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Pre-order “One Good Dragon Deserves Another” HERE
Read the first three chapters HERE 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Nice Dragons Finish Last"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "The Spirit Thief" 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of “The Spirit Rebellion” 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of “The Spirit Eater” & “Spirit’s Oath” 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of “The Spirit War” 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Spirit's End"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Fortune's Pawn"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Honor's Knight"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Heaven's Queen"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Interview with Rachel Aaron
Read Eli Monpress series completion interview with Rachel Aaron
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Interview with Rachel Bach

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Rachel Aaron lives in Athens, Georgia with her family. She has graduated from University of Georgia with a B.A. in English Literature. She has been an avid reader since her childhood and now has an ever-growing collection to show for it. She loves gaming, Manga comics & reality TV police shows. She also posts regularly on her blog about publishing, books and several other intriguing things.

OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: After barely escaping the machinations of his terrifying mother, two all knowing seers, and countless bloodthirsty siblings, the last thing Julius wants to see is another dragon. Unfortunately for him, the only thing more dangerous than being a useless Heartstriker is being a useful one, and now that he’s got an in with the Three Sisters, Julius has become a key pawn in Bethesda the Heartstriker’s gamble to put her clan on top.

Refusal to play along with his mother’s plans means death, but there’s more going on than even Bethesda knows, and with Estella back in the game with a vengeance, Heartstriker futures disappearing, and Algonquin’s dragon hunter closing in, the stakes are higher than even a seer can calculate. But when his most powerful family members start dropping like flies, it falls to Julius to defend the clan that never respected him and prove that, sometimes, the world’s worst dragon is the best one to have on your side.

CLASSIFICATION: The Heartstriker series is an action-packed urban fantasy series with a strong dose of comedy, post-apocalyptic SF themes and dragons.

FORMAT/INFO: One Good Dragon Deserves Another is 463 pages long divided over twenty-one numbered chapters with a prologue and an epilogue. Narration is in the third person via Julius Heartstriker, Chelsie Heartstriker, Marci Novalli, Justin Heartstriker, Estella the Northern Star, and Bob “Brohomir” Heartstriker. This is the second volume of the Heartstriker series.

August 1, 2015 will mark the e-book publication of One Good Dragon Deserves Another and it will be self-published by the author. Cover art and design is by Anna Steinbauer.

ANALYSIS: Ever since I got my hands on The Spirit Thief, the debut book by Rachel Aaron, I’ve been enchanted by the worlds she imagines and the characters that inhabit them. When she announced this new series, I was very much looking forward to it with a lot of curiosity. After reading Nice Dragons Finish Last, I was thrilled to bits with the new series.

One Good Dragon Deserves Another or OGDDA as the abbreviation goes is the brilliant follow up to Nice Dragons Finish Last (NDFL). It's a cracker of a sequel that basically starts within a month of the climax of NDFL and basically widens up the world, and story in every way possible. I’ll be discussing some plot points of the story which will be spoiler-ish so please be forewarned of it.

The plot opens up with Julius and Marci happily forming a partnership and being able to do their job as curse-removal specialists. The problem arises when Bethesda returns to the DFZ and grabs Julius to go with her to a special meeting. Which turns out to be the upcoming nuptials (of sorts) of Ivan Heartstriker and Svena White Witch of the Three sisters. While this happy event is a very perfunctory one, it turns out Bob being a seer has invited a special dragon to this ceremony. That dragon being Amelia, who is the only surviving member of the A clutch and a mighty dragon in herself. While Julius is unaware of who she is, he does get to know her and is bemused by her interest in him.

Things however take a horrible turn when Estella, the oldest daughter of the Three sisters returns and hatches a plan to defeat Bob at his seer game. It will be up to Julius, Marci, Bob and the rest to help the Hearstriker clan survive the coming onslaught while also trying to survive Algonquin’s hunter who has a special interest in killing dragons.

This book in a word was magnificent and here's why:
a) It gives us the whole backstory about the dragons and why there seems to be so much infighting among dragon clans
b) Why Algonquin the lady of the lakes and other spirits hate the dragons so much
c) How does mankind fit into the magic equation

All of the above and much more is laid bare for the reader and the author truly gives us two protagonists to root for. This time Julius shares the spotlight with Marci who is frankly fantastic as a protagonist. The previous book focused on Julius and while it was a fun read. With OGDDA, Marci takes center stage and we get a stronger, multi-faceted story. The book’s cover kind of highlights this new shift and Marci also learns so much more from her association with Ghost. How and when this happens, is possibly the most surprising twist and only the second most shocking part of the story.

The story also focuses on Bob, Justin, Chelsie, Ghost and couple of other major characters. The character cast is suitably widened and I loved this aspect of the story-line. Bob, I believe is a character that is such a hit and in this volume, we get to know more about him and his powers. This just made me love Bob more even when he’s at his most infuriating. There’s also a strong light shined on Chelsie who has so far remained in the shadows and we kind of get an inkling why that is. Lastly the plot reveals the magical history of the world as well as the backstory of the Dragons. This revelation makes so much sense from a world-building point of view and has me intrigued for further exploration.

The story takes a suitable dark turn within a few pages of its start and Rachel Aaron does keep the tension evenly strung throughout the story. This book very much reads like a Jeffrey Deaver thriller wherein the entire plot unfolds over two to three days and the twists come left, right & center. This book possibly is the most twisted story-line that Rachel has written so far (among the 10 fiction books she has written so far). I couldn’t quite keep with all the happenings as there’s a seer battle going on as one of them reiterates “you can never be too sure with a seer”. The story unfolds at a wicked pace and the readers will be racing along to find what truly is happening.

Lastly while the book ends on a very surprising note, it’s the epilogue that’s the real stunner and I mean it. After all the twists and revelations that the main plot has in it, the last few paragraphs of the epilogue reveal so much more and further deepen the world and magic system so to speak. After finishing the book, I can only imagine the amount of email that Rachel will be getting about the epilogue.

As for any drawbacks, this story is definitely not a standalone; one cannot just jump into it. It needs to be read after Nice Dragons Finish Last, so that’s the only point I can think which detracts from this sumptuous thriller. On all other fronts, it aces its characterization, plot twists, plot pace, etc.

CONCLUSION: One Good Dragon Deserves Another is a first rate sequel that completely outshines its predecessor in every department. It reads like a thriller, is a urban fantasy, Sci-fi mashup in its plot and is a fantastic read overall. When it comes to books from author that we love, I don’t think we can ask more than that. Be sure to read One Good Dragon Deserves Another as it absolutely cements Rachel Aaron's reputation as a gifted storyteller.

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Order Trigger Warning HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Graveyard Book
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Ocean At The End Of Lane
Read The New Yorker Profile on Neil Gaiman

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "The monsters in our cupboards and our minds are always there in the darkness, like mold beneath the floorboards and behind the wallpaper, and there is so much darkness, an inexhaustible supply of darkness. The universe is amply supplied with night."

There is a diversity of material in Neil Gaiman’s third and latest collection of short fiction, Trigger Warning. It is a potpourri of twenty four pieces, if we take as a single piece the entry called A Calendar of Tales, which, itself, holds a dozen. They are not all, despite the collection title, dark or frightening. He brings in some familiar names, David Bowie, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, Maleficent, Snow White, a traveler from other Gaiman writings, Shadow Moon, twists endings into satisfactory curls for the most part, wanders far afield in setting and content, well, within the UK anyway, tosses in a few poems for good measure, and even offers up a few chuckles. He is fond not only of science fiction as a source, but of Scottish and Irish legends as well. If you are not smitten with the story you are reading at a given moment, not to worry, there is another close behind that is certain to satisfy.

Gaiman is overt in noting the absence of connective tissue among the tales. But there are some themes that pop up a time or three. Living things interred in walls, whether after they had expired or not. A bit of time travelling. Fairy tales are fractured. Favorite writers are admired

In the introduction, Gaiman tells us a bit about the origins of each of the 24, a nifty item to check back on after one has read them all. Some of the material has been developed for other media. Checkout the link to a more-than-text offering re the Calendar of Tales, for one. Overall I found Trigger Warning is a pretty good survey of Gaiman’s impressive range. He seems able to realize the dreams of the alchemists by transforming what seems every experience he has and every notion that crosses his interior crawl into gold. And some of the stories here are glittery indeed.

I quite enjoyed the collection. The uplift of the best more than made up for the downdraft of the lesser. If you enjoy fantasy, with a good dollop of horror, you could definitely give it a shot.

======================================= THE STORIES:

1) Making a Chair – A poem about the writing process.

2) A Lunar Labyrinth – A tribute to Gene Wolfe – a traveler who enjoys roadside oddities is brought to a maze that is brought into a form of darkness by the full moon. Here is a link to a site that will clue you in on the roadside oddities in the USA. There is a book on such things for the other side of the pond, but I did not find a comparable link

3) The Thing about Cassandra – An imaginary connection becomes real, with a delicious twist

4) Down to a Sunless Sea – An abominable feast, but with some just desserts

5) The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountain – A not wholly human dwarf engages a local man to lead him to a cave reputed to be filled with tainted gold – I could not get the image of Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister out of my tiny mind while immersed in this one. Sometimes the truth hurts.

6) My Last Landlady – The rent is definitely too damn high

7) Adventure Story – A bit of fun guaranteed to make you smile

8) Orange – A teen who thinks she’s all that may indeed be – another smile-worthy item

9) A Calendar of Tales – I won’t go into each – the collection was written from ideas received on-line. I found it a mixed bag, with March (Mom has a big secret), August ( a tale of fire and foolishness), September (a magic ring with the quality of a bad penny), October (a sweet tale, involving a Jinni), and December (a hopeful time-travel piece) my favorites

10) The Case of Death and Honey – A fantastical tale in which a certain Baker Street resident takes on the mystery of death itself

11) The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury – a tribute to Gaiman’s mentor

12) Jerusalem – On one of the dangers of visiting the city

13) Click-clack the Rattlebag – Stories can be scary, regardless of the age of the teller

14) An Invocation of Incuriousity – A time-travel piece – don’t touch the settings

15) And Weep, Like Alexander – One possible reason why we do not have some of the futuristic inventions we expected long ago – cute, not scary

16) Nothing O’Clock – A Doctor Who tale with a timely solution

17 ) Diamonds and Pearls: A Fairy Tale – A fable with a moral

18) The Return of the Thin White Duke – The completion of a story begun and abandoned while back for a magazine project on David Bowie

19) Feminine Endings – Beware of street statue-performers

20) Observing the Formalities – Maleficent as narrator of a poem about proper forms

21) The Sleeper and the Spindle – A fairy tale with a nice twist

22) Witch Work – A poem on the limits of witchy magic

23) In Relig Odhrain – A poem on a saint who suffered an awful demise

24) Black Dog – Shadow Moon stops in an ancient pub and is drawn into some serious darkness, scary fun.

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Order The Instruments Of Control HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Winter's Reach

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Craig Schaefer was born in Chicago and wanted to be a writer since a very young age. His writing was inspired by Elmore Leonard, Richard Stark, Clive Barker & H. P. Lovecraft. After reaching his 40th birthday he decided to give in to his passion and since then has released six novels in about fourteen months. He currently lives in Joliet, Illinois and loves visiting museums and libraries for inspiration.

OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: Livia Serafini must die.

To the Church she is a heretic, tried in absentia and sentenced to burn. To her brother Carlo, she stands as a threat to his corrupt rule and a symbol of resistance. To her new "allies" in the east, she is a pawn to be played and sacrificed as they see fit. They don't hear the whispers that follow her in the streets: whispers of hope, and the name of a long-dead saint.

When Livia rises up to fight, she will not rise alone.

Across the ocean, Felix struggles for control of his family's fate against the crime lord Basilio Grimaldi. Basilio is wealthy, ruthless, and the master of a hundred killers. All Felix has are his wits and his courage. It won't be enough. To break free, and to save the lives of everyone he loves, he'll have to face the darkness that followed him home from Winter's Reach.

And as the Owl's horrific vengeance unfolds, her coven teeters on the brink of civil war. All the dominoes are in place now, lined up from the frozen north to the swamps and ruins of a dead empire, and set to tumble at one man's command. When they do, a world will fall with them.

FORMAT/INFO: The Instruments Of Control is 315 pages long divided over fifty-six chapters. Narration is in the third-person, via Felix Rossini, Werner Holst, Lodovico Marchetti, Amadeo Lagorio, Simon Koertig, Livia Benignus, Basilio Grimaldi, Mari Renault, Hedy, Renata, Bear, Dante Uccello and a couple of other minor characters. This is the second volume of The Revanche Cycle.

April 19, 2015 marked the North American paperback and e-book publication of The Instruments Of Control and it was self-published by the author. Cover art and design is by James T. Egan of Bookfly Design.

CLASSIFICATION: Featuring a vast character cast, and focusing on political, religious and magical intrigue. The Revanche Cycle is very reminiscent of the works of Jennifer Fallon, Tad Williams and Daniel Abraham.

ANALYSIS: The Instruments Of Control is the sequel to Winter's Reach and a cracking read in itself. We are back with all our POV characters who survived the last book. Livia has had to flee to a neighboring country which has its own designs about the seat of Papal power a la the France-Rome situation with multiple popes and Anti-popes. Felix is stuck with his bargain to save his family and now has to deal with Basilio Grimaldi and his Faustian pact. Faced with a marriage proposal, he can't avoid, he learns that all might not be lost as his Grimaldi bride-to-be; Aita has ambitions of her own.

There's also Mari and Werner who are now returning to Mari's land of birth in the search for a certain sect of Knights. What they don't know is the people hunting them are getting ever so close. Simon Koertig is still upset about his supposed failure and is incensed now that Lodovico has made Felix off limits to him. Simon being Simon will not let that be and endeavors to bring his morbid plans to fruition. Think of him as Coyote to Felix’s Roadrunner with the only difference being that this isn’t a cartoon. Lodovico's revenge is slowly becoming sharper in clarity and that doesn't bode well for the merchant lords of the city of Mirenze. Lodovico's plans are revealed and it all boils down to a Bruce Wayne concept but with a major Lex Luthor outlook.

Renata is the new POV character introduced in this sequel and she's on the run for her life. Forced to do so due to her closeness with Felix, she encounters a strange person on the road who might be her salvation but also doom her all the same. Amadeo Lagorio is forced to witness a schism in the church that he loves however he believes he's on the right side of things even though he doesn't quite agree with Livia's methods. Lastly there's Owl the witch who is hunting Mari & Werner for the death of her pupil and things slowly become a bit clearer on the magic that's secretly prevalent in the world.

Overall the second volume builds upon the tension strewn across the various threads and the readers get to see further twists and newer sides to all the characters, which we have seen so far. Once again the characterization is the story’s forte. From Simon, Livia, Mari, Werner, Dante, Felix and the rest, each and every POV character gets their chance to shine and shine they do. This volume is more about the personal hardships that individuals have to face & the bleak choices they have to make. There’s a horrible death in the book that the author doesn’t show but you can feel its effects immediately afterward and throughout the story. There are a couple of characters whose lives take a dark turn. One by choice and the other by someone’s manipulation, both paths are very sad to read but riveting nonetheless. Full marks to the author for writing about female characters in a way that doesn’t stick to tropes and even trying their hardest to go their own in a hard, patriarchal society.

Craig Schafer know how to pace his story and even with a big cast of characters as these, he still manages to keep the narrative ted down tightly. The pace never slackens and the reader will be consistently surprised with all the plot twists of this second volume. There are quite a few and none more than the shocker of a twist in the last third, which then continues on to a very shocking climax. I liked how the author inverts various tropes (about characters) and keeps the reader guessing about the track that will be taken by the POV characters. This book is truly dark because of all the brutality that is showcased within the story. Not all of it is physical, much of it is also psychological and the rest is just people making the best of bad decisions that they face.

As for drawbacks, I didn’t find any besides the lack of a map, which would certainly helped in understanding the story from a geopolitical standpoint. Sure some folks might find the darkness of the story a bit too much for their liking but it’s entirely subjective. There’ s also the increased focus on political machinations and slow increase of magical intrigue. Overall this is a nuanced story set in a dark, medieval world that is very reminiscent of our own. In this regard, it’s very similar to ASOIAF in its political situations and the influence of clergy/royalty in affecting the lives of commoners.

CONCLUSION:  The Instruments Of Control is a dark sequel that further lays bare the author’s intentions. The Revanche Cycle is a grand mix of human ambition, political ambition, greed and many more elements that are the basis of most famous historical sagas. Be sure to grab this series as it’s turning out to be something special. As for me, I can’t wait to get my hands on the 3rd volume Terms Of Surrender.