REVIEW: Dragon Soul by Katie MacAlister

In Dragon Soul by Katie MacAlister, Sophea is escorting the elderly Mrs. P to the Underworld to be reunited with her lover. In order for her and Bo to leave the Underworld, she needs to provide an offering–a ring she stole from Bael, the demon lord–and she needs a dragon to accompany her. Sophea had idea that the man she had married and who died minutes after their marriage ceremony was a dragon, and she inherited some of his attributes that would help Mrs. P survive the journey.

Rowan, an alchemist, is known as the Dragon Breaker after a spell that went wrong when he was a teenager caused several dragons to die. Because of what happened, the First Dragon demands Rowan makes amends for the accident by obtaining the ring from Mrs. P. If Bael gets ahold of it again, both dragons and mortals alike would be in danger.

Together, Rowan and Sophea have to find a way to beat the trials along their Underworld cruise, as well as discover a way for Rowan to harness the power of the ring in a way that allows Mrs. P to still use it as an offering to free her boyfriend from the Underworld.

I liked Rowan and Sophea as a couple. While they were both suspicious of each other and their motives for going to the Underworld, they never hesitated to help each other out. Rowan had some guilt over what happened to the dragons when he was younger, and it was nice to see Sophea stand up to the other dragons to defend him.

There were plenty of humorous moments in the book, several that come from Mrs. P. She doesn’t hold anything back, which at times is embarrassing for Sophea. The following is from a scene where the Rowan and Sophea are discussing sausage, which Mrs. P takes the wrong way.

“One minute you were discussing your man’s testicles, which I assume are pleasant to behold because he is a handsome man, although one doesn’t necessarily follow the other. I had a lover once who was quite comely in the face and figure, and yet he had the most repulsive stones I’d ever seen on a man. Imagine, if you will, a withered plum that has sat on the edge of a frog pond–”
“No, Mrs. P,” Sophea interrupted, shoving a roll at the old lady. “We are not going to hear about your poor boyfriend’s testicles. It’s not pertinent…”

Characters from the previous book make an appearance in this one, including Bee, who is Rowan’s sister, and her dragon mate, Constantine. I wasn’t crazy about Bee in this book. While she knew Rowan warned the dragons to move away before the accident happened, it seemed like she was taking the dragon’s side instead of supporting him. She also wasn’t very welcoming to Sophea.

Readers also get to see Gary, the disembodied head, again. While she easily believed in dragons and their powers, Sophea couldn’t believe what she was seeing when she first met him.

A disembodied head sitting on a radio-controlled jeep rolled forward, the joystick control within easy reach of the head’s mouth.
Sophea stared at it as it stopped in front of the crowd, her eyes doing a remarkable approximation of bugging out in horror. “What. Is. It?” she asked in little panting gasps.
Rowan took the chance that the wyverns were not going to try to steal her from him and glanced down. “It’s a head.”
Sophea pinched his arm. “I can see it’s a head, silly.”
“Then what was the purpose in you questioning me?”
She turned to face him. “I asked because it’s not a sight you see every day, now is it? I mean, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen a disembodied head riding around in a toy jeep. No, I lie, I can count on one finger!”

While this can be read as a stand alone, it would probably be best to read the other books first. A lot of characters from the previous two books appear in this one, and reading those first will give you a better understanding of them.

This book has humor and plenty of action, both in and out of the bedroom. I would recommend it if you enjoy paranormal books, especially those featuring dragons.

Book Info:

 March 29, 2016 | Forever | Black Dragons #3

NOTHING BURNS HOTTER . . .

Sophea Long knows that escorting her octogenarian client to Europe will be an adventure. Mrs. P has a habit of stealing anything shiny, and the former “hoochikoo dancer” is a lot faster than she looks. But Sophea hadn’t counted on Mrs. P leading her right into the arms of a smoldering, dark-haired stranger who kisses like a dream. If only he’d give up all this nonsense about Sophea being some kind of dragon…

THAN THE FIRE INSIDE

There’s a reason Rowan Dakar is known as the Dragon Breaker. The last thing he needs is to fall for a woman who literally sets him aflame every time they kiss. After all, he has a mission-one that will finally free him of dragonkin for good. He can’t afford to be distracted by the funniest, most desirable woman he’s ever set eyes on. But no prophecy in the world can ever stop true love . . .