The Dream Thief (Drakon #2)
by Shana Abe
Summary: In the remote hills of northern England lives a powerful clan with a centuries-old secret. They are the drákon, shape-shifters who possess the ability to Turn—changing from human to smoke to dragon. And from the very stones of the earth, they hear hypnotic songs of beauty and wonder. But there is one stone they fear.
Buried deep within the bowels of the Carpathian Mountains lies the legendary dreaming diamond known as Draumr, the only gem with the power to enslave the drákon. Since childhood, Lady Amalia Langford, daughter of the clan's Alpha, has heard its haunting ballad but kept it secret, along with another rare Gift...Lia can hear the future, much in the way she hears the call of Draumr. And in that future, she realizes that the diamond—along with the fate of the drákon—rests in the hands of a human man, one who straddles two worlds.
Ruthlessly clever, Zane has risen through London's criminal underworld to become its ruler. Once a street urchin saved by Lia's mother, Zane is also privy to the secrets of the clan—and is the only human they trust to bring them Draumr. But he does nothing selflessly.
Zane's hunt for the gem takes him to Hungary, where he is shocked to encounter a bold, beautiful young noblewoman: Lia. She has broken every rule of the drákon to join him, driven by the urgent song of Draumr—and her visions of Zane. In one future, he is her ally. In another, her overlord. In both, he is her lover. Now, to protect her tribe, Lia must tie her fate to Zane's, to the one man capable of stealing her future—and destroying her heart.
Source: I purchased a kindle copy.
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Review:
Determined to avoid a book hangover after finishing A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J Maas, I knew I had to venture into another genre and leave YA for a minute. What better way to avoid a book hangover than by reading the beautiful writing of Shana Abe, right? I absolutely adore her YA dragon series, but for some reason the next book is taking LITERALLY AGES to release, so I had to resort to her older historical adult dragon series, which is just as elegantly written. I read the first book, The Smoke Thief, ages ago, but I did purchase the sequel and it's just been kind of sitting on my Kindle waiting for me to be in the mood to read it.
I enjoyed The Dream Thief, probably more than the first novel because I preferred the point of view of Lia. The novels take place much further in the past than I prefer to typically read about. I don't think I'm quite sold on historical fiction, but I really enjoy Shana Abe's writing, so it makes up for the less than ideal time period.
The chemistry between Lia and Zane was awesome. He wasn't drakon, but he was a thief with a lifestyle ill suited for settling down. Not to mention the fact that diluting the drakon bloodlines was kind of not okay at all in Lia's village. However, it was clear that the two were fated to be together. Through Zane and her feelings for him, Lia was able to break open the lock and come into more drakon powers instead of continuing to be useless and not Gifted.
I still prefer Abe's YA series set in the 1900s, but the drakon legends are captivating and I did enjoy The Dream Thief quite a bit. I recommend it, especially if you love historical fiction mixed with paranormal romance. Shana Abe is an amazing author who has such a poetic way with words.
Labels: Fantasy, historical, paranormal romance, Review
