AUDIO REVIEW: 'A Destiny of Dragons' by TJ Klune
Title: A Destiny of Dragons
Series: Tales From Verania #2
Author: TJ Klune
Narrator: Michael Lesley
Published: June 30, 2017
Audio: November 17, 2017
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Cover Artist: Paul Richmond
Genre: Fantasy; Romantic Comedy
Length: 16 Hours and 40 Minutes/400 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Established Couple; Humor; Magic; Cliffhanger; Audiobook; CW: Violence - Mild
About A Destiny of Dragons
Sequel to The Lightning-Struck Heart
Once upon a time, the wizard’s apprentice Sam of Wilds got his happily ever after in the arms of his cornerstone, Knight Commander Ryan Foxheart. A year has passed, and while Sam’s been captured five or six more times since then, things are pretty great. His parents are happy, Gary and Tiggy still eat sass for breakfast, Randall is somehow alive despite being older than the gods, the King rules with a gentle hand, Kevin the dragon is as gross as ever, Morgan sighs a lot, Ryan continues to be dashing and immaculate, and Sam is close to convincing Prince Justin they will be best friends forever.
Life is good.
Until it’s not.
Because Vadoma, the leader of the gypsy clan and Sam’s grandmother, has come to the City of Lockes with a dire prophecy written in the stars: a man of shadows is rising and will consume the world unless Sam faces his destiny and gathers the five dragons of Verania at his side.
And she brings along her second-in-command, a man named Ruv.
Ruv, who Vadoma says is Sam’s true cornerstone.
REVIEW:
Following the story set up in The Lightning Struck Heart, A Destiny of Dragons is the first in the continuing three part series, Tales From Verania , that T.J. Klune is calling the “Destiny Fuck Yeah Trilogy”. Much like Lord of the Rings, Tales from Verania is a series in parts and thankfully the remaining two books are being published shortly, so don’t let the word cliffhanger put you off. If you’re a fan of Sam of Wilds you have to read this book!
Now that Sam has his happily ever after and everything in the City of Lockes is going along smoothly, some drama just has to happen, right!?
Cue Sam’s long-lost gypsy grandmother. She brings along the dark, mysterious, and incredibly buff Ruv (who she says is Sam’s true cornerstone), and Knight Commander Ryan Foxheart doesn’t like this one bit!
Oh, yes, and Sam has a vision of the future while being bad-touched by his grandma. He discovers it’s his destiny to save the world, and he must gather all the dragons in Verania to do it. Our favorite heroes are all back and better than ever and they set off on the quest.
Ryan is still dashing and immaculate, and now that Haveheart is solid, he’s letting us see his kinky side too. Gary still has sass up the wazoo, and Kevin surpasses anything I could even imagine with his vivid and creative descriptions of his favorite pastime.
The story in A Destiny of Dragons is completely captivating, and the banter is clever and funny. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed.
It wouldn’t be TJ if there wasn’t some heartbreak, and some of the more poignant moments really touched me, such as Sam’s conversation with the Star Dragon about why all wishes can’t come true, “‘If we got everything we ever wished for, we wouldn’t have the capacity to be thankful for all the things we’d already been given.’” Sam is still struggling to accept his quest, figure out why all this is going on, and wondering if he truly wants to commit to it.
There are some fantastic new characters introduced in this book. Klune completely nails the character of Zero the dragon, all his teenage angst and attitude. Zero broke my heart between his desperation to be accepted and his desire to find a deep and passionate love. Zero is wise beyond his years when he tells Sam, “‘Everything dies, it’s the price we pay for being alive.’” Sam hears him, but he’s still going to do whatever he must to make sure his family stays safe.
TJ Klune gets a little heavy in this one. He delves deep into the concepts of fate and free will, good versus evil, faith, and the power of love. Maybe I should add honesty to the list… I know Sam is going to regret not coming clean about his visions and everything that went down with Myrin.
I’m so glad I waited for the audio version of A Destiny of Dragons. What would the story be without Michael Lesley giving voice to Gary, Tiggy, Kevin and the rest of the crew?
Lesley infuses the characters with so much personality it just enhances everything that Klune has written.
I love the voices he’s created for Zero, Vadoma, Myrin and the other new characters, Lesley is just so incredibly talented. The audio is beautifully produced and includes some amazing sound effects which really enliven the story.
TJ Klune’s imagination knows no limits and A Destiny of Dragons is creative and funny and poetic and heartfelt and, well you get the idea, pretty much The. Best. Book. Ever! *fangirl moment*
I think Klune is a genius. Now the only thing that remains to be seen is whether I’ll dive straight into reading The Consumption of Magic or wait for the audiobook to come out. Who am I kidding, I’ll do both. There’s still three more dragons to find and I can’t wait to see what happens next!
An audiobook of A Destiny of Dragons was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Dreamspinner Press, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
Meet the Author
When TJ Klune was eight, he picked up a pen and paper and began to write his first story (which turned out to be his own sweeping epic version of the video game Super Metroid—he didn’t think the game ended very well and wanted to offer his own take on it. He never heard back from the video game company, much to his chagrin). Now, over two decades later, the cast of characters in his head have only gotten louder. But that’s okay, because he’s recently become a full-time writer, and can give them the time they deserve.
Since being published, TJ has won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance, fought off three lions that threatened to attack him and his village, and was chosen by Amazon as having written one of the best GLBT books of 2011.
And one of those things isn’t true.
(It’s the lion thing. The lion thing isn’t true.)
For more from TJ be sure and visit his website!
