Marjorie M. Liu – Within the Flames

Book 11 in the Dirk & Steele series, published November 29. 2011.
Genre: paranormal romance
Cover: nice colors.



Joining the Dirk & Steele Agency turned Eddie's life around. A pyrokinetic and former car thief, he cannot refuse an assignment to cross the continent in order to rescue an extraordinary woman in peril . . . even though he fears losing control of the destructive power of flame at his fingertips.
The last of her shape-shifting kind, Lyssa hides in the abandoned tunnels beneath Manhattan, seeking refuge from those who murdered her family a decade ago and would now destroy her as well. Like Eddie, fire is her weapon, her destiny . . . and her curse. Yet she wants nothing to do with this mesmerizing stranger who seeks her trust while enflaming her passion. For beneath Lyssa's extraordinary beauty are dangerous secrets . . . and even darker, nearly irresistible urges. But she has won the heart of a fearless protector . . . and all the demons in the world will not make him back down.


It has taken me a long time to finally pick up this latest (last?) book in the Dirk and Steele series. It has been lying on my shelf for longer than a year, but I have to admit to falling out of love with this series. The last few books have been quite dark, without much humor, and some kind of humor is a must in my reading. Still, this is Eddie’s story, and Eddie has been one of my favourite characters throughout the series.

Eddie and Lannes are sent to New York city, to find and protect a young woman, a girl who can control fire, a shapeshifter, a Dragon, from the Cruor Venator. A shapeshifter has asked Dirk and Steele to protect her, and now he is dead, murdered and tortured. He gave them some of her favourite places to hang out, and an old picture. Long Nu also wants them to find her, but she won’t tell why. The Cruor Venator are a truly evil kind of Witches, they steal power from blood, by killing and torturing their victims.
A girl being hunted is knowledge enough for Eddie, he will try to find her, and then protect her. His own past has come back to haunt him, and the memories are hard to live with. His own little sister died by the hand of their mothers boyfriend after she was abused for weeks. And Eddie, just a 14 year old boy back then, killed the wrong man. And now the murderer is free, out of prison again. Eddie never told his mother what he is; he just ran away from home and lived on the streets. Until Dirk and Steele found him and took him in. Now he is schooled and trained in controlling and using his powers, and he likes helping others, meeting others just as different as he is. The world is a stranger place than many people know.

His friend Lannes is a gargoyle, and especially afraid of witches after being tortured by one for centuries. But still he wants to help Eddie find this girl. And when they do see her, she flees. But it is not all that difficult for Eddie to follow her, and when she attacks him with her fire, he can withstand it, as he is fire himself as well. But the damage is enormous, and they need to get to a safe place fast. Which means Lannes’ home, and there Lannes finds out there is more to Lissa than being a dragon. She is part witch as well. And part … something else. And so he does not want her in his house anymore, even though he needs Eddies and Lissa’s help in rescuing his wife from her family. They don’t want to let her go home to him, as they think she married way beneath her. Of course they don’t know she married a gargoyle. Talk about bad inlaws!
But going to her rescue, endangers them all, as the Cruor Venator shows up on their doorstep. But together they can fight her, and win, but they need to run now, and fast.


If I would be telling you more, I would spoil too much, and I won’t do that. There are more important secondary characters in this book, and evil things happen.

Thrown together, Lissa and Eddie slowly start to share their background stories with each other, and discover they have lots in common. Of course, fire is attracted to fire as well, especially as they cannot hurt the other. Together they are a force to be reckoned with, and both are very protective of their friends, which I liked. For the first time in many years, Lissa gets to experience a bit of normal life, once she is living with Eddie, but of course that does not last long.

I am not sure I want to recommend this series. Yes, it is different and original, but it is not a fun read at all. It is a good book, a good series, very well written. But my emotions are just not very much involved in it. I think you can read it out of order, as there is not much of an overall storyline going on. I think I stopped loving this series after the sixth book or so. Of course, being a true book addict, I will probably buy the next book too, but when that one will be read?

7 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian