Flame & Blame

Picky Eaters #2

by S.J. Higbee

Feel-good dragon adventure for all ages, featuring living legend and disaster magnet, Castellan the Black...Castellan the Black, former mighty dragon warrior and recent mouldy old has-been, now resides with his daughter and that waste of hide and scales who is her mate in their cramped lair at Wyvern Peak aery. Their young family is at full stretch right now – for Emmy Lou is incubating her third egg. So instead of using his considerable draconic skills to reclaim his former lair from the dratted humans, Castellan is plunged into the middle of family life. Yet everyday chores, such as hunting for food and trimming his battle honours to provide for his young grandchildren, turn into a dangerous battle of wits with the greedy scale-sack running the aery – Overlord Wendell Bo. Try as he might, Castellan is finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the rottenness at the heart of Wyvern Peak aery. Half-starved guards, cracked walkways and overflowing drains are bad enough. But when the life of his small granddaughter is put at risk, Castellan isn’t sure that all his 721 years of experience will be enough to save her. Or himself…

Genres: Dragons

337 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2023

About the author

Born the same year as the Russians launched Sputnik, I confidently expected that by the time I reached adulthood, the human race would have a pioneer colony on the Moon and be heading off towards Mars. So I was at a loss to know what to do once I realised the Final Frontier wasn’t an option and rather lost my head - I tried a lot of jobs I didn’t like and married a totally unsuitable man.

Now I've finally come to terms with the fact that I’ll never leave Earth, I have a lovely time writing science fiction novels and teaching Creative Writing. I live in Littlehampton on the English south coast with a wonderful husband and a ridiculous number of books.

Reviews

[Pierre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Castellan's life got more complicated now he's been forced out of his life as a moping old wart and became truly involved with his daughter's family.
After the dire experience that nearly took his granddaughter in the previous installment, he now realizes their aery's leadership is but a bunch of self-serving bullies at best.

He must go beyond the indulging self-pity he had retreated into, look past his prejudices and meet ghosts of a past he would better leave behind, to keep his family from harm he had not realized was hanging. His self-control is also tested, as not all problems cannot be simply burned away as he used to believe in old days. But it is never too late to change and fix mistakes.

While there is the serious undertone of a late life crisis and serious threats hanging, this is told in a casual tone fitting the character perfectly, full of hilarious sharp witted retorts that had me laughing out loud. It was of course unlikely to have a dark end, but nevertheless it manages to maintain suspense. Lots of little twists keep the expectation going.

Story well told, well written with engaging protagonists, not only the sympathetic grumpy main character but also a lively cast.

[tburbr]

This second installment of Picky Eaters was well written and kept me coming back for more thanks to the entertaining characters. I can't wait for my next adventure with S.J. Higbee.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.