Title: The Screams of Dragons
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Cainsville #0.1
In: Portents (Kelley Armstrong)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal fantasy, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 21st October 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Kelley Armstrong
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: He let her out!
Bobby has never quite fit in with his family. But when his grandmother decides that he’s a changeling, things take a turn for the worse. Only the screams of dragons seem to make him feel complete… but they might not be the safest thing to obey.
I kind of forgot how disturbing Kelley Armstrong’s stories are. They’re so much darker than most of the fantasy that fills my shelves. And there’s not necessarily always a happy ending… although it does mostly work out that way. This short story goes to the top of the kind of disturbing list… especially when the story features a boy who is so obviously not okay… and, eventually completely evil.
I’m a big believer in the idea that there is a little bit of darkness in all of us. That it’s our choices and the influences around us which help us to either go down the dark path, or find a way to follow the light. Bobby so definitely chose the dark path in this story. At the beginning of the tale, you believe that he is a victim, someone you should feel sympathy for and you want to find a happily ever after. But, as he starts to find his own power… the sympathy starts to seriously wane and a new emotion takes over… revulsion.
I haven’t yet read Omens and truly started the Cainsville series, I’ve only had the joy of reading a few short stories. But they’re enough to know that I’m going to love the bigger series and find Armstrong’s twisted, dark version of fantasy as enjoyable as I did with the Women of the Otherworld series. There is something way more twisted to the end of this short story than most of the other villain tales I’ve read. And the poetic justice worked absolutely brilliantly.
| <- Portents | Nos Galan Gaeaf -> |
Earth and Skye 
Great review! This sounds really interesting. I’ve only read the Women of the Otherworld by Armstrong but it’s one of my favourite series.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I LOVE that series too. Haven’t actually read Omens (the first of the Cainsville series novels) yet. But the short story prequels are promisingly dark… lived how Women of the Otherworld was dark and twisty… hoping for that in the Cainsville series too!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve meaning to read more of her books. They’re so much more balanced and less formulaic than some others in the same genre.
LikeLike