Review: Refreshing take on dragons
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 22, 2013
You'd think being a dragonspeaker and mediator would be glamorous but Myrna Banks' regular day usually involves dealing with copious amounts of vomit, irate clients and paperwork. Her ex-boyfriend, Trian Chobardan, pops up wanting her help even though he stomped all over her heart two years ago when he stole classified documents. Myrna can't resist the opportunity to be involved in something special rather than the usual disputes between dragons and cattle farmers. If she could only resist Trian, she'd be doing well.Myrna is dedicated, skilled at her job and completely unappreciated. When she had to take the fall for Trian's theft, she was demoted to secretary and her dreams of an illustrious career were shattered. I liked that even though she was vastly overqualified for her job, she still took it seriously and did her best. She is plucky but at times too reckless when it comes to bating creatures with large teeth and claws. Myrna slays dragons with her words rather than a sword but don't let that fool you into thinking she's weak. As the story is told from Myrna's humorous point of view we get a good grasp on her as a character. Trian however is a much more mysterious. He is far more reserved than Myrna who wears her heart on her sleeve. He obviously cares about Myrna but isn't exactly sure on how to go about getting her to forgive him. Much of what we do know about him does him credit - he is respected by other dragons, loyal and skilled at fighting. More information about his background would have been welcome because he was genuinely intriguing.The romance was very much `fade to black' and apart from a little kissing, there wasn't much in the way of action. I think this was a fairly sensible decision as explicit sex scenes would have taken attention away from the world Christensen had created. This alternate world was an unexpected delight and truly deserved the spotlight. Dragons, rather than being mythical creatures of old, were test tube babies spawned when a lab assistant failed to properly destroy DNA samples that were meant to cure cancer. Dragons promptly set about conquering the world and collecting shiny things for their hoard. The politics and administration behind such their dominance was fascinating as was the flow on effects.I hope this becomes part of a series as I feel like Christensen is just getting warmed up. It was a really interesting and fun read.