Cheron, former rebel leader and newly crowned king, comes to Wren Gardens on a holy mission to free his goddess from exile and bring peace to his kingdom, but he’s distracted by an unholy and very beautiful concubine, Ekos.
Ekos may be more than a simple love slave, though. The King of Wren Gardens seems afraid of the strange and often blasphemous concubine and swears the man is cursed. Cheron agrees, especially when Ekos mocks and taunts Cheron’s sense of honor. But the urge to distance himself from Ekos can’t compete with the desire to remain close. Nor is it as strong as the urges in his body—urges he hasn’t felt in years.
As Cheron tries to refocus on his mission, Ekos throws him off again—this time by offering to help him in his holy quest. Cheron knows he shouldn’t trust a man who’s in the employ of a rival king, particularly not one who seems to know all Cheron’s deepest secrets. But he can’t ignore the signs from the goddess telling him to entwine his fate with this tricky, captivating man.
He prays the signs aren’t simply wishful thinking, manifestations of his very unholy desires. Time is running out, and Cheron is falling deeper for Ekos—and deeper into danger of another betrayal. One that could cost him his life.
Karen's rating:
This is the first book I've read by this author and I was to say the least suitably impressed not only did she give me a dragon story that I enjoyed...she created a dragon that I would honestly love to read more about.
Cheron was simply a rebel leader but now he's a newly crowned king and he's a king on a mission that takes him to the kingdom of Wren Gardens where he hopes to find what he needs to free his goddess. What he finds instead is a very alluring and intriguing love slave named Ekos...a love slave who seems to be more than he appears.
It soon becomes clear to Cheron that Ekos has his own mission but what remains to be seen is can Cheron trust Ekos and will his mission destroy them all.
I loved how spirited Ekos was and how he interacted with Cheron it was very much a love to hate or maybe that was hate to love relationship between these two. Throughout the story no matter how they tried or didn't try they were perpetually being thrown together and found themselves to be allies sometimes willingly...sometimes, not so much.
As well as Cheron and Ekos, I found myself quite taken with Lion and his connection to Ekos was surprising in a very delightful way.
Even more than the characters and trust me I loved the characters what impressed me with this story was the world building. Usually if an author's going to lose me in a fantasy story this is where it's most likely to happen and not only did she not lose me but I thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of the story. Everything was vividly brought to life for me from the clothes that were worn to the king of Wren Gardens private gardens which seriously could have stayed private as far as I was concerned that king was one seriously sick and twisted dude.
As much as I love dragons though, I can also say that I'm not a fan of dark fantasy and while I can't say that I'd label this one as dark fantasy for me it was definitely a fantasy story that leaned strongly towards the dark side, which i very much enjoyed in spite of this. I think the one thing that maybe could have worked better for me would have been if the romance was a little bit stronger at times but still the story was solid and overall I quite enjoyed it and I'll be watching to see what else this author has that will catch my eye.
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A copy of 'The Dragon's Rebel' was graciously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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