In my dutiful attempt to chronicle the books I actually finish reading I present to the readers of this blog another hum-drum title: Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard.

While searching for fantasy book suggestions I stumbled across a list that was supposed to include: good, new, adult fantasy titles that are not the common big names (things like a Game of Thrones, etc).

The tagline held promise: A Prince with a Quest. A Commoner with Mysterious Powers. And Dragons who Demand to be Free – at any Cost.

The jacket cover than goes on to introduce the two leads, Prince Corin, just returning from the North with strange tidings for his father, the King and apprehension about the Summer court and his mother’s intensions to marry him off. Tam is joining her sister-in-law at court. She is cuirous to see what it is like, though disdainful of the flighty chatter of insipid airheads (not quite the words used in the synopsis, but close enough).

“Chance leads Tam and Corin to a meeting in the library, and he impulsively asks her to join him for dinner… Tam is surprised by how easy it is to talk to Corin, and Corin thinks to himself that Tam is the first person to genuinely see him as a man rather than The Prince.”

Well, this section holds promise. Obviously, we are expecting a romance. However, from the last line I am looking forward to a developed romance based on wit and conversation. Things are looking good.

The jacket cover continues to explain that the Dragon’s want Corin to free them from bondage and Tam will discover she is a Seer. Good, good, we have dragons, a romance based on strong personalities, a threat of war, and a bit of magic in the form of a Seer. Things are looking up. And in fact I enjoyed the opening. The prologue spoke of vague, unsettled powers starting to waken and dangerous things to come.

The first couple of chapters were solid in their introductions of the key players. Everything was looking up. Until things stagnated. Until my romance was utterly crushed. Until the ending resolved itself in the most contrived and poorly explained matter that destroyed my enjoyment for this stand-alone novel.

First, the political intrigue initiated at the beginning was solid. But it didn’t develop into anything. What was the importance of the death at the start if it was not to play a roll later in the work? Why kill that character and why do the murder with a very illegal and dangerous substance if you are not going to use that for character development?

Second, the romance sucked. Granted part of that was based on my expectations of strong, witty dialogue. However, even without my preconceived notions I would have been disappointed as the attraction between the characters was physical. She was sooo pretty he just wanted to bed her right then and there. He was sooo handsome that she wanted him as a lover even if that ruined her chances of marriage at some later date. Bleh. Their conversation, when they got past staring longingly into each other’s eyes was flat and boring. It was so restrained as to say nothing. The teasing was so mild I would not have noticed it if the author hadn’t drawn obvious attention to those lines. While she tried to set up conflict within the romance: Corin was a Crown Prince and Tam was a commoner, she undermined it at every opportunity. Tam was from a wealthy, respectable family, who had married into the edges of nobility. Worse, the King and rest of the Royal family instantly liked Tam the moment they met. And unfortunately Tam turned out to be so beautiful that she attracted the attention of everyone at court – all the men wanted her. Which was tedious.

Then there was the magic, it was undefined and supposedly relegated to myth and legend. Certainly, the fact that wizards existed was kept secret. I don’t have a problem with this. I do have issue with the manner in which the King miraculously seemed to know about all the magical happenings around him. He was not fazed to discover his son had been recruited by the dragons. He was the only one who recognized that Tam was a Seer – something she didn’t know anything about. To top it all off magic did stuff without ever being properly defined. The cutting away of reality just meant that it could do anything whenever it was needed. Sigh.

While I liked the animal characteristics of the Dragons their plot line was stupid. They were stolen from their Valley by the Emperor who used them to solidify power and claim more lands. How was this accomplished? A Wizard did it! Really, somehow (though it is not properly explained), the wizards managed to steal the Fire from the Dragons. And how does one correct the problem? Well apparently, the Prince had to enter a crevice and die. Only then the Emperor came, he fought the Prince, nearly died and Tam told a story and ta-da the dragons were free. Confused? I know I am. How did any of those actions return Fire to the Dragons? Hard to say. Why did the Emperor have to live? Apparently because he drank dragon blood which meant that the dragons could only be freed while he lived. Why? Reasons, I suppose. It never was clearly communicated in any manner.

The first two thirds of the book was spent setting up conflict and introducing problems: Dragons want Corin to Free them; the Emperor is plotting against our heroic vassal Kingdom; another evil threat is sweeping its way in from the East (with a torturous and twisted leader); there are bandits in the country and war on the horizon and political unrest at the court (only I was never entirely certain what the court nobles were trying to do as their goals became mudded in the confusion). The last third was a rush of trying to tie up all these loose ends. We spent a little time experience war. A little time talking with Dragons. A little time talking with the mysterious Wizards. A very little time being introduced to and then killing the mean Emperor. And someone else went off to kill the Evil Guy from the East – cause really we were running out of time. Still, we did manage to spend more time with the leads as they kissed, touched and proclaimed their love for each other – oh and they had some weird, prophetic dreams and freed their people at the last moment.

The good thing about this book – it is a standalone. The bad thing about this book is the plot progression, the undefined use of magic, the illogical trapping and freeing of the dragons, the random war, the random evil killing of the minor noble, the bland main characters, the king that knows everything for unexplained reasons, the rushed ending …

In short, it could have been better. Though, in all fairness it could have been much worse too.