Disappointing
|
|
I absolutely LOVED The Smoke Thief, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on Zane's story, but it didn't engage me as it's predescessor had. The couple didn't sizzle even a fraction of the way that Rue and Kit did; I didn't get the feeling that they were *meant to be* at all. And it seemed to me that Shana Abe often got caught up in her indulgent flowery prose and forgot to move the plot along. It was definitely frustrating more often than not. After laboriously dragging the reader to the story's conclusion (which was VERY late in coming), there was no time to deal with the romance portion of the story. We're left with the notion that the couple ran off to be together, but it was very unsatisfactory and felt unfinished.
|
|
The Thief and the Dragon
|
This is the second in a series by Shana Abé about the clan that live in remote northern England - the clan has a secret, that they possess the ability to Turn into smoke or dragons. Unfortunately not all of the clan can Turn, Lady Amalia Langford, daughter of the hero and heroine of the first book in this series (The Smoke Thief), isn't able to. However Amalia, or Lia, is keeping some secrets - although she can't Turn she seems to be having dreams about the future and they involve Zane, a human and a master thief.
Zane and Lia find themselves travelling to the Carpathian mountains in search of a special diamond, known as Draumr, which has the power to enslave her kind, the Drákon. They soon find themselves in company with others of Amalia's kind - who may not be peaceful toward them. Zane's position as one of the few humans to know about the Drákon tribe means that his life may well be forfeit and Lia's window into the future shows her that things will not be good. For Zane, finding the diamond will bring him riches, but Lia knows that if Zane has it her future will not be good.
This book is a very easy read, even if the first book in the series hasn't been read. Amalia and Zane are both great characters with Zane particularly an amalgamation of the events of his difficult childhood and his own mental strength and resourcefulness. The romance side of this book takes a back seat against the actions, including travelling by coach into central Europe, meeting other dragons and finding the diamond, and in some ways the romance isn't very well fleshed out, but it's an enjoyable read and an interesting twist on the dragon legends.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, www.curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2007
|
|
The Dream Thief
|
The Dream Thief is another great book by Shana. I enjoyed this just as much as I did the Smoke Thief. It's a gothic romance with a fantasy twist - I hope this is a series and Shana writes another one.
This book is about the youngest daughter of the hero and heroine of the Smoke Thief. She is unable to TURN into smoke or Drakon, unlike her other siblings and they believe her to be powerless. However she has kept a fews secrets from them - such as she can tell the future through her dreams and knows from these there is a threat to her family in the future, she hears the song of the Draumr (Dream Stone) which is a diamond that can enslave the Drakon and has been missing for hundreds of years, and she is also destined to be with Zane the young rascal from the Smoke Thief now grown up into a master criminal and the eyes and ears of the Drakon in the outside world.
The rest of the Drakon start to hear the calling song of the dream stone and decide to send Zane to find and retrieve it for them, not informing him that the stone can control them!
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada