first published in the Brisbane Courier-Mail 1 March 2007
Not so long ago, in a world not so far away, paranormal romances took over the market. While the build up may seem gradual in retrospect – after all, Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake first appeared in 1994, Christine Feehan’s Carpathian series started in 1999 – the fact is, it seemed overnight that paranormal heroes took over our shelves and our hearts.
I admit I cut my romance reading teeth on historical novels. They remain among my favourite comfort reads. But I threw myself into paranormals as wildly as everyone else, and enjoyed myself immensely. But my paranormal reading and my historical reading were on parallel paths, never destined to meet.
Until Shana Abé.
You may remember that Abé’s The Smoke Thief topped my top ten list for 2006. Abé has since published two more stories: The Dream Thief, in early 2007, and Queen of Dragons, released at the end of last year. Fans of the series will delight in knowing that what was originally designed as a trilogy will now, in fact, extend to five books.
The series follow a group of beings known as the Drákon, who have the ability to take the forms of human, smoke, and dragons. Creatures that appear human, but still have a touch of the animal about them, they are drawn to jewels of all kinds, can hear a sort of singing from them. This, as much as their ability to shift, defines them as a race.
Set in the Georgian era, the English Drákon believe they are the only ones left. They confine themselves north of London, their secret kept safe by self-imposed exile. But this solitude has caused problems. The ability to shift is being slowly lost, and very few of the women have the ability to take their dragon shape any longer.
The Smoke Thief picks up here, with one member of the tribe escaping to London, and taking up as a jewel thief. The rules of their society forbid anyone’s leaving on pain of death, so the Alpha of the tribe is sent to capture the thief. He is shocked to find that not only is the thief a woman, but she is also capable of a perfect shape shift.
In The Dream Thief, the strongest female Drákon born in centuries leaves the tribe in search of the strongest jewel in existence, capable of controlling – and destroying – the Drákon completely.
And finally, in Queen of Dragons, proof of another Drákon community comes to light. In typical colonial fashion, the English Drákon seek to control it. But they have never faced a woman like Queen Maricara before, or the horror she brings with her.
Abé creates a world rich in mythology, lush and luxuriant and utterly lovely.
