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34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Upsetting Third Drakon Book Severely Disappoints, January 5, 2008
***SPOILERS***
After very much enjoying both The Dream Thief and The Smoke Thief, I was greatly anticipating Queen of Dragons. From the very beginning, however, I found myself not as connected to the story. Part of that may be due to the fact that I honestly don't remember much about Princess Maricara from the last book, and this one starts off expecting us to. Part of it may be due to the fact that Maricara is not an easy person to sympathize with and relate to. She is immediately portrayed as different from the rest of the Drakon, and although I normally sympathize with the outsider, she comes across as cold and distant and unlikeable. Sure, she was forced to marry the evil and abusive leader of the Carpathian Drakon when she was only nine and I'm sure suffered greatly at his hands, but Shana Abe's writing is rather vague and distant and detached about all this. I wasn't sure how much her horrible marriage affected Maricara (although I'm sure it was supposed to) because the character herself never really talked or thought about it. And the fact that it wasn't dealt with more just made me confused and frustrated.
Another problem I had with this book, which is a problem that I've had with the other two but which seemed more glaringly obvious and outrageous, is the lack of choice given to the female characters. Despite being forced into a marriage and raped by her husband (she was only nine- of course it was rape, but again all this was just hinted at vaguely) Maricara was then betrothed without her knowledge or consent at the age of FIFTEEN. It was hard enough to read about what was hinted about regarding her marriage at nine, but for then the alleged good guys to turn around and do the same thing was just appalling and disgusting to me. And all that happens by page 11, at which time I was immediately pre-disposed to hating not just our hero, but all the men of the drakon council who agreed to this, and the entire drakon society for allowing this to happen to a child. Needless to say, the romance didn't work for me at all. It's a romance book, after all, so it's no surprise that they eventually fall in love, but Kimber spent most of the book chasing her and contemplating imprisoning her, and that just isn't a convincing story of love for me.
The other part of the story is the plot about the sanf inimicus- the group of drakon hunters. Although they've been inactive, but known about until recently at the Carpathian Mountains, their presence is a new and scary threat to the once invincible English drakon. A young drakon girl goes missing, and then Kimber's brother is taken as well, but NOTHING happens with this story line beyond a minor skirmish. The fact that nothing was resolved about the sanf inimicus may be the most frustrating aspect about this novel. Queen of Dragons is set up and written so that you believe the big confrontation with the sanf inimicus will happen, but that's not true. Nothing happens beyond a brief fight with a small number of their group. No questions are answered.
Kimber's parents have also gone missing in the very beginning and that mystery is left dangling for the next book or two. Other characters make mysterious appearances, but nothing is explained or resolved. I could hardly believe it when I got to the last page- it felt like a hundred or more pages were missing. It was beyond frustrating. I remembered the first two books being mostly stand alone with a little hinted about for the next, but nothing like what happened here. It was seriously upsetting, and has left me questioning whether I'm going to continue reading a series where only more questions are asked rather than answered.
After delivering two good, solid books in this series, Shana Abe's third Drakon book severely disappoints. Characters are not well developed, not understandable, not relatable and not even likable. The romance felt too coerced and unsettling for me to enjoy. The male dominated drakon society led by an entirely male council which essentially imprisons the drakon in Darkfrith -just made me increasingly angry. And lastly, the plot about drakon hunters which is what I believed this book was about, was never dealt with. I would advise against reading Queen of Dragons altogether, but at the very least until the next book is published.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Hard to finish, January 20, 2008
~Potential spoilers~
I think the most frustrating part of this book is the lack of finished story lines. Um, where did Kimber's parents go? Why? What's the deal with Lia and Zane? Why is Kimber so upset his parents left? What's Audrey's problem? Why do all of Mari's people hate/fear her? Why does she change into a dragon in her sleep? How does that get fixed? Why is she the only one who does this? Is she supposed to sleep in a dragon escape proof room the rest of her life? What happened to her parents? And what's the deal with her brother. OH! and why did Rhys poof into Kimber and Mari's room? Why do the British dragons seem to think it's OK to take over another group and unilaterally decide who that other group's leader will marry?
I've read the previous two books. I really enjoyed the first one. The second is hazy and I don't remember being very impressed. But this one is just plain confusing. From the beginning I had no real idea what was going on. And nothing ever really got explained. As a previous reviewer said, some things that were pretty important to the story were barely touched on. Some things weren't discussed at all.
I found this book to be frustrating and almost gave up a couple of times. I didn't like the hero or the heroine. Actually, it's more like I didn't care about them. There was him chasing her, her not wanting to be trapped again, they sleep together, she is kidnapped and poof they are in love....it's almost like this book was cut in half and all the important stuff was left out.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Third book in the Drákon series, December 25, 2007
This story is the third in Shana Abé's engaging Drákon series, the follow up to "The Smoke Thief" and "The Dream Thief". The Drákon are a race of people who appear human but have the ability to turn into dragons or smoke, although these abilities are gradually becoming less common amongst the Drákon. The previous two books have identified two different communities of Drákon, the first living at Darkfrith in England and the second in Transylvania.
The heroine of this story is Princess Maricara of Transylvania, the child bride of the ruler of the lost drákon tribe. That ruler, Imre, was killed in "The Dream Thief" and the Princess was left to rule alone at the age of fifteen. As the main part of this story starts, Maricara is nineteen and is troubled by her own people and by various English Drákon attempting to find her castle in Transylvania and being killed on the way. She decides that she has to leave her brother in charge of the community and to travel to Darkfrith in England to warn the Drákon there of the existence of Dragon Hunters.
Once she arrives, however, she discovers she's meant to marry the Alpha of the Darkfrith group, Kimber Langford, Earl of Chasen. It's also clear that the Darkfrith Drákon have plans to annex the Transylvania Drákon and can't be trusted. Maricara doesn't understand or abide by their rules which have been created to avoid detection and she has a problem in that she seems to sleepwalk into her dragon form, causing carnage. Can she and Kimber protect the Drákon from those hunting them down, and who is behind their pursuers? And can Maricara learn to accept her apparent role as wife of the Alpha in England?
This story is written in the same atmospheric and enjoyable style as the previous two books. The world of the Drákon with their Smoke and Dragon forms is fascinating, with beautifully written descriptions of them flying. The conflict between what they want and what is necessary for their kind is also well written although the love story aspect of this story didn't work quite as well for me. I also found it a little disappointing that the book didn't reach a complete resolution and that there were several question marks over things that had happened in the story which weren't explained fully. The book seemed to be setting the reader up for another book with Kimber's brother Rhys and possibly more from Zane who featured briefly in this book. It was a good read, as the other two have been, but also less satisfying, but will no doubt still be enjoyable to fans Shana Abé's Drákon world.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, www.curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2007
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