Dragon Unleashed (Fallen Empire #2) by Grace Draven
I received a complimentary ARC from the publisher, courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Book Summary
A dragon shapeshifter and a healer with power over the earth fight a corrupt empire in this thrilling and deeply emotional romantic fantasy from the USA Today bestselling author of Radiance.
Magic is outlawed in the Krael Empire and punishable by death. Born with the gift of earth magic, the free trader Halani keeps her dangerous secret closely guarded. When her uncle buys a mysterious artifact, a piece of bone belonging to a long-dead draga, Halani knows it's far more than what it seems.
Dragas haven't been seen for more than a century, and most believe them extinct. They're wrong. Dragas still walk among the denizens of the Empire, disguised as humans. Malachus is a draga living on borrowed time. The magic that has protected him will soon turn on him--unless he finds a key part of his heritage. He has tracked it to a group of free traders, among them a grave-robbing earth witch who fascinates him as much as she frustrates him with her many secrets.
Unbeknownst to both, the Empire's twisted empress searches for a draga of her own, to capture and kill as a trophy. As Malachus the hunter becomes the hunted, Halani must risk herself and all she loves to save him from the Empire's machinations and his own lethal birthright.
Book Details
Dragon Unleashed by Grace Draven
Fallen Empire Book #2
Publishes on June 9th 2020 by Ace
Fiction | Romance | Sci Fi & Fantasy
My Rating: 4 Stars
Review
DRAGON UNLEASHED is the second book in the Fallen Empires series and continues with another fabulous book filled with magic, danger, and a slow-simmering romance all set in a unique fantasy world.
If you are looking for fantasy-romance, that special blend of authentic world-building touched by magic, one filled with a captivating romance to love, then you really must try Grace Draven.
Readers are taken back to the same fantasy world first discovered in Phoenix Unbound. A world shadowed by a tyrannical empire ruled by an evil villainess bent on revenge.
Lush writing paints a world of deadly bazaars, enchanted barrows, earth magic, and a shape-shifting dragon.
In this book, we are taken from the mountainous steppes of Phoenix Unbound into the valleys and merchant city’s of the empire. A world of forbidden magic, markets selling sorcery, and a villainess named the Spider who spins a dangerous web of deceit.
Here, Draven transports readers into the daily life of free traders who travel in meandering caravans selling their wares, but in this world, it is rumored to be inhabited by the near-extinct Draga whose blood and bone are coveted for their magical properties.
Dragon Unleashed builds a layered, slow-simmering romance of friendship to lovers that packs plenty of emotions.
A dragon shapeshifter and a healer with power over the earth, Malachus and Halani, both, must keep their abilities and heritage secret but when they meet by accident and a mysterious artifact, a piece of bone belonging to a long-dead Draga, brings them together, they can’t deny their growing feelings despite the danger they present to each other.
Dragon Unleashed is filled with lush writing and an imaginative world setting perfect for building a fantasy romance between to characters that’ll be hard to soon forget.
Recommended highly to fantasy-romance readers and fans of Grace Draven books. I hope we have many more books in the Fallen Empire series to look forward to.
