10/16/13

TBR Challenge Review: Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison

Format: Mass market. Also available in ebook.
Pub Date: May 2011
Publisher: Berkley (Penguin)
Length: 312 pages
FTC: Purchased myself. From Borders. :(
Why it was in the TBR: Lots of squeeing online about how different/fantastic/etc.

I've been trying to get in the mood to read this book since it came out.  I must have picked it up three or four times at least only to put it right back down again. The beginning few paragraphs just didn't hook me. In fact, this time, it probably took me at least 10 pages before I was at all interested in what was going on. If it weren't for the TBR Challenge, I'd have put it down again.

A lot happens in this book. There's a thief going on the lam; there's the capture of said thief. There's an attack by elves, a car wreck, capture by goblins, Fae shenanigans... There's plenty of action (both sexual and not) but there is very little emotion. At least for me. Things happen to Pia, but we don't really see her fall in love. She tells us she's falling in love, but we don't see it. Perhaps the pace just wouldn't work for more emotional scenes, but the frantic episodic nature of the book didn't do justice to the romance. For adventure/fantasy fans, there's plenty to like here, though.

Personally, I really didn't find Dragon Bound all that ground breaking. Katie MacAlister has been writing about dragons for some time now, and some of the best fantasy books have a similar romantic arc.  There were a *few* twists that made this one unusual, but it wasn't the genre busting book I had hoped for. Still, it was compelling enough to make me want to read the next in the series.

My Grade: B-

The Blurb:
Half-human and half-wyr, Pia Giovanni spent her life keeping a low profile among the wyrkind and avoiding the continuing conflict between them and their dark Fae enemies. But after being blackmailed into stealing a coin from the hoard of a dragon, Pia finds herself targeted by one of the most powerful-and passionate-of the Elder races.

6 comments:

  1. I read this for the June RITA challenge. I felt more positive about it than you, but I do agree that we don't see a lot of the falling in love bit. It's pretty much Insta-Love so it's hard to get to the why? in books like this.

    Here's my review: http://lifelovelibrarianship.com/tbr-challenge-lovely-rita-dragon-bound-by-thea-harrison/

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    1. I honestly think I would have liked this more if it hadn't been so hyped.

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  2. Interesting. I have this one in my TBR and I have to admit that I've almost been afraid to read it because it's been so hyped. Maybe for next month's challenge....

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    1. I really, really wanted to love this book. But it's really not all that different from other dragon books I've read.

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  3. Oh man, do I know how you feel. I'm the same way with hyped books - which is why I started to include a "hyped" theme in the challenge. I figure once a year I can finally force myself to read one of those languishing in my TBR....

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    1. I'm trying to figure out why I continue to buy those books. 90% of the time, I end up not being as impressed as everyone else. I guess the occasional happy surprise is worth it, though :)

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