Anakisha’s Dragon
Series: Riders of Fire Dragon Masters, #1
Author: Eileen Mueller
Genre: Fantasy
Book Description:
A feisty street fighter avenging her dead brother. A dashing dragon rider in the right place at the wrong time. And an unlikely pirate captain with nothing left to lose.
When Anakisha’s brother is murdered by a gang, she joins the Night Wings, a team of local vigilantes, and takes to the streets to avenge him. With a soft spot for defending underdogs, she’s found her niche.
The Night Wing’s leader is the dreamy golden-haired son of the village arbitrator – a fine catch. If she can impress his father, she can marry him and improve her family’s fortune. But the underbelly of fieldhaven is rife with politics and deceit. Although Anakisha is good with a bow and a dagger, she’s not always the best judge of character…
And her plans do not include a dragon.
But then, the King’s Rider appears on his sleek onyx dragon.
And a bloodthirsty pirate captain rises to power, spreading terror on the Naobian Sea.
Leaving Anakisha torn between her dream and her duty…
Book Review:
I’ve read another novel, and a few novellas, by Eileen, and I went in expecting a relatively light, entertaining read. One with perhaps a bit more romance than is really my thing, but a lot of dragons. One with perhaps a bit of blood and death, main characters who make a few mistakes, maybe semi-major characters who die. I know these things happen in her books. But I expected a fairly tame, light read of a dragon fantasy.
And the idea of an adventurous, stubborn, take-things-in-her-own-hands, with some flaws, sounded appealing. Anakisha seemed to be an interesting character.
I can say I was surprised, to put it mildly.
I had no idea the book was going to take such a dark turn. Apart from the fact it wasn’t what I was looking for at the moment, I enjoyed some of it even so. The two boys, Will and Treyvin, have real personalities, and I enjoyed the genuine combination of something-like-thieves and the very genuine care they display for each other in some pretty rotten situations, along with some very human bickering and blaming each other (some of the blame deserved, some of it maybe not). Will is willing to do some pretty evil things for his chance at money at his family, and for a chance at survival – but I truly loved how loyal he is to Treyvin, and how much of himself he’s willing to give to protect Trevyin – or even just suffer with him when it comes to it – from the bad situation his greed has brought both of them into.
However, I think some of the things that happen to them were described in far more detail and gore than was necessary, especially from something I expected to be a light read – honestly, it was unnecessarily nasty at times.
If I’d expected dark or grimdark fantasy, I might have forgiven it, and I might even have appreciated the villain PoV. However, some of the dark turns Will’s life and choices take are not what I expected from this book at all, and I really didn’t like how his character changed. And the book has some other flaws I wouldn’t pardon in any genre.
Particularly, Anakisha’s character is badly mauled to drag out the angst of the romance plot. She’s supposed to be a relatively strong female character, and she vows to never forgive a particular male from using her for his own ends. But, even when all evidence aligns to say he’s only using her and trying to keep her from being competition for his goals, even when he physically assaults her and it is implied that he would have raped her if someone else had not stopped him, she still listens to him, and lets him argue her back to his side, and almost goes along with him.
I would say that wasn’t the only instance of something that was contrived for the sake of plot, just perhaps the worst. Syan, the onyx dragon king, doesn’t act very much like a King at all sometimes, and some of the ways he and Yanir behaved or responded to other’s behavior seemed far too passive for someone in their position. Far too passive, and far too subservient to human customs and traditions and positions of honor, in a way I would not expect from a king of dragons, long-lived and majestic. Those things should be trivialities that Syan is willing to overturn, and never mind upsetting the arbitrator of some small town – if he is a dragon king.
I also expected there would be more about Anakisha and the dragon queen who imprints with her, Zaarusha. I feel I would have really liked her if she’d acted consistently with the way her character was originally established – not one to see the deception of others easily, but strong and fierce and loyal and independent-minded, free-at-heart. Instead of often feeling like a puppet to hang the plot on whenever that personality became inconvenient and for some reason the hideous “I’d-rather-have-this-slimy-person-who’s-betrayed-me-and-threatened-me-over-the-dragon-rider-I-actually-like” behavior the author used to drag out some parts of the book.
Nonetheless, I can’t stop thinking of some of the interactions between Will and Treyvin with a huge amount of fondness. I really like that kind of loyalty between friends. But it also made me even sadder about the direction Will’s life ends up turning.
Enthralled By Love 