DRAGONBORN - Jade Lee
Love Spell
ISBN: 978-0-505-52754-7
March 2008
Fantasy Romance

Dabu'ut in the Empire of Ragona

A dragonborn is a human who incubates a dragon egg by attaching it to his own body. Once the dragon hatches, the physical connection is severed, but a symbiosis has been created for life. The human has the dragon's heightened senses and strength, but when one dies, so dies the other. The human and dragon minds are as one; they can even control one another's bodies. In Ragona's history, wars between dragonborn lords were common, but now only one remains, the ruthless emperor, Dag Racho. Dag Racho gained supremacy over his huge Copper Dragon who does as the Dag commands and is given his enemies to devour, dead or alive. Dag Racho also commands a huge army and has a trained dragon-hunter/killer under his command.

Kiril was only twelve when the rest of his family was fed to the Copper for treason. He was spared and taken to court to be trained to seek out any remaining dragon eggs or dragonborns and destroy them. Now, Dag Racho's court is a place that thrives on deceit, where many times to live, one must lie. It's ruled over by a consummate deceiver. It took this innocent boy and turned him into a believer. Kiril is convinced that dragons are inherently evil and that they corrupt their human symbiot. He has a prime example in Dag Racho.

Dragon scholars existed before Racho killed them all and destroyed their research. The daughter of one of the scholarly families survived, and though Natiya ekes out a living as a barmaid and dancer, she keeps a closely guarded secret. The jewel in her naval is really the egg of a Queen Dragon. They speak to each other mind to mind. The egg has an insatiable curiosity and constantly plies Natiya with questions.

Kiril is sent to Dabu'ut as the new governor; his mission is really to find the woman who can lead him to the clutching cave where the dragon Queen's egg is thought to be hidden. He finds Natiya and is mesmerized by her dancing -- and by her -- but he has no idea she incubates the egg. When he finds it out, his duty is to kill her.

Jade Lee's new storyworld is a highly complex one. My opening paragraphs appear to give needed background, but nothing in DRAGONBORN is necessarily what it appears. We learn as Natiya and Kiril learn. One of the big questions throughout the story is whether the dragon corrupts its human or the human corrupts the dragon. Kiril and Natiya are on opposite sides in this matter. Other huge questions concern the dragons themselves. Where did they come from and why? Are there others in other countries or worlds? Just what is it they want from humans?

DRAGONBORN has something for everyone: action, suspense, battles between good and evil, romance, passion, intrigue and betrayal, and a storyworld that unfolds with new, often surprising, information.

Differentiating between good and bad characters is difficult in DRAGONBORN. People are a mix of both in Ragona as in real life. Sabina, Kiril's friend from court, is one case in point. However, one must not only suspend disbelief when reading this intriguing fantasy, one must suspend judgment as well. Half-way through, I could see no way for there to be a happily-ever-after for Natiya and Kiril, yet it ends in hope. We are left so completely tantalized, surely there are sequels in the works.

Jane Bowers