Review: Even Better than I Hoped
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 7, 2013
I am inspired by reading really good fantasy adventure so I was excited to read this story when I read the description. Not to mention there are dragons and a dragon slayer! Wow! This story was also filled with court intrigue, backstabbing, revenge, a two faced monarchy, and a love story. The writing was intense, crisp and clean with the storyline being unusual enough to really grasp my attention and dig in.Ingram is the second son to the king, a brilliant strategist who can't use a sword and faints at the sight of blood. It's no surprise that his father calls him a coward and demeans him at every opportunity, but it's hopelessly sad when all Ingram wants is approval from his father. It doesn't keep him down, though, and Ingram works hard to ignore the hurt and pain but he is also a realist and recognizes the king's character flaws. I thought it was interesting that a prince who doesn't have much to do with court, is still one of the best at recognizing betrayal and lies even though Ingram is incapable of either behavior. Ingram is such a wonderfully good man that I couldn't help but adore him.Lord Mallory is a mystery, which makes him even more attractive. He's an honorable man, who takes protecting his home and his people to be his main priority as lord, although for Ingram that attitude comes as a welcome change to what he's witnessed in the capital. Mallory is fighting hard to protect his people against bandits and even the so-called king's men at the encampment. I liked Mallory, very much. He was real and honest regardless of being a noble, with a true heart worthy of loving Ingram.Now it stands for Ingram to figure out and decide whether the king, his father, is lying to him or if he can truly trust in this man he is married to. For the king wishes to gain control of Mallory's territory and the dragons that live there and it would seem he will stop at nothing including bullying and threatening disinheritance on Ingram if the king doesn't get it. Ingram is going to have to battle his own deepest fears in order to protect the man and people he's grown to love and both he and Mallory will have to wage their biggest fight yet against a creature of myth and legend. There are a lot of secrets that appear to have been hidden for many, many years and Ingram, with Mallory, is going to have to discover them in order to defeat the evil creeping across the land.I adored this story and the very best part is I'm pretty sure there are going to be more books so I can't wait to read more about this world.NOTE: This book was provided by Less Than Three Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews [...]