This book was going pretty well. I feel like it would have been very appropriate YA. That is until the threesome happened. I had to read it a couple times because it was a bit ambiguous, but I am pretty sure it happened, even though it makes no sense. For context this book is romantic fantasy, and has all the requisite tropes with this one notable exception. The author decides to go for a love triangle. Ok. the first problem is that one of the people in the love triangle has been a wolf for a while. I'll buy that the person who was previously transformed into a wolf(Roy) thinks he is in love with the women who took care of him in his wolf form. However, there is little indication that the main female character (Brevelan) loves this guy in the romantic sense because it did not have time to develop. After the threesome happens, boom! She loves both characters equally, and she just. can't. choose. She should love Roy like how you would love your dog because that is the relationship they had. Meanwhile, Brevelan and Jaylor's relationship is more developed because Jaylor wasn't a dog for most of it. Not to mention the fact that their love is prophesied/ given the stamp of approval by the resident dragon. This isn't an equilateral triangle so much as it is scalene. So Jaylor and Roy are friends, they are not attracted to each other romantically, but they both want to bang the same girl, fine. My issue is that Roy took advantage of the situation because Jaylor was off doing a magic thing, Jaylor wakes up, and threesome ensues. It just didn't feel in character for Jaylor not to get jealous or hurt that Roy decided to have sex with Brevelan while he was ostensibly in a coma/dying. It doesn't make sense that Brevelan doesn't feel guilty or something for going to another man for comfort while the man she is in love with is in a magic coma.The conflict was circumvented because the author split the baby in half. This threesome is meant to make the situation all hunky dory so that the quest can occur with less infighting, but at the end Brevelan clearly chooses Jaylor while telling Roy she loves him; it is a deus ex machina. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't set up a love triangle without the inevitable conflict that should occur as a result of the love triangle. That is the whole point of a love triangle from a narrative utility standpoint. This could have easily been fixed if the pacing was better so that characters could develop more, or if there were some sort of indication that Jaylor and Roy also had romantic feelings towards each other as well as Brevelan, making it a polyamorous relationship. ( )

This was a re-read for me; I bought this book (with its sequel) many years ago, though I hadn't picked up the third in the series. When I saw the omnibus, I thought I would get it, to sort of complete the set (which is what I read and reviewed).

I don't want to knock a first effort, but the novel does need some polishing. I like the idea of a glass dragon, though - or rather, a dragon that is almost invisible, but still material.

The story centres around Jaylor, a journeyman magician on his quest to try for mastery. However, though his magic is strong, it is unconventional, so he is looked down on by other magicians. The country is in danger, as the magical borders and the king's health, maintained by now scarce dragons, are failing. Baamin, the senior magician and king's advisor, is trying to keep the information quiet while getting his journeymen to look for the remaining dragons and the king's missing heir. Jaylor unwittingly stumbles into the middle of a plot to take over the kingdom, and finds allies to help him try to foil it.

Somehow, I struggled reading this, and maybe that's why I didn't get the last book in the series the first time around.

ETA: I'm thinking of moving this book off my shelves, but the illustration is so pretty. Kudos to cover artist John Howe

2.5 stars ( )

I have to admit: I thought I'd never finish this book. The storyline and cover drew me in long ago when I picked this up at a used bookstore, but while I love fantasy, I explore new fantasy authors more rarely than I'd like...this book, unfortunately, is a sample of the primary reason.

A unique and original plot goes a long way in making for a successful fantasy, and while somewhat predictable by the end, Radford's first installment of The Dragon Nimbus series held up to that standard. Unfortunately, her writing and her characterizations were so weak that that originality paled. Writing-wise, this is better written than many fantasies I've stumbled into, but it doesn't hold up to literary standards or to some of my favorite fantasy writers like Ursula K. Le Guin and Jacqueline Carey. It may not be clunky, but it isn't alive or particularly memorable either. The characters here, though, are far worse than passable.

The central woman in this book, Brevelan, is both the stereotypical damsel in distress And the stereotypical fantasy heroine, and, simply, it doesn't work. While I love the idea and the background of the Brevelan, she's completely helpless (to the point of giggling and fainting and speechlessness) around not one, but two, men--that's right, there's a romantic triangle here more suited to a grocery store romance than a fantasy. Yet, the author is constantly noting how strong the character is, and how independent. I'll agree: every strong person has their weak moments, and vice versa. However, a woman who's been independent and self-sufficient her entire life does nto simply swoon at the sight of an independent handsome man--or, at least, not repeatedly and to the point of comedy. I'm not someone who needs every female to be a feminist or even a strong character, but this character's supposed traits were so incredibly inconsistent that she just wasn't believable.

The male characters were slightly better drawn, but I'm tempted to say that that's because they were given less depth. The magician Jaylor had some of the same inconsistencies, to a lesser extent, and for an independent rogue, he was incredibly timid around his supposed love. The other male character also, for his background, seemed far too timid. Of course, both characters' timidness disappeared whenever Brevelan became the damsel in distress instead of the talented healer...

On the whole, the characters were just inconsistent, and the emotional/romantic portions of the book were more laughable than emotional. The plot and ideas here really are interesting, but they needed more time, depth, and conditioning, as well as more careful characterizations to make them really come to life.

Simply, I wouldn't recommend this. Perhaps the story can outshine the flaws for some readers, but for me, while I kept coming back to the book, I rarely made it more than five pages without becoming so distracted by the flaws as to, very simply, just not care what would happen next. And, much as this first installment isn't remotely resolved action-wise, I don't see myself ever seeking out the second installment. ( )

Not a great novel, but an entertaining one. ( )