Breath of Fire by Tammy Kane

Karl is a Mattaen Initiate, a sort of warrior-monk sworn to a life of chastity and learning until he can become a brother in his order. Pledged to celibacy during his Initiate period, he is also a virgin. So when he comes across a village in the Hinterlands preparing to sacrifice one of their virgin daughters to placate an angry Dragon, he tries to dissuade them that Dragons are real.

When that fails, he offers to take the place of the girl, completely confident that there is and will be no dragon, and even if there is, he will be able to fight it off. However, a Dragon Slayer appears, a beautiful and voluptuous woman named Elera. She offers to kill the dragon, for a price- and her price is the man who has offered himself as sacrifice- Karl, for the night.

Karl objects, but the headman agrees, since Karl has already offered to exchange himself for the sacrifice. Karl, however, trails Elera, and learns, to his complete shock, that there really *is* a dragon, and Elera defeats it with her sword. He's rather impressed by her skill and athleticism, but he still wants to be a Mattaen brother, and is also determined to keep his virginity. Elera appears to accept his decision, saying she only said he had to spend the night with her, not lie with her, but if he changes his mind, that's okay with her, too.

They bathe together and share a meal, and she asks him to massage her and returns the favor, talking about love and lustful relations all the while, which Karl has been trained to ignore- by studying them. But when she exhales on him, he finds himself suddenly unable to resist her, and ends up making love to her all the rest of the night.

When he wakes, she is gone, and he must return to the chapter house of the Mattaen order to confess his failure. He is furious with Elera, realizing she did something to him, even if he doesn't know what, exactly. And after a last meeting with his friend and fellow initiate, Simon, he leaves the order behind to seek her out. In a village near where he last saw her, he is given a map by which to find her.

Meanwhile, back on the floating rock the Dragons make their home, Elera is being pursued by a fellow dragon-rider known as Ronin. Ronin is the most powerful Dragonrider on the island, and he wants Elena for his mate. Because he is the most powerful, and her mate becomes unquestioned ruler of the land, he isn't going to take no for an answer much longer. In fact, he tells her that without her agreement, he will simply take her by force in another month. She pretends to be unmoved by the threat, but she is afraid- and she can't wait for Karl to get there.

Because if he doesn't arrive, she'll be out of options to keep her people from a war with the surface people. Ronin wants to go to war, because that is the only option he can see to keep their people alive, She is wise enough to see that here people are small, and war will kill them all- as well as the Dragons they ride. She sends her friend Tem to help Karl along, and give him a ride to the floating rock, the island in the sky where her people live. She has also given Karl her breath, and tied her fate to his along with her love and her passion. If Karl never arrives, or does not arrive on time, Ronin might have her body, but never her soul or her love.

Luckily, Karl does arrive on time, but just barely, and Ronin nearly kills him with one of the strange weapons her people make. Given only a week to heal, Karl must claim Elera, fight Ronin and find some way to win her people over to his vision for them, as well as fighting for the heart of the woman he has come to love. But Karl must also deal with many revelations about not only the Island of Dragons, but also of the Mattaen order of which he was so nearly a part. For they were the ones who last fought against Elera's people, and nearly wiped them out.

And even if Karl does defeat Ronin in single combat, it's certain that he won't simply give up his plans to possess Elera, Kill Karl and rule the people the way he thinks is best. When so many of the Dragon-Riders prefer Ronin to Karl, is there any way for Karl to prevail? Or will he lose his life amongst these lost, stiff-necked people? Is there a way to save Elera, her people and the life she loves?

I picked this up because of the whole Dragon-Riding angle, and I wasn't disappointed. The world is something out of the late Dark Ages to early Middle Ages, but obviously, not our world. And I liked that it was Elera that was the Dragon Rider, not Karl. And that interesting inversion of Karl being both the Virgin and the abandoned lover. It turned so many of my least favorite clichés on their heads that I loved it just for that alone.

The writing isn't bad, though I did believe that Karl stopped being angry at Elera far too easily. The woman essentially raped him via magic, ripped away his greatest dream at the same time, and left as though it had all been a game for her. We, the readers, know she felt she didn't have much of a choice, but Karl didn't, and it just seemed rather convenient that he decided to forgive her so easily.

But the characters were interesting and refreshing, and none of them fit a cookie-cutter mold. Ronin could quite easily have been painted as a thug, liking war for War's sake. He does, a bit, but he also wants to save his people, and he's ruthless in taking what he wants, even Elena- even when its clear she doesn't want him. Yes, in some ways, he is EVIL, but he's a nuanced kind of evil.

While this book was not sequel-baited around a particular set of characters, the stage is certainly set for sequels, with the idea that Dragon Riders like to get their brides by rescuing the girls sacrificed to Dragons, which they generally manipulate to get the woman they feel would best suit them. And with the Mattaen Brotherhood now knowing that the Dragon-Riders have survived, War, or at least conflict, is inevitable. And there is plenty to be done with that.

In some ways, this book is a mixed bag. Yes, it turns some clichés on their heads, and mines others for all they are worth. But it's above the general crowd of romance novels, and I liked the story and the hints of books to come I found in the pages. Recommended.