M.D. Grimm

‘On Wings of Thunder’ starts out as an epic battle of good versus evil – angels versus demons – and when the five elder angels combine forces to kill Asagoroth, the demon leader, yet only succeed to imprison the mighty dragon, I thought I knew where the story was going. As the tale picks up a thousand years later with the dragon awakening, it turns out I was wrong. In fact, I was wrong on more than one level. The characters surprised me, the events twisted and turned a few times, the epic battle still happened but in an entirely unexpected way… and the final resolution was logical, yet its consequences surprised me in a good way. I love it when a book (or rather, its author) can do that to me!

Trystan may be an angel, and the angels are beings of light, yet they are not what I imagine angels to be. They are cold, cruel, set in their ways, and have more rules and regulations than should be allowed. Everyone is “chosen” from birth as to what they will be when they grow up – except very few “unchosen” angels – like Trystan. He is ignored, even shunned, by everyone, including most of his family. When he discovers a carving of a great dragon he is ready to listen to the one everyone calls a beast, and what he finds out surprises him.

Trystan has to learn to accept himself and Asagoroth’s love for him, and his need goes much deeper than it seems at first glance. But the angels keep hunting them down, unwilling to let them live in peace, and Trystan begins to understand Asagoroth’s anger. He is determined to find a way out… and that is when the surprises start to take over. I can’t say too much more without spoiling the story, but let me tell you - I followed the events with breathless anticipation and loved the final resolution.

If you like epic tales that combine existing legends and myths into a new whole, if you believe that opposites attract for a reason, and if you’re looking for an action-packed read full of love, betrayal, discoveries, and a perfect ending that is just the beginning, then you will probably like this novella as much as I do. It’s as entertaining as it is thought-provoking!


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.… (plus d'informations)

Mmm, yeah, this didn't work for me on many levels.

The entire novella feels choppy; it honestly reads more like a rough draft (that the author sometimes was in a super hurry on). I feel like a good story could have been here, had it been developed properly, but it wasn't. Uncommon words were often repeated in the same paragraph, which is always a bit jarring to me when reading.

I usually have a problem with most romance novellas, because it almost always feels like the love story is rushed (and yes, I know that's kind of the point, but...I still have issues with it) unless the two characters have known one another for a while already. But this one really takes that to a whole new level. Granted, they have known each other for something like two years, and at this point Brian is saying to himself that he loves Derek, but they've never gone out or even expressed any signs of being more than coworkers until this point. They manage to get one date squeezed in, and all of the sudden, they're in love with one another and they're going to be together forever and Brian is his mate, etc, etc. What. I feel like the author skipped over a LOT of story here.

The story is theoretically set in Seattle area, but I never got a feel of the city. It literally could have been situated in any town in any state in any part of the country. I'm not saying that I need page after page of flowery descriptions of a city's scenery (and that annoys me even more unless they're done EXTREMELY well), but I like to get a small taste of what life is like in that city. All I really know about Seattle is that it's in Washington and it rains a lot and they have a football team called the Seahawks. Where's a popular place to eat? What is the weather like in a particular season? Do they have spectacular autumns when the leaves change? &c. But there is none of that here.

Speaking of which, I don't really know about the animal control laws in Seattle, but I am pretty sure that someone might have something to say about seven, many of which are large breed dogs and one cat living in a house. In Denver, for example, you can only have three dogs in any one residence. I can only imagine that Seattle has animal control laws that are at least a bit similar, and I would expect an animal control officer and a veterinarian who works at animal control would KNOW this (I'm not saying that they would necessarily FOLLOW the law, but they'd probably at least have a conversation about it at some point).

I don't really understand the point of having Brian be in a prior abusive relationship. It was kind of built up as something that might be a huge stumbling block in their relationship, and then it was never addressed again, and Brian apparently stopped having any and all ramifications from that abuse at about the same time. That's...not how it is supposed to work.

Also, Derek is kind of hyped up as someone who has animal instincts and animal senses, but he somehow misses the fact that some weird shapeshifter is stalking/tracking him and Brian, even though the creature is in VERY CLOSE PROXIMITY to Brian and his house multiple times, although their DOGS somehow figure it out in their own way (they figure out, by smell, that the creature that attacked them and Brian is similar to the creature that Derek is). Umm...

Finally, I will say it loud and proud, I have read a shit ton of shifter stories (many of which were from the Supernatural fandom, which I will also say loud and proud), I'm talking into the high hundreds, and this is the VERY FEW I have ever read where the "alpha" (if in a relationship with another shifter creature) or "shifter" (if in a relationship with a non-human) would not only use his "mate" as bait to set a trap but encourages his reluctant mate to do so. Like, one of the very bases of this subgenre is how an alpha/shifter will always protect his mate above all else, including himself. So...I mean, if I thought the author was trying to subvert the trope, I might be able to ride with that, but I don't feel that is the intention at all, so it doesn't work for me at all. Do not like.

The funny thing is, even though I gave this a fairly low rating, I'm still going to continue with the series, at least for now. I feel like there is a lot of potential in this world, and I want to see if the author gets a handle on it or not.… (plus d'informations)