Conspiracy of Dragons

Scroll down to read my original review where I actually talk about the book more than this word vomit that follows.

ReRead September 2024
(Like a month and a half after the first time I read it...)

Honestly, I never expected for this book to turn into such a comfort read (listen, actually) so quickly. But on the 14th I had to take my sick cat to the emergency vet and he wound up having to be euthanized.

When I finally made it back home, about nine hours after I left, I couldn't focus on reading, couldn't stand the thought of it being quite when I wen to bed and also couldn't focus to listen to the audiobook I was working on. I decided to re-listen to this book because it's one I didn't have to pay attention to - and in truth I probably re-listened to a lot of this book because for pretty much every night for a week I fell asleep during it.

So, the narrator is awesome and the book is a huge comfort read for me.


Original Review



The first thing I want to mention is that this is actually the book that made me read the series. It came up on my Goodreads dashboard (I think a friend liked a review, honestly, and if that was you, thank you! you drew me to an amazing book). I saw the cover and title and knew immediately it was a mlm urban fantasy. I read a bit about it, all that really stood out though was dragons and one of the love interests is paranoid and only trusts his best friend/love interest.

Needless to say, even if I didn't grab the series quite right away, it never left my mind and here we are, less than two months later and I have read the whole series. Also needless to say, I had extremely high expectations for this book. Expectations that were 150% realized because it was that much better than I was even hoping for.

This book is a pretty major departure from the rest in the series - though it has the most in common with the third one. The humor is much more reserved and toned down. The characters backstory (especially Steffen's) is explored. The plot is solid and takes up more space than any romance does!

Also, this book features something I'm usually not a fan of in more romance focused stories; it features an established couple. But I completely do not mind in this instance because Steffen and Wil are so incredibly, unbelievably good for each other. They are healthy, they are solid, they so obviously love each other.

I liked Steffen before this story - and was more than curious and excited to get his story - and Wil was kind of a dark horse and quite a favorite of mine because he always seemed like such a stable dragon. (When such a big deal is usually made about how dramatic and over the top dragons are, Wil being so normal was a stand out for me.)

Beyond thinking that Steffen and Wil are likely the best couple I've read in years, there's also a lot of focus on found family and just people caring about others and community and finding your place.

(I also should mention that this story hits very, very differently than others in the series and that there is mentions of torture, gaslighting/brainwashing, child abuse and PTSD/trauma responses. This is not a light book, but it's more about healing than what happened in the past - which does stay firmly in the past.)

Final note: Steffen is a sweetheart. I love finding out what each dragon hoards and when I got to find out what Steffen hoards and why, I knew then I was a goner for this character.