Made with love
© Victoria Gryson 2024
Dragon mob bosses have zero chill.
A century ago, rips in reality appeared all around the globe, allowing creatures from myth to surge into our world.
Dragons.
Shifters.
Fae.
Witches.
All now walk the earth in an established hierarchy of power. At the bottom of that chain are mixed-species Mutts… like me. My abilities should be minimal. Yet, after an unfortunate run in with a dragon mob boss, the thirst for my blood quickly becomes his obsession. Violence. Seduction. Bitter betrayal. He will stop at nothing to use me as a pawn in his dark agenda. My only ally is Kreed, a pureblood Zavarian, who will push his own annoyance at being saddled with a Mutt aside if it means bringing down the dragons.
But when someone I trust betrays me, suppressed memories resurface to remind me of how destructive my power can be. No matter how I fight it, a rain of ash and blood is coming. When it stills, will I be the healer of the people… or their destruction?
A pleasant surprise! I read the sample and didn’t really know what I could expect, but it was soooo worth reading! It gets a well deserved 4.5*!
Set in an urban fantasy world where you are Pureblood, human or a halfbreed (a Mutt). Where dragons rule territories and are more like mob bosses than anything else.
I found the world very intriguing (I have countless “what if’s” going on regularly :D) and it was fun to read. We learned a lot about the power structure, who is important and who isn’t and had a good feel for the world. No information dump but learning as we continued
It all made sense, the worldbuilding, the scenes and environments, what was going on,… it was really well written.
When you look at the story you have, of course, our two main characters: Nik and Kreed, and then Brutus (yes yes, and Zazu, we really can’t forget about him!). Brutus is like a giant teddy bear, looking ferocious but has a big heart. Kreed is the brooding, good looking but cold counter to Nik’s cautious (or absolutely not) and flammable self.
The characters grow throughout the story, not only towards each other but also in themselves. Being with others changes them (in a good way) while still being true to themselves. I loved it! Nik isn’t a damsel in distress, though she welcomes the help Kreed and Brutus can give her.
They feel real and believable, even the side characters. While we don’t know that much yet about the “bad guy” (except that he’s an evil bastard), we know enough to root for team Nik!
The book had me in its clutches from the get-go 😀
The pacing was great, never too slow or too much but with some time between so you could catch your breath.
The book itself was well written with no (noticeable) errors.
It is 326 pages long, spread over 21 chapters and told from Nik’s point of view.
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book (courtesy of the author and Booksirens) and as I already said, it was a very pleasant surprise! The book and characters felt well fleshed out and the author put a lot of thought into it. It had me hooked in no time 😀
I’m very much looking forward to book nr 2. Recommended!
© Victoria Gryson 2024