" as an example, Averil is "bride-napped" by the illegitimate Rhys FitzHugh on the suggestion of his dying father. In just a few pages the two are married in front of the King of Wales and haughty Averil seems to have resigned herself to her fate. According to the back-cover blurb, Rhys must now win his prickly bride's "love, loyalty, and trust". Of course that's not especially difficult in the Bertrice Small universe --- all it takes is two steamy sex scenes and Averil is madly in love with her husband, not to mention pregnant. (Guys in the real world must be wishing it could be that easy.) The sketchy "obstacle" (the elderly nursemaid Rhawn) is quickly dealt with, the legitimate half-sister dies of a remarkably fast-moving ague, and lo and behold the illegitimate Rhys becomes both master of the estate and a father within a few paragraphs of each other. All this is very quickly and sparsely sketched out by Small; the only things that really get any detail are the frequent sex scenes. I realize that this is Small's specialty, but I still would have liked to see the characters and plots fleshed out more. As it stands, the heroines are cliched ciphers with none of the spirit or fire of, say, Skye O'Malley or Janet Leslie/Cyra ("The Kadin" --- one of my all-time favorites).

I hate to say it but Small's work is, like many others before her, becoming formulaic --- I guess when you've done this for so long you hit a rut eventually. If "Skye O'Malley" and "The Kadin" were rich, satisfying meals,"The Dragon Lord's Daughters" is spun sugar; sweet, light, and enjoyable, but it leaves you hungry.

This was totally turgid. Wading through crudity and uninteresting characters just because they are supposed to be the descendants of King Arthur is NOT entertaining.

The violence and rape is gratuitous and the 'deflowering' of each girl is formulaic and about as romantic as discussing the laundry. Which they do at length.

The introduction is a rehash of Arthur pulling the sword from the stone to become king. Then we get his decendants hundreds of years later? Who cares-there is nothing mythological or magical about any of them. The three novellas have as much depth to them or their characters as a puddle. Killing off the little sister Mary so the hero can be 'someone' in the first novella is absurd and crass and covered in about a paragraph. It all goes downhill from there. Give us romances where we see the couple really falling in love. You can possible cover a year of marriage in less than 80 pages and leave the reader satisfied on even the most basic level.

this is a good story.it begins by telling how Merin Pendragon came to be, by a young lady named lynior whom arthur got pregnant. she is hidden away, and she and arthur never see each other again. It does'nt go into specifics how far ahead that lynior came from so i'm guessing that she is probably a great great great grandmother to merin and his children. Averil, is the eldest, although she is illegitemate, she is very beautiful, and she wishes to marry a powerful lord, but she gets kidnapped, by rhys fitzhugh a young poor bailiif trying to better his situation. Averil and rhys end up falling in love by the end.
Maia is merin's legitemate daughter who falls in love with a man who remains faceless in her dreams. Even after they are married, maia and emrys (maia's husband) have a hard time being together, because emrys's mother is the jealous and immortal lady of the lake. Maia goes through some tests to prove to the lady of the lake that she is worthy off her son.Junia I have not read about yet, but this is an engrossing read from start to finish

I had looked forward to something new by Ms. Small, but I didn't like the novella style of the book. There is no time for major character development that I love from her previous works. Also the endings of each story leave much to be desired. The sex scenes are starting to become short and predictable in most cases. I read the book, but came away wanting much more from my favorite author.

I loved Bertrice Small's books. And I keep on buying them hoping that she will get back to writing. This book, and others that she has written lately, is more like copy what she has done before, paraphrase, and ship it out.

I think many buyers are like me. They want the old Bertrice back and keep on buying her books hoping that this one is it! Unfortunately, this book is boring. I didn't even finish it.

I was so disappointed -- I know I have read other things by Bertrice Small that I liked. By the end of the first novella I was feeling like I was reading someone's first attempt at writing a romance. No character development, extremely stiff dialogue, and some odd forays into vulgar references here and there that seemed completely out of place. At times I felt like I was reading bad porn. Very immature writing.

Based on the bad reviews I didn't think I would like this book, so I put off reading it for a while. I was so suprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I read it in one day - I couldn't put it down.

Avril's story could have been longer, Maia's story was sweet, but it was Junia's story that really made the book for me. I think Ms. Small should have made it into three full length books - I wanted to read more about each sister.

I didn't like the ending very much - it felt rushed, but this book was very entertaining, IMO. I think it's one of Bertrice Small's best books.