Blood Oath (The Darkest Drae, #1) by Raye Wagner and Kelly St.CLare // Long Review Ahead!!
January 02, 2018
// Goodreads //
// Buy on Amazon //
Genre: Fantasy/YA
Rating: 5 Stars (but if i could give it 10 stars, i would)
Dark Fantasy.
Dragons. Intrigue. Romance.
More than anything, I crave adventure. But in the disease ridden land of Verald, life is mapped out much like the well-established rings of our kingdom.
At the very heart reigns our vicious king and Lord Irrik, an invincible dragon shifter, at his side. Their power poisons the land and the people, leading to a steadily mounting number of enemies.
But change is coming.
When the rebellion surges, the king strikes back. Captured by Lord Irrik, I'm suddenly embroiled in a deadly game. One where I'm desperate to understand the rules.
Because I'm not only fighting for my life . . . but also a love that could be the very key to my freedom.
More than anything, I crave adventure. But in the disease ridden land of Verald, life is mapped out much like the well-established rings of our kingdom.
At the very heart reigns our vicious king and Lord Irrik, an invincible dragon shifter, at his side. Their power poisons the land and the people, leading to a steadily mounting number of enemies.
But change is coming.
When the rebellion surges, the king strikes back. Captured by Lord Irrik, I'm suddenly embroiled in a deadly game. One where I'm desperate to understand the rules.
Because I'm not only fighting for my life . . . but also a love that could be the very key to my freedom.
Review:
I just
recently found this book by accident on Amazon and decided to give it shot
because it had Dragons. Anything that has Dragons is awesome. Now combine Dragons
+ one Mad King + tons of Romance + Rebels and you’ve got yourself a truly powerful
book. I could not put it down; my hands wouldn’t allow it. I was enthralled by
it from page one until the very end. And look at the cover as well, I mean it’s
extraordinary.
Blood Oath
is a book written by two authors: Raye Wagner and Kelly St.Clare. (Two authors
that I would love to be friends with because if this story came out of their
heads, I can’t even imagine how cool they must be.). Exhibit A - Look at this Quote below...
He hadn’t
warmed the bath water, and I could only guess that meant . . .
“You’re not
going to try to breed with me, right?” I asked, determined to know my fate. The
idea of being intimate with the Drae was terrifying for more reasons than I
wanted to consider .
Irrik’s
features hardened. “Are you asking me this because I didn’t heat your bath
water ?”
“No.” Okay,
maybe that was a leap .
The whole
book takes place in a world taken hostage by its king. The peasants have no
food and the country is slowly starving itself. The king is hated and feared,
but a rebel force is rising to take him down. It follows a girl called
Ryn that thinks she’s an ordinary girl that happens to kill every plant she touches. Totally normal. One day she finds herself face to face with a Drae (A Dragon
Shifter called Irrik that works for the king). And he happens to be as handsome
as he is Deadly. After that, she’s taken to the king and discovers that she’s
everything but ordinary. In fact, she’s as deadly as the Drae. She’s a (wait,
let me check my notes because it’s a complicated name) Phaetyn. Where she is
light and life the Drae is darkness and death. They were meant to be each other’s
enemy, but in the presence of a bigger threat they must join forces.
As a
protagonist, Ryn was amazeballs. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a character that
made me this thrilled to read about. She’s a girl that tends to talk too much
when she is in dangerous situations, kills every plant on site and despites potatoes.
She’s truly interesting. I was engrossed by her from the very beginning. She’s
sarcastic and funny without even trying too hard. She gets herself into absurd
situations all the time but always manages to come out of them, unharmed or
otherwise, and always with a smartass answer to give. She was well constructed,
her personality shined trough in every moment and her defiance was
extraordinary. She did not give up once in the entire book. And trust me, she
was beaten, cut, almost drowned, betrayed, had spiders in her ears, witnessed loved
ones dying and lived in a cell for a long time. She suffered a ton. But did she
loose her fight? Nope, she just fought harder and harder.
I would do
everything the king told me, everything. I would make him think I was the most
compliant prisoner ever. I wouldn’t ask for anything more than what they gave,
and I wouldn’t put anyone I loved at risk. I would be patient until the moment
was perfect. Then, I’d make sure they all paid .
I just love
Dragons. The idea of them as these regal creatures is just badass. So, having a
Dragon Shifter that happens to be real pretty, had me surrendered. Irrik is a
Drae that has a blood oath with the King, he sworn he would never disobey him,
otherwise he would suffer. It’s complicated for Irrik to want to protect Ryn
and at the same time having to follow the King’s orders to hurt her. He can
bend his orders of course, but he can never disobey completely. I really liked
his personality and it complemented Ryn’s beautifully. As I mentioned, he’s
supposed to be the darkness to Ryn’s light. Consequently, it was great seeing
them bicker the whole book. He was real patient all the time, unless he was
ripping a poor guy’s head off his shoulder with his enormous Dragon paws. Irrik
was an amazing character, he was loyal and did everything in his power to
shield Ryn for the abuse of the king. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t,
but he still tried. And, it was super cool to read about how when he lost
control he would partially shift in to the Dragon side of him. He was also so clever and managed to play the king during the whole book. Urgh, I can’t
wait for the next book to read more about him and his past.
I glared at
Irrik, hating him for making me feel weak. If he were one centimeter closer,
I’d punch him. Maybe. “I was laughing at you,”
I snapped. “ Dimwit .”
The Drae
clutched my elbow. “I don’t see the humor in the joke, Khosana .”
He wore his
usual black aketon, but an equally dark expression was in position on his face
today, too. Despite his obvious brooding, the Drae remained alert, his muscles
coiled, anticipating attack .
I batted my eyes at him. “Oh, do go on. I love
when you talk Drae to me .”
All the
other characters, they were so well constructed, It left me super impressed. The
rebels, the bad guys, the king, Ryn’s mother. All of them had something to hide
which created a story filled to the brim with mysteries. Some of them are super
obvious, but some aren’t, and you just need to pay attention to every single
word. Otherwise you’ll get played. (Like me, I admit). So, pay attention!!
The romance was beautiful. It wasn’t a in YOUR FACE kind of romance, it was more
slowly built and more intense. It wasn’t only with Ryn and Irrik, but with Ryn
and Tyr as well. And no, it’s not a love triangle. AS I SAID, PAY ATTENTION AND
YOU SHALL UNDERSTAND…. I am a sucker for romance, and this one was just
perfect, it complemented the book and it didn’t draw any attention for the main
goal. Which is the end the King. But it did end quite bad in the end, so I am hoping
that in the next book things will improve.
So, this
might just be the biggest review I have ever written, but I really loved this
book. It had action scenes where my heart was going to jump out of my chest, it
had scheming and calculating characters I wanted to throw in the sewer, romance
that was truly captivating and a story that lures you in from the first page
and never gets boring. The writing is fast paced, provocative and so funny. These
two authors are now in my radar and they did an splendid job. I can’t wait for
the next one… I shall leave the next
cover here so you can see how beautiful It is.
(OMG, FANGIRL WITH ME PLEASE)
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