Love in the time of Dragons is chock-full of Katie MacAlisters style of humour and wit. Although if you were ever wondering what influences her, I think the often mentioned “Dread wyvern Baltic” might give Princess Bride fans a bit of a giggle.

Although this is a brand new series from Ms MacAlister, I get the feeling that it will be enjoyed much more by those who’ve already read her Silver Dragons series. It took me until the last ¼ of the book to really understand what was going on. The world building just wasn’t there. It’s an alternative earth I guess, but this was never really explained. We’re told about living in Spain and travelling around Europe, but in the same breath we’re learning about Mages apprentices, and Tully is having visions/flash-backs to when she was a different person. It was VERY strange, and very, very, confusing. It really was very jarring and made the story quite disjointed.

The dream-sequences/flash backs/visions would work well on TV or in a movie, but they just didn’t work here.

If you’re already familiar with the world, or you can suffer through the first half of the book, you will come across some of the delightfully familiar comedic styling’s that Ms MacAlisters books are known for. The normal tongue in cheek wit is there, as well as some wonder moments that will cause you to snigger out loud, in public.

He leaned forward, his voice low. “If there is any justice in the world, you will suffer as long as the black dragons have suffered.”
“Kostya, I thought Drake said you weren’t supposed to scare Ysolde,” Cyrene scolded, taking his arm and tugging him toward the big table. “Ignore him. He’s a bit grumpy because we ran out of his favourite cereal for breakfast.”
He stopped glaring at me and transferred his glare to her. “You did not just tell her that! For the love of the saints, woman, I am a wyvern! You do not tell people I’m grumpy over breakfast foods!”

Overall, I think if you’ve read the Silver Dragon series you’ll enjoy this. If you haven’t yet read it – skip this book until you get a chance.