Thursday 20 October 2011

book review (breath of fire)

(read: 19/Oct/11)
                 Breath of Fire

    Prod dets
Pub: 2009, (love Spell) Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
Author: Tammy Kane
Cat: fantasy romance
Format: trade paperback; 291 pp w/ 25 chapters
Whose: Elera & Karl
Age Range: Adult


                Synopsis
When the dragon came to claim him, Karl knew his great plan had gone horribly wrong. If he had known the creature was real, he wouldn’t have scoffed at the villagers...and he certainly wouldn’t have been so quick to let them chain him to a rock. Mattaen Initiates trained as warriors, but no man could defeat a dragon.

“My name is Elera daughter of Shane. And you, Initiate, are my virgin prize.”

She had vanquished the beast and named her price: one night with the virgin sacrifice she’d saved. He’d taken a vow of chastity, but Karl still had a man’s needs—and Elera’s sultry curves made him ache to taste his first woman. With a scorching kiss she shattered his defences...and led him into a world of deception and seduction, where he’s be forced to choose between the brotherhood that had raised him and the woman whose courage set his heart on fire.


            Excerpt

    The Bargain
“I could take you, you know.” Elera whispered, opening her eyes. Her smile was slow. “To my people, that is. And to the place of dragons.”
      His heart pounded. “For what price?”
      When he did not draw back, Elera sat up and traced her fingers over the raging pulse in his throat. She gazed up at him with her answer in her eyes.
      “I will not,” he whispered.
      Elera inclined her head. “A kiss, then. If you cannot resist a simple kiss, Karl, your place is not with the Mattaen.”
      She was holding something back, of that he was certain.
      “No hands,” he said finally, cursing himself for wanting that taste of her as much as he wanted to knowledge she offered.
      Elera nodded. “No hands. Mine, scholar, not yours. Yours may roam as they please.”


                my Thoughts (review)
First thought: (between chapter thirteen to fifteen) it should have been either a romance or a fiction novel. Making it something of both got it lacking so much. Having her mind to over the place rather than focusing on making it just one, make the whole novel lay a little flat.
*****
I really can’t think of what to say to this book. Did I like it? That’s still up for grabs, but I’m putting it out there, this is a kickoff book, something that after I decide I won’t ever read again. There wasn’t anything really interesting about the story line, everything to me ran a little flat, and the sex scenes, where both pulled back to a point where you weren’t a 100% sure what position they were in, and other you knew especially.

It was really all over the place, and made you wonder what she was linking when she wrote it, where she originally wanted to put this book, because it’s a deadline split (in my opinion) between fantasy and romance, and no matter who you are, your books won’t make a whole lot of scene unless you find and stick to one topic.

Saying this, I like that she could have made it much better, but there was too much information, about the world around them, to spilt, and the things that were hidden from the start...well, you didn’t really want to find out, you didn’t care, because the characters themselves never lingered on the thought, never cared, or showed that they cared when the thing was hinted on.

It was also the same when it came to the feeling between them, you had no really idea (other than the obvious that they were going to get together at the end—seriously it is a romance) what they felt for each other. Like at the beginning, it was going okay, he hated her for taking everything that he was, and yet he still cared, and that confusion came across, slightly, real slightly.

It I’m honest I’d say that the whole book ran flat, the world—which was mostly because of the characters. You can tell she put thought into the back story. into the world and yet you didn’t care all that much to for it, because she didn’t do the characters well, they had a joy, and yet it wasn’t transmitted to the pages in the way that would makes you enjoy it right along with the characters who’s seeing it all for the first time. There was none of that and I feel that that’s why it didn’t work.

But it’s wasn’t that back, I finished the book, though it wasn’t gripping, I didn’t have to finish it. There wasn’t any pull to know what happens throughout the story, nor was there any real guess in how they would get together—or again, maybe it was more that you just didn’t care.

To me this book was a fantasy because calling it a romance would make it a crap ass book, and it wasn’t, the world was amazing, well thought out, and shown in a way that got you seeing it. The idea behind the dragons and the riders, the way he was meant to become king, and even the evil in this book was good, his voice was actually heard threw the parts he was in, were all the other weren’t. The ideas behind the ideas where great and that made it okay, but.... yeah, the characters just ruined this book.

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