Hell, I wasn't even expecting there to BE a story.
But there was. I know I started out this particular series expressing the sentiment that I didn't want to just keep picking on the author of the books I'd previously recapped, but holy shit did it put things in perspective. I don't mean that this particular story was without flaws, far from it. But it was largely quite well written. Stuff happened Things were seeded into the story and then revisited later. There was motivation and even character development. And the tedious sexual tension was kept in check.
Obviously one of the major problems suffered is the simple fact that this is a romance novel. Except by romance we don't mean two people meet and fall in love. We mean two people meet and then want to fuck. That at least is a constant for the genre. How long they take before they get around to it is a little more variable, as is the amount of unequivocal abuse involved, but thankfully that was also kept to a minimum. The issue is, as always, that upon first meeting there's little reason for the characters to be attracted to each other aside from the fact it's mandated by the plot. Admittedly this is true in a lot of things, but then a lot of things are able to take the time to build up some kind of relationship beyond that initial physical attraction. In this sort of thing the emphasis is firmly on just getting them into bed, and any pretence of actual romance is something of an afterthought.
In this particular case at least it's partly due to actually having a plot to advance. But oddly enough that actually presents a different problem. Because then you've got an actually rather decent plot that's suffering due to the emphasis placed on.... Other things.
Seriously, there's some decent worldbuilding under the surface here, and generally it holds together fairly well. But then they'll spend a whole chapter sexually assaulting someone on top of a giant Naked Mole Rat.
I MEAN WHY?
Dial back on that stuff and put in a bit more character building. Maybe you'll have some room left over to actually finish up the plot. Because for everything else that's decent we've REALLY gotta talk about the ending. What the fuck happened there?
The first and most obvious problem is that of the missing dragon. Remember how the heroes made a daring escape from the ultimate fortress of doom under cover of this previously unknown dragon waking up and going crazy? The remember how it's NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN?!?!
Actually to be fair some random guard casually mentions that it went away. That's not setting things up for the sequel, that's a rather large and angry plot hole. Or Jigglypuff: Warrior Accountant who just kinda drops out halfway through.
Then there's all the other dragons. What are they really doing? What do they really want? It's kinda explained a bit, but again it's all left open for a sequel that will never come. Which I suppose is what led to what, in my opinion, is the biggest mistep of the whole book: Binty not doing the noble thing.
The ending builds up to the fact that Binty is kinda doomed quite well. She's bonded herself to a dragon, and the final result of that is to become one. There's no getting around it and trying to do so will result in BAD THINGS. But more importantly one of the most powerful tools in a tale of romance is that of TRAGEDY. Tragedy is good for romance, because there aren't many things more romantic than doomed relationships. it's why Romeo & Juliet doesn't have a happy ending. But instead she changes her mind at the last minute because someone started talking about sequels. This rather robs the climax of any dramatic impact.
Really, if you cut out the shagging and gave them a few extra chapters to sort out the plot holes you have the makings of a really solid fantasy story. Although I should probably point out that since I'm currently playing Skyrim my head is fairly saturated in epic fantasy world populated with dragons, so that probably did give the book some advantage in hooking into the more evocative sections of my brain. At least for the big fantasy battles and stuff.
The sex, as ever, is glossed over with a few artful euphemisms and little detail. Kinda like how it always fades to black when people get it on in the movies, except it takes longer and sometimes you can see cocks. It's still weird considering that the sex is the main focus in this sort of thing, but then I've been on the internet long enough to know that sometimes you REALLY don't want all the details.
As to whether or not I'll try to do anything like this again.... I really can't say. I mean, even I do find something that looks ridiculous enough, how many more rapeface jokes can you make before it get's old? Not to mention the fact that that would involve actually looking at supernatural romance novels. And that's not a fate I'd wish on anyone.
Wait, what's this in my quest log?
OH GODDAMNIT.
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