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Kundalis #2
Shadow Dragon
Do you have a dragon problem?
It's not easy living with a dragon in your belly, but I think I've finally figured it out. We're going to be just fine, so long as the rest of the world doesn't find out. Which of course, is going to happen any second.
It's not like I want life to be easy, but maybe, we could leave out getting stalked across Eastern Washington by reporters, followed by cops, and impersonated by strangers on the internet. Maybe, my gang could stop fighting among themselves, I could stop gathering runaways like a mother hen, and the stoner kid with a megalomania complex and a dragon that dwarfs my own will just leave us alone and go away.
Keep dreaming.
I've never been an optimist, but maybe, if the world would stop conspiring against me, I could keep it from finding out about dragons.
And get Doc back?
My personal, invisible, Blue smartass isn't helping. Unfortunately, he's right. Doc left us. Now everyone's looking at me to fix things, our gang's coming apart at the seams, and I think I'm being haunted by a silver death worm.
You made that up.
Never mind. Some days, it's best to let the dragon win.
It's not easy living with a dragon in your belly, but I think I've finally figured it out. We're going to be just fine, so long as the rest of the world doesn't find out. Which of course, is going to happen any second.
It's not like I want life to be easy, but maybe, we could leave out getting stalked across Eastern Washington by reporters, followed by cops, and impersonated by strangers on the internet. Maybe, my gang could stop fighting among themselves, I could stop gathering runaways like a mother hen, and the stoner kid with a megalomania complex and a dragon that dwarfs my own will just leave us alone and go away.
Keep dreaming.
I've never been an optimist, but maybe, if the world would stop conspiring against me, I could keep it from finding out about dragons.
And get Doc back?
My personal, invisible, Blue smartass isn't helping. Unfortunately, he's right. Doc left us. Now everyone's looking at me to fix things, our gang's coming apart at the seams, and I think I'm being haunted by a silver death worm.
You made that up.
Never mind. Some days, it's best to let the dragon win.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 29, 2016
6 people want to read
About the author
Frances Pauli
141 books65 followersFrances Pauli writes books about animals, hybrids, aliens, shifters, and occasionally ordinary humans. She tends to cross genre boundaries, but hovers around fantasy and science fiction with romantic tendencies.
Her work has won four Leo awards, two Coyotl awards, and has been nominated for an Ursa Major award.
She lives in Washington State with her family, a small menagerie, and far too many houseplants.
Her work has won four Leo awards, two Coyotl awards, and has been nominated for an Ursa Major award.
She lives in Washington State with her family, a small menagerie, and far too many houseplants.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 15, 2022
Another fun read. We learn more about the dragons, but come away with even more questions, ending on a cliffhanger that makes me look forward to the third book.
New characters are introduced. We learn more about the old ones. And, as always, our main character still hates cats.
New characters are introduced. We learn more about the old ones. And, as always, our main character still hates cats.
November 17, 2015
I have read a lot of fantasy and urban fantasy in my time, but I’ve never read anything quite like this series before. The premise of the Kundalis—invisible dragons that inhabit this dimension by anchoring to receptive humans—is the kind of idea that made me have to pause in my reading to simply marvel at the human creativity behind it. Frances Pauli has built such an engaging blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary by bringing these dragons into the world of diners, pickup trucks, and cell phones.
What’s more, she’s done it with a really engaging first-person narrator. Karin is tough and driven—and funny. More to the point, her internal conversations with Blue—the dragon—are funny. In some ways they’re like the Odd Couple, with Karin trying to maintain responsibility and control while Blue wants to be free to do his dragony thing. The dynamic is beautifully played out in the opening scenes, where Blue frolics in a field while Karin frets about whether or not they might be spotted—even though Blue is invisible to non-anchors, the trail he drags through the field is not. In spite of this push-and-pull between them, and Blue’s considerable powers of snark, there’s also genuine affection between the two of them as they push each other to grow.
To me, Blue and Karin are the real love story in this series, despite Karin’s ongoing romance with Doc or Blue’s crush on an enormous white dragon that crosses the group’s path. Of course, it’s complicated by the fact that Blue and Karin are essentially one in the same on a spiritual level, but that also adds to the idea that the relationship between anchor and dragon is really about self-acceptance. The romantic plotlines in general—not just between Karin and Doc but all the pairings within Karin’s whole gang—are well-written, but they always feel profoundly secondary to the anchor-dragon relationships… because they are.
The other interesting relationship that develops over the course of the story is the one between Karin and Li, one of the members of her gang. The two show how loyalty and a common cause can overcome serious animosity and become the basis for deep friendship. The execution of this plotline is masterful, as Pauli draws out the evolution slowly, in baby steps. There’s not really a big, meaningful moment that shifts the dynamic between Karin and Li—it just sort of happens during the course of them working together to solve all the challenges that keep threatening the group.
I should also note, though, that this book is actually the second in Pauli’s Kundalis series. The early chapters are written in such a way that it’s not difficult to pick up with this installment, even if you didn’t read the first volume. Pauli doesn’t provide a lot of exposition of the previous volume’s events; the focus is clearly on the current events and she really only makes reference to the previous plot points that are directly relevant to what’s happening now. It’s an impressively smooth integration, actually. I personally didn’t mind the lack of a designated recap in the narrative—and I think readers who are already familiar with the series will definitely appreciate not having to cover well-trod ground already—but the structure does require comfort with a little mild ambiguity if you decide to start here instead of at the beginning. The much bigger challenge for me now is waiting for the next installment
What’s more, she’s done it with a really engaging first-person narrator. Karin is tough and driven—and funny. More to the point, her internal conversations with Blue—the dragon—are funny. In some ways they’re like the Odd Couple, with Karin trying to maintain responsibility and control while Blue wants to be free to do his dragony thing. The dynamic is beautifully played out in the opening scenes, where Blue frolics in a field while Karin frets about whether or not they might be spotted—even though Blue is invisible to non-anchors, the trail he drags through the field is not. In spite of this push-and-pull between them, and Blue’s considerable powers of snark, there’s also genuine affection between the two of them as they push each other to grow.
To me, Blue and Karin are the real love story in this series, despite Karin’s ongoing romance with Doc or Blue’s crush on an enormous white dragon that crosses the group’s path. Of course, it’s complicated by the fact that Blue and Karin are essentially one in the same on a spiritual level, but that also adds to the idea that the relationship between anchor and dragon is really about self-acceptance. The romantic plotlines in general—not just between Karin and Doc but all the pairings within Karin’s whole gang—are well-written, but they always feel profoundly secondary to the anchor-dragon relationships… because they are.
The other interesting relationship that develops over the course of the story is the one between Karin and Li, one of the members of her gang. The two show how loyalty and a common cause can overcome serious animosity and become the basis for deep friendship. The execution of this plotline is masterful, as Pauli draws out the evolution slowly, in baby steps. There’s not really a big, meaningful moment that shifts the dynamic between Karin and Li—it just sort of happens during the course of them working together to solve all the challenges that keep threatening the group.
I should also note, though, that this book is actually the second in Pauli’s Kundalis series. The early chapters are written in such a way that it’s not difficult to pick up with this installment, even if you didn’t read the first volume. Pauli doesn’t provide a lot of exposition of the previous volume’s events; the focus is clearly on the current events and she really only makes reference to the previous plot points that are directly relevant to what’s happening now. It’s an impressively smooth integration, actually. I personally didn’t mind the lack of a designated recap in the narrative—and I think readers who are already familiar with the series will definitely appreciate not having to cover well-trod ground already—but the structure does require comfort with a little mild ambiguity if you decide to start here instead of at the beginning. The much bigger challenge for me now is waiting for the next installment
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews