Book Review: The Emerald Dragon (The Lost Ancients, #3) by Marie Andreas

Title:  The Emerald Dragon (The Lost Ancients, Book 3)
Author:  Marie Andreas
Genre:  Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal
Release Date:  March 31, 2016

From the Back Cover:

After surviving two previous encounters with ancient relics of mayhem and destruction plus saving her friends and her whole damn city, archaeologist Taryn St. Giles thinks she deserves a beer and a break.

Then her world starts to tear itself apart, literally.

Earthquakes are unheard of in quiet, sleepy Beccia, but sadly, doomsdays are not, and Taryn is getting uncomfortably familiar with both when she discovers the existence of more pieces of the dangerous relics. With old friends and even older enemies -- and friends who might be enemies after all -- Taryn races against bloodthirsty relic hunters and nightmarish monsters to find a legendary creature carved from a single, giant gemstone.

The upheaval rattles her team, tears apart her city, and unleashes a creature that should have stayed dead and buried. And that wants Taryn's blood. Now she'll unearth her biggest adventure yet.

Assuming she survives... THE EMERALD DRAGON.

Buy Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

My Review:

This is the third installment in the The Lost Ancients series, a planned six-book series. In this book, we pick up just a few weeks after the second book ended, and we find ourselves faced with a whole new set of baddies and more mysteries. 

I enjoyed this book far more than the second, although I still have far more questions than answers. We're now halfway through the series and I would have thought that some of these mysteries might be resolved a little bit, but we just keep piling more on. The main plot line is somewhat resolved (although it's a little unclear), but I'd really like some answers at this point.

What the hell is Taryn?!?

What does she even look like? 

What is this mysterious background of hers?

What did Glorian and Jovan mean when they said what they did about her? Master? Concubine?

What happened to the Darks? 

What happened to the Ancients?

What happened to the Elves?

What is going on with the fairies and these BOOMS?

Why are the BOOMS happening?

Where did the additional constructs come from?

Why are all these freaking elves popping up all of a sudden?

Who are the ancients?

What the heck is going on in Kenithworth?

Why the heck is Taryn not exploring her abilities every freaking second of every day like a normal person?!?!

***and so many more that I can't say because of spoilers***

There's plenty of action, adventure and comedic entertainment (particularly in the form of fairies) to make this book a terrific addition to the series. I would have loved to have gotten to some of answers to some questions that were raised back in the first two books though (nevermind the new questions formed in this one). 

The endless supply of questions is enough to make me insane. It's just... too much. I don't know who the bad guys are... or even if they're defined. It changes in every book, but there's too much ambiguity. The author's writing is wonderful and the characters fun and memorable, but I'm starting to think that these books are in serious need of a content editor and a really tight outline to close out some of these open plot lines. 

Overall, I'd recommend the series simply because I find the fairies entertaining, but at this point... I wish I would have waited until the series was finished before picking it up. No matter what though... seriously beautiful covers. I had to go Google the artist because I liked them that much. 

My Rating:

About the Author:

Marie is a fantasy and science fiction reader with a serious writing addiction. If she wasn't writing about all the people in her head, she'd be lurking about coffee shops annoying total strangers with her stories. So really, writing is a way of saving the masses. Her first fantasy series, The Lost Ancients, starts with The Glass Gargoyle. Books two and three, The Obsidian Chimera and The Emerald Dragon, are also out now. Book four, The Sapphire Manticore, will be out in January 2017. The six book series will continue in 2017 and 2018. A space opera trilogy, The Asarlai Wars, launched with Warrior Wench, and will continue in 2017 with the Victorious Dead. When not saving the masses from coffee shop shenanigans, Marie likes to visit the UK and keeps hoping someone will give her a nice summer home in the Forest of Dean.

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