Slightly Better Than the First, But Still Has Issues

Source: Goodreads

Dragon Moon (Dragon Delasangre #2) by Alan F. Troop (Roc, 2003, 307pp.)

Four years after the death of his wife, dragon shape-shifter Peter Delasangre sets out for Jamaica to declare his intentions to his much-younger sister-in-law, Chloe, who has just come of age. Although Chloe is initially hesitant about the proposal, Peter soon learns of more pressing problems—namely, his greedy in-laws (who plan to rob Peter of his vast fortune), and Ian Tindell, the family lawyer who, like his father before him, is conspiring to bring Peter down and take over his company.

While it’s not an excellent book, it’s certainly much better than its rotten predecessor, The Dragon Delasangre. Compared to Elizabeth, Peter’s “beloved” (sociopathic) first wife, Chloe is humane and sympathetic. However, I do have two complaints. The first is the whole “dragons eating humans” thing. Considering that most of the book’s readers are human, do they really have to eat people? Why can’t they just live off livestock or ultra-rare steaks? Case in point, there's a great scene where Peter decides to make passionate love to his new bride “only feet from the remains” of the victim they were just chomping on. How romantic! The second complaint is aimed at the stupid draconic tradition of employing the Tindell family as family lawyers. To defend this time-honored tradition, Peter quotes his father: “[In order for the family business to work,] You need [to employ both] a good person, and a scoundrel.” Yeah, but if your lawyer and his descendants display a habit of betraying your best interests—not to mention trying to kill you—isn’t it time for a change? It's a no-brainer. Seriously. One wonders how on earth these dragons manage to stay atop the food chain when they let little things like that cloud their best judgement.

Although I absolutely hated the first book, I do think I will continue on to the third volume in this series. Why? It's an interesting enough world for dragon-lovers. Not necessarily for urban fantasy fans in general, but if you like reading about dragons, it's good enough for a quick browse.