Fury of Fire by Coreene Callahan

Fury of Fire by Coreene Callahan

Book Stats:

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Amazon Publishing
Release date: February 7, 2012

Series: Dragronfury #1

Reviewed by: Stéphanie

Source: Amazon Kindle

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

A clandestine race of half-dragon, half-humans known as dragon-shifters lives among us. Bastian, leader of the Nightfury dragon clan, is sworn to protect humankind at all costs. For him, honor and duty always come first. When the clan dictates he take a human mate to sire a son, he falters, aware that for a human to birth a dragon-shifter she must die. Myst, the woman given into his care, is the most extraordinary he’s ever met, and though he can’t bear the thought of harming her he is bound by duty.

Myst loves her life in the human world, but Bastian has captured her heart in an instant of electric connection. But Bastian and his warriors are in the middle of a deadly battle with the Razorback dragon-shifters, intent on killing every Nightfury clan member—and the humans they protect—the fate of their world and ours hangs in the balance.

An extraordinary blend of action, fantasy, and steamy romance, Fury of Fire brings to life a dangerous new world intertwined with the survival of humanity, all while exploring the meaning of honor and the nature of true love.

This is the first book of the Dragonfury series, which also happens to be the author’s first published work. In this story, we are introduced to a special group of warriors who happen to be dragonkind, a half human, and half dragon species. These warriors call themselves the Nightfuries, and have given themselves the duty to defend humans by fighting the Razorbacks, a group of rogue dragonkind who use and kill women for their power. The Razorbacks are also trying to wipe humankind from the earth.

The author has created a unique kind of shape-shifter world. Oddly, the dragonkind are a male only species—there are no female dragons. These males must depend on human females to extract power from the Meridian which allows them to feed and heal themselves. This Meridian, which links every live thing to the earth, undergoes a special alignment twice a year. The dragonkind are only fertile during these alignments, and if they decide to breed, the female will get pregnant. Unfortunately, carrying a dragonkind baby is very difficult and leads to the death of the mother during childbirth.

At first, this whole concept felt very sexist because, truthfully, why shouldn’t females be dragon shape-shifters too? And those dragonkind males! They’re so domineering and possessive of their females, to the point where one would attack a brother if he simply touched his female. And seriously, “feeding” from women only? Another sexist checkmark in my book.

But as I read and got to know these strong and sexy dragonkind males, they grew on me. Their alpha-male attitude is a theme we’ve been seeing a lot in paranormal romance lately, but for some reason, it never fails to entertain me. In this book, Bastien, the main male character, obviously cares a lot about his female and tends to show it by being overprotective. As the leader of the Nightfuries, Bastien takes his role very seriously and tries to lead by example. He is conflicted because his kind, even if they live for many years, is slowly dying off. Their role as warriors is taking a toll on their numbers and he’s decided to breed with a human female, Myst Monroe, whom he believes is his the perfect mate. Not only is she perfect for him, but they have completed a very unique and rare bond. Unfortunately, he doesn’t want her to die in childbirth, which will probably happen if she gets pregnant.

I loved the romance story between Bastien and Myst. I thought it was well thought out and put together. However, the action scenes seemed to lack maturity and refinement. At times, it felt like words just put together in a rush and I couldn’t get a clear image of what was going on. Obviously, the author spent more time and words on the romance, and that might have been the favourable way to go. The love and romantic scenes were pretty perfect and made me love the two main characters. Evidently, their story isn’t finished in this book and will be continued in future releases.

I also really liked the secondary characters, and some of them will obviously have their own lead in future books. One can only hope that their stories will be as enjoyable as this one. The second book, Fury of Ice, will be released June 5^th, 2012.

Posted by Unknown at 07:00

 Coreene Callahan, Dragon, Review  5 People left their mark