Bring the Heat (Dragon Kin Book 9)

This is a great story, but there were too many lose ends to play with. I will try my best not to include spoilers.Once again we are in the crazy world of the Dragonkin. We learn how the family have moved on over the last few year: basically since the Riders of the Plains arrived into their lives. Those ladies rock by the way, with a level of crazy that makes Annwyl look normal! They were definitely part of the comic relief, that make GAA books so hilarious.I loved the romance between Brannie & Aiden. Its a slow burner, with Brannie being her obstinate Cadwaladr self. Funny, tender and a bit surreal. I also loved that we met old friends: Bercelak, Rhiannon, Dagmar & her children (especially her girls), Rhianwen & the TWINS...all of them. Everyone was in great from, with cracking dialogue, mad cap adventures and lots of violence. Exactly what we have come to expect of the DragonKin, their family and friends.So why only 4 *. I know that this was one of the last stories in this series and I am sorry about that. There are still too many lose ends. Add to that, I want more of this crazy world and people. G.A.Aiken has created some of the funniest, violent and escapist literature I have ever read. I would like more. I also feel that there was too much going on, and this meant I was jumping around trying to remember why different people acted in a particular way.As for the story line about Ren of the Chosen.......( no spoilers, but a bit lame!).So :* What exactly is Brigida up to?* When do we get a story about Izzy being the Dragons God Champion* What about stories for Talwyn & Talan, or Rhianwen?That's my (personal) peeve, of what was a good story, but not a great one.

Sadly, Ms Laurenston/G A Aiken has gone the same way here as has happened with her Pride books. Once you have built your world, how do you concentrate on just two characters as the main story? The last pride book I read (and I have now given up on that series), there were 20 to 30 named characters. Therefore, the actual romance and characterisation of the putative two leads was perfunctory at most, as well as boring and bland and predictable (ie. not worth reading). Well, the leads here have the same problem. I guess the dragon series has run out of steam(!) - unless we're going to be subjected to 'children of' - here's desperately hoping we don't get the JR Ward-style dreadfulness for that. Another author who write sub stories/full novels about her individual angel and vampire cast of characters handles this all a lot better.

Four and a half stars.This book brings to a climax the arc of the Zealots and the god Chramnesind as Queen Annwyl the Bloody and the dragons of Garbhan Isle together with Queen Rhiannon and all the characters we have met in the past eight books draw together for the final conflict. This is an epic book, don't even try to read it if you haven't read the previous books, all our old favourites are back to do battle. Annwyl gets dragged into a well and disappears. Dagmar Reinholdt and her cohorts are plotting, the Cadwaladrs are their usual blood-thirsty selves and we see the Mi-runach and the Daughters of the Steppes. G.A. Aiken brings all of these fantastic characters to life so vividly and weaves the strands of their stories together in the tradition of some of the great fantasy novelists of my childhood.At the personal level, Captain Branwen the Awful and her best friend Aidan the Divine have been fighting side by side against the Zealots. After Chramnesind's priests level the mountains as far as the eye can see, Aidan, Brannie and two of Aidan's Mi-runach brothers Caswyn and Uther drag themselves from the rubble and flee the approaching Zealot army, only to run into Rhiannon's youngest daughter Keita the Viper. The foursome are ordered to protect Keita as she undertakes a dangerous mission.To do all of the different threads true justice this book needed to be twice as long (I wouldn't have minded). There was just so much going on that the romance between Branwen and Aidan didn't really take off for me. There didn't seem to be any great love between them, just two best friends who kind of slipped into love by accident. I also thought that, and probably intentionally, this book wasn't as laugh out loud funny as some of the others. Sure, Keita, Uther and Caswyn provided some light relief, and the Daughters of the Steppes are always good value, but overall this was a more sombre book as befits the climax of a story arc about a vicious cult.I really liked this but I didn't love it. Branwen and Aidan just weren't strong enough characters in my opinion, Keita really stole the show from them even though it wasn't her book. But it was a strong fitting end to the Zealots, although it looks like there might be more trouble on the horizon ...I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is the culmination of the last several Dragon kin books the war with the blind God Charissumund (sorry if misspelled) and Queen Annwyl the Bloody and all her allies. The twists and turns this book takes are amazing and you do not see what's coming next. As the book begins the Allies have forced the cult of Charissumunds back into their own territory where the final battle which will decide everybody's fate will take place. Before the Allies can react the cult unleashes a spell which decimates Annwyls forces (Dragon and human a!ike), everybody is taken by surprise and with no time to react some are separated from the main forces with no clear way of reuniting and regrouping. Those left behind will have to adjust and carry on with the plan to beat Charissumund and his forces once and for all. Hoping and praying that those who are missing are still out there somewhere near by safe and in no danger. To say more would be to give spoilers suffice to say that everybody from the previous books gets an mention and have some part to play in the coming battle and don't worry as I did that this is the end of the Dragon Kin, it is merely the end of this storyline the Author does give us little teasers at the end of the book that there are more stories to come. Well worth the wait.