Furie de flamme

Dragonfury #1

by Coreene Callahan, Hélène Assens (Translator)

Les dragons vivent cachés parmi les hommes. Mais la guerre opposant les Nightfury aux Razorback va mettre un terme à des siècles de clandestinité et pousser Bastian, leader de son clan, dans ses derniers retranchements. Entièrement dévoué aux siens, ce dernier est confronté à un terrible dilemme : prendre pour compagne l'envoûtante Myst au risque que leur nuit de passion coûte la vie à la jeune femme ou signer l’arrêt de mort définitif de toute son espèce…

Genres: Dragons, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Fantasy, Shapeshifters, Urban Fantasy

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 22, 2012

About the author

Amazon bestselling author. Lover of mochacinnos. Player of Ice Hockey. Writer of fast-paced, page-turning epic fantasy and paranormal romance.

Coreene's living her best life in Canada, in a house full of teenage drama, with a spoiled Anatolian Shepherd while doing her best to remain immersed in a wild, imaginary world full of mayhem and monsters.

Find me in all the places: https://linktr.ee/coreenecallahan

Website: www.CoreeneCallahan.com

Reviews

[Giorgia Reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a laughable Black Dagger Brotherhood wannabe.

I don’t even know where to start. There were so many things that didn’t make sense and were so plainly stupid that I can’t fathom how this was deemed publishable.

Harsh much? Yes, but why sugarcoat it?

First there’s the issue that this is a complete and utter copy of J.R Ward’s series (which is great and one of my favourite vampire fantasy series).

I read some reviews beforehand saying that it was pretty much a copy of that but I thought.. well, I love that series, so it won’t be much hardship to read something similar but with dragons. Well, I was wrong! So wrong! The similarities exist only in terms of plot,narrative style and character archetypes but when it comes to quality.. well, that’s sorely lacking.

Now, to get into some specifics:

- I couldn’t stand the male lead! His misplaced sense of duty to his race and towards the protection of humans at the expense of f**king oblivious women and getting them pregnant knowing that the end result will always be her death. (Not to mention the weird, roofie quality seduction they got going as a race- making women lower their inhibitions with their superpowers, feeding from their energy, having sex with them and then wiping their memories - but no worries we get told over and over how much the women enjoy it and how they come onto them at first - NOT OKAY- that to me reads like rape but it’s dragons doing it - so it must be ok)

- He kidnaps the heroine (although it’s all normalised under the guise of him offering her protection from the bad guys) and he plans to keep her, seduce her and f*** her so that he can get her pregnant because as a leader he needs to take initiative and breed a new generation of warriors to “protect the humans”. But don’t worry he eventually loves her although for all he knows it’s got an expiration date because she WILL DIE.

- he doesn’t tell her that sleeping with him will get her pregnant even if she is on birth control and he also doesn’t tell her that she will die at the end of it. He basically kills her with his dick. LOL( of course that dilemma is getting solved by the end, because for centuries, dragons couldn’t find a way to make sure the females survive childbirth, but in comes Myst and medical revelations are made .. bam - she gets to live)

- the heroine gets Stockholm syndrome as per usual. Even after finding out that he basically sentenced her to death.. she does run away for awhile which was stupid cause she was being hunted by the enemy.. anyway, yeah, she runs away but then they reunite and bam she apologised and declares her love. Say what?! The guy basically wanted to use you as an incubator and then send you in the afterlife. Are you a moron?!

- the general dialogue and inner ramblings were .. childish, immature and not credible for this kind of story

- the capable, clearheaded heroine from the beginning gets BBS (betraying body syndrome) which leads to a lot of inner monologues about wanting to get in his pants and then mental slap downs about how could she possibly think that)


All in all this was unimaginative, cliched, badly written and plagiarised to a certain extent (I know all authors draw inspiration from others and I support that- inspiration doesn’t just strike from nothing - but copying something and changing some details does not equal creativity)

It’s been awhile since I’ve been truly put off by a book. But I just feel like this was .. I don’t even know. It just majorly put me off.

[Zoe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fury of Fire is a poor imitation of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, but with dragon-men instead of vampires.

Here are just a few examples:

The line up of dragon brothers living in a luxury hidden lair is the Leader, the Best Friend, the Computer Geek ,the Troubled Dangerous Anti-Social One, and another one who didn't make any impression of distinct personality on me besides he's green in dragon form. They have a fussy butler/servant to cook them waffles and do their laundry. There is a homicide detective that can sense dragon "issues". The dragon-men wear "@!*#kickers", they call each other "warrior" and "brother", and they "feed" off "females". They go a dance club where bodies are "writhing", music is pumping, and people are having private time in the dark corners. The brothers sit in the VIP area, and drink brand-name alcohol while looking for their enemies or females to feed off of. The patrons "part like the red sea" when these over six-foot tall sex-gods wearing "leathers", and "rolling" with menace, cross the room. The males like to feed their females. They think of their females as "worthy" or "of worth". The dragon-boys have names along the same lines as the BDB boys. The dragon-boys have magic that makes them invisible to humans. The dragon-boys can't go outside during the day because of the sun light.

Those are just a tiny fraction of the similarities between this story and the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, but you get the idea.

A lot of other things bothered me about this book, but here are the highlights:

At one point, the heroine gets to ask the hero questions about dragon-kind, but the reader doesn't even get to hear it - she thinks about it later, and dribbles out some exposition about their origin story. I don't know how old these dragon men are, but it's implied they can live hundreds of years. Apparently they only remember the last forty years of American human culture - because that's all they use in speech and thought to annoying excess. There is nothing really "dragony" about them.

I struggled to find the romance in this book. The relationship seems to entail instant-love-you-have-no-choice sexual attraction, overly jealous/protectiveness (your mine now and I won't let you go/don't touch or feed from my mate or I'll kill you), calling the heroine "baby" right away (ick), and her not objecting to being called "baby" (ick) - ever. The hero will growl the word "mine" several times. It's not very romantic to force a pregnancy on her. It's probably considered homicide when she gives birth and dies from it.

No one seems to be able to choose or have choices.

While written in multiple POV's, it was often hard to tell how any of the characters were all that different from one another. For the most part all of them (even the girls) thought and spoke in the same imitation BDB style. There was some repeating of ideas and words too, for example several characters used the phrase "get off my duff" in their POV thoughts. Why are supposedly totally different people all using the same unusual word?

The brand name dropping doesn't add anything, and in fact takes away from the story. I don't know what "such and such" cologne smells like, so I've been cheated out of experiencing the story with the character. All the music and pop culture references (which will be meaningless in 5 - 10 years) don't add anything either, and, again, seem like an imitation of the BDB series.

In the end, however, the weakest element of this book was the writing style. The overuse of participial phrases (literally paragraphs of them) and passive sentences became distracting and annoying. Honestly, if I hadn't been bored at the time I would not have finished reading. I didn't care if the hero and heroine ended up together, I didn't really see how either of them changed - and in fact the heroine went from a relatively sensible woman in the beginning, to giving in to the hero, for weak or stupid reasons, leading to a weepy crying mess at the end, where she begged for her hero to literally swoop in and save her. Even then, another dragon boy actually "saves" her before the hero dude shows up to fly her to safety. Either way, I didn't really care.

[gremlinkitten · Rating 1 out of 5]

NOTE: I did not finish Fury of Fire. I reached page 207, out of 412, before I called it quits. My review reflects on what I read and no more, which is more than enough to be indicative to how the author creates her book.

During the course of reading, everyone comes across a book that just doesn't connect with them. That doesn't mean the book is bad or that others shouldn't read it, it just means the it isn't a good fit that particular person. This is that book for me. I had a very difficult time getting through what I read, mostly due to a bunch of little things that stood out and were what I consider oddities, especially in context to situations in the book. If I had to describe this book in one word, it'd be abrasive. The characters, the dialogue, and most importantly, the writing felt like rubbing sandpaper over a wound. Over and over again.

THE BAD

The constant bombardment of internalizing that both Myst and Bastian provide in this book was like a splinter under my fingernail. The more I dug, the more painful it became, and I started to dislike the book and main characters more and more as I read on. Admittedly, it was pretty easy to loathe Bastian and Myst when it became apparent that they are both boring and stupid, and I didn't find Bastian all that likeable in the first place. Call me crazy, but I just feel uneasy when a character wants to immediately jump the bones of a person he just met in horrific situation while she is frightened beyond belief. But apparently that's okay because he acknowledges his creepiness in a fit of mental self-flagellation. Sorry, but that doesn't fly with me. Maybe if that had been mentioned only once, I would have let it slide, but it keeps on like that for way too long. Apparently he's all alpha on the outside and emo on the inside. What a winning combination! Not. Myst herself starts off, uh, decent enough but then quickly becomes the nitwit I was hoping to avoid. She gets the fastest case of Stockholm Syndrome I've ever come across. For all intents and purposes, Bastian kidnapped her. Sure, we the readers know it's for Myst and the baby's safety from the evil Razorbacks, but she certainly doesn't know that, therefore I found her reactions extremely unrealistic and bizarre to the situations she was in. One minute she's fighting, and by fighting I mean being stubbornly spunky, or somewhat thinking of escape, the next she's imagining wild, hot monkey sex with Bastian. I'm sorry but if some big, six-foot-six (apparently every male is 6'6 in this book, even the human cop. Obviously, if a guy is under that height, he's not really a man.), scary dude who can turn into a dragon kidnaps me, I am so not going to be thinking about how hot they are or what they're like in the sack. Yeah, uh-huh, that makes perfect sense. Oy! Anyway, they end up making out that night due to Bastian's alpha going crazy and some supernatural roofie that dragons put out to females. God, this is not romantic at all. And it's only been a few hours since they "met"! The morning after Myst is kidnapped, she wakes up naked and finds out Bastian bathed her, can you say mondo creepy? So after she dresses, she goes meandering through the Nightfury's lair, admiring his artwork and crap, then ends up in the kitchen with the rest of the freaky-tall Nightfuries. I'd be high-tailing it out of there, in fact, I would have been plotting escape long before this point. It appears she only thinks of escape once a day. While she's in the kitchen, Bastian has her sit at the table so she can eat her breakfast. He sets down a plate in front of her and as she goes to have a bite, she notices he cut her waffles into little, perfect, bite-size pieces and she's apparently overcome by this act. How weird is that?! All feminist angles aside, who cuts up someone else's food unless: A, it's for a small child, two, their arms and hands are broken, or D, they're handicapped in some way that prevents them from feeding themselves? W.T.F.? Frankly, I think it's just odd. And then she gets misty-eyed (Myst is all misty, how cute. *gag*) when he asks her to help name the baby he kidnapped. I've already doubted her sanity before but now it's gone to even more ridiculous heights by this point.

The magical Rohypnol I mentioned before creeped me the heck out. So when a dragon guy needs his energy fix, he picks out a woman, roofies her, feeds off her energy, sleeps with her, and then wipes her memory! Say what? That's too close to rape for my liking. This wasn't just the bad guys doing this, but the next book's "hero" did that to a woman in a hospital (note: she wasn't a patient, I think she was a researcher or something, I don't remember). How sweet.

The excessive swearing needed edited down. Normally I don't mind a little cursing here and there, but so much of it didn't need to be added to the dialogue or characters and showed a lack of creativity.

The "dragons" are really shape-shifting vampires. They have to feed off women, only it's energy instead of blood, they can't be out in the sun, they heal quickly, live a long time, are super-strong, amongst other attributes. If you're going to have shape-shifting dragons, don't make them so similar to other paranormal species. Differentiate them so they're unique, not a near-clone.

I didn't like the whole reading of minds thing. If it was something that happened when mated, fine, but I don't like the thought of someone just arbitrarily getting into someone else's brain whenever they want. It's a violation. Bastian did this to Myst way too often.

The characters sound a lot like each other. They don't all have individual voices so there isn't much beyond a name separating one from the other.

THE GOOD

The first fight scene was actually quite well-done, although it was very early on in the book so it might not hold up on a second reading. The next fight scene wasn't too bad, maybe a little confusing at times.

The other characters in the Dragonfury series have the potential to be more interesting if they can be given some individuality, but since I didn't connect with the author's writing style and don't like most of the ideas, I won't be looking for any sequels to this oh-so-romantic series. I wouldn't recommend this book, but hey, if it sounds right up your alley or you have masochistic tendencies, by all means try it out for yourself.

As a final note, I just wanted to thank Buzz McCallister for his mad counting/alphabetizing skillz in writing this review. I couldn't have done it without you, buddy.

[Mara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This PNR novel succeeded in the incredible feat of pushing *all* of my buttons.
It's probably a great book... I just couldn't find one saving grace. I had to drag my self onward, and at 80% mark I still wanted to DNF it.

*Heroine. I don't think I ever read of a dumber woman. There's plenty of us around, I don't want to read about an other one! Every time she got a scene, I really wanted to smack her. She has been kidnapped. Does she care? Nope. She whines. She dallies around. She says she'll do something, but she is duped by her own lust or the stupidest tricks into doing nothing. The tricks are: "I'll let you name the child, if you don't run." "Let's surf the Internet to buy the child new stuff." WTF? I would have balked even at a child's life (self preservation is really strong), but for a name? The story completely lacks believability (does this word really exist? ).

*Hero (and his friends). Please decide: either be an ass or not. I don't fall for this "I'm so sorry, if I could, I wouldn't" routine or worse the so called guilt after. You use women, you feed off them. Don't pretend you're something different but users. Even if Bastian loves Myst, he still uses her, lies to her, almost kills her. Nope, the fake feelings aren't really my thing. What he says and how he acts are at odds. This is not conducive to me believing the love affair...

*All the drama! Oh my poor race is doomed! Or What an awful little dragon I am! Oh poory, poory me! All of this stuff doesn't make a conscience, but just boring drama.

*The deja read feeling...BB Brotherhood, Midnight series, you name it. The feeling is strong. So, there's not even the novelty to keep you interested. :)

*Last, but not least. My least preferred: the insta-lust. The story evolves in 3 days. Many things may happen in 3 days, even that you'll meet your The One. Meet him, not fall head over heels over your kidnapper. Not even Stockholm's Syndrome is that quick! I love steam in my romance, I don't expect it to be moral (think Riley Jonson), still I can't really stand this thread of PNR where there's no real building of romance. Love may be blind, but not deaf and mute too. And definitely never this instant. (I prefer a good brew, good coffee, the right brewing time et voilà!)

Did I say how bored I was?
One thing went beyond annoying: the brand name dropping.

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great start to what should prove to be a HOT series. If the secondary characters are any indication of what’s to come; we are in for a treat. It held my attention from beginning to end, it’s not a long book, and I blew right through it. Bastian and Myst were dyno-mite! Great names, fantastic couple, sexy steamy skin on skin time! SSSSSSSSSSMOKIN’ hot fire breathin’, and I’m not talkin’ about dragon breath! Usually it’s the guy that’s the aggressor, but Myst didn’t hold back she wanted her man, scales, wings and all. Watch out, woman in lust! With a soft growl, she shoved her dessert aside. He glanced up, heat making his eyes shimmer in the low light. Thunder boomed, rattling the windowpanes, and she leapt from her seat. She went up and over, sending plates and utensils flying. Fine china collided with cut crystal, skidding across the tabletop.

There was plenty of action, great characters, including two human detectives, Angela and Mac, that I’m sure will play a big part in the story going forward. Angela has already gotten up close and personal with Bastian’s wing man, Riker, a delicious ice dragon…brrrrr *shivers*…a really HOT cool guy! I even felt a slight spark for Ivar, the evil-doer, a Razorback…he was almost charming, when he wasn’t leaving death in his wake.

I was a bit thrown by the abrupt ending and really wanted to stay with the Dragonkind a little longer. This series is similar to others in this genre, but is unique enough that it’s not like reading the same old, same old. So if you’re like me and love a good dragon tale, read this book!

[Ꮗ€♫◗☿ ❤️ ilikebooksbest.com ❤️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just wasn’t into it!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙🖤💜
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗
World building: 🌏🌍🌎
Character development: 😠😘🤓
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Solo Narration

The heroine: Myst - she is a nurse practitioner who has been working fourteen-hour days. She worked out of Seattle Medical Center, but also did home visits. She loved her job and loved helping people but wanted more for her life. She wouldn’t mind coming home to someone to love and that loved her.

The Hero: Bastian - he is the leader of the Nightfury dragon clan. They are and have warring with the Razorback dragon shifters, who want to kill all the Nightfury dragons and the humans they protect. Bastian is sworn to protect all humans, but he is also at a point in his life when he is supposed to sire an heir, he needs to help replenish their numbers. He is troubled by the fact that the only way to sire an heir is to mate with a human, though any human who gives birth to a dragon-shifter will die in the process.

The Story: when Myst goes on a home visit to check on a pregnant client, she finds the girl dying on the kitchen floor. Myst is forced to cut the baby out once the mother dies and Bastien comes in dressed as an EMT. Bastien and his clan take Myst once the Razorback dragons attack them to try to get the baby. He takes her to his home. He knows she is his from the start and that she is very strong.

Some parts of this story were a bit confusing. Apparently, the dragons feed off the energy of humans and it has something to do with how strong the human females' connection to the prime meridian or electrical impulses of earth or something like that. I guess Myst had a stronger connection than anyone else.

The leader of the Razorback dragons, Ivar was the big bad in this book. He did all kinds of nefarious things, such as planned a breeding program for his dragons using strong human females, Myst included. He also was working on virus warfare against humans to eliminate all the weak humans from Earth. While Bastien felt too much and didn’t want to get Myst pregnant knowing it would kill her.

This audiobook was told in dual points of view via solo narration. It was narrated by Benjamin L. Darcie, who has a deep, expressive voice. He does a good job and is pleasant to listen to. I have to say, I kept getting bored during this one and I fell asleep more than once, which I was pretty depressed about since I bought more than a few audiobooks in this series. It will probably be a while before I take on another. Thought it could have just been tiredness and my mood today. Though I usually love dragon shifter stories.

Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Instagram|Twitter|BookBub

[Blacky *Romance Addict* · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess the author couldn't think of anything original to give her dragons, so she took all the attributes of vampires and just gave them another name and shape.
They suck women on the neck, except they don't take blood, but energy. Same thing only not in liquid form. They can't handle sunlight (that I don't understand, why on earth dragons couldn't be in the sunlight, but oh well). Every time they refer to a woman they say female, okay you'd think that wasn't so bad but after reading the word female about 300 times in one book it kinda gets on one's nerves.
And my main objection is... boring book. It was just so boring, I skimmed through all the second half of it, even the sex scenes were boring.
I'm probably going to continue with the series because usually the first books are nothing special, but damn.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half of this book was WAY better.

Fury of Fire took forever to finish. For some odd ass reason, I had the kindle version, where I could read or listen to it.. and somehow I chose reading over the audio?!?! I don't know but yeah - if you get this book from KU you should probably listen to it.

In this book, you will get to meet this little wolfpack of dragon shifters. Now this little wolfpack was pretty interesting. I get that they all love each other as family.. but I also feel like it's a little bit more too?? Not quite sure but maybe I'll find all of that out later in the series? Or maybe my whole though process is completely wrong.

Myst and Bastian's relationship was kind of unique. They fed off of each other's energy - which definitely intrigued me when their relationship was developing into something stronger. Bastian was a pretty bad ass character to meet. Yet, sometimes he annoyed me when he held something back. It was just the little things in this book where the main characters would just annoy me.

Speaking of annoyance, Myst was definitely annoying. The constant push and pull routine with her mind and heart was just annoying. Yeah, she instantly started developing feelings for a guy she didn't know that could shift into a dragon - SO WHAT? Then the whole baby naming dilemma was just MEH. Then she ran away because she was an idiot and needed "space" because these two are the worst communicators ever - and of course, she get's kidnapped.

The villain is this book was kind of okay too. The whole gene splicing was also interesting but is whole obsession with giving birth to a girl dragon was kind of anti-climatic. Again, it might just be me. Maybe my opinion will change if and when I dive into the next book.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm about 75% done with this book. I liked it but I wanted to love it. I usually love anything with dragons. However, the dragons in this book are basically vampires in a different form. They don't really act too different from vampires at all. But the worst part for me was the way too obvious ripoff of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. After a while I couldn't even focus on the book because I was too busy being annoyed about the lack of originality.

A bunch of gigantic, gorgeous men living together? Check

The men go out at night and fight the enemy? Check

The men wear leathers and shit kickers when they go out? Check

The house that the men live in is filled with original art with a big mosaic on the floor? Check

They refer to men as males and women as females? Check

The ultimate compliment is to be a female of worth? Check

The men are rough, hang out in nightclubs and sleep around until they lay eyes on their one true love and turn into pussycats and want to feed their women? Check

They are served by a different breed who are raised to serve them and do their jobs perfectly and without resentment? Check

They have an aristocracy that is out of touch with reality? Check

They have a custom where they offer to let another of the males take a free shot at them when they screw up? Check

Designer names are dropped frequently? Check

They have access to incredible amounts of money but don't work? Check

So far, I see it like this:

Bastian = Wrath
Myst = Beth (but may be more like Elena or Jane)
Riker = Rhage
Wick = Zsadist
Sloan = Vishous
Ivar = XCor
Mac = Butch
Venom = Tohr

Hopefully the author will adjust her style a little in the next books to be a little more original.

[Shadi ***save your ratings use disclaimers**]

Lost interest when the opening chapter was mostly about how much he loves women, sex and laminating about not wanting to mate (although for good reason mates die during child birth). I might come back and read the book so I can skip chapters/passages that annoy me. I was trying to listen to it.

I am sure it is a fine book but I get tired of the amount of authors that start their books this way. IE talking about OW, having OW hookup scene or H talking about how much he loves sex to establish how awesome and hot he is........

No description of OW sex and most people will not have an issue with how the books started. This is personal opinion and being tired of certain ways authors write the initial hook of a book I think it lacks imagination and books tend to be mediocre without imagination.

Not rating as I barely got to chapter 2

[Mindy Lou's Book Review · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I love dragon shifters and second, I love true mate stories. This first book doesn't dive too much into the true mate part. They are unaware of such a thing since the knowledge has been buried for years. They are drawn to woman with energy and that energy feeds the dragons.

I'm not quite sure how that all works but based off this first couple, the heroine had extremely high energy that made the hero feel full for the first time. I admit that I listened to the audiobook version and while I loved the audiobook. I'm not sure if I missed some information about the energy feeding or if we just get a small dose of knowledge in this first book.

I found this first book to be really good and I like the concept of the energy feeding being how they match to their mates. I do believe you will need to read this series in order. This did end as if more to come from all characters even though the next book will be focused on a new couple. Either way, I'm in.

[Melindeeloo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I had some nits, there is a lot of potential to the world of this Dragonfury series starter and to the cast of hunky dragon shifting males. The story drew me in, I really like shifters and dragons are about my favorite kind of shifter - here comes my first 'but' - but the 'hook' of the story was a double edged sword.

If you've read the back cover blurb, you'll know that dragon leading man Bastian has decided, as the leader of his clan, he must do his duty and take a mate to breed a new recruit in the battle against his enemies, despite the fact that a dragon's mate comes with an expiration date - the mates are human and do not survive the birthing. So with the fact that the romance was a death sentence, I found my self holding back on rooting for the hero to win his heroine, but at same time dying to know how things were going to play out.

Author Callahan does work to keep Bastian sympathetic despite his need to put the survival of his race before the woman he comes to admire. And I was pretty sure that they'd find some loophole, but since I wasn't sure how much on the urban fantasy side Fury of Fire fell, and I wasn't sure whether a 'happily-ever-after' was guaranteed - and since the abrupt transition in Myst's feelings from a very reasonable fear of the 'monster' who kidnapped her seemed like Stockholm syndrome at times - I wasn't able to let go and give full reign to my inner romance reader.

Taking as step back from this first story and lookng at the framework of Dragon Fury series starter, Dragon Fury ending up being sort of BDB-lite meets the Pyr - a love child between Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood and Deborah Cooke's Dragon-shifting Pyr. Fury of Fire has a acronyms-and-brand-names-as-verbs 'voice' that calls to mind Ward's (which I don't mind) but with good guy dragon shifters fighting to protect the world from the bad guy dragon shifters who revile humans. And the manner in which the dragon-shifters feed with the potential of 'draining' their dinner (of life energy), their inability to go out in the sun (because of their uber UV sensitive eyes and other UV issues) and the fact that they turn ash when the die, made them feel sort of vampire-like to me - though the fight scenes (and how they travel from place to place) give them an undeniable 'dragonicity'. And a nit for me that likely won't be relevant to anyone else, is that several of the names in the story have some really strong associations for me to other characters outside of this book and every time they were used they sort of dragged me out of the story and I had to think to myself, "No, not that Lothaire" or such.

Still, even with my nits, the male bonding scenes between Bastian's dragon shifter clan, the action packed fight scenes, and some interesting personalities in the cast ensured that I did like Fury of Fire - which I'd have classified as multi-threaded PNR instead of urban fantasy romance. I definitely will be checking out Callahan's next book Fury of Ice (Dragonfury Series #2) - Callahan did a really good job of setting up the next leads, Ice Dragon Rikar and homicide detective Angela Keen, and I look forward to getting to know the rest of Bastian's white hat dragons and gray hat dragons, Forge and Wick too (Wonder which one takes the stage in the third book, Fury of Seduction (Dragonfury Series #3))).

ARC provided by Amazon Vine - release date 2/7/12

[KatiD · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a mix of Thea Harrison's Dragons and JR Ward's BDB, and embarrassingly, I found it completely entertaining. There are a number of "Female of Worth" references, brand name dropping (one of the warriors apparently smelled like Lanvin cologne). I don't know what that means, but apparently it's a good thing.

I liked the heroine, and the next heroine is set up as being a bad ass.

If you're looking for something to tide you over until the next BDB book comes out, this one might be for you. If you can get over the whole, "Wait, I've read this before..." feeling.

I still enjoyed it quite a bit, and can imagine that other readers will like it too. I'm offering a measured recommendation. I will say this, I ordered the next two right off the bat.

[Rachael*Caribbean*girl*bibliophile · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoilers ahead




Myst is a nurse who goes to check on a pregnant friend, she instead walks into a horror movie as her friend is dead but her unborn child still lives. Training kicks in and Myst makes the decision to save the infants life. Help arrives in the very last place she expected.
Bastian is the commander of the Nightfury arm of dragonkind, they have been in battle with the razorbacks for years and their numbers are decimated. Due to a curse dragonkind cannot have female children nor do the human women who do get pregnant actually live through the pregnancy. Desperate times however causes Bastian to make the decision to have a child with a compatible female. The call to intercept Myst and the new dragonkind baby she unknowingly saved sets him on the path to finding the female of his dreams.... But their enemies are only one step behind and soon Bastian and his men once again fly into battle.... This time to save the woman he loves.

**********
1) This is the unseasoned version of Black Dhagger Brotherhood! I mean from the set up of the society, the enemies, the clothing, the interactions, the phrases they use....down to the damn Butler was basically BDB lite!

2) Relationship development where? The characters meet, feel a connection, he goes off doing whatever for a while, returns and suddenly they can't do without each other. I get mates and stuff but these people don't even know what they're dealing with so if the mcs are confused what does that leave for the reader?

3) These are Dragon/ vampires? I guess in an effort to distort the similarities to BDB the author decided to make the guys dragons....but these aren't like other dragons.... Nope they can't go into the sun😂😂😂 so vampire dragons if you will. Hey if they're not vampires maybe we won't notice the glaring similarities to BDB? Idk

4) We actually don't know much about the guys....just a vague explanation about a cheating God and a curse? How old is Bastian I haven't a clue

5) The males feed off of high energy females....kinda came across as dub/con


6) Multiple povs and yet all characters sound the same


7)Some of the BDB books are my all time favorite reads, this series was a very pale imitation of it.


***him sleeping with her knowing she may get pregnant and DIE was just bs! Didn't even have the decency to give her a heads up
***that baby disappeared at moments.... I actually found myself skimming around looking to see who had him 😑


My opinion🤷🏽‍♀️


Before meeting the h the H had sex and fed from others
No cheating or ow drama

[Megan Riverina Romantics · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally read Sept. 2013
2017 reread...

Rating: 4
Heat Rating: 3 out of 5

Welcome to Coreene Callahan's wold of Dragonkind! This debut novel is packed full of goodness. Callahan's world is fascinating.

In Fury of Fire we are introduced to the ways of Dragonkind. We learn that there are two fractions of the race that are at war, the Nightfuries and the Razorbacks. The Nightfuries are led by the hero of the book, Bastian while the Razorbacks are led by the villainous Ivar. You see, Ivar and his Razorbacks hate humankind and would happily see it eradicated. Bastian and his peeps aren't about to let that happen though. Not only do they find it uncool that Ivar wants to kill all the humans off but there's also the little issue if needing human females in order to procreate and feed. Dragonkind is a race made up of only males and they gain the sustenance that they need, energy from the Meridian, through human women. Ivar's a bit of a mad scientist though and thinks he can change that therefor eradicating the need for them.

Bastian and Myst made an interesting couple. On one hand they had this extraordinary connection between them but on the other hand Bastian was essentially keeping Myst a prisoner. Bastian totally went about wooing her the wrong way. I understand not wanting to scare her but he needed to be more upfront with her IMO. But then that's an alpha male for you. Always thinking that he's right with his back-assward attempts at protecting his woman.

Bastian wasn't the only one to screw up in the relationship. Myst made mistakes too. I could smack her upside the head for breaking her word. The woman is one strong female though. She kept her shit together when it was hitting the fan. And the way she dove right in to help with the medical needs despite her fears is commendable.

I should point out that the world that Callahan created is similar to Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed and JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood. Not that that is a bad thing. Those books rock. I think that those series set a basic structure and precedence for kick ass PNR series so it's only natural for similarities to show up in other works. However, Callahan has added her own unique voice to the basic framework making the Dragonkind world stand on it's own. One thing in particular that struck me was the uniqueness of the way that Dragonkind feed. It's very sensual. Similar yet different to a vampire bite. I think that the fact that there isn't a bite makes it even more sexy. Before reading this I never though that there could be anything as primal as a blood exchange but Callahan's energy feeding scenes are downright superb.

The pace in Fury of Fire did tend to drag at times. There was a lot of scenes/viewpoints that were included that made it seem as more time was passing than actually was. All the scenes were pertinent to the storyline however so I wouldn't see the story streamlined in any way.

Fury of Fire is an enchanting tail that will leave you wanting more. The Nightfuries quickly wormed their way into my heart and I'm now invested in them. The next book in the series, Fury if Ice, Rikar and Angela's story, is already on my kindle waiting to be read. I can't wait to find out what Callahan has in store for us next!

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

.

[Monica **can't read fast enough** · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good story and a good narrator made for an enjoyable audio book .

Where you can find me:
•(♥).•*Monlatable Book Reviews*•.(♥)•
Twitter: @monicaisreading
Instagram: @readermonica
Goodreads Group: The Black Bookcase

[Deniz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite frankly I think I am more forgiving when it comes to rating an audiobook, than when I rate a book I've read.
I think there are two reasons for this:

1. I listen to audios while I do other stuff... anything really from studio work to doing house chores and even playing games. And I often listen to audios that are more fluff.
2. The narrator take total preference over the writing style. So if an audio is well narrated, the story entertaining enough... well, most of the time I am a happy camper

Btw I noticed this, when one of my GR friends was reading a book, I had done as an audio- i rated it 3,5Stars and rounded it up- she kept on quoting from the book, as she read it, and I was beyond surprised that none of this actually phased me, while I was listening to the audio. Which is why I shall in future be a wee bit more causious when rating audios and Fury of Fire being the first audio I listened to after this revelations- well it's getting the brant of it I guess

The world building of this is actually really interesting. I am not that big of a shifter PNR fan, but I really liked the idea behind this. Not having read that many shifter books, I might be mistaken, but at least from where I am standing, this has many fresh ideas thrown in. I love the mix of magic and modern science with a good dose of PNR.

The plot is quite fast paced. Lots of action, the battle kind and the smutty kind, and quite entertaining, even when it was rather predictable.

The narrations is really well done. In fact, I think, I might have not much enjoyed reading this one. But listening to Darcie's deep rumbling voice was rather pleasant. He did a really good job, though I had to giggle a little at Myst's voice... still the entire story was way better told in his voice than in mine.

The two biggest issues I got with this one are the character building and the multiple POV. Low and behold it isn't the insta-L's! I actually didn't mind them AT ALL. Which, well you know, is beyond surprising, it's my pet hive after all! Kudos for that one to both the author and the narrator. I think it's a sign of a job well done

The multiple POV was just too many. I am usually someone who doesn't mind several POVs, but I felt it was just too much in this one. In fact I am not quite sure why the author decided to go that way, but I found it at times more disrupting than anything else. Plus on more than one occasion it gave away too much of the story, ruined any suspense that could have been there.

The character building was on one level really well done. I liked Myst's and Bastian's way of dealing with their relation ship- it felt real, and we talking insta everything here! In fact I think Bastian's character building was the best in the book. Myst was a bit of both, total cliche and really interesting strong female. I think the females are rather well written, actually. But the villains? JUST NO! It reminded me of a cartoon. It was just too much too over the top.
Most of the characters were actually rather melodramatic. But I kinda shrugged that off, I couldn't do the same to the fact that they all were way to much like a walking cliche. Like the cop, the best friends, the nurse, the butler.... if you look at them from that point of view each character totally fills in for the usual cast.

I think lovers of the genre will enjoy this one.
And I am probably going to listend to the next book in the series.

Did I mention I loved Darcie's voice? *goes to Audible to see what other audios he narrated*

So this is somewhere between ok and good for me. 2.5 Stars

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75-4 Stars


This was a very entertaining story with loads of action, oversexed Alpha Dragons, oversexed and detestable bad -guy Dragons, witty repartee, clueless humans and hot loving.

The similarities with BDB are obvious but I see quite a bit of potential in future books and look forward to Rhage's Rikar's story! I couldn't help myself - hahaha :)

[~V~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book alright..i really like dragon shifters and i thought Coreen Callahan's spin on them, with the whole "energy feeding" was kind of cool. Liked all the characters and the storyline was interesting (all the Blackdagger Brotherhood and Midnight Breed similarities didn't bother me)...it also didn't seem to suffer from "1st book syndrome" at all. However, all the "inner dialogue" really kind of bugged me, which is such a bummer because this could have been soooo good, if not for that one very annoying detail and it wasn't just a little thing, it was throughout the entire book!

I'm actually kind of surprised the author's editor wouldn't have picked up on something like that because it can really drag a book down. It was full of a character's thoughts about the person they were with or the situation they were in...it didn't matter if there were 2 or 5 people in a scene...there would only be like 3 or 4 sentences exchanged in an ENTIRE chapter! It was like it was all "telling" as opposed to "doing"..if that even makes sense? The majority of the book takes place in peoples' HEADS! It very much lacked verbal communication between characters. I guess i never really realized how important "speaking" was in a book until i read THIS book!

Having said all that, i AM going to continue on with the next book (i know, shocking!). Things have been set up here for it and i'm way too curious to see how things play out to give up now. Hopefully the inner dialogue will be toned down some.

[Mel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fury of Fire, the first book in Coreene Callahan's Dragonfury series, is a Black Dagger Brotherhood and Immortals After Dark ripoff. I gave it a shot because it was free during my Kindle Unlimited trial period, but I didn't get very far in before the similarities were too much to ignore. Myst and Lothaire's names were clearly taken from Kresley Cole's brilliant Immortals After Dark series and the characters, certain slang, and the "my brother" comments were blatant ripoffs from J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood.

I read a lot of PNR and yes there are similarities between series when all of the guys live in one area, pair off with each book, and have the whole brothers-in-arms thing going, but this was poorly recycled drivel. Due to that, I DNF'd Fury of Fire and plan to move on to my Kate Daniels re-read. I sinceriously need to rid this from my mind.

If you are looking for brilliantly written and engaging PNR, I suggest you read the series I mentioned that Ms. Callahan stole from to create this mediocre world. They are a far better investment for your time and money.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting plot premise. I liked the bond between H and h. Cute baby-naming scene in the kitchen. (No resolution regarding his papa, though.) Some scenes are vivid, especially the battle scenes. Better than average sex scenes.

Simplistic characterization of the dragon warrior brotherhood. It felt so cheesy! Plot contrivances -- obvious ones. Too much thinking. Inner dialogue slows the pace. Real dialogue is needed. The book felt fairly trite. At least it only cost $1.99.

Contents: Far too much rough language for me (kindle counted 116 F-bombs and about 100 instances of religious cursing. Explicit MF sex. Violent -- but like a comic-book, with a one-dimensional evil villain.

People who like JD Ward, Thea Harrison, and Aikin might like this.

[Hbeebti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah I have it 4 stars so what? LMAO... Okay seriously I did enjoy this book. Yes there were many things and I mean many that were like BDB but it didn't bother me. In fact it made me smile and laugh. See now, after reading this book I have a craving to read about BDB. So its all good. There things at the end that weren't figured out. I did enjoy the battle scene at end. There were some hot loving scenes with Myst and Bastien. Great set up for the next book about Riker and Angela. Over all this was an enjoyable book and I look forward to reading the other books.

[mad4rombks · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Uber possessive hero from the get go. The heroine was his. She was his to protect, his to care for, his to love and heaven help anyone who got near her. <3 <3

[Nadège Nrd · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
Comme je lis très peu de bit-lit, j'ai bien aimé ce tome. Par contre, j'ai bien conscience que c'est du total réchauffé et que cette histoire n'apporte rien de nouveau au genre. Mais j'ai aimé les dragons (ça change des vampire et des métamorphes loups/panthère/etc). Il y avait des trucs intéressants comme l'énergie du méridien. C'était "un peu" novateur.

[Maida (Medley of Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am Rapunzel......and these can be my dragons any time BABY!!! I loved this book! :D

UPDATE!!!

I have read a great number of PNR books, but this was my first book with dragons! Yep, you heard me dragons! But not some ugly monsters, with large teeth and red eyes that breathe fire, Fury of Fire had some very beautiful dragons, the kind you would want to be rescued by, if you were locked in some filthy tower! In other words they were hot and definitely worth the read. Fury of Fire was a non-stop roller coaster ride of action, suspense, mystery, humor and sizzling romance! It was different and fun and I found myself hooked to its every word! An overall enjoyable read.

I adored the characters in this book! They were so funny that I found myself laughing at every little joke they said! Humor is always a plus in a PNR book, especially with all the action-y stuff going on. The heroine, Myst, is one tough chick! She looses a patient, saves an unborn baby, gets taken by a dragon, has a bullseye on her back - but despite all that she still has enough energy left to spout off witty remarks. I loved her sense of humor! And I was very happy when she finally took that leap of faith with Bastian - I maybe be biased here, cause I really wanted that HEA - but it took courage nonetheless and I admired Myst for that. As for Bastian, he was just pure sexy alpha male! I loved his protective instincts when it came to Myst and his sweet side was an added bonus. But when he gets jealous, Oh boy, *fans self* you will get weak in the knees! That's not to say, he didn't have flaws. He did, but that's what made him an enjoyable and real character.

The romance in the book, is a puzzle to me. I was a little confused by the end of the book, as to how Bastian and Myst "truly" love each other. With the way the story progressed, the "I love you." at the end seemed rushed. So, I didn't really get that special feeling between the two characters. But other than that, Bastian and Myst's relationship was sweet and very hot.

The one major thing I had an issue with was Myst and her freak out session over being pregnant with Bastian’s child. I just thought it was odd and childish, especially considering she’s been having sex with the man for how long?? - you'd think it was at the very least a possibility. I got she was upset but crying, telling Bastian to stay away and then fleeing as if your life is in danger, was a little too much. And the worst thing, after she drives off, she realizes that Bastian was being "reasonable" and had good reason not to tell her about how she got pregnant!?? For a character that has a strong, humorous personality, this did not fit her. Ms. Callahan could have handled that situation a bit better.

There were also the other Nightfury clan members. Rikar, Wick, Venom and Sloan. Without a doubt, I gave my heart away to Wick. He was the silent bad boy, that every girl falls for and my favourite. I can’t wait for his story! I also liked Forge, an ex-bad guy and am looking forward to his story too! All the secondary characters were very enjoyable and they were a nice aspect to the story, overall.

My Belief of what Wick looks like:
[image error]
HUBBA HUBBA!! :D

To wrap up, Fury of Fire was an enjoyable read. Ms. Callahan did a great job in this first installment of her series and I can’t wait to start the next book. This is a definite must read for all PNR fans!

This review is also posted at: Literary Love Affair

[Buffyanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a sucker for fated mates, over possessive alphas, dragons, magic and second chances. This one was recommended by a buddy in my Book Club, so I’m not surprised by the amount of enjoyment it gave me. The beginning grabbed my interest quickly. I felt the middle dragged a little, while Myst and Bastien’s inner monologues were on the long side. The ending was action packed and fast paced. Although Bastien and Myst get their “happy for now”, the sheer overload of loose ends means that reading further is a must. On to book 2!

[mer · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 30% - June 1, 2014

This is an honest and highly subjective review, proceed with caution. You have been warned.

My pet peeves in Fury of Fire

* Heroine was terribly ridiculous. I honestly can't understand her. She was the one who said the sight of the dragon-shifters scared her shitless and vowed to not trust BUT when the man came at her without warning, planted his lips on her throat and purred, and she got turned on and loved it! Lady, if I were you, no matter how dangerously hot he is, I would never let a stranger coming and touching me. Instead, he'd be dead ON MY FEET. That's what sane woman would do.

* It's the lesser kind of dragons. Does it hurt when I said that? If so, I'm sorry. The thing is I'm not. Why? Dragon is an awesome creature, dangerous, scary, lethal and they heal faster. As far as I know about dragonkind, nothing can kill them except they kill each other. No small things can harm them either. They will survive. To have learnt that dragons here could go blind because UV rays and dragonkind didn't mix, I was greatly upset. Even Khaleesi's dragons fly in the day, in hot fucking desert. Donna Grant's dragons used to soar the sky in daylight, too! Thea Harrison's dragons have no problems with daylight too!

------

People out there who are thinking or considering to write dragon-shifter, do not you dare to downgrade the dragon's awesome standard. Please continue to make me stay believe that dragons are immortal, awesome, scary, enormous, gorgeous, dangerous, and they only can be killed with reasons make sense because if it's otherwise, I'm going to review condemn you. If you already did, just pray I won't ever find your book.

Read on your own peril.

[Iva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like a mix of Black Dagger Brotherhood - dragons style with half of the names from Kresley Coles' Immortals After Dark (Bastian and Myst, really?). It even drags with too many thoughts like J.R. Ward writes. But it's still too interesting to put away. The similarity is in the structure and few other things, but the actual story is original. The mythology is worked out in detail, rules are there and then our famous couple found a set of new ones. Expect insta-attraction and a little of Stockholm syndrome (but really, the kidnapping was justified! Heh.) It's still pretty believable. I totally dig this energy thing. But I'll always judge Bastian for lying to Myst, the son of a b*tch. This is not something you hide from your woman!!!(too spoilery to mention)
It's a book full of action, with a side of humor and the characters bantering but stil very, very slow. I already went on to the second book and I'm curious about all of them - Mac, Wick, Venom, Force too. I hope I'll get used to it or it could get too tiring.

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF@ 52%


GraveyardGrimlin’s review sums up my feelings.

This book is just not for me. Even having it as background noise as an audiobook while I sit in traffic was too much to handle.

The amounts of “that doesn’t make sense” that’s not logical,with how this world is built was too much to handle.