Why I picked up this book:

If you’ve been following my reviews, you’ll know that I’ve been mooning over the Dragon’s Blood series since I picked up the first book. The third one was part of the free trilogy package, and of course I couldn’t resist diving right in. The third installment takes readers back into the minds of Ridge and Sardelle, continuing the tale from the first two books.

This review may contain spoilers.

Blood Charged (Dragon Blood #3)
	Sardelle Terushan, sorceress and healer, should be lying low. Magic is forbidden in Iskandia, and magic users are drowned, shot, or otherwise slain. The problem? She’s fallen in love with ace fighter pilot and national hero, Colonel Ridge Zirkander, a man whom everybody notices, including the king. It’s not long before Sardelle has spies dogging her steps and people trying to blow her up. Worse, her presence is jeopardizing Ridge’s career. If she can’t find a solution to the nation’s centuries-old hatred of magic, the only way to protect Ridge—and herself—may be to leave.
Ridge Zirkander isn’t used to worrying about more than shooting down Cofah airships and keeping the officers in his squadron alive, but his world has gotten more complicated since giving his heart to Sardelle. It’s difficult to keep people from noticing a mysterious and enigmatic woman, not to mention her chatty sentient sword. He’s been passing her off as an archaeologist to his fellow pilots, but when the king calls him in to a private meeting, Ridge fears his secret has been discovered. But the king—and the rest of the country—has a greater problem. Cofah military scientists have acquired something that shouldn’t exist in the world any longer: dragon blood. In addition to having countless mysterious properties, it’s a powerful energy source that can be used to create devastating weapons. Ridge, Sardelle, and their allies must travel to the empire as part of a secret strike force to steal the dragon blood. If they fail, the Cofah will finally have the power to destroy all of Iskandia.

    

What I loved:

Ridgewalker is still my favorite character. I love his carefree attitude, and the fact that he knows he’s doing it and still chooses to be an ass to superior officers. This tale really punctuates again that while he is a middle-aged man with a solid set of skills under his belt, he’s also a lovable, overgrown man-child.

There’s still a lot of mystery around the dragon blood and exactly what the Cofah were doing with it (and how they were using it), yet there was enough immersed in the tale to keep me flipping the pages. Can’t wait to keep going in the series and find out more about its unusual properties.

The mystery surrounding Tolemek’s sister was also vivid. It was enough to hammer home that we’re still scraping the surface of the Cofahre/Iskandian worlds and there’s a lot more to explore.

Areas needing a touch of refinement:

Unlike the first two books in the tale, this one seemed to have a lot of ugh, erm, ehn–just weird sounds or pauses sprinkled liberally throughout the text. Honestly, I’d have ditched all of them because they stall the story and don’t provide any value to the characters. Makes them sound more like teenagers than grown men and women.

There was a “let’s talk” scene between Sardelle and Ridge that added nothing to the story. They’re right in the middle of a war zone, about to head into the finale of the tale, and then they just sit and talk about their romance. It wasn’t necessary. Everything we already see unfolding between them is just fine, and the whole thing could have been cut to make the story stronger.

Overall:

I still love this tale and the series as a whole. Even the few things that could have been cut from the story weren’t enough to derail me from this fantastic world or it’s wonderful characters. I’ve got five more books to go and I’m looking forward to every one of them.

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