Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️'s Reviews > A Heart of Blood and Ashes

3 Conflicted Stars

Before I get started, I have a confession to make...

When requesting this book from NetGalley, I did not realize that Milla Vane is really Meljean Brook. All I saw were several glittering reviews from some trusted GR friends, the word "Dragons" in the title (more on that later), a hot barbarian on the cover, and the mention of a marriage of convenience in the blurb.

And so this was me:



Now, I have nothing against Meljean Brook. She is a wildly popular author who has written some much-beloved series...

It's just that I have DNF'd book one for two of those series.



After that, I never picked her stuff up again as I figured she just wasn't for me.

But enter NetGalley.
And Dragons.
And Barbarians.
And an arranged marriage.
And I have no self-control.



Plus, it wasn't until after I had already gotten the book from NetGalley that I learned it was authored by Meljean Brook. And, since I've already fucked up my "feedback" average with those fine folks enough already, I figured I should at least give this a shot.

My long-winded point in explaining all this?

Take this review with a grain of salt. Because it's probably just me. And I probably shouldn't have read this being that I already know this author just isn't for me.

But, let's do this anyway. On to my "review."

The first - and perhaps most important, dammit! - thing I want anyone to know is that there are NO actual dragons in this book with Dragons in the title.



Instead, the "dragon" being referred to here is really a squad of barbarian warriors acting as the personal guard of someone royal or important. Or something. And they ride in a formation and "fly" AKA ride. And each warrior is referred to as a part of the "dragon." So-and-so is the wings and so-and-so is the tail. Or something.

But anyway, I digress.

There are no fucking dragons, people. Moving on.

Secondly, the whole time I was reading this book, I found it equal parts enjoyable and yet tedious.

I enjoyed the story line and I enjoyed the characters. And, despite my disappoint that there were no actual dragons to be had here, I really liked Maddek and his metaphorical "Dragon" (AKA his band of warriors). I am always a sucker for the band of brothers/sisters shtick. Because #squadgoals. And the world-building?

Excellent. Truly excellent.

I remember from my attempts at reading Brook's other books that she really does excel at world-building. The magic system and mythology got a little hazy at times, but overall, she does a really great job of building the world without the heavy info-dumping from which a lot of first-in-series books suffer. So bravo. That takes a lot of skill and I truly believe Brook is a talented author.

However.

As great as the world-building was and as much as I enjoyed the characters, I also felt like I never truly got to know them as well as I would have liked. I also never had any problems putting the book down or felt any urgency to pick it back up.

I attribute a lot of that to the aforementioned tediousness, which I feel stemmed from both the writing style and the fact that the romance between Maddek and Yvenne would go one step forward and three steps back all throughout the book.

But before I get into the square dance that was the relationship build here, let's go back to the writing.

Honest to God, I sometimes felt like I was in an episode of Star Wars with Yoda as the narrator.

I mean, read some excerpts with me here, folks:

"So hot and hard he was, Maddek barely trusted himself to touch her."

"Hard Maddek must have slept. He knew not when Yvenne left their bed or their quarters."

"Rough he was, rougher than he'd ever been, his grip tight upon her arms and legs as he held her wrists..."

"So quiet the tent was, only filled with the sound of their breaths."

"How long Yvenne cried, she knew not."

"Patience you must have, my young padawan."



Okay, so obviously that last one was me fucking with you, but still. You get the idea.

Not only did said style make the writing feel stilted to me, but having Yoda-speak so often occur during the (super delayed) sex scenes?



The biggest annoyance to me in the book though, and what is probably my main reason for not rating it higher, is the aforementioned romance square dance.

I felt like Maddek and Yvenne took FOREVER to get anywhere. They kept hashing and rehashing the same shit - Maddek's inability to see past Yvenne's supposed "sly-tongued" nature. Now, I get that this was very important to Maddek's character. His people take lying and the truth VERY seriously. But I feel like they go back and forth about the same conversation for pretty much the entirety of the book.

And despite the fact that Yvenne's sole goal in this whole thing is to get knocked up with an heir, these two don't get really get busy until upwards of 80%. Eighty percent, people.

Now, I am all for a good slow burn every now and then. One of my favorite authors is Mariana Zapata - the QUEEN of the slow burn. But the situation in this book just left me super frustrated.

First it was that they wanted to make sure she wasn't already pregnant.
Then they had to wait for her "moon night."
Then there was a fight scenario.
And then there was me:



Now, I'm not trying to tear this book apart by any means. I DID rate it three stars - which means I "liked it" - I just didn't love it like I was hoping to. As solid as the world building was, it just didn't keep me captivated. As I mentioned earlier, I had no problem putting this book down and had to actually remind myself to pick it back up.

All that said, despite having have mad respect for this author, I truly think it just boils down to something about her writing style and construction just not being for me. But I know a lot of people for whom this book totally worked. And I think anyone interested in this blurb should give it a shot.

***ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***