During this second installment of the ‘Dragon Blood’ series, my kindle broke! It was devastating because I loved that thing. It has taken me to so many wondrous places. Fortunately, my dad had given me his old kindle touch a few months ago. I haven’t been using it because I tried it once, and the touch screen irritated me. But now I have to switch over, and I have to say, now that I am used to the navigation controls, I like the touch. But on with the story…
This book has left Sardelle and Zirkander behind, in favor of Lieutenant Caslin “Raptor” Ahn and Tolomek “Deathmaker” Targoson. Ahn is a fighter pilot in Zirkander’s squadron. An expert marksman because she was trained by the best, her father, an infamous assassin. In “Balanced on the Blade’s Edge” we get a hint to Ahn’s current predicament: her flier has crashed and she is presumed dead. She is very much alive, but a prisoner of war, held by the Cofah.
Tolomek has the reputation of Dr. Mengele. His gaseous concoction has been used to murder two towns, one in Iskandia – Ahn’s home country – and one in Cofehre – his own home country. He is cast out of his own society and forced to live among pirates, the only people who would have him.
Ahn and Tolomek are forced into the same prison cell, and although they each have their reasons to despise the other, they must work together to escape. They do this relatively quickly, but Ahn just trades captors from the Cofah to Tolomek’s pirates. Although he seems to want to free her still.
There is excellent character development in this story, or at least a great unfurling of the characters. At first, Tolomek seems like the ultimate evil genius, out of touch with reality. But we eventually get the full story of why he created the things he has, and although this proves a certain amount of out-of-touch-ness, he loses the evil and gains a misguided. We never see him kill, which helps prove his motives.
Ahn is great. She never gives up on her situation. She is resourceful and creative in a very MacGyver sort of way. At one point she uses a hammock to create a net trap for one of her guards. She accepts Tolomek’s help, but is wary every step of the way. She never relied on him to escape any of her confinements. And she proves to be highly skilled at the things she knows. I enjoyed the second installment of “Dragon Blood” just because her Ahn.
Romance ensues in this book too, which sort of annoys me. I enjoy a good romance as much as the next person, and actually enjoyed the one between Ahn and Tolomek over Sardelle and Zirkander. However, Buroker used the same “Romeo and Juliet” with a happy ending type romance in both books. Opposites from warring societies, falling hopelessly in love. It’s classic, but unoriginal times two.
Booktastik Reviews 