Series: Shadowsword’s Harem
Release Date: January 2nd, 2018
Every day my father and I protect each other from the dragon shifters who’ll stop at nothing to see us dead.
Until he’s captured.
Pursued for powers they’re convinced I shouldn’t have, the only ones who can help are my childhood friend who’s half-werewolf, and a mysterious dragon shifter with a secret agenda.
When a new evil rises, the danger is greater than ever, and one thing is certain. My father and I are both running out of time.
****Dragonsteel is the first book in the Shadowsword’s Harem series. It’s a full-length, Reverse Harem, Urban Fantasy Romance. The harem will be introduced slowly as the series unfolds. Contains some violence and sexual situations.
Cliffhanger
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
• Heroine’s father disappeared 7 years ago (Flashbacks)
• Violence including murder
• No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does not have a separation between the Heroes and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Dragonsteel felt like a prologue to the series since there were so many flashbacks that “explained” the heroine, Helena’s current predicament (you’ll see what I mean with the quotation marks later on). Honestly, going into this book, I was expecting a kickass heroine. I also expected Helena to know everything about the paranormal world except her own species (what she is) and where her father had disappeared to seven years ago (Helena is at present 26)–the latter being the main concern in Dragonsteel.
The bulk of the plot revolves around Helena’s father and why they are being hunted by Dragonlords (misogynistic, elitist assholes). This was accomplished through flashbacks to when Helena was very young (in her pre-teen years) and also her present actions–she is a monster hunter after all. Now, for how awesome Dragonsteel could have been, I found it lacking, mainly because the plot is built on Helena knowing nothing that’s important and all the bad guys (and the “heroes” too) rubbing it in her face. Even her own father refused to explain why they were really running for their lives (guess he never heard that knowledge is power). Also, he would lock Helena in magic muting cuffs when she threw magical temper tantrums (I get that he can’t have her using her magic, but she didn’t intend to use her magic). I don’t believe cuffing her–and then leaving her alone while cuffed as you hunted monsters hours away–was ever called for. There seems to be a complete lack of trust and faith in Helena since everyone (literally) “can’t” (won’t) tell her shit.
However, I really did enjoy Helena’s narration of her teenage romance with Hunter–although it left me kind of confused with how they’re friends 10 years later. Also, Helena’s attitude annoyed me a lot with her judgy “hate-on” for all dragonlords (although having just finished the second book, I can say while they all might not be evil, they’re all pretty misogynistic).
Dragonsteel, of course, ends with a cliffhanger that basically compounds how not tough and how subtly, damsel-like Helena is. I’m serious, Baelfire continually uses the “I want to be with him… but it’s too dangerous for him” trope and the “I hate him… but he so sexy” trope (btw for different guys) which completely undermined my opinion of Helena. A heroine who can actually see past the good looks and recognize they’re not OK with a guy’s asshole behaviour, and that she deserves respect is sadly sparse in paranormal (and romance) books.
I have read the second book but to be honest, the actions of the main characters pissed me off so much that I’m not sure I will continue the series.
Note: The rating of Dragonsteel was determined prior to me reading the second book.
