Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

So, I downloaded this as it came up under some kind of monster porn, figuring it would be the same old shit, different day.   I was very pleasantly surprised.   First of all, this isn't erotica, at least not to me.  There's sex, but the explicit stuff happens off scene.  

The language was gorgeous, and while I don't read that much stuff about dragons, this seemed to be new to me.   Not even the caste system, or them being able to change to a human form, but rather the way it was all combined.   

Nevertheless, it takes what could be a cliche, forbidden romance between a dragon and a dragon slayer, and turns the whole concept on its head.   Beautiful!   And so well done.   I noticed one or two typos, but seeing as this is a self-published offering, it was surprisingly error-free.   Another kudos to the author for being so professional   

I know I very rarely give the freebies more than two stars, but this is getting a five.   I found myself more enthralled the more I read.   Lemme show you why underneath the cut.

This book reminds me of Francesca Lia Block, in the way he makes you swim in sensory perception.    Taste, touch, smell, sight and sounds - at some point, one becomes intwined wit the other, until everything seems like an extension.   Sight is just an extension of taste, which is an extension of taste, which is an extension of sound.   (There are other similarities, like the magical realism, but I’m going to focus on the sensory output here.)

"The smell-taste of the warm, salty water thickened the air."   

I just love the way that smell and taste are almost intertwined in this novel, in a very inhuman way.   It just emphasizes how different the dragons are, and makes it that much more effective when we’re reminded later on.    And maybe it’s because there are three narrators - one a slayer with no extra sensory perception, or even powers, really, and two dragons.    The numbers tilt to that different than us, but the slayer’s portions are narrative reminders of the difference. 

“His tongue came out and licked his lips like a snake tasting the air.”

And the sensory effect is heightened during, and right after sex.   Even something like the quote above is sensual, and yet oh-so-casual, while the snake imagery speaks to me as a reminder that we are dealing with dragons.   I present three quotes to prove my point: 

“The musk of human-dragon sex followed him.   Faintly, Flint heard the gurgling of a dragon from the back.”

“The smell-taste of sex was so thick he could hardly think or breathe.   The slayer-flame ebbed.”

“The waves of post-ecstasy from the back filled the bar like ozone after a lightning strike.” 

The pleasure from the sex is thick, is concrete, and is too large to fill the back room of a bar.   You can smell it, breathe it, and the sound is so loud it becomes a physical thing, a sensation too large to ignore even if you’re human, and even if you wanted to ignore it.

The sex, as I said before, happens off the page, but... oh, man, lines like these make me so insanely hot it’s hard for me to be coherent about this story.

“The faint, warm buzz of Flint’s mind touching his was gone.”

Again, sensations are interposed - hearing someone’s thought as a buzzing touch this time.   And it’s all through the story!   It’s almost overwhelming, but there’s so much else going on that it’s not.   

"Even a small, tourist town like Bennet Bay had it's share of urban decay.   He liked decay.   It was an aesthetic.   A thing."   

Like this.  I just like how casual this is.   It tells me something about the place, the character, and it manages to make me feel like I'm part of the conversation - like he's sharing with a friend.   I found this charmed me throughout the short story. 

“What is it with dragons and disco music?   Maybe it’s the mirrored balls; we do like shiny things.”

Sight again, and the importance of sensory input is really everywhere!   But it’s also said almost as an aside to friend, and makes me feel like I’m part of the story.   More than that, this personal feeling that I had of being close to the narrator, or narrators, made me care more about them, and about the story in general.   That’s part of the reason the casual tone in this story works so well.   Between that, and the bombardment of your senses - and a bombardment it is - you can’t really win.  You connect to the touches and tastes because their familiar, and the narrators treat you as if you’re familiar through their casual speech patterns, and letting you into their innermost thoughts.   Gorgeous. 

“He had to keep the human drag on.”  

Lovely.   Just lovely, although right after, the character expands on this thought in a way I approve of even more: “Dragons, the pinnacle of evolution on this little rock in space stood around, wearing the skins of apes wrapped in cowhide.”   

Just melts at that description.   This author has a way with words!

“He downed the whiskey the bartender had placed in front of him.   It tasted like fire.   The one thing humans got right: smooth, liquid fire.”

I want a shot of whiskey now!  I just do.   And I don’t particularly like alcohol, but the imagery is just that powerful.   

“That’s what stone dragons did, moved through the earth like a fish through water.”   

This imagery is just fucking orgasmic.   I absolutely love the use of the language here.

“The slayer, suddenly before him, touched his cheek.   It burned George’s dragon-self like cold iron, but it aroused his man-self.  The hand caressed George’s jawline like a lover.”   

This whole book, but especially lines like this, make me want more dragon fiction.   Specifically from this author, although if anyone has any good suggestions, I’m open.   But I’m loving the lyrical use of language and the images that are so vibrant I feel like I can see, and even more, feel what the characters are feeling!

“Submission became a pure element, and he was it.”

And I’m a puddle on the floor with that one line.

The characters felt real, and flawed, and their dialogue felt natural.   I felt like I didn’t get to know them as much as I wanted, and I could have read a novel or more about these three.   

One last thing.  I’m gonna post some quotes that I found funny.   That’s it.  No commentary, just three or four lines that made me laugh out loud. 

“‘You’re the insane one.  No one’s been eaten, in like, forever.  We don’t do that anymore, not since the Clan Equality Act of whenever the fuck it was.’

Flint hissed.  ‘Seventeen-forty-two.’”  

 “‘Trust  me, ‘thunder dick’ is an understatement.   Good thing I chose an oral defense.’”

 “He wanted to look defiant.   Well, as defiant as a naked, twenty-one-year-old could look in front of a four-story-tall mass of monster.”

 “‘Shit.   I mean, like, we can’t keep him in the dorm.  I mean, even in man-form.   I can’t have a pet guy.   Even Sterling isn’t that liberal.’”

 “‘Mister Chairman, the dragons suggest that more boy-on-boy butt-sex will reduce population, food shortages, and global warming.  I think we should give it a go.   Any seconds?’”