A SCAR IN THE BONE

After a young woman discovers she's a dragon, she has to learn how to act like one.

It’s been a year since Tamsyn's life crumbled in an instant. After years of being a royal whipping girl, she was married off to Fell, Lord of the Borderlands, and discovered that both of them were dragons in human form. Then he died. Tamsyn was accepted into the pride led by Vetr, Fell’s brother, but after a lifetime with humans, she struggles to learn the ways of dragons and still yearns for Fell. Though everyone tells her she should move on, she has a physical brand that bonds them, and it seems to be telling her he’s still alive. Her confusion grows when Vetr tries to convince her to bond with him and forget Fell. When she learns that Fell isn’t actually dead, but buried so deep in a mountain that he can’t escape, she leaves the pride to try to save him—but so much has changed in the past year that it’s not clear she’ll be happy even if she can. This sequel to A Fire in the Sky (2024) doesn't live up to that book's promise. The decision to resume Tamsyn’s story a year after the cliffhanger ending is jarring, and even fans will need several chapters to figure out what’s going on and settle into this story. Tamsyn’s growth is compelling, but it feels one-note because of Fell’s absence from most of it except as an object of longing; though the book is a romantasy, there isn’t much romance to be found. Much of the emotional heft of the first volume came from the conflict and chemistry between Tamsyn and Fell, and though Jordan attempts to add complexity through a potential connection between Tamsyn and Vetr, it feels out of place in the context of the world she’s built, and is barely explored before Tamsyn abandons the pride. Though Tamsyn remains a compelling character, the book never rises to the expectations set by the first volume, and the ending is strangely underdeveloped for an apparent duology.

An underwhelming conclusion to a dragon romantasy series.