Friday, June 15, 2007

Master of Dragons by Angela Knight

From the back cover:

The last time fairy princess Nineva Morrow engaged in magic, evil forces rendered her an orphan—isolated and incapable of trusting in anyone's survival. But after years of hiding on Earth, she'll use her powers once more—and attract more knights than she can handle.

Now at the center of a rebellious Mageverse noble's plot and helplessly dominated by a powerful, body-possessing spirit, Nineva's only hope is the smoldering Dragon knight Kel. This renegade of Arthur's court has enough desire to burn down every door to her heart—if the surrounding forces of King Llyr would subside long enough to let him.

The survival of the Mageverse hangs in a passionate balance of entitlement and pleasure, with destruction threatening to bring an entire magical universe to it's knees...


Okay, then. Here we go. Master of Dragons is the newest installment of Knight's Mageverse series. I continue to be amazed at how Knight manages to spin this series. I mean, how often and in how many ways can Avalon be attacked without becoming repetitive? In Master of Dragons there is yet another evil villain who desires nothing more than to bring Avalon to its' knees. And it works.

Dragon Knight Kel was first introduced in Master of Swords. He met Gawain (hero: Master of Swords) and the two instantly form a friendship. The dragons didn't like that too much cuz they hate humans. To make a long story short, Kel was cursed into a sword (for fifteen hundred years) and the only way to get free was to kill Gawain. Which he didn't do. So at the end of Master of Swords, Kel is finally freed. Then he's knighted by Arthur. So he's one happy dragon.

Nineva Morrow was raised by her Sidhe father to fufill her duty as Avalon to the goddess, Semira. Her duty was to free Semira from the sword she was trapped in. Her family had to hide her on mortal Earth because her cousin King Angsar wanted Nineva dead at any cost. So anytime Nineva used magic, her family had to move. Eventually she learned not to use magic at all. That all changed when she was 17. She was backing out of the driveway and ran over her neighbor's dog. She healed it and shit hit the fan.

So here is my #1 bone to pick with this book. And yes, it's shallow as hell. Kel has cobalt hair. Cobalt. Blue. When the guy is in his human form, his hair is fucking blue. He even has blue hair in his nether regions. Every time (which was only once or twice) that hair was described, I giggled. I'm not a giggler, but I fully admit that I giggled. More than once. Can you imagine blue hair down there? Oh and he had red eyes too. Too bad he didn't have a white beard.

Kel called Nineva a professional martyr. That description was spot on. It got a little old after awhile, but whatever. Anyway, Semira is getting weaker and weaker and there is only one way to give her strength. You guessed it; sex with Kel. That's a bit of a a cliché, but hello, he's a dragon and she's a Sidhe princess. I can buy it. Since the day her parents died, Nineva has been having a dream that is both erotic and terrifying. She dreams of having hot sex with her lover, then a dragon is breathing fire on her. Needless to say, she's a little creeped (and freaked) out when the prophecy starts coming true.

Oh, did I mention that Kel got a visit from Cachamwri, the Dragon God? Seems that Cachamwri had a plan, which is why he let Kel get imprisoned in the sword. See, it's his destiny to protect the Sidhe Princess and prevent the Dark Ones from destroying Avalon, thus destroying mortal Earth.

After reading Demon Moon which was 500 pages, this book seemed really short. It's amazing how much stuff is crammed into this book which is a smidge under 300 pages. And it didn't seem rushed at all. There were vampires, Knights of the Roundtable, Dire Wolves, Sidhe warriors, dragons. It was pretty action packed.

Oh did I mention the villain in this book? He's pretty psycho. He's the product of rape. Angsar (the bad guy in Master of the Moon) raped his mom, who then understandably instilled him with a hatred of his father. She then turned him into a psycho just like his daddy. He then killed his own mother when he decided to go after the Sidhe King. So he's pretty fucked up.

There were some funny parts too, which I love. When Kel and Nineva went back to the Dragon Lands to enlist their help, they were in Soren's cave (a good dragon) when his apprentice came in. She was an 800 year old dragon, but was about 18 years old in human years. So she looks and Nineva and squeals "It's so small!". Yeah, that cracked me up. Because I just kept picturing these three dragons in a cave with a human that was probably smaller than one of their claws.

I'm not sure what's next in the series, but there are several character choices. Personally I would like to see the Court Seducer whose name I can't remember. There's also Soren (my first choice), though I don't think Knight will go for another dragon hero quite yet.

4 out of 5 stars.

7 comments:

Rowena said...

Another great review Casee...I read the entire thing word for word and almost wanted to read it, the only thing holding me back is the damn dragons, vampires and Sidhe peeps, I told you Casee that I'm taking a break from them, remember?

Pimp some straight up human action books will ya? haha.

What are you reading next?

Rowena said...

...oh and another thing, BLUE HAIR down there? Holy shit, I'm still giggling....blue hair down there, haha.

Casee said...

Yes, BLUE hair. I'm still giggling, too! LOL

Dude, I didn't know you were taking a break from paranormal until yesterday.

I'm reading Forbidden Pleasures by Lora Leigh now. I have a few contemps I just got from amazon. I'll move them up just for you. I feel like I have to repay you for all this ego stroking. *g*

Kris said...

That was a fun book. I liked it and i smiled trying to picture blue hair there too. Angela Knight amazes me on how she can keep this series going. But I love it.

Kris said...

As far as the next book goes, i do not know if she will do Soren just because he is pretty much with Morgana, or maybe just a friends with benefits thing. But whoever it is I will definitely read it.

~ames~ said...

Ok, I stopped reading AK a while ago, but I read your review before I went to the store...and then I bought this book. LOL

Rowena said...

LOL, not the ego stroking! I just like reading reviews and you write good ones, that's it! =)

LMAO Ames, only you...STOP BUYING BOOKS!