This was on my list for a long while and I finally picked it up to read. This was just an "okay" read for me. The premise of it is decent. I added this book back in July 2012. Yes, finally 9 years later it came off my TBR pile. Oddly enough, when I added it to my book pile, I already categorized it as maybe read.
Over the years, there are many books with paranormal species with males being the only surviving group. In order to survive, the females are impregnated and then they die after giving birth to a child. I wonder in the popularity of this kind of plot device. It seems to become more and more popular or perhaps I read so much that I come across it more. Who knows? All I know is that females are a rare commodity that are used and discarded like yesterday's trash.
This brings me to a musing. With women writing these stories, is it that we are perpetuating the thought that females are disposable? That men view women as merely walking baby incubators to continue their male heir syndrome or is this a caricature of what women believe men want from us? And why is there always a special female ... just that one plain Jane who doesn't think that much of herself and yet the most powerful and sexy male wants that one person? That one person who suddenly finds herself in possession of an awesome magical power?
I have read several books with this kind of plot and theme. I am not sure why this one rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't connect with the characters. There was nothing wrong with Bastian. He is a noble male with good intentions. There is really nothing wrong with Myst who is a nurse that wants to help people out. The whole fated mates concept is prevalent in paranormal romances too. In this one, it felt a bit forced but it was still okay. Overall this story didn't appeal to me as much. Maybe I should have read it 9 years ago and thousands of books earlier.
This paranormal romance is good for those who are just starting into the paranormal world. Maybe someone who just read J.R. Ward's Brotherhood series and wants something similar yet different. Similar with a useless aristocratic council and fated mates; different by having dragons and dying females.
