Customer Reviews

The Smoke Thief

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I hate it when a good idea and good writing gets ruined by the misconception that a manipultive, abusive liar is a romantic lead. Christoff repeatedly ignores, insults, and disrepects the heroine. When he finally bullies her into submission, they ride off into the sunset, happy and in love.

In a "passionate" moment, he doesn't care if it is "rape or seduction" as long as he can have sex with Clarissa. Any hero that can confuse rape with passion is no hero.

I like a strong male as the love interest, but when his "strength" destoys her hopes and makes her miserable, I could only feel disgust for him and for her for not having the backbone with him that she had everywhere in the rest of her life.

After finishing THE SMOKE THIEF by Shana Abe', I feel it prudent to report - Ms's. Feehan, Kenyon, and Holly - make some room in the shape-shifters' realm; there is a new kid on the block and she ROCKS! Make room because here come the Drakon's!

They've lived for centuries in northern England's green hills and mountains, guarded, honored and treasured - extraordinarily beautiful and sensual creatures - able to shape-shift from human to dragon and back again. A close tribe that keeps to themselves except for the few that escape - `runners' who are swiftly found, brought back to Darkfrith and punished. Alerted by rumors from London of a jewel thief, `that could disappear in smoke' the Drakon council knew that this was not a human, but another `runner' who had fled Darkfrith without permission. Christoff `Kit' Langford, the Alpha leader and enigmatic Marquess of Langford, knows that the `runner' must be caught before revealing the existence of Drakon's to mortals and planned to dangle the Langford diamond, the tribes' most tempting jewel, as bait in order to trap him. What Christoff, or the council never expected to discover was that the `runner' was not a he but a she.

After years growing up as an outcast in Darkfrith, as a Halfling - half drakon, half mortal - Clarisa Rue Hawthorne on her seventeenth birthday had orchestrated her `death' and fled. Rue knew that a female had not been capable of `Turning' in over four generations and on that day that she had `Turned' -- as an Alpha female - she would be destined to be Kit's bride. After having loved Kit her entire life, she could not have endured being married to him without his love in return. For the last nine years, she had lived in London masquerading as a widow and relished her freedom. When captured by Kit, who in the process lost the famous Langford Diamond, Rue would offer Kit a proposal to help him reclaim the jewel in return for her freedom. Kit accepted her challenge - all the while expecting to win not only the diamond, but something more precious - this most amazingly beautiful woman, Rue, as his willing bride.

- I loved this book! From the very first pages I was totally mesmerized by this fascinating, highly imaginative, and sensually thrilling world of the Drakons. Kit and Rue's sensual dance was exotic, totally bewitching and one, which will leave the reader panting for more. Whether on land or in the air, Shana Abe' has created vivid and exhilarating imagery in the mating dance of the Drakons that is sure to please the most discriminating fans of historical fantasy and catapult this author right up the ranks with the likes of Kenyon, Holly, and Krinard. I for one will be very anxiously awaiting future sequels to this spellbinding new series featuring the Drakons!

I hated this book. I really really hated it, and the fact that I really wanted to like it makes me hate it even more. When I read the back I thought to myself "Hey, shape shifting dragons with some love scenes, what's not to like?" Well, what's not to like is that the female lead is built up to be a strong female, yet shows herself to be weak, ineffectual, and having no willpower. Woo, someone I sure look up to. The male lead repeatedly lies to the female, bullies her, absolutely cares not at all how she feels about a damned thing, and winds up raping her. (if you don't give your partner even a CHANCE to say "no", it's rape.) The "hero" straight up says "I don't care if I'm raping her, as long as I get what I want. Yeah, charming fellow.

One scene that had me wanting to throw the book in the fire was a scene where the "hero" tells the female lead "we're in a hallway where only one of us can fit in here as a dragon, so neener". Does the MORON of a woman say "Hey thanks for telling me!" shapeshift to a dragon and snap him up like a bonbon? NO, she just snivels and gets escorted to the cell. She had NUMEROUS opportunities to do something, anything to get away from that abusive jerk, yet just feebly flaps her wrist and lets herself go along with everything he wants.
Some people will say "Well she loved him!" NO she did NOT. She had a crush on him when she was a young girl, and as an adult has NO clue what kind of man he is. In fact, all the evidence points to him being a big selfish buttwipe, but she falls in love with him anyway? WHAT?
Then there's the shoddy writing. I read quite a bit, it's very easy for me to "fall into" a book, and see things from the character's point of view. This book may as well have been stone for how solidly it remained a book to me. If the characters weren't driving me crazy, the poorly written plot would push me there instead.
So, if you actually enjoy sexy scenes, strong female characters, strong male characters and good storytelling, go read the Dark Jewels books and run the hell away from this one.

I purchased this book because of the great reviews it received. I must say that while I enjoy reading, I did not enjoy this book.

It is a complete copy of Dragonswan (part of the Dark Hunter series) by Sherilyn Kenyon.

Both the hero and the heroine, and the story itself fell short in so many ways. No character development, poor plotline and just plain boring. I kept waiting for something interesting, unique or exciting to happen but it never did. I was so not impressed and disgusted with this book that I sold Dream Thief without reading it.

I would give this book negative 5 stars if I could.

Invest your money in the Dark Hunter series by Sherilyn Kenyon or The Highlander Series by Karen Marie Moning. These series will absolutely not let you down in any way.

It took me two tries to get through this book. I'm not sure how I got through it the second time but I guess I kept thinking that it had to get better. Well, I was wrong. The book starts out slow and limps to the end. There are no "good" or "evil" characters, just unlikable ones. Seriously, how can you like a hero who is a spoiled aristocrat that rapes the heroine? The heroine is a cold, selfish thief. She truely is nothing but a low down thief with apparently few morals. Not a single character shows any growth throughout the book. And for me, the worst thing was that the dragon society was basically a cult.

Spoiler...


There was nothing to root for in this book. The tribe sounded horible and if I had liked Rue, I would have rooted for her to escape it. Instead, it was sickening the way she just meekly goes back and betrays a fellow runner. At the beginning, I thought Kit had potential. He could have used his power to effect a positive change. Instead, he is the enforcer of the cult and sees nothing wrong in it. YUCK!

A surprisingly, light, wonderful read. I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. Actually, I planned only to scan the first few pages to see if it would be interesting since I had nothing better to choose from. Yet, I couldn't put it down from page one. There is plenty of action, suspense, and romance. I love this new interesting world Abe created with shapeshifting dragons. I love the concept with the jewels. I love this new and interesting world, and I can't wait until the continuation.

Shana Abe's "The Smoke Thief" provided me with one of the most enjoyable light, fun reads I have had in a long time. As a matter of fact, I picked-up the book at about 3:00 PM on a rainy afternoon, and except for a dinner break I read straight through to the last page in one sitting. The main characters, both Alpha personalities...one in feminine form, are extremely likeable, (super sexy too), and the little boy urchin, Zane, is adorable - very Dickensian. The author's descriptive paragraphs, especially of the two dragons/drákons, lithe, beautiful, sensual, soaring together through the sky, are absolutely wonderful.

The tale of "The Smoke Thief" takes place in mid-18th century England, however, the beings involved have a history that goes back to a time before mankind walked the earth. These shape-shifters, called drákons, originated deep in the woods of the Carpathian Mountains and here they carved the quartzite, mining diamonds and precious gemstones. They had/have the ability to change from human form to smoke to dragon. When man, the Other, began to encroach on them and their territory, the drákons vanished from the known world. They did not take all their people with them. They left a legacy behind with the castle that was their home-base - one son and one daughter to live and procreate amongst the Others while hiding their true nature from the world. There was one stone, the most precious diamond, called Draumr, that was kept hidden from all the drákons by their High Council. "Too powerful to be destroyed, too dangerous to look upon - because to look at it would be to ache for it." Then their royal princess, beloved by all the shape-shifters, was stolen by a mortal man along with the Draumr, the one thing that would ensorcel her and keep her from returning to her people. Although she eventually found a way to save herself and her kind, along with the precious jewel, she left behind half-blooded children.

Darkfrith, a secluded village in the misty hills of northern England, is the home of the drákons in the world of the 18th century.The males of the drakon tribe are committed to hide their dangerous secret - that they shift their shape from human to dragon and back again. Clarissa Rue Hawthorne, a sensitive young girl living in Darkfrith, is of mixed blood, (part drákon, part mortal). This handicap keeps her apart from other children in the tribe, an outcast. She is the object of derision and constant harassment by the other females because she is different. On her seventeenth birthday she disappears and is presumed drowned when her clothing is found in the river, torn to pieces by the swift current.

Some years later the drákon leaders learn that a mysterious jewel thief, more effective than any cat burglar, is divesting the English nobility of their most precious gems. They realize that only a fellow drákon could disappear into thin air, like smoke. It is essential to their continued existence that the secrecy of their race and its traditions be maintained at all cost and that the drákon runner be captured immediately. Christoff (Kit) Rene Ellery, Marquess of Langford, as Alpha male and leader of the drákons travels to London to hunt down the elusive burglar known as the "Smoke Thief." To his amazement, he discovers that the runner is a female - a female Alpha who can Turn - a phenomenon that has not occurred for centuries.

Paranormal romance fiction lovers - listen-up! From first page to last - UNPUTDOWNABLE! Worth purchasing in hardcover. ENJOY!
JANA

Wow, I grabbed this because I liked the cover. I'd never heard of 'paranormal romance' before, (I work in a bookstore, I grab books at random alot!).

This book turned out way better than anything I was expecting. Normally any romance novel I read I forget about a week or two down the line. This book was different in that the romance took a back seat to the story and actual character development (something completely unheard of in most romance novels).

It's a Cinderella story, a mystery, a romance, historical, paranormal--and an all around good story.

Abe has created a world that I would love to see her explore again, her new take on dragons is amazing, and so totally creative. I am in awe of her word-smithing and would happiy hunt down another one of her books.

I typically do not like romance novels but i do have a live for dragons so this one caught my eye. It was a good book overall but i wuld have suggested a little more after kit and rue finallly decided that they loved each other. It kinda ust left you hanging there in midair. I did find my slef not being able to put in down but when I got to the end I was amazed that she left it that way.

I enjoyed the premise of a shape-shifting dragon romance with an independent female. However, as a sci-fi/fantasy lover and enjoyer of fully fleshed out plot lines, I was disappointed. The heroine was not particularly clever or tough in the end and the hero fell a bit short too. The basic idea and characters were good, enjoyable and promising but both remained simplistic. The follow-through was lacking as development of the story did not progress much and the characters and their relationship did not develop. I hope the next book is better but I'm not sure that I will purchase it, at least not as a hardcover. However, if you enjoy Abe and are not much of a sci-fi/fantasy reader, this is probably a book you would enjoy.