The Will of the Darkest One

The Dragon's Blood Chronicles #2

by Sean T. Poindexter

The chronicles continue! New alliances are formed between unlikely allies as the dragons try control the damage unleashed into the human world. The bond between Garrett and Meg is crystallized, but as their worlds collide there are repercussions. Aoni'a and Meg try to help Yvonne with her impossible secret with the unlikely assistance of a curious human sorcerer. As Garrett and Ardeth undergo a dangerous journey to save Yvonne's new child, Meg continues to explore her own secret. Darker motives surface as the vampires seek revenge. Max becomes a target in a retributive strike by a pack of vampires hoping for advancement, but they may have bitten off more than they can chew. The dragoness Gruda seeks vengeance for the death of Xyus, while Veles Fraise collects allies for his coming war against humanity. Shades of his ultimate plan are revealed; the ancient dragon Fraise may serve a higher, darker will than even his own.

Genres: Paranormal

308 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2012

About the author

Though born in Mesa, Arizona, he has spent most of his life in Missouri. He graduated high school in Lebanon, Missouri. His mother was a special education/reading teacher and his father was a police officer, and though they divorced when Sean was very young he remains close with both his parents. He has two brothers and no children, but he has a very large extended family in the Ozark region (Mountain View/West Plains Missouri region) and Southern Arizona (Eloy/Casa Grande area).

After high school, Sean attended college at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri for a time before dropping and going to work for a TV station in Springfield, Missouri. After a time, he returned to college and graduated from Missouri Southern State University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology, minor in Philosophy. He holds a Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration from Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, Kansas) in 2005.

After college, Sean naturally gravitated towards social work and investigative work, eventually settling with a job investigating allegations of abuse and neglect of disabled adults and seniors for the Missouri Department of Heath and Senior Services. Sean began working on the first book in the series in November of 2008, while still working full time for the State of Missouri. Though Sean has been writing most of his life, he claimed (as per his blog) that he did not consider writing professionally until he was inspired to do so by a terrible vampire movie. During the film, Sean amused himself by imagining the vampires being attacked by a dragon. Sean has remarked on his blog that he often does this when bored or annoyed with a film--though sometimes he uses Vikings, zombies, or Cthulhu in place of dragons.

His literary influences include H.P. Lovecraft, Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris, George R.R. Martin, Robert E. Howard, and R.A. Salvatore, among others. In addition to writing, Sean enjoys watching and reading science fiction, fantasy, horror, and thrillers. His hobbies include playing Xbox, fantasy role playing games and collecting firearms. Sean's background in sociology, criminology, and philosophy are heavy influences on his work, as well as his experience as an investigator (former) for the State of Missouri.

Reviews

[Melissa Robitille · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this book outshines the first book in this series, Mr. Poindexter's 'The Shadow of Tiamat', something I find extraordinarily rare to be able to say about a second book. Not only does Meg and Garrett's story continue to unfold, but layer after layer of subplots work around and through their story arc. You don't just fall in love with the hero and heroine, you gather in their friends and family and love them too because they're 'real people' and not cardboard cut-outs used to move the main plot along.

What can I tell you without throwing spoilers at either the first book or this one? Hmmm... Really, honestly, the books are so tightly interlaced it's difficult to tell you anything I adore without revealing too much!

The plot holds together superbly. The sex scenes are hot (and still accurate as to the mechanics and wear and tear of sex with an 'above average' man) without being disgusting or euphemistic. The romance is touching while still staying accurate to being in love with a guy who isn't very good at putting together the *words* of romance and not going into gooey, sloppy, saccharine sweetness. I have to say that I appreciate this *so* much because real love isn't soaring poetic flowers and candlelight nonsense, it's what you do and say and feel when life seems to be falling down around your ears. The fight scenes are still extraordinarily good - the choreography and physics work, given that there are dragons and wizards and demons (oh my!) involved. Again, I deeply appreciate this as it's tiresome to read a fight that couldn't possibly happen 'that way' given what you know about the characters' abilities, the setting, and just plain common sense.

Again, there were a few small corrections that needed to be made - spell check issues and several instances of apostrophe-s being used incorrectly for plural instead of possessive - and there's still profanity, but my inner reader slapped the hell out of my inner editor and threw away her red pen. The book is seriously *that* good. In fact, the book is so good I immediately pestered Mr. Poindexter about when the next book will be coming out (fall 2013) and informed him that if I wasn't married I'd be hitting on him for his brains.

[Jen Cothran · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book was in my opinion just as engaging if not even better than the first. I laughed, cried, screamed, sighed, and laughed some more with this second installment of 'The Dragon's Blood Chronicles Book'.

This second book picks up right where the first one left off. And I have to say, Holy Smokes!! Set in Southwest Missouri, where apparently random weather patterns and gas leaks occur regularly, our sexy beast of a dragon Garrett lives with Megan his lover, Megan's BFF Yvonne, Aoin'a the dragoness with occasional visitors of both dragons and wizards alike. The details of the house are amazing, I found myself truly feeling you are there going up the staircase or down in the depths of Garrett's lair. Or even peeking up at Aoin'a swimming in the buff!

There are vampires as well in this as we are introduced to Zor, their lord. And the clan of (seriously stupid) vamps that have made the area their territory since the last sheriff had a run-in with a dragon. (giggles) They are more of a secondary story within this and its only due to the supernaturals crossing paths, that make them come off as humorous misfits, but lend overall to the book.

With combustible passion and solid friendships this group of dragons, humans, and Megan; battle the vampires, demons and other dragons. All the while with zany one-liners about dragon babies..."Is a little dragon going to pop out?" To Garrett's impressive wealth and moments when he reminds Meg that his account "doesn't have a limit." *sigh* And we can't forget "Meg was stuck with the stinky wizard." LOL

I would recommend this book to any romance, paranormal, sci-fi reader. Looking forward to book three, the continuation of Megan's story!!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this second book of the Dragon's Blood series. Unlike some series, this book picked up where the first ended. As a reader, I wasn't bored with several chapters of rehashing what happened in the first. I loved the pace of the book, there aren't boring lull's in the plot. It flows nicely and makes the book nearly impossible to put down. I'm highly anticipating the next in the series. Mr. Poindexter thank you for introducing me to characters and a story line that leaves me thinking about them long after I finish the book.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dragon’s Blood Chronicles pick up where The Shadow of Tiamat leaves off. Megan Crunk’s best friend Yvonne is nearing her second trimester of a bittersweet pregnancy. Knowing that the child growing inside the human female isn’t human, Meg’s dragon boyfriend Garret Terago, and his friend Aoni’a, act immediately to mitigate the dangers of the woman’s condition. First thing, Yvonne only knows her baby’s father as the sadist that raped her, so Aoni’a takes her to a clearing on Garrett’s property and shifts into her dragon form, opening the human’s eyes to world in which she’s become entangled. Yvonne responds by promptly passing out. Luckily, Aoni’a has fast reflexes and catches the delicate woman before she hits the ground.

Dragons come about two ways. Typically, a female mates with the intention of spawning. The hatchlings grow to be reasonable creature. They have all the knowledge of their mother. They build out of the way lairs in which to hide their beautiful treasures. And they establish human identities and go out of their way not to attract attention. Aoni’a is unusual in that she enjoys the company of Hollywood’s elite, but all of Megan Crunk’s dragon acquaintances are otherwise typical.

Nigel Xyus, the dragon who impregnated Yvonne, was spawned the other way. A human sorceress magically impregnated herself for the purpose of creating a dragon that would serve her, and her son inherited her evil nature. Half-dragons are only half in that they have human mothers. Had Yvonne not become pregnant, Xyus’s human mother would have gone unnoticed.

Yvonne’s delicate condition drives several plot arcs of The Will of the Darkest One.

Firstly, dragon mothers carry their eggs for 12 months before laying them, after which the spawn will continue to mature for another three months. Yvonne cannot carry the egg longer than nine months. It will tear her apart from the inside, and being premature, the dragon will also die. So, the egg must stay inside Yvonne as long as she can carry it, and then it must come out. That requires the services of an arcanist to magically transfer the egg from Yvonne to Aoni’a. Enter Fred, a squat, smelly slob of man who would attract no attention at a comicon whatsoever but somehow manages to steal a few scenes from his dragon co-stars.

Unrelated to Yvonne’s pregnancy, Aoni’a knows something about Meg, that she won’t tell her and Garrett. She guides Meg, but insists that the human must find many of the answers leading to the secret on her own. This sub-arc contributes to some vampire action in this book, but is meant to set up action in the next book.

After reading The Shadow of Tiamat, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the sequel. I was left with such in incredible feeling of euphoria, I found myself unwilling to read another book for a week. Meg and Garret are endearing characters and their romance is sexy and beautiful. Like I said, this book picks up right where Tiamat left off. Meg and Garrett had been separated for a few months and just reconciled, so it should come as no surprise that make-up sex happens in the opening chapters. And, Sean Poindexter’s writing, so it’s hot steamy, Meg clawing at the shower walls and screaming at the top of her lungs, sex. Given his handling of sex in Tiamat, I expected there to be this scene, and then references to sex here and there.

No.

Garrett, as it happens, was the exception among dragons in regards to interest in sex. Most of the dragons in this book are quite active in their human forms. Aoni’a, in Meg’s words, is a ‘magnificent whore,’ having alluded to trysts with everyone from Marc Antony (and Cleopatra) to Rick Moranis. The one person she’s desired sex with but was never able to seduce was Garrett. In The Will of the Darkest One, we see dragons sharing intimate-but-non-sexual company. We hear of threesomes with human swingers. We see sadistic torture-fucking. And back in Garrett and Meg’s bedroom, the initial five-orgasm make-up session is just these two getting warmed up. The hottest of their scenes comes in around the two-thirds mark, when Garrett comes home after a long, dangerous trip in the effort to save Yvonne. He throws Meg down on the floor of their balcony, in the rain. Sex between them is something he enjoys, though not simply because it’s pleasurable. It makes him happy because it makes Meg happy, but he’s always in control, releasing himself usually upon her command. The beauty of the balcony event is in Garret losing control while making up for lost time. For the first time ever, Meg fears that he’ll hurt her. He doesn’t, but he does give her everything, which is all she’s ever wanted from him. Seriously, it’s the most incredible sex scene I’ve ever read.

It wouldn’t be a Sean Poindexter book without violence and there’s lots to be had. Due to limitations of sorcery, Garrett’s major fight of this book is in his human form, so we get to see him battling demons with a six-shooter owned by Jesse James, and the sword that belonged to a Frankish knight he ate a few centuries back. The vampire slaughter in this book then is left to “Meg” and her former boss, Max, who has a few of the funniest lines in a book laced with humor.

My one complaint about the book is that the ebook is littered with text and formatting errors. The paragraph tabbing is one, maybe two characters. Several scene breaks are missing, jumping the action from Missouri to a fortress in Europe without warning. There are Frankenstein sentences that somehow survived editing. I am notoriously bad about them in my own writing, so I found no difficulty reading through them, though a reader may be jarred from the narration by them. This story is so good, I couldn’t care less about the typos. Once again, I am left enchanted by Sean Poindexter’s imagination.

If you like paranormal romance, hot guys, snarky girls, and the idea of dragons squeezing vampires like tubes of toothpaste, The Dragon’s Blood Chronicles are for you. I’m actually a little pissed off that The Elohim Legacy (The Dragon’s Blood Chronicles, Book 3) isn’t on my Kindle right now, but at least you don’t have to wait for the first two.

[EC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally, a successor to a magnificent book can't hold a candle to its prequel. So you can imagine my surprise when The Will of the Darkest One accomplished a feat I didn't think was possible, and captivated me more than The Shadow of Tiamat. Sean Poindexter has done it again: bringing his dragons to life before your very eyes and convincing you they're just as real as the nose on the end of your face.

While helping Yvonne with her pregnancy, and helping Megan find out who she really is, the dragons face several obstacles. As the chapters whirled by I often found myself on the edge of my seat, biting my nails. Every page made me hungry for more, and this one I only really put down once, when I fell asleep with it in my hands because I stayed awake to read until I was well beyond the point of exhaustion. I tried, but I just couldn't tear myself away, in the few minutes it took me to grab something to eat, it was eating away at me; I just had to get back.

The battles in this one are just as intense, some even more so. The love scenes quite literally radiate a passion of flames, the plot is phenomenal, the twists are unhinging, and the entire thing leaves you aching for more. This one I read in a little over 24 hours, and that was with 9 hours of sleep. It's simply gravitating, and damn near impossible to put down. I have to admit I had one disappointment: when I got to the last page I wanted more to read. I currently have an unquenchable thirst, that I imagine won't be subdued until the release of the next book.

[Dennis Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent follow up to the first book in this series (The Shadow of Tiamat). It picks up where it left off and keeps a really interesting story line going. Very well written and easy to read, but make sure you read the first book in this series beforehand.

[Sean Poindexter]

I wrote this one, too.

[Craig Lenys · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was written by a pedophile. Avoid!!

[Dr susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am somewhat distraught that The Elohim Legacy is not available. The anxiety caused by the cliffhangers at the end of The Shadow of Tiamat was quickly soothed by reading The Will of the Darkest One. I will have to settle for distracting myself with other books from the cliffhangers at the end of Darkest One. I love Darkest One, but I will warn you that Megan and Garrett do it like rabbits (but louder), and if you prefer your urban fantasy/paranormal romance less graphically sexy, you may want to read something else. Anyone who does not read Tiamat or Darkest One is missing a great book with enjoyable characters, despicable villains, incredibly snarky women, DRAGONS, and a great lesson in 'family.' The scenes with Megan's mother, Joy, were worth the price of the book (I plan to bookmark them for a day when I need to laugh). Very well done, Mr. Poindexter.

I will say that I have done technical copy editing, and some ebooks suffer from a lack of editing and proofreading. I was so engrossed in reading both Tiamat and Darkest One that I noted errors and read past them with no decrease in my fascination with the books. I do not lower my rating unless the errors affect the story.

[Juniper]

I liked this one less than the first one. I did like the introduction of the wizard. But, Meg just seemed...annoying in this one. It's been over a year since I read this so I don't remember specifics, but do remember it feeling like if she wasn't talking about sex, she was thinking about it, and if not either of those, she was having sex. Which brings me to...passion...some have gone on and on about the passion between Meg and Garrett, but 1) pornographic sex doesn't equal passion, and 2) Garrett is robotic just doing what Meg wants/expects. The one time he actually shows passion, he nearly burns her. The way I see it, she's just a coveted possession to him. And she doesn't have any personal experience of a good, healthy relationship...to her sex equals good relationship.

I have the first edition paperback and there are editing problems on every. single. page. I have been informed that a second edition is coming and will be reedited.