They were hunters, peerless, apart. They were smoke and fire and claw: drákon.
I absolutely adore novels where I get to believe dragons, or in this case, Drakons are living among us mere mortals. And I was thrilled to be given a strong female character in Clarissa "Rue" Hawthorne, who is the first female Drákon in ages, aka the Alpha, to have the ability to transform into a full Drákon. Knowing her ability will trap her into a forced marriage with the male Alpha of the pack/herd/flock--whatever you call a group of drákons--she fakes her own death and sets out to London to live among humans. But her success as a jewel thief in London, a career that is very dragonesque indeed, soon alerts the Drákons back home that they have a runner on their hands that must be dealt with.
During her time on her own among humans is truly when the novel shines the most. I loved Rue as a mysterious widow living in a mansion in London, with a successful jewel thieving business under her belt, thanks to not only her Drákon transformation ability--she can not only transform into a full Drákon, but also into a cloud of smoke--and her masterful disguises. I loved her ability to infiltrate high society, to charm the very people she was about to rob, and to disappear into the night without a trace. Seeing her ability to call in favors, enter secret rooms of brothels to exchange information, and also to have empathy for those less fortunate than herself, such as her young protege, Zane, made her a truly multi-dimensional character.
It is when Rue’s love interest enters the picture that everything becomes extremely problematic and even disturbing. Kit, the Alpha of the Drákons back in the mountains, sets a trap to catch the Smoke Thief in London, by bringing the Drákons’ prized possession, the Herte diamond, to London on display. Knowing any Drákon will not be able to resist trying to possess the jewel, it is the perfect trap for the Smoke Thief. But Rue is not fooled, knowing a setup when she sees one, and tries to avoid detection, to no avail. She is captured by Kit, who is enamored of her at first sight. When he learns she is an Alpha Drákon as well, it’s all over for Rue’s life as she knows it. He injures her, kidnaps her, drags her back to the mountains where the Drákons live and locks her up in his house, threatening to execute her if she does not marry him. Romantic, huh?
It had been the right thing to do; he knew that. The discovery of Clarissa Hawthorne had ignited what would soon become an inferno if he didn't act to control it now. By her Gifts, by her very existence, she became the Alpha female, and thus his. But her beauty, her daring, her life beyond the tribe—when he took her back to Darkfrith she'd be no less extraordinary than the sun rising through the night. Every man in the shire would sense her, covet her.
It only gets worse. Kit, who is a known womanizer that is used to getting everything and everyone he wants, makes claims such as, there is “no rape between man wife” and when the two finally consummate their relationship (which is clearly a huge lapse in Rue’s judgement), we are told from his point-of-view that he does not care if it is “rape or seduction.” I really do not understand how this sort of characterization is supposed to be romantic and appealing to reader--I frankly, just found it disturbing. And Kit doesn’t just physically hurt Rue, he lies to and manipulates her, and finally threatens the life of her protege in order to get her to agree to marry him. All because he is exceedingly jealous of a young boy that she took in and cared for out of the kindness of her heart.
“There is no rape between a husband and a wife,” the marquess said.
“Yes, well, I'm afraid I'm not going to consent to marry you, Lord Langford. You'll have to call it something else.” “
You may call it whatever you like, Mistress Hawthorne. You are Alpha, as am I. By the laws of our people, we're as well as married.”
“Those are not my laws. And that is not my name.”
While the author does finally make Kit offer Rue her freedom at the very end of the novel, it felt forced, and like a last-ditch effort to make Kit likable. But the damage had already been done. I hated that the second Kit showed up. I despised how fiercely independent and capable Rue turned to absolute mush for such an abusive man, despite vowing not to fall in love with him. By making Kit such an abusive person, it simultaneously undermined Rue’s characterization as a strong female character by falling for him. How could such an intelligent, talented woman fall for such an awful, ruthless person? The excuse of the laws of attractions of Alpha can only spread so far and does not at all make up for the toxic masculinity of Kit.
"She would be his wife. He'd asked her price and she had named it, fierce small Zane, and she would never walk free again, never never never. She would spend the rest of her days in Darkfrith, in the shadow of obedience to him and the tribe and all those waiting ghosts."
I really enjoyed the novel up until the romantic portion of it. The setting and time period were really interesting, especially in combination with Drákons in disguise as humans. The novel was also very well-written, up until the romantic portion of the novel came into play. It’s unfortunate that the trend of this type of male character, wanting to completely possess and control his love interest, is increasingly portrayed as a romantic archetype--especially in novels where the male character has any sort of supernatural powers, as if that excuses his monstrous behavior. In The Smoke Thief, this romantic relationship ruined an otherwise unique novel and completely enjoyable experience for me. As I already have the next novel in the series, The Dream Thief, I’m going to give it a try and hope that the author writes a much healthier romantic relationship in the next installment in the series.
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