One of my more recent posts on this site was about Dragon’s Kiss, an AMAZING book by EA Winters.
Amid finals and reports, children and work, writing and and editing—all of which never truly seem “done”—I took some time to read the remaining three books in this series: Broken Bonds, Noble Claims, and Crimson Queen.
In short, the entire series was amazing. Plot threads were paid off, the world felt lived in, characters were complex and well developed, and the story delivered on every promise that EA Winters made. It was high-stakes, fast-paced, and free of vulgarity and explicit adult content.
Characters:
Throughout the series, Semra works to find her place, her home, and her intrinsic value after leaving behind her assassin ways. She’s rough around the edges but deeply flawed in the way she views herself. She’s a character I simultaneously loved, rooted for, and got rather frustrated with when she returned to the same mountain I thought she’d already defeated.
Epitome-of-green-flags, Zephan, was an absolute treasure and the perfect foil to Semra’s hardened exterior. I have not a single bad thing to say about him other than I wished he was on more pages or got his own story one day.
So many other characters stole the show every time they were on the page. From Siler’s hilarious quips to Aviama’s contagious positivity, there were so many characters I grew rather attached to. Or yelled at on more than one occasion.
Story and Book:
The third book, Noble Claims, was by far the best. It showed Semra truly coming into her own and provided the romantic payoff I’d been dying to see since the first few chapters of Dragon’s Kiss.
I will admit, the pace was a bit too fast for my personal taste. It was relentless and break-neck the entire way through. While I loved the story, I do wish there were some slower moments, especially private moments between the main two characters—moments that would have acted as the perfect pallet cleanser and sweet reward before jumping back into the life-or-death action that so consumed the story. It was still great and still had several moments I found myself thinking about days later, I just wish there was more. However, I did find myself growing impatient or frustrated around the first half of the fourth book because I felt I hardly got to share in the characters’ happiness after waiting so long for the romance to finally take off.
That’s all completely personal. Not everyone is a hopeless romantic. I most certainly am, and I love slower moments sprinkled into the faster ones, especially when the stories have such incredible couples and green-flag men.
Overall: 8/10
Loved the book. Loved the story. I will be reading more by this author in the future. If you’re looking for a high-stakes, clean fantasy series you’d be okay with your children reading, look no further than The Blood and Flame Saga.
AG Patrick 