The Dragon Conspiracy by Lisa Shearin

Title:  The Dragon Conspiracy
Author: Lisa Shearin
Series: SPI Files Book 2
Publish Date: January 27, 2015
Publisher: ACE
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Perspective: First Person

Publisher’s Description:  A gala opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has attracted the upper crust of Manhattan—and thieves. A trio of vile harpies attacks the crowd and steals the stars of the exhibition: a colorful cluster of seven cursed diamonds known as the Dragon Eggs.

In the right mage’s hands, each stone can pack a magical wallop. Together they have the power to “cure” the supernaturals of the tristate area—but for many of those vampires and werewolves, that means turning into dust.

I’m Makenna Fraser, a seer for SPI. With the help of my partner, Ian, and the other agents, I have twenty-four hours to prevent total global panic, find the diamonds, and save the supernatural community. No biggie…

Nervous Nellie’s nervousness necessitates knowledge of the novel (in other words, SPOILERS!).

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Have you finished The Dragon Conspiracy yet, Nell?

I did!  I really liked this book, too.  Lisa Shearin really makes these characters come alive.  I read Conspiracy and I listened to it too.  The narrator is awesome!  I enjoyed meeting new characters.  I especially enjoyed meeting Rake.  I know, I know…..he’s a smooth talking goblin prince, but he’s STILL a prince!!!  I assume since you are asking me if I’ve finished, that means you have too.  What did you think?

I thought it was great fun.  I like all the different supernatural creatures.  I know you were hoping for a relationship between Ian and Makenna, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.  Are you okay with that?

I am totally fine with it.  I am kind of excited about Rake, like I said.  That relationship opens up a whole new series of plots and twists, don’t you think?

I don’t know.  I like Rake, too, but I’m wary of a relationship between him and Makenna.  He’s a bad-boy with charisma, and those don’t usually make for the best long-term relationships.

Girls are always attracted to the bad boys, you know.  Who better than to straighten Rake out of his reprehensible and devious life than Makenna?  I know she can’t “fix” him, but it is fiction… it could happen!

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“Grandma said that a skillet’s good for three things: frying chicken, baking cornbread, and going upside an obstinate man’s head.”

Nervous Nell says …

Main characters: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Makenna Frasier, Ian Byrne, Vivienne Sagadraco and the whole SPI crew make the best character team.  The camaraderie of the team made me feel like part of a club.  MaKenna is not the kick ass type though she’d really like to be.  She’s pretty smart – although I find her unfamiliarity with the creatures that she can “see” a little disconcerting. We learn that Makenna has a new and rare gift which may or may not turn into more.  I am interested to see how much she grows and progresses in her life and employment. Ian is still the great senior agent.  He tends to hold back information from Makenna, which I think is a little overprotective or arrogant.  Ms. Sagadraco is ever the lady and she is a powerful lady at that.  I admire her diligence in keeping the human race safe, when basically, to her, they should be prey.  The rest of the SPI crew are at their finest, though I would have wished to hear Roy Benoit speak.  He can make me melt when he says “darlin’.”  Oh, and I would love to see Yasha’s “baby.”  I imagine a werewolf’s tricked out SUV would be a sight to behold.

Other characters: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Kylie O’Hara is SPI’s resident PR spinner.  She is so charming and lovely that everyone falls under her spell and believes the debunked supernatural stories that she weaves.  She also has turned Ian into a green 14 year old.  I think it’s fun to see Ian with a crush on someone.  He’s the big tough agent man – he needs no stinkin’ woman!  Ha, Ian – the bigger they are and all of that…..;-)  Moving on to Lord Rake Danescu.  Oh, boy.  I cannot wait to see what develops with this Goblin lord.  I really hope that Rake will NOT live up to his name when it comes to Makenna.  Alain Moreau, Vivienne’s ever present sidekick and lawyer made several appearances and even dressed up? down? in midnight blue leather to kick some serious bad guy butt.  Whoo hoo!  Helena Thanos was introduced to the posse as a 1000 year gorgon.  If you make it 1000 years AND be a Gorgon, that has got to be some magic.  I hope to see Helena again too — she was pretty darn cool.

Story: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ I sincerely loved this story.  It was a rocking good time.  The deadline for saving the world (or at least three states) was incredibly short, but they did it!  I was introduced to a couple new characters that I really liked. The bad guy was labeled as a ‘white cat petting evil Bond villain’.  If that is not imagery, I don’t know what is.   I tried to steer away from rooting for Makenna and Lord Rake Danescu, but I just couldn’t help it.  He’s such a charmer and I have NO idea what his intentions are toward Makenna.  It will be incredibly fun to find out.  I know that shouldn’t be the take away from the story, but like I said, I couldn’t help it.  I was so tickled with the ending that I was a grinning fool.

Narrator: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Johanna Parker’s narrating is a work of art.  She makes the book come alive and the difference in voices makes the characters dimensional.  She does an awesome job!

Overall: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ It was a fabulous conglomeration of characters, world, evil plot line and a tiny bit of romance.  There were twists where turns should be and vice versa. The title of the book was an excellent description, but that is not all that is brewing within its pages.  I cannot wait to see what happens in Book Three.

Invested Ivana says…

Main characters: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Makenna and Ian are once again trying to save the world, this time from harpies, a self-centered gorgon, and a pissed-off dragon.  I like the easy, but not romantic, relationship that is developing between Makenna and Ian.  They tease each other, they watch out for each other, and they are becoming great friends.  I love their loyality to Yasha as well, and his loyalty to them.

Other characters: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥  In this installment of the SPI files, we meet harpies and gorgons — two very interesting creatures of Greek mythology.  I like the character of Helena Thanos; she is portrayed as being sophisticated and gracious.  I have to admit I’m a bit smitten with goblin Rake Danescu.  You can’t trust him, but he has the allure of the “charming bad-boy.”  I’m going to have to go read the Raine Benares series, since the goblins appear in both worlds.  I really like Ben Sadler, too, and hope he appears in future books.

Story: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ The Dragon Conspiracy is another fun adventure.  I really liked the link between the Dragon Eggs and the Romanovs.  That was a fun bit of history to bring in.  I liked hearing the backstory on Victor Kane as well.  I think villains without a backstory are too shallow.  At the end of the novel, we’re told that the villain of this piece was not working alone.  Intriguing!  It ties this story into a bigger picture and builds anticipation for what is yet to come.  It might have been nice to have more clues about this in the story itself so we could be shown the intrigue instead of told (actually, there were a few hints in the beginning), but overall, I still had a lot of fun listening to this book.

Narrator: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Johanna Parker rocks; not much more I can say.  🙂  She’s a great choice for this series.

Overall: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ This novel is great fun and an excellent listen.  I’m looking forward to The Brimstone Deception coming out later this year.

Other reviews:

• All Things Urban Fantasy
• The Bibliosanctum
• Vampire Book Club

If you like this book…

Check out the first book, The Grendel Affair, for sure.  If you haven’t read them yet, the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris would be good for fans of Makenna in either book or audio form. You might also like the Paranormal Scene Investigation series by Laura Anne Gilman or the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire. Of course, there is also the Raine Benares series by Lisa Shearin, wherein more goblins dwell.

No promotional consideration was granted for this review.