Rat

by Melody Tink

Sarcastic Elanor may have found her match in Adymn, the brooding half-man and half-dragon. After murdering her family, Adymn kidnaps Elanor and takes her to Dargona Island. He calls her Rat, makes her cook, attend to the other dragons, and scrub feces off the cave walls. Elanor swears she hates him and vows to one day avenge her family's death. Her chance comes all too suddenly when Adymn demands she accompany him to Trana and pose as his wife so he can gain access to the royal court. She knows enough not to trust him, but while escape sounds all too tempting, Elanor can't help but feel Adymn is hiding a disturbing secret about his real agenda.

305 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2009

Reviews

[Jenna]

I discovered this little gem while perusing a long list of Kindle fantasy books. I read the description (a little leery since there was no review) and decided to take a chance. Am I glad I did! "Rat" is the story of a young girl, Elanor, kidnapped by dragons after her parents are killed in one of their scorchings. Elanor, known as 'Rat' to the dragons, is forced to be their slave and is therefore treated like vermin. The dragons' leader is a changeling named Adymn (cursed at a young age by a witch), and though he seems to treat her more fairly than the other dragons, he is often forced to beat Elanor (instead of kill her as the other dragons suggest) when she makes a mistake. Elanor naturally grows to loathe the dragons but one day Adymn takes her to her homeland to bring her out of their deadly reach. What follows is a very entertaining story of gradually revealed secrets interlaced with a hint of romance, a pinch of charm and a dash of intrigue. Our heroine is genuine: she has realistic feelings about her dismal situation and she proves herself strong and brave. Ms. Tink just doesn't hint at a flawed hero, but truly creates one. Adymn is a young man who feels forced to make hard choices and must suffer the consequences (despite his noble intentions), yet his sincerity and honesty help him overcome his guilt and in the end he recieves the forgiveness he so desperately longs for. As the plot slowly unravels to reveal all the answers in the end, I found myself still second guessing our heroine (would she really betray her new found friends, or would she revert to her earlier bitterness and seek revenge?), still wondering exactly who the two rogue dragons were (would they get away with their evil plot?), and finally, wondering how all this "mess" was going to work itself out in the end. All I can say is that Ms. Tink did a marvelous job on this novel and I eagerly await her future (hopefully several!) works. Well done!