Flora's Musings...: Flora Reviews... Dragon On Top (Dragon Kin #0.4) by G.A. Aiken

Dragon On Top (Dragon Kin #0.4)

Read: 18^th – 22^nd October 2015

Format: Kindle

My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars

...So what’s this book about?

This novella was originally published in September 2011 as part of the four story anthology “Supernatural” and is a prequel story in G.A. Aiken’s popular Dragon Kin series. It is a paranormal romance story based in a world of dragon shape-shifters and I must confess to have never read any of the Dragon Kin books before.

The official blurb says:

Try a little dragon tenderness.

I am Glheanna the Decimator. I am a warrior. A soldier. I know no fear. No pain. No mercy. I do, however, know acute embarrassment! How could I not after getting dumped by a bastard dragon in front of my own troops? So I tuck tail and return to my cave, drowning my sorrows in ale—as is my family's way. But instead of leaving me to my misery, I've been summoned to the Dragon Queen's court.

As if my life wasn't pathetic enough, Her Majesty now has me escorting the highborn Bram the Merciful through dangerous territories—not exactly the best use of my military training. And just so he can negotiate with enemy dragons instead of battling them? Honestly, what has my world come to? Then again…Bram is quite easy on the eyes. And the perfect distraction for what ails me. Perhaps I'm looking at all this the wrong way. Maybe there is a place for a little “mercy” in my life…

The publication date for this book is 27^th October 2015 but I was lucky enough to be given this book for free from the publisher via Netgally.com in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you.

...So, what did I like about it?

I found Ms Aiken’s writing style very easy to read and although I haven’t read any of her Dragon Kin Series before I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was submerged into the world.

I do like my female characters to be intelligent, resilient and with a good sense of humour and I wasn’t disappointed here. Ghleanna was all of these and more, of course she could kick-ass but she also had a hidden vulnerability that added a further depth of realism to her character. Bram, as her “love interest” was just as engaging and complex. In fact, I liked the way that all of the characters in this story were written, none of them were flat 2-dimensional creations which helped them to become real to me and so engage me in the story.

I also appreciated the fact that the background story/adventure was just as significant in this tale as the romance between Ghleanna and Bram. So often in paranormal romance stories the authors forget that we (the reader) want to be gripped by the whole experience; an engaging narrative that’s more than just X meets Y and they fall in love.

...So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?

Not really, no.

This book only missed out on a 5 star review from me because at the beginning I found it difficult to work out the whole dragon/human image and form the scenes in my own imagination. However, I must say that by the time I was halfway through this wasn’t a problem.

When talking about her series’ reading order, Ms Aiken does say on her website :

I, personally, prefer the order in which the books were written because I tease or hint about the romances of the older dragons during the full-length novels. Then in the anthos, some of the humor payoff comes out of having read those novels first.

...So, basically what I’m saying is...

This is a highly entertaining, well written and engaging novella. It is first-rate paranormal romance story with an attention-grabbing background adventure to boot that fans of this genre will enjoy.

The Dragon Kin series is already a firm favourite with many, I can now see why and after reading this story I will be seeking out the other books in this series to read too!