
After having reading the entire series of LOTR and Harry Potter,and never taking a liking to Terry Pratchett, I believed that I had read all there was to be read in fantasty fiction. At the end there are only so many underdog heroes, dark lords and imaginary worlds that you can take. But the beauty of fantasy fiction has always been in the power of magic and the belief that such a world could exist. And I missed the craziness and wonder of it all.
I thought it was time for me to go back and pick up something from the genre – so I spotted this book on the library shelf and brought it home with me.
The first thing that I realized when I was through 30-40 odd pages was that this was a romance – a mills-and-boons romance no less – and the whole fantasry world is woven around it.
There is this drop dead gorgeous , heroine, Princess Maricara and then there is this drop-dead gorgeous hero , Lord Kimber. They both bristle with beauty and arrogance and are rulers in their own world whose lives come together when they need to defend their race. The Drakons.
Drakons are creatures who can turn from human to smoke to dragons and vice versa.The Sanf imincus have risen are out to slay the dragons and erase them from this world. The two surviving kingdoms of the drakons must join forces and fight against these.
All the ingredients of a good fantasty fiction world are there – the mythical creatures , the power of magic with the drakons, the ring to bind them all (oops..in this case the drumer..the stone that can rule the drakons). There are loyalties to be questioned, there is jealousy an betrayel.But in admist all this tension and mounting crisis – the leaders must seduce each other because the law demands that they be together(seriously??!!), make love and when time permits prepare for the battle!
I do get that its a romance novel, but the romance is so cliched and sort of comes in way of whole crisis in the dragon world. I mean if the end of your kind and your carefully protected world was near would you seriously be romancing the first hot female dragon you see. Sheesh.
Needless to say I am disappointed. And I dont mean this as any offense to the writer or fantasy fiction readers. This books is a page turner and gripping too. But in this category – there are so many more better writers and stories out there.
Verdict : Skip it


Having seen this book hugely recommended on various blogs, it did not take me long to get this on my library request queue. Did I think it was worth the reviews? Absolutely.
I almost squealed with delight when I saw this book in the library. No, I had never heard of it nor anyone had ever recommended it to me. But what made me happy was that this book was written by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. Till I read this book , I had no clue that they were colleagues or even friends!!
I have read several Irish writers but would put up Frank McCourt’s book on the top of my list. Read Angela’s Ashes to get an understanding on certain ethos of Irish culture , but beware, several critics have aimed at this being biased.


Note: We are back from our long hiatus – a lot has happened in the past 3-4 weeks. We have relocated to a new continent and are now residing in the state of Missouri, USA. How long we are going to be here – well really don’t know
Afghanistan : The Kite Runner , Khaled Hosseini Birlliant storytelling – must read for everyone. Our review is at http://shadesofwords09.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/the-kite-runner-a-novel-by-khaled-hosseini/
Australia – 48 Shades of Brown , Nick Earls A funny coming age of story based in Australia. Not one of the best written but definitely a good light read. Our review at http://shadesofwords09.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/48-shades-of-brown/
United Kingdom - The Code of the Woosters, PG Wodehouse Needs no introduction – probably most representative of wry British humour – if you havent read Wodehouse then you haven’t laughed. Really. Our review at http://shadesofwords09.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/the-code-of-the-woosters/