Dragons, I love dragons. That’s why I was looking forward to reading this book. Sadly, this book disappointed me to a great extent.



Pros:

Dragons!

I liked the idea of a dragon world called Avaris which was a sister world to Earth. Good idea.

Cons:

Characters- The characters don’t have much depth; we don’t really get a good feeling about them or much character development that isn’t predictable. The author doesn’t make me emphasize with the main characters.

Seren herself really wasn’t a positive female character on Avarice’s world except as a womb. The men were the ones that got things done and had the power. The one time Seren wants to try using her prophetic talent as a job, she’s urged not to by Leo. Seren just ends up being arm candy for Paladin, a womb to carry Legion, and a damsel in distress. Not much of a good female role model.

What I found especially annoying was the interaction between Seren and Paladin. They have hot passionate sex immediately and Seren gets pregnant. No character build-up, no relationship build-up. The fact they have early sex and Seren getting pregnant, effectively destroys all future tension between the couple at the very beginning of the book. However, the author tries to recreate tension between the couple as they are drawn and resist their feelings toward each other, making the scenes very contrived and manipulative.

Here’s basically how Seren’s reaction to Paladin plays out for over half the book:

I want him!

No, I’m ashamed, the maid heard us having sex. I shouldn’t have sex with him.

I want him to touch me!

No, I have to resist because I just shouldn’t feel this way.

But he’s gorgeous!

No. I’m going to return to Earth, I can’t get attached to him.


Here’s how Paladin’s reaction played out for Seren for over half the book:

I want her!

No. I shouldn’t want her, I must think about returning my wife’s dead body to her people.

I can’t get her out of my head!

No. I shouldn’t think of her. I should have never brought her to my world. *thumps chest guiltily*

She makes my loins throb and blood boil!

No. I got her pregnant and she will die because of me! *thumps chest guiltily*

A single sentence would be dropped into a paragraph about how one character felt passionate for the other person, and then immediately Seren or Paladin would push themselves away and deny themselves. I could easily picture in my head an image of the typical heroine with one arm pushing away the hero and her forearm thrown across her forehead exclaiming “no, I can’t!” There was so much “I want you!” then “No! I can’t!” happening, that I felt like I was watching a ping pong match and was going to get whiplash. This went on for at least 145 pages! 145 pages! It got to the point that it was ridiculous. This behavior stopped pretty much after the first half, but then Seren’s desire to return to Earth took over, even though she was in love with Paladin. The emotions now wavered between Seren convincing herself she still wanted to return to Earth and Paladin hardening his heart for Seren’s departure and not telling her he loved her, which is exactly what she wanted to hear. Again more manipulative emotional behavior written into the story for tension causing the story to read 'predictable.' I wanted to roll my eyes.

Sex:
There was a lot of ‘throbbing’ going on between the legs for both Seren and Paladin. In fact the word was much overused. There was also a lot of ‘painful throbbing.’ I don’t know if the author intended for that to be sexy, but that had exactly the opposite effect on me.

World Building:
I liked the world of Avaris; the author had a nice idea. Unfortunately she didn’t go into as much depth about the world as she could have and that was disappointing. It would have been much better if the author had spent more time on the world building and told us a lot more about the dragons considering the dragons seem to be the main reason for all that happens in the book. But we don’t get to learn much about them at all.

Action:
The author went quickly from one scene to the next, especially during the first half. I didn’t mind the numerous scenes; it’s just that I never got pulled deeply into any of them because there were so many. I honestly think a lot of the first half of the book could have been cut out, because the action didn’t get interesting until the second half after we weren’t subjected to the quickly shifting thoughts and desires of the main characters.

I’d give this book one star because of the ping ponging lust between Seren and Paladin which was very aggravating. Also the world and action scenes are glossed over too quickly because of the excessive time spent on the re-creation of the sexual tension after it was given all away the first night they had sex. The romance was also pretty predictable, but because this story has dragons in it and the action got better in the second half, I’ll give it two stars.

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The story is well written and holds you from page one. I look forward to more from this author.
Judith Ledger creates the intricate and fascinating world of Avaris. A placed that is well developed and filled with dragons (great and small), wizards, cat people and another from earth.
A dragonseed's wish can open the gates between realities, can alter fate. But has fate itself decreed this wish? For the throne-less dragonseed's destiny is entwined with that of a mortal mate; their son is fated to be the One True Dragon King to rule over all the dragons. But not all dragons are content to accept one rule, and the rebels quietly gather allies to prevent the birth of Seren's baby
Seren is a psychic from New Orleans on Earth. Her husband divorced her after the death of their daughter. While having a hard time dealing with her visions and grief a doorway is open and she taken from her home and earth.
Paladin is a dragonseed on his way to bury his wife and unborn child when he makes a wish and comes to save Seren and bring her to his world. The two of them must struggle to overcome their painful pasts in order to move forward with trust and love. The secondary characters are just as developed and interesting as Seren and Paladin.

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