"Silk & Steel is not a "romance"." ( )

I imagine this is what would happen if you took GOT and reversed the human-dragon proportions, sprinkling some murderous assassin elves on top for that little special something.



Okay, so this one exceeded my expectations, big time. It’s not romance, just like the blurb says, despite the fact the two MCs ‘meet’ quite early in the story (and let me just say that the lack of insta-love was so damn refreshing!) It’s fantasy, with wonderful, elaborate world-buiding and complex characters, and a star-crossed undertone strong enough (and then some!) to carry me through.

It’s clear the author likes to torment her characters, but I sign up for that shit wholeheartedly (as long as there’s HEA to look forward to… but is there?). It’s not only physical - so even better imo - and not all of it centers around the MCs. The universe of Silk & Steel is just fucked up, and that’s the way it is. The book comes with a lot of warnings, but the only thing that came remotely close to testing my limits was the explicit het sex (no judging). Anyway, these are dragons, not humans, and so the things unacceptable to us are pretty normal to them - including inbreeding to strengthen their lines, and culling their offspring. As similar as their appearance may be to that of a human, in the end, it’s only a disguise. And even though Lysander is completely different from his sociopathic whore of a mommy, at his core he’s still a dragon.



Similarly, elves have their own set of morals, and they're far from the gentle magical creatures we’re used to - especially after years and years under the dragons’ rule. They’re tough; survivors in a world that would see every single one of them tortured and killed. But after the bitch-queen’s death, Eroan no longer fits in among them, visibly suffering from survivor’s guilt that shapes his character just as much as Lysander’s abuse at his family's hands shaped him.

The character development is spectacular here, every hardship adding one layer or stripping another, until by the end of the book, they’re completely different from the men they were before. And if ever someone deserved to get a break, it’s these boys! ( )

I can't believe this book was so good? Maybe it's just my excitement talking since I just finished, but omfg I'm so overwhelmed by it. Thank God I have kindle unlimited, I can't wait to start Iron & Fire! ( )

DNF @66%

I should've stopped way sooner. I really should have.
I read the sample, it was awesome, so I bought it on a whim. I wanted something not contemporary, and something that's plot-driven. This fit the bill perfectly.

My review is full of spoilers, read it at your own peril.

The story starts with Eroan (love the name) who is an elf, sent to kill the dragon queen. The opening scene shows him chained to a wall in the dragonskeep. He got captured during the fight. But we haven't actually seen the fight, unfortunately. I would have loved to see that.

He's been captured by Lysander, the queen's son, one of the dragon prince. If it wasn't clear before, yes, they can shift from a human body to dragon form.

Eroan was so fierce and defiant, I liked him immediately.
Lysander took a liking to him, but of course they were enemies.

The world-building is good, though I have some questions, which I might've got the answers to if I read the whole thing. I'm not sure how the humans fit into the dragon and elf-world, how they lost the war. And where did dragons even came from?

So it started out strongly for me. I liked where the story was going, and I liked the slow-burning romance. But. BUT!
And here it gets tricky, also really spoilerish!

There are things that just don't make sense to me.
The relationships in this book are sooo messed up.

First: Lysander and his mother, the Queen Elisandra.
Lysander as the prince is destined to breed, but he can't perform when it comes to females. The Queen however is determined to fix that. She says Lysander is 'broken'. And she arranges a coupling with a female in the other clan.
Lysander is miserable. He just wants to be free of the shackles.
Through the whole story, there would be examples, when Lysander tries to disobey his mother, and she would punish him. Literally tries to kill him, or at least injure him enough that he could really feel it. And in some cases Lysander would fight back. So their relationship is very aggressive. One time she almost kills him. Yet, he goes back. Whyyyy? Why doesn't he just leave? Probably the queen would hunt him down, because she needs him to make the connections with other clans stronger. So he goes back, battered and bruised. He was literally dying. And they act like nothing happened between them, like that fight didn't happen. Why doesn't Lysander just kill the bitch? He could've. He had several opportunities. Even before Eroan was captured. So I don't get it. It probably makes more sense out of context, but as I was reading, I just didn't get it.

And then, after he finally killed his mother, and started a riot in the clan, he decided it would be a good idea to seek help in the other clan, where the Queen originally wanted to send him to breed. I guess he thought that the coupling was off the table, now that the Queen was dead. Well he thought wrong, he was again forced...or more like persuaded to have sex with the princess, who's name I don't remember.

Honestly, Lysander seemed like a lost puppy to me. He just drifted from one place to another, without a goal in mind. What was he thinking would happen when he got to the Bronze clan?

Second: Eroean and.... well every other elf.
This happened a bit further in the storyline. Near where I stopped. Again, Spoiler!
Eroan survived the horrors of the dragonkeep, and went home.
He's best friend, Janna, awaited him. It turned out Janna was in love with Eroan, but her love was not returned, at least not how she wanted it, because Eroan, just like Lysander, was 'broken'. He couldn't be with Janna. So I was surprised when he initiated sex with Janna. How? Wasn't it stated before that he could only be with males? Or was that just an assumption by the Queen?
And just before they had sex, Eroan argued that he can't and won't have children, his life is in the Order, he wants to fight the dragons. And then with a flip of a switch he decides that it's a good idea to fuck Janna after all? WTF??
And there was Nye, an elf male, who's been secretly in love with Eroan. And there was some sexy times too. But then the image of Lysander popped into Eroan's head and the moment was ruined.

To me it seemed like the authors were trying to draw sex out of every encounter. And it felt forced to me. Though there was only one actual sex scene in this book, around where I stopped. Before that there were only blowjobs and handjobs (forced, in both cases).

And one other thing I kind of understood, but not entirely. The Queen said Lysander is 'broken'. Which meant he wasn't into females. So he couldn't breed. And as the prince, that was a problem. I get that.
But it seemed it was only a problem in Lysander's case, because the members of the Bronze clan didn't make it a secret that they're more open-minded and free-spirited in that regard. And that didn't seem to bother the Queen. And it didn't bother her either when she forced her harem to brake Eroan's will... in a sexual way. She even enjoyed watching those males pleasure Eroan.
So poor Lysander was the only one the Queen didn't let off the hook. That's why I don't understand why he didn't kill her sooner.

Aaand there was something else I wanted to say.... but now I forgot what it was. Anyway. I think this book was full of minor plotholes. I liked the idea of this, an enemies to lovers story, but I think it would have needed a bit more tweaking.

Triggers: Orgies, MF sex scenes, non-con/dub-con, and maaaybe incest, but that was only a short scene.
It is a dark read, but compared to some of the books my friends are reading, they would say this is mildly dark.

( )

I am itching to DNF.

Warnings:
Incest (mother/son), rape, M/F 99% of the book.
This is NOT a love story, never mind what the warning by the authors claims. This is where Stockholm Syndrome meets Lima Syndrome, both fueled by the common need to kill the Queen.
*
Overuse of “male” - strong male, short male, older male, the other males and so on; misplaced modifiers galore.

Little to no history of this universe. No world building either, we are just thrown in the midst of it.

Quite a few things don’t make sense.
- Why couldn’t a dragon heal his broken wing? There are splints in that universe, I assume.
- Why humans who attack bronze dragons on this continent suddenly live on the other side of the ocean? What did I miss?
- Why didn't a dragon prince - who hated his mother so much, he wanted her dead. like yesterday, dead - let assassin elves take care of that particular pesky problem? Why did the prince fight for her risking his own life? Either kill her already or stop bitching and throwing self-pity parties.
- The Queen had one use only for her son: breeding. It explains why she didn't finish Lysander off. Why she still kept him by her side. But why did Lysander keep coming back to her if he hated it??? That's just twisted.
- Why did Lysander, instead of taking the throne on the spot when the time was right, choose to go to his worst enemy, right where his bitch of a mother wanted him in the first place?

One stupid decision after another.

There is no romance at all - none, most definitely not M/M, just wishful thinking on Lysander’s part and a mild Stockholm syndrome where Eroan is concerned. Both unfulfilled. There are meek attempts by the authors to introduce some sort of m/m hanky-panky, but it all unavoidably goes the opposite way and as a result 99.5% of the book is M/F.

Frankly, if I had wanted to read a straight book, I would have picked something else entirely, definitely something that doesn’t include one rape scene after another, half of the book mother trying to mate with her son.

I think I am done with this series.

1 star for the 65% I’ve read. Extra half star for the very evil Amethyst Queen. She was my favorite in this book; the only one true to her character, she knew exactly what she wanted and acted on it. ( )