*******Major Spoilers****
Each individual book in the series seemed like a repeat of each other. Dragon guy sees girl, explanation of how lonely the chick is, insta luv, long drawn out magic/dragon/warrior/Druid/fae history story, explanation of being a mate, some kind of battle, sprinkle in a sex scene or two in the mix, the end. Rinse and repeat 25+ times with different names, eye, and scale colors. (SN: Celadon and Jade are pretty much the same color 🤷🏽♀️) There are small deviation, but pretty much the same story on repeat for 17+ books and novellas.
The best part of the whole series to me were the interactions between Rhi and Con and their interactions with everyone else. Their story was super interesting even when it was cliche at times. It was obvious they were mates but I liked the mystery of it not being officially confirmed. The snippets of them are what made me read/skim the other twenty something books and Novellas and had me excited for this book.
Fast ward to yesterday, :-/..... if my expectation had been low I would’ve had the same meh 😕 reaction. But I was actually looking forward to this book. I just knew that because Rhi and Con already knew each other and their history, the rinse and repeat storyline wouldn’t be use in this book. I was hoping that I wouldn’t be reading explanations and back stories that were told ad nauseum. Well, I guessed wrong.
The thing that I initially liked about Con was that he was a man a few words, stoic, rigid, hard on the outside and a softy and super caring in the inside. Rhi was the wild child opposite of Con except she was just as caring and loving of the overall group. Based on the ending of book 17, I was excited to see how Con broke down after holding everything together for so long and how (my hope) Rhi or the other kings were going to save and restore him since he always stepped in and saved everyone else even when he thought it was a bad idea. That’s not why I got. Instead, Con was turn into a love sick puppy who spilled his guts about his lost love to anyone who would listen. Rhi’s character was what I expected, she was hurt and after years of rejection she understandably didn’t want to deal with him. Con’s didn’t fit the persona that was built up over 17+ books. He was a over ripe emotional banana. He was snappy, sappy, and seemed like he was always on the verge of tears. After all this time he suddenly had a quick meltdown and realized Rhi was the one for him and he would do anything to get her back.....😒
Then all of the loose story lines that had to be tied.... double 🤦🏽♀️. Melisse, was an obvious twist but a quick random blurb. What made her sooooo dangerous???? Con went from not knowing anything about the weapon for centuries to knowing everything about her while he was supposed to be going through this war and mental breakdown. Then Henry made absolutely noooooo sense to her story line. His connection to her was not explained enough for it to make sense. Con was supposed to be super smart and look at every situation from multiple angles but he never did that with the one thing/person that could easily kill all the dragons??? He just did as he was told????
Morann was killed by the random last minute addition Rona? Ooooookaaaay. I just knew Rona was Usaeil. She was just too random. As for Morann, She just randomly walked out of her prison/room through a whole bunch of trackers. All of a sudden the trackers don’t attack on sight. They are rational and don’t attack her cause they are.....all of a sudden scared of her? Coran went from vaguely hearing about Morann to knowing everything she did millions of years ago and knowing that she was going g to die at that moment.
Rhi being Usaeil’s daughter. Why? What was the purpose. I wasn’t bothered by the Con sleeping with mom and daughter thing. He didn’t know and Shit happens. I just didn’t see why it was necessary. It was bad enough that he knowingly slept with his ex supposed love of his life’s friend and mentor. Why make her Rhi’s mom too? That was pointless.
Con and Rhi having twins and the dragons being safe in another realm. I don’t understand why Erith took them. She said she could only save one, but there was two babies? Then she said she knew Rhi could heal herself, so again why take the babies? She never told them about the twins or at least let Con know that the other dragons are safe. She is the worst kind of “friend”. I would of rather DG let V find that the dragons were fine and safe than to let it be known that Erith knew the WHOLE time and watched him suffer under that unknown. She knew that was one of the biggest weights on Con’s shoulders and never told him. Plus she knew almost all the Kings wanted families and they were resigned to the fact that they most likely would never have a kid. She not only kept the fact that they could have kids a secret but she kept the fact that Con and Rhi, who struggled with the weight of being lonely, had not one but two ✌🏽kids and the kids had been around them and the long lost dragons???? Come on 🤦🏽♀️ that was just tooooo much.
Over all the book was meh... my expectations were just way to high given the series.