Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Heart of the Dragon
AUTHOR: Jamie Sullivan
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 161 Pages
RELEASE DATE: February 26, 2018
BLURB:
When the dragon Madfall steals a basket from the castle, he expects it to contain gold—not a baby.
Seventeen years later, Richard of Benfro expects to meet certain death when he sets out to slay the dragon—but instead he finds himself face to face with a cute boy.
When the two worlds collide, Oenyn is caught between the loving parent who raised him and the human world to which he rightfully belongs. Luckily, being raised by a dragon means he’s plenty stubborn. He won’t give up what he loves without a fight.
REVIEW:
I’ve been umming and ahhing about how to rate this book for the last few days…it’s entirely possible that I over think things. So, I went with the full five stars, and while I’m not about to hold Heart of the Dragon up as an example of literary genius, the simple fact is that this book made me very happy. And sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
This book is told in a few separate sections, from the points of view of Madfall the dragon, Oenyn and Richard. The story begins with Madfall, the greatest thief in all of the land, casing a castle and preparing to steal some gold. His execution of the theft is faultless, until he returns to his cave and discovers that he snatched the wrong basket. Instead of stealing the king’s gold, he’s “accidently appropriated” a baby. If the author had chosen to title each chapter, this one could have been called “the downfall of the smug-ass dragon”. I absolutely adored the way that the arrogant, superior dragon is brought undone by a screaming human infant. The mighty did fall, and he fell…into love.
Now when I say love, this is no kinky dragon/human romance, I’m talking about the love between a father and son. Because Madfall is fascinated by the child and rationalizes that he can give him a better life than the castle maid Madfall stole him from. As the story progresses we get a glimpse into the life of six year old Oenyn, twelve year old Oenyn and then finally we end at eighteen year old Oenyn, and at each stage the author gifts us with some beautiful moments between the boy and the dragon. We are able to see Madfall’s love for his son, and his pride, and I totally felt all mushy and warm inside. But then Richard arrives, and Madfall has to face the fact that Oenyn isn’t really a dragon.
I loved all three of these main characters. I loved the egotistical dragon who loved his human son with everything in him. He would do anything, give up everything to keep Oenyn happy. Then there was Oenyn himself. He was an adorable mix of innocence and smarts that allowed him to worm his way into everyone’s hearts. And if Madfall was willing to give up everything for his son, Oenyn was also willing to give up everything for his father. Gah, seriously!! I loved the relationship between this father and son so much! Kudos to the author for hitting all my emotion buttons!
While the romance between Oenyn and Richard was secondary as far as I was concerned, Richard was also an entertaining character and brought a nice change in dynamic to the story. I loved the banter between Richard and Oenyn and to some extent Madfall too.
I’m really not much of a fantasy reader. Paranormal, yes, but I tend to find fantasy worlds too complicated and a headache to get my mind around. This world was kept simple, yet the author still included flashes of striking settings as Madfall flew with his son on his back.
I know that I’ll definitely be reading this one again, probably next time I’m desperately in the need for something light but beautiful.
RATING: 
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