Lynn Spencer - All About Romance

.At RWA, I heard Never Deal With Dragons described as a debut combining urban fantasy with a touch of humor. While I'll admit to suffering from a bit of series fatigue, I do have a soft spot for unique-sounding urban fantasy and so I tried this one out of curiosity. While there was a critical piece of the story that strained logic a bit much, I still had lots of fun reading this book and I enjoyed the author's voice.

In telling her tale of Myrna and her struggles as a dragon-human mediator at DRACIM, the author has a distinctive voice that manages to tell her story vividly while also being funny and just a bit snarky. At times, it reminded me of Julie Kenner's Carpe Demon, which I loved. The basic setup is this: The story takes place in Tulsa after World War III. During the war, a science experiment mishap led to the creation of dragons, which not surprisingly turned out stronger than humans. A truce has now been reached, and a ruling system set up. Parts of the world are controlled by various dragon lords, but humans have certain rights and those who are able to understand dragonspeak are called into service to work with DRACIM, the organization overseeing dragon-human relations.

Dragonspeaker Myrna started as an idealistic mediator on the rise in DRACIM. However, an incident in which her trusted long-term boyfriend Trian makes off with sensitive work documents gets her demoted. So, when Trian shows up in Myrna's office out of the blue one day, her barely restrained hostility toward him makes perfect sense. As Myrna finds herself sucked into the intrigue of a dragon world on the verge of war, she gets the opportunity to prove herself by joining a diplomatic mission. Naturally, she will have to find a way to work with Trian, who is turning out to be a bit more than he initially seemed.

This is a partial review. You can find the complete text at All About Romance.