Lord’s Fall by Thea Harrison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The best of Thea Harrison’s Elder Races books so far. Revisiting Dragos and Pia wasn’t at all tedious like I’d expected it to be. In fact, I liked both characters much more than I had when I read Dragon Bound. Maybe it was due to my familiarity with the world at this point – far less info dumping. However, it probably had more to do with the fact that both characters were more rational and less annoying. Dragos wasn’t stalkery-controlling (as much) and Pia wasn’t wimpy and….irritating.
The premise is that Dragos is staging a massive competition to replace two Sentinels, in the style of a set of gladiator-esque Games. There is something about competition brackets that I love. I can’t explain it but it probably has a lot to do with my also OCD obsession with lists. I live for lists.
Anyway, while this is happening the dragon’s mate, Pia, is traveling to the Elves to negotiate the end of a trade embargo. The embargo/trade parts (and really any of the practical business related bits) make no sense, but the book had to have some weaknesses. Everything else was pretty strong, including the cast of characters only just introduced in this book. There is even a pegasus. And a kraken for crying out loud. A KRAKEN. Stop it Thea Harrison. You are making me gushy about a romance novel that features pregnancy bits (vom). Stop it right now. p.s. next time moar kraken pls.