The Dragon Lord's Daughters
by Bertrice Small

List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $2.30
You Save: $12.70 (85%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of The Dragon Lord's Daughters

Book Review: Where's the beef?
Summary: 3 Stars

The problem with this book, as with "Vixens", is that the individual stories are so short that they don't allow for proper character or plot development. To use "Averil" as an example, Averil is "bride-napped" by the illegitimate Rhys FitzHugh on the suggestion of his dying father. In just a few pages the two are married in front of the King of Wales and haughty Averil seems to have resigned herself to her fate. According to the back-cover blurb, Rhys must now win his prickly bride's "love, loyalty, and trust". Of course that's not especially difficult in the Bertrice Small universe --- all it takes is two steamy sex scenes and Averil is madly in love with her husband, not to mention pregnant. (Guys in the real world must be wishing it could be that easy.) The sketchy "obstacle" (the elderly nursemaid Rhawn) is quickly dealt with, the legitimate half-sister dies of a remarkably fast-moving ague, and lo and behold the illegitimate Rhys becomes both master of the estate and a father within a few paragraphs of each other. All this is very quickly and sparsely sketched out by Small; the only things that really get any detail are the frequent sex scenes. I realize that this is Small's specialty, but I still would have liked to see the characters and plots fleshed out more. As it stands, the heroines are cliched ciphers with none of the spirit or fire of, say, Skye O'Malley or Janet Leslie/Cyra ("The Kadin" --- one of my all-time favorites).

I hate to say it but Small's work is, like many others before her, becoming formulaic --- I guess when you've done this for so long you hit a rut eventually. If "Skye O'Malley" and "The Kadin" were rich, satisfying meals,"The Dragon Lord's Daughters" is spun sugar; sweet, light, and enjoyable, but it leaves you hungry.

Summary of The Dragon Lord's Daughters

Mythology Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Mythology
• Romance > Fantasy & Futuristic
• Historical