This is the tale of Lanen Kaelar, it is seeming narrated by Lanen in her old age. It is the tale of a young girl with a dream to see the world and to rediscover the True Dragons. They are simply a myth to the human race they have not been seen in so long. They live on an Island on which grows Lansip a tree whose leaves can cure anything from Headache to Heartsorrow. The fruit of the trees can bring back youth. But between the mainland and the island is a rough sea with bad storms--but every eight years the storms lessen and a ship has a chance to make it across--most do not return.
Lanen had always wanted to travel, she being confined all her life to a farm, and she dreams of meeting the dragons. In the first novel she gets her chance, a merchant ship is leaving for the island. She hires on to harvest lansip leaves. Before she leaves, the man who raised her tells her that her true father has promised her to the demons. As bad luck would have it her true father, Marik, owns the ship and is on the ship. And not to recount the first novel but the ship makes it, Lanen finds the true dragons and talks to and falls in love with Akor--king of the dragons. Marik tries to kill Lanen, and Akor receives a mortal wound trying to save her. Instead of dying Akor turns into a human and leaves the island with Lanen.
The Characters are really great in these novels. Lanen is a strong female character, not afraid of much. She is intelligent, but not beautiful. She is willful and has a temper--but also has a good heart. Varien is a dragon who has become a man and he has a lot to learn. He mourns the loss of his former self, even as he celebrates the love he has with Lanen. He is a very contained character--living a thousand years will do that to a person/or dragon. Jamie is also a great character. He is the man that raised Lanen he is a caring man, that used to be a mercenary and an assassin--he has a past--that perhaps will save their lives or hinder them. Rella friend to Lanen. She works for a secret service and is more than she seems. She also knows Lanen's absent mother (left when Lanen was too young to remember). She is simply full of surprises. There are dragons with their own personalities as well such as Ida, the dragon who was in love with Akor, and Shrikar, Akor's best friend. These are our heros and core characters but there are other interesting characters as well that will have more to do in the next novel, I suspect.
The Lesser Kindred begins with the marriage of Akor, now called Varien, and Lanen. They return to Lanen's home but they realize that Marik will still seek them. They must leave, but they do so in the company of Jamie, the man who raised Lanen, and Rella, Lanen's friend from the journey to the island. They are pursued by the demons who seek Lanen. Plus Lanen is ill--she is pregnant with Varien's child but her body is rejecting the child. Also Varien and Lanen have the added quest of finding the Lesser Kindred and making them whole again. Its seems that in times past that the dragons and the humans lived together in peace. Until a human backed by the demons killed one dragon and stole the soul gems (jewel on the forehead of a dragon--contains its soul) of some of the others causing them to shrink in size and to become unable to commiunicate (by telepathy--trademark of dragons). The rest of the dragons could not stand to see them nor kill them so they went into exile on the island. Now the island the rest of the True Dragons are living on is beginning to burn up--all the volcanoes in the area are erupting and it seems that it is time for the True Dragons to head back to the mainland and home. There is quite a bit going on in this novel and some of it seems a bit rushed. The book just ended, like pages went missing or something. There was no true ending, hopefully that means a third book is in the works. Still its a terrible way to end a novel.
I enjoyed the novel right up to bad ending. I did think some of the plot slightly rushed, but overall this is an good novel. The first one better. If you like novels about dragons then you should enjoy this novel.