Last Dragon Standing

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Synopsis

Princess Keita the Viper has carefully crafted the persona of a bored, selfish, royal dragon, which has nearly everyone fooled into thinking she's vapid, useless, and easy to bend to someone else's will. In reality, she's highly intelligent, and although not great in battle, she's a master of both poisons and subterfuge. As such, she's a Protector of the Throne, and for her newest assignment, her mother has tasked her with ferreting out those she believes are working against her in an attempt to dethrone her. When the queen also tasks her ally, Ragnar, to be Keita's bodyguard and partner in this intrigue, Keita isn't entirely pleased. Ragnar is a barbarian from the North who've historically been enemies of the Southland dragons, but as she gets to know him better, she begins to warm up to her handsome protector and finds him quite handy to have around. However, Keita has sworn never to be claimed by any male, so she keeps Ragnar on his claws, trying to persuade her otherwise.

While Lightning dragons of the North have a history of abducting females and forcing a mating, Ragnar the Cunning is far different. Knowing what happened to his mother at his father's hands, he has no interest in repeating the past. He's an educated dragon who has always loved books and learning, leading many to underestimate him, but he's also a strong warrior and battle mage. After his father's demise, Ragnar became the leader of his clan and wisely formed an alliance with Queen Rhiannon of the South. As such, she trusts him enough to share her suspicions about those who wish to usurp her rule and task him with protecting her youngest daughter as Keita goes about her spycraft. At first he thinks that Keita is as vacuous as she seems, but once he sees her in action, he gains a whole new respect for her. She suggests that they pretend to be lovers as a cover to make others think that she's consorting with the enemy, and all too soon, Ragnar realizes he'd like to make it real. But Keita is a very independent dragoness, who has no interest in submitting to any male, so it will take all of his cunning skills to win her heart while not scaring her off.

Review

Last Dragon Standing is the fourth full-length novel in G. A. Aiken's Dragon Kin series. In this one we have Keita, the youngest daughter of the Southland royal dragon family, and Ragnar, the new leader of the Northland Lightning dragons. This story takes place a couple of years after the end of the previous book in which Keita had been captured by Ragnar's father who was later killed by Talaith and Izzy, but before that happened, Ragnar and some of his kin helped Keita escape. The two are brought back together by Keita's mother, Queen Rhiannon, who has forged an alliance with Ragnar and fears that her throne may be jeopardized by the Iceland dragons who live even farther north than the Lightnings. She tasks Ragnar and Keita with finding out if the threat is real and who else might be involved. At first, Ragnar is reluctant to work with Keita, who always seems like nothing more than a pampered, spoiled princess, but it soon becomes apparent that she's far more than she appears. Keita is actually a Protector of the Throne, basically a spy or secret agent whose job it is to root out threats to her mother's rule. The three of them come up with a plan for Keita to make herself look biddable enough and sufficiently angry at her mother to appear to those who want to take over like she would willingly ally herself with them. Then they'll know exactly who and where to strike. Ragnar is to act as Keita's bodyguard and is the only other person besides Keita's friend, Ren, who knows precisely what's going on. Little do they know, though, that Queen Annwyl has been having dreams of barbarians from the north coming for her children, which could also be connected to the threat to Queen Rhiannon, and Annwyl is reluctant to leave the little ones unprotected to go lead her troops into battle. Not to mention, her armies are already spread thin, trying to defend their lands on multiple fronts, leaving Keita and Ragnar in a race against time to figure it all out. As the pair work together, their attraction heats up, but he may have trouble convincing the independent dragoness to be his forever.

After reading the previous books, I wasn't sure how well I would like Keita. Just like Ragnar, I'd thought she seemed like little more than a spoiled princess who likely wouldn't lift a finger to do much of anything. After her ordeal with Ragnar's father in the last book, though, she started to draw a little sympathy from me, but now in this book, I really liked her. Not wanting to fall prey to nefarious dragons again, she'd started weapons training at the end of that story. We discover at the beginning of this one that her endeavor didn't go well, but that doesn't mean she isn't dangerous. She presents herself as merely a beautiful, bubble-headed princess who isn't much of a fighter, but in reality, she's an intelligent dragoness who is a master of both poisons and intrigue. When her mother sets Keita the task of making their enemies believe she wants to take over the throne, she's more than up to the task. But when Rhiannon also assigns Ragnar to be her bodyguard, Keita isn't entirely happy about it even though he'd previously helped her. Although she finds the purple-haired dragon attractive, the Lightnings have historically been enemies of the Southland dragons, but the more time she spends around him, the more she warms up to him. However, Keita is content in her independence and has sworn never to be claimed by any dragon, even one as handsome as Ragnar, so he'll have his work cut out for him convincing her to be his, assuming they survive infiltrating their enemy's plans. I may have had my doubts about Keita at first, but she quickly gained my respect. I love that she's more than she seems and how everyone is always underestimating her at their own peril. While she's confident, she isn't overly cocky, and while assertive, she isn't exactly bitchy. I'm glad the author chose to write her this way, because I probably wouldn't have liked her nearly as much if she was as insufferable as her brothers can sometimes be. I also appreciated her being a dragoness who is small and not particularly good at physical fighting but who holds her own using her wits.

The Lightning dragons have a history of kidnapping females and forcing a mating, and Ragnar's mother was one of these. While his father hated him for his bookish nature, his mother encouraged him to become educated, but he secretly also trained as a warrior. Between being intelligent and what was done to his mother, he doesn't hold the same views on capturing mates as some of their kin. That's why he helped Keita escape. After the death of his father, Ragnar became the leader of the Northland dragons, and as a friend of Dagmar, he's also become allied with the Southlanders, both human and dragon. That's why, when Rhiannon asks him to act as bodyguard to Keita while she tries to make their enemies believe she'd usurp her mother's throne, he willingly goes along with it. As he watches her in action, he realizes that she's far smarter than she appears at first glance, which earns his respect. He also quickly finds the flame-haired, fire-breather drives him a little crazy in more ways than one, so when she suggests that they pretend to be lovers because it will make her look like she's consorting with the enemy, he finds it's not a stretch at all to make it real. However, when she asserts her independence, he must tread carefully or risk losing her altogether. Ragnar might be my favorite hero in this series so far. Even though his clan is thought to be barbarians, he's an educated dragon who thinks for himself and isn't threatened or intimidated by a strong female, instead showing her respect and finding ways to compromise. He's just an all-around great hero who is a strong character without being insufferably vain, particularly arrogant, or an uber-alpha who rubs me the wrong way.

Just like the last book, Last Dragon Standing has secondary POVs aplenty with most of those characters having their own books in the series. All of the previous dragons and their mates get plenty of screen-time. Annwyl and Fearghus (Dragon Actually) are still navigating parenthood with their "demon children" causing all kinds of trouble. After what happened before, Annwyl is terrified for their safety and training every day until she's exhausted, hoping to keep them safe, while Fearghus tries to figure out how best to help her. Talaith has spent the past two years not telling her daughter, Izzy, that she has a new baby sister, thinking that the distraction might compromise her in battle, so she and Briec (About a Dragon) must deal with the fallout from that decision when Izzy finally returns home. Dagmar (What a Dragon Should Know) is now Annwyl's chief battle strategist, while her mate Gwenvael is one of Keita's allies within the family. Keita's sister, Morfyd, and Brastias, the commander of Annwyl's army and her right-hand man, are now mated (their romance has played out as a secondary one in all the books), but Morfyd and Keita constantly fight like cats and dogs. Keita's baby brother, Eibhear, has been trying to ignore any feelings he might have for Izzy, and although Izzy, who's been away fighting in the army for the past two years still deep down has feelings for him, she's started a relationship with his cousin, Celyn, which leads to some trouble in this story. Izzy and Eibhear finally get their own book in How to Drive a Dragon Crazy, while Celyn's story is told in Light My Fire. Ragnar's brother, Vigholf, is one of his most trusted allies and becomes the hero of the next book, The Dragon Who Loved Me. Izzy is close friends with Eibhear's other cousin, Branwen, who becomes the heroine of the final book, Bring the Heat. Of course, Queen Rhiannon and Bercelak (Chain & Flames) are right in the center of everything, and Bercelak's sister, Ghleanna, who is also Branwen and Celyn's mother, gets her story told in Dragon on Top.

I found the previous book of the series to be kind of so-so, but Last Dragon Standing has definitely put this series back on track for me. However, there were still a few things I thought could have been better. Ragnar and Keita's relationship wasn't quite as romantic as I would have liked. I felt certain points of connection between them, but there weren't any, what I would call, heart-stopping moments. Since Keita is so reluctant to be mated, it also ends on more of an HFN, but I'll allow that since all the other couples seem to play strong roles in subsequent books, we might get a more solid HEA for them somewhere down the line. Also I was rather surprised that for a book this size, there are only two full love scenes, which were just okay and not anything particularly special. They were rather short and both were more of the quickie variety rather than a more drawn out seduction like I would have preferred, which surprised me as this author has written some pretty steamy stuff in most of the other stories so far. That said, although not perfect, I did find this book entertaining and worthy of keeper status. I really liked both Keita and Ragnar and think they fit well together as a couple. Ragnar was kind and respectful, making him easy to love and I appreciated Keita's talents with subterfuge that made her more than just a pretty face. The plot flowed much better this time with all of the secondary POVs being woven in seamlessly instead of feeling disjointed, and most of the editing issues I'd seen in the previous books improved as well. I also liked the progression of the overall story arc, which sets up a new war that must be fought by human and dragon alike in order to save both the Northlands and Southlands. I liked the forming of alliances between these two areas to take on the enemies that are amassing at their proverbial gates. At this point, I'm guessing that this war will play a big part in the upcoming books of the series, so that prospect has whetted my appetite for what's yet to come.

Note: This book contains some explicit language that is typically reserved for the erotic subgenre and which sensitive readers may find objectionable, but the content of the love scenes are on par with most steamy romances.

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G. A. Aiken

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