Moon Dragon Falling: Dragon Shadows Book 2 by G.S. Carline

Lisette de Lille, a noblewoman who lost everything in book one and had to build a new life for herself, is back in volume two of G.S. Carline’s Dragon Shadows Series, bringing readers back to her heart-stopping, page-turning trials and adventures as a noble by blood, a pirate by circumstance, and a dragon by fate.

Lisette has changed from a blood dragon to a new moon dragon after learning she is expecting her true love’s (and fellow blood dragon’s) daughter. Lisette must go deep into who she is, who she was, and who she wishes she could be before pausing her life to seek advice from Lamya (who trained her to adapt to her dragon lifestyle in book one). The birth of her daughter is approaching faster than she anticipates, and in order to raise an unidentified kind of dragon child, she must first finish her own growing.

Yet when old and new competitors attempt to assassinate her, plan to marry her off to someone else, or steal her love from her, everything is put in jeopardy. It’s difficult for Lisette to know who she can trust and who is planning to knife her in the back when friends and enemies are both so near she can hardly breathe.

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Moon Dragon Falling avoids the “boring interlude” pitfalls that many trilogies seek to avoid and instead offers an epic fantasy trip that is even more thrilling and high stakes than the first novel. While there are some recurring themes that come back with a fury and unfinished business from book one that will be settled, there are also new adversaries, obstacles, and dangers lurking around every corner.

In book two, Lisette’s importance to me as a primary character increased greatly. Her transformation into a woman who is aware of who she is and what she wants is handled so beautifully that it is both believable, heartbreaking, and heartwarming. Despite the overall quality of the writing in the tale, there are a few significant factors that have led me to give volume 2 a four-star rating.

The first is my personal viewpoint on the overarching cliché or topic of “lost loves,” which I know many readers find appealing (and if so, you will LOVE this book). But, this trope has been used so frequently that it strains my capacity for belief, even though the author approaches it in a unique way and with more inventive results than “my love has forgotten about me… let’s fall in love again.”

The second reason is related to the resolution of that trope at the very end, which reveals a crucial narrative aspect (which I won’t reveal because this review will not contain any spoilers) that, in my opinion, read as a major plot hole immediately before the cliffhanger conclusion.

This conclusion is a glaring cliffhanger. Although book three is being written (yeah! ), some crucial plotlines from this book (book-specific, not series-wide) are not completely resolved by the conclusion. Overall, this series is a lot of fun to read, and I heartily suggest it to anyone searching for epic fantasy where heroes aren’t always saved by knights, where motherhood may collide with adventure, and where magic has both good and negative parts.

About The Book

Lisette de Lille couldn’t be happier. She is carrying the child of her true love Tristan de Rocco, whom she plans to marry as soon as they are both healed from their battles with the Medina family. There are only a couple of small problems…

Lisette is now a moon dragon and has no idea how to control her transformations. She has been separated from the only person who can help her, and an old enemy has returned to threaten her happiness.

Rocco would help her, except a potion has made him forget both Lisette and his unborn child. He only remembers Tempest—and being a blood dragon.

The baby, conceived of two blood dragons, might be Lisette’s biggest problem. There’s so much she doesn’t know—including what kind of dragon her child will become.

In order to survive on her own, Lisette must battle those who would take her baby as well as those who would take her life.