A review by jg1987
Silk & Steel by Ariana Nash

3.0

3.5 Stars

[b:Silk & Steel|50811263|Silk & Steel (Silk and Steel #1)|Ariana Nash|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562779148l/50811263._SX50_SY75_.jpg|65508590] is my first [a:Ariana Nash|18510938|Ariana Nash|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1539505956p2/18510938.jpg] book and the first in her Silk and Steel series. High fantasy novels can be a bit hit and miss for me, but I took a risk here as the story sounded different, and the audiobook narrator was a really good one. Dragon shifters are not a fantasy species that I have read a whole lot of, so the novelty there was nice. I enjoyed the world building elements and I liked the whole enemies who develop deeper feelings theme that linked the two MCs. The first third of the book captivated me and had some great potential. It set up the political situation, hinted at some possible allies and had a touch of mystical foreshadowing for the future. But the subsequent prolonged separation between the MCs was not what I was looking for and really made the story feel like it was dragging on. I found the fact that Eroan and Lysander were so close, but kept just missing each other so bloody frustrating that my enjoyment of the book suffered. Also would it have killed the author to give us some non coerced, fully consenting sexual activity for once. I'm all for having darker sexual elements, but could have seriously used some lighter moments of sex that the participants actually wanted to participate in. I am holding out hope that will come in later installments, but ultimately by the end of the novel I was full of mixed feelings. I will give the second book another shot, especially as it has a higher rating (although I have been misled by that in the past), and hope the potential that I sensed at the start of the book gets actualized.