Allyson James – The Black Dragon

The second book in the Dragon series, published November 6, 2007.
Genre: paranormal romance.



Saba Watanabe’s enslavement to the black dragon Malcolm left the powerful witch shaken and vulnerable. But when she’s attacked by a white dragon in human form, the only one who can help her is the dangerously seductive Malcolm. With his attraction for Saba still at a feverish high, Malcolm agrees to help her track down the white dragon terrorizing the San Francisco streets.
But Malcolm, too, has become vulnerable – victim of a spell cast to drain him of his strength – and Saba may be the only one who can rescue him. The key to their survival is in a mysterious book hidden in the world of Dragonspace. When its profound secrets fall into the hands of the enemy, the life of every dragon in existence is threatened, and Saba must not only battle her desire for Malcolm but learn to use her rising powers to safe his kind.


After reading the first Dragon book, Dragon Heat, I knew I wanted to read the other two books fast! So after finishing the lovely brandnew cozy mysteries I received (see previous reviews) I grabbed this book to put it in my bag for reading in my lunchbreak. And when I got back home, I continued reading until it was finished. I enjoyed it so much.

This second book in the series continues much where the first book ended, only 8 months have passed by. Saba is living in the apartment that Malcolm has left her, working at the new job she loves. She still misses him dreadfully, but he never even looked back at her when he left San Francisco for Dragonspace. She knew he longed for home after being exiled for 800 years, but still. She keeps dreaming of him.

Saba is coming back home in the subway from a tiresome seminar, when she is attacked by a white dragon, who wants to enslave her, so she will have to work her magic for him. But Saba refuses, and he cannot mark her. That was the first thing she learned when Malcolm released her, to stay safe from dragons. The white dragon is furious that she is resisting him, and tries to hurt her badly. The only thing Saba can do, is smash the dragon tears Malcolm gave her before he left, and call for him. The tears work, and Malcolm appears in the compartment, fighting the white dragon, enraged that he dares to hurt Saba, his witch! The white dragon flees, and Malcolm has to leave as well, when the magic has done its work, but not before he heals Saba, and caresses her.
When Saba wakes up that night, Malcolm is in her bedroom, having tied her up like he did the first time, only this time it is supposed to be a joke between them, and she could get out of the ropes easily. Saba is of course not amused, and burns the ropes. Malcolm, the black dragon, cannot understand why she does not welcome him back in her bed, why she does not want him to give her pleasure. But he needs her help. He wants to find the white dragon and slay him, and someone or something has put a spell on him that is slowly draining his powers. Perhaps it is the white dragon. And he wants Saba to find his mate for him… Saba is shocked, he wants to make love with her, and then she is to find his mate for him? Not understanding that Malcolm came back for her, he wants her as his mate, as he has not been able to get her from his mind. He has asked Lisa to bring him back from Dragonspace, as he needs to keep Saba safe.

Malcolm is the guardian of the Dragons archive, a big mountain filled with books and other kinds of knowledge, collected by black dragons through the ages. Malcolm knows exactly what is supposed to be where, and he has read all 6 trillion books and treatises. What use is knowledge if it is not read? When he finds out that the white dragon has stolen the most important book in the library, the Book of Dragons, he is furious. How could a lowly dragon like a frost dragon gain entrance in his so well guarded archives? It is Saba who discovers the human computer virus in his database, she has seen it before! Someone who used to work at her company had developed it, and they had a hard time getting it out of the computers.
But the dragons archive is a volatile mix of knowledge and magic, good and bad, and now the balance is disturbed, the darkness is taking over …

With the Book of Dragons, the white dragon can control all other dragons, their real names are in their, and Malcolm is the first one he enslaves. Malcolm cannot fight him, but with the help of the fearless Saba and Caleb, the golden dragon (see book 1) he can escape. While Saba is healing him, she learns his true name as well, and Malcolm is enraged when he finds out. He will not be a slave to a witch! And of course that is different than when he had marked her!

With the help of Axel, who claims he is an imp, they set out to find the white dragon and the witch he has working for him. They will have to safe the archives, and themselves from the darkness.


Another very good book by Allyson James. I just had to finish it when I started reading. Malcolm, the black dragon who is not supposed to feel emotions, has fallen for his witch, Saba. He does not want to acknowledge his feelings, or tell her, she will just have to obey him and do as he wishes. And when Saba refuses, or questions him, he really doesn’t understand that. But Saba is a very strong and smart witch, and I liked the little Japanese rituals and myths mixed in with the Chinese customs of the first book. Saba is half Japanese, and Axel really is a Japanese god who helps eat nightmares, and the darkness when called upon. He has helped her before when she was a little girl, and now again he appears when she needs him. Saba has grown in strength and confidence since the first book, and I like and admire her.

Of course Lisa and Caleb play a big part in this book as well, and the white dragon really overplayed his hand when he tried to kill her. He cannot beat both Malcolm and Caleb, not even when he uses Malcolm’s true name against him. Why do I keep calling Roland the white dragon, instead of using the name Roland he has taken? Because the white dragon never tried to act human, the crimes he committed to gain power are beastly, so he does not deserve to be humanized like Caleb or Malcolm.

Allyson James (Jennifer Ashley) has a great writingstyle, which is exactly how I like my books. Fast, action filled, but also my kind of snarky humor and some hot lovescenes, great characters, both the main ones and the secondary ones, great worldbuilding and a surprising plot. Her books never get dull, boring or predictable. And I have to admit, I loved the epilogue. Which is not always necessary for me in my contemporary romances. I am going to dive straight into the third book tomorrow.

8,5 stars.

© 2012 Reviews by Aurian