Customer Reviews

The Dragon's Lair

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was immediately drawn into the drama of The Dragon's Lair within the first few pages of the book, and found this novel very hard to put down. The Star Wars-like setting evolved into a very human drama that was sometimes violent but always passionate and gripping. The battle between moving forward with a life that Skye Dakota deserved and being dragged back into her violent past was fascinating, and showed just how fragile the boundary between good and evil, past and present, can be. There were many twists in the plot that I found surprising, all the way to the end.

What a masterpiece! I've never been so anxious for a sequel to be published. Skye Dakota is such a well-rounded character that you can reach out and touch her, know her world, see inside her mind. Surrounding Skye are her some of the most unsavory characters in fiction, yet we are able to scratch away at the exteriors and make up our own minds about their nature. We are able to see the 'underneath', not only of the characters but the dangerous world Skye has built herself. I especially liked the characters of Rapture and Zander, and what they brought to the story. This wonderful novel, which everyone should read, is a flat-out emotional rollercoaster that will keep you gripped and heart-wrentched until the very last word. It's shocking, touching, and definitely not to be missed!

My reading habits had grown stale--mostly British mysteries and spy thrillers so I was looking for new adventure. I found it immediately in this scifi/fantasy suspenseful novel by Ms.Guilfoil. Her well crafted writing showing me all the characters' desires and ambitions through their dialog and actions kept me turning the pages of this very satisfying read. I cared what was going to happen because I was allowed to see what drove this crew of spacers-and in particular, the main character Skye-who struggles so hard to bury her dark side yet learns to embrace that frightening strength to battle for herself-for her friends and their future. Maddeningly, enough tantalizing glimpses of future adventures and possiblities for the survivors are set in motion by this adept writer that I hope the next adventure is not long in coming.

Whoever wrote that this book is a "masterpiece" must be related to the author. I mean, c'mon. Really. Besides, don't you think if it were the hottest ticket in town a major publisher would have snarfed it up?

Okay, so it didn't start out bad. As a matter of fact the first scene was pretty promising, and even a chapter or two past that, but then it started going downhill. For one thing, it got really repetative and moved too slow. It was like being beat over the head with information the author already told us before and I kept waiting for something new to happen.

There was a lot of tiresome listening to the internal reasoning of the characters, especially the bar owner (the chick who's supposed to be so tough but gets the sh*t beaten out of her), instead of well crafted action and dialog which would have been a more interesting way of letting readers get to know the players.

Over all it was uneven, picking up at places and getting a bit more interesting for a little while, only to fall back into long dream sequences (also repetitive) and other scenes that doled out information already known.

And I didn't think the teaser/blurb was very accurate. So it's supposed to be about this tough female smuggler who can handle herself and is stringing along two guys (using them) but those two guys are hardly in it at all, and to tell you the truth, I thought the female smuggler was a wimp. She didn't come across as all that tough and when things did get tough she drowned her angst in alcohol and a whole lot of thinging about how she better get her act together and do something. Eventually she does, but eventually is the operative word there.

Meanwhile you're wanting to kick her (or the writer) in the a*s and tell them to get on with things. I mean, we got the idea already: her past was painful. We get it.

But it's mostly about how getting beaten up brings back bad memories of a past lover who was a sadist and this really freaks out the bar owner chick. And a lot of the characters aren't very rounded, either. They're sort of more like charicatures: the thug, the loyal friend, the gangland boss, the ditzy waitress, the employee "secretly" in love with bar owner chick, etc., etc. It's like the writer took some workshop where she was told certain types of books need certain character types and plugged them right in.

And what's with the telepath who's always conveniently out of the scene when his being there would tip the bar owner off? Too contrived. Why have the telepath at all? To make it seem more "sci-fi?" So much of it just seemed too forced.

It's not going to engage the typical reader of science fiction and I don't think it's going to engage the average fantasy reader either. It's definitely fiction for readers who don't want to think too hard, though.

I think this author should maybe try romance novels instead of science fiction (and I don't think this is even really science fiction; it's more like a character study that just happens to take place in space) and make her stories a lot shorter. Learn to cut to the chase. Longer books are great if the writing's artful but this just wasn't.