Rating: 4.75🌈
“Evan Luck was a dragon rider with no dragon. Now he’s got Lee, a rare and powerful dragon who can take the shape of a man or a dragon with equal ease. However, the fight to keep Lee’s son Jason safe, as well as the city of Forge protected from the monsters that roam the Front Range, will test Evan and Lee’s bond to the utmost, and send them on a quest that they might not come back from.”
Reckless is the finale story for Cari Z’s tremendous urban fantasy series, Luckless. And it’s been so great and so well written, that it’s short length and imaginative elements that have been left unexplored just make me more than a little frustrated with the author.
I want this to double in length or at the very least offer additional stories in the series.
This novel picks up from the surprising events of Dauntless, where Jason’s crisis came to a dramatic resolution with new characters arriving from the city of Chicago with devastating news.
Chicago has been spoken of as a veritable fortress city of multiple dragon pairs and a successful defense against the monsters. But the news brings a different reality.
It’s one that necessitates Evan and Lee leaving Forge and their son in search of answers about the increasingly complex and deadly monsters their city is facing and what happened in Chicago.
For a short story, this packs a shocking emotional punch. It’s got unexpected elements and a very powerful plot twist that, of course, is so great that this book could be twice it’s length and still not dive into this plot line’s full potential. It’s that intriguing.
Which brings me to the conclusion. It’s satisfying in a way yet not. With all the traumatic events that’s happened, it’s felt simplistic. Lovely, HFN, and heartfelt but missing something.
I truly wish Cari Z would revisit this series and universe and give it and us an update. So tremendous a world that this series and the characters deserve it.
Highly recommended!
Cover Art by Vivid Covers
Luckless series:
Luckless #1
Dauntless #2
Reckless #3
Buy link
Reckless: Book Three in the Luckless Series
Blurb
Refugees have been streaming into the city of Forge from around the country. Monsters are coming down from the mountains and staking out new hunting grounds. Even as the dragons of Forge grow stronger and more numerous, the challenges they and their riders are facing are only increasing, and there’s only one place to look for answers.
Chicago is the strongest remaining city in the Midwest, home to thousands of people and protected by powerful dragons … or at least, it was. By the time Evan Luck and his dragon, Ladon, arrive there, it’s clear that something’s gone terribly wrong. People are starving, dragons are dying, and nobody knows who’s behind it all.
It’s something they’ve never faced before—something they thought didn’t exist, yet that’s terrifyingly familiar. It’s up to Evan and Ladon to stop it … or lose their city, their son, and their lives.
- Publication date: April 26, 2022
- Language: English
- Print length: 124 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 