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Rasnake
Tallant is an elf astray—he's been disowned by his family, has dared to battle bond with a human, and has no desire to ever see his homeland again. He is, in fact, vastly more excited to finally be seeing the home his battle-bonded, Milton, is finally returning to after twelve years of exile.
But instead of the joyful place Milton spoke endlessly of, they find a land rife with deadly dragons, where fifteen women have gone missing, including Irene, the woman Milton loves.
Even Milton's brother, Cecil, is not what he used to be. Instead of the scholar Milton talked about, Cecil is a hardened soldier who keeps company with thieves. He is also beautiful and intriguing—but contemptuous of Milton and Tallant. Worse, he's also married to Irene, making it clear that Milton and Tallant have arrived far too late to matter.
Author's Note: This story was first published by Less Than Three Press in Fairytales Slashed Volume Three. It has not been significantly changed for re-release.
But instead of the joyful place Milton spoke endlessly of, they find a land rife with deadly dragons, where fifteen women have gone missing, including Irene, the woman Milton loves.
Even Milton's brother, Cecil, is not what he used to be. Instead of the scholar Milton talked about, Cecil is a hardened soldier who keeps company with thieves. He is also beautiful and intriguing—but contemptuous of Milton and Tallant. Worse, he's also married to Irene, making it clear that Milton and Tallant have arrived far too late to matter.
Author's Note: This story was first published by Less Than Three Press in Fairytales Slashed Volume Three. It has not been significantly changed for re-release.
112 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 29, 2011
17 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Megan Derr
283 books2,940 followersMegan is a long time resident of queer romance and keeps herself busy reading and writing it. She is often accused of fluff and nonsense. When she’s not involved in writing, she likes to cook, harass her wife and cats, or watch movies. She loves to hear from readers and can be found all over the internet.
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meganderr.com
patreon.com/meganderr
meganderr.blogspot.com
facebook.com/meganaprilderr
meganaderr@gmail.com
@meganaderr
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 3, 2020
A rushed climax, riddled with spelling errors, characters introduced in the beginning literally getting forgotten by the end of the story... Is the reason this only gets 3 stars instead of the 5 it had the potential to get. And to top it all off, the dragons managed to be disappointing. In the year of Beyoncé 2020, it's not acceptable for any dragon to be less impressive than Drogon. (No, I don't care that this book was published in 2011). It's the written word, go all out with these majestic creatures dammit.
October 12, 2021
Pretty much a classic Megan Derr story - a prickly scholar, a mischievous mage, magic, dragons, and lots of eye rolling. Just what I needed :)
July 22, 2020
Short story and one of my go to picks when I don’t feel like reading a lot. A guy returning from exile with his battle bonded elf finds his home in ruins and under attack. I liked how much of opposites Tallant and Cecil are. A little mystery, dragons, wolves and an elf lusting after his battlebonds brother.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2018
Ok
3 ⭐️
Another well crafted story from Ms Derr
I enjoyed the overall story but unfortunately I just didn’t like Cecil. He came across like a child having a tantrum. Tallant was a better character for me, although I do have some issues with his kissing of Cecil while Irene was missing. It was explained but at the time he didn’t have that information, so that didn’t sit well with me.
The story itself is well done and entertaining and it kept me reading til the end
3 ⭐️
Another well crafted story from Ms Derr
I enjoyed the overall story but unfortunately I just didn’t like Cecil. He came across like a child having a tantrum. Tallant was a better character for me, although I do have some issues with his kissing of Cecil while Irene was missing. It was explained but at the time he didn’t have that information, so that didn’t sit well with me.
The story itself is well done and entertaining and it kept me reading til the end
March 21, 2018
4.5 stars
This was such a charming story! It's a little longer than some of Megan Derr's other novellas, which I really appreciate because there's time for more plot and characterisation. And I definitely wanted to spend more time with the characters, especially Tallant the irreverent elf.
Gay elves is guaranteed to make me pick up a book - as if I wouldn't pick up a fantasy story by Megan Derr - and I'm so glad I did. But there's so much to love about this book - Milton and Tallant's battle-bonded relationship is so close and warm and brotherly, I *love* the concept of the elvish tattoos and fortunes, and I'm really impressed about how much plot (dragons! Magic! Kidnappings! Secret passages!) was crammed into one small book without any of it feeling rushed or taking away from the characters.
This was such a charming story! It's a little longer than some of Megan Derr's other novellas, which I really appreciate because there's time for more plot and characterisation. And I definitely wanted to spend more time with the characters, especially Tallant the irreverent elf.
Gay elves is guaranteed to make me pick up a book - as if I wouldn't pick up a fantasy story by Megan Derr - and I'm so glad I did. But there's so much to love about this book - Milton and Tallant's battle-bonded relationship is so close and warm and brotherly, I *love* the concept of the elvish tattoos and fortunes, and I'm really impressed about how much plot (dragons! Magic! Kidnappings! Secret passages!) was crammed into one small book without any of it feeling rushed or taking away from the characters.
March 29, 2018
It’s been several months since I last reviewed one of Megan’s books. In this case, this is a novella. It was previously released in an anthology but I didn’t have that one so I missed this story. It’s really a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses though the only tie to that original is the set of missing girls in gowns called Dancing Princesses.
The main character is Tallant, an elven battle mage. Honestly … other than his interactions with Milton, he seemed more like a stand-in than usual. It could have been the novella length to this one that cut some of his personality. He flirted a few times with Cecil but I didn’t feel any sort of consistency in his personality to give me an idea of who he was. Cecil, on the other hand, had a definite personality, even if it was an archetype. I liked professional warrior and sometimes scholar Cecil. He was confident and cool. This Cecil blushing was amusing and cute. Spoiled brat Cecil who snarled at Milton and Tallant over nothing was not so impressive. Wasn’t sure I ever understood the hot and cold on that one.
The world Megan built here was pretty simple. Typical fairy-tale kingdom but with a magical wall that keeps the dragons out. I was more interested in Tallant’s tattoos and their meanings. I was a little disappointed that they weren’t brought up again later but that’s my own bias talking.
The plot was … simple. It’s a novella and that’s expected but once the bad guy was introduced, it was kind of predictable. Megan’s work is usually a little more in depth than that and I was kind of sad I could predict the ending from so early on.
It’s Megan and her writing is great, as far as world-building goes. She’s good at taking an odd idea and going with it and I’ve loved her stories for that. Unfortunately, like many of her titles, this work is full of errors, mostly the wrong word used and a few missing words in important places. In fact, this work was even worse than many of her recent titles have been and it was incredibly jarring each time I ran across an error. I can’t decide if it was a “this was published before so no need to check again” or if the editor just missed a lot. On one page, the bad guy’s name changed spelling several times until I couldn’t remember which spelling was correct.
Overall, the story was short and sweet though not the quality I usually expect in both characters and plot from Megan and the sheer number of errors was frustrating. I have to give this one a 3 out of 5. I still enjoyed it, but I wasn’t terribly impressed.
Cross posted on I Read What Now, my book review blog.
The main character is Tallant, an elven battle mage. Honestly … other than his interactions with Milton, he seemed more like a stand-in than usual. It could have been the novella length to this one that cut some of his personality. He flirted a few times with Cecil but I didn’t feel any sort of consistency in his personality to give me an idea of who he was. Cecil, on the other hand, had a definite personality, even if it was an archetype. I liked professional warrior and sometimes scholar Cecil. He was confident and cool. This Cecil blushing was amusing and cute. Spoiled brat Cecil who snarled at Milton and Tallant over nothing was not so impressive. Wasn’t sure I ever understood the hot and cold on that one.
The world Megan built here was pretty simple. Typical fairy-tale kingdom but with a magical wall that keeps the dragons out. I was more interested in Tallant’s tattoos and their meanings. I was a little disappointed that they weren’t brought up again later but that’s my own bias talking.
The plot was … simple. It’s a novella and that’s expected but once the bad guy was introduced, it was kind of predictable. Megan’s work is usually a little more in depth than that and I was kind of sad I could predict the ending from so early on.
It’s Megan and her writing is great, as far as world-building goes. She’s good at taking an odd idea and going with it and I’ve loved her stories for that. Unfortunately, like many of her titles, this work is full of errors, mostly the wrong word used and a few missing words in important places. In fact, this work was even worse than many of her recent titles have been and it was incredibly jarring each time I ran across an error. I can’t decide if it was a “this was published before so no need to check again” or if the editor just missed a lot. On one page, the bad guy’s name changed spelling several times until I couldn’t remember which spelling was correct.
Overall, the story was short and sweet though not the quality I usually expect in both characters and plot from Megan and the sheer number of errors was frustrating. I have to give this one a 3 out of 5. I still enjoyed it, but I wasn’t terribly impressed.
Cross posted on I Read What Now, my book review blog.
July 23, 2019
A wonderful and easy read that starts off rather melancholy but soon picks up with action and shows all of the love that was hiding just underneath!
Tallant and Milton are returning to Milton's home after twelve years, so it makes sense that there are changes but the changes are immense. It turns out that the wards which protect the lands from dragons have fallen many years ago and many have died in those years. Milton's loved ones, his lover Irene and his brother Cecil, are either missing or dramatically changed and angry. Tallant is left trying to help Milton find his way back to the people he loves and solve the problem of the wards to once again make home the safe place he had so loved.
Cecil is a hard man at first and he is all anger and violence. Tallant can see beneath that to the sadness and the lack of desire to lead but has difficulty getting that to come out. It takes working out what has happened in the past few years to see what changed Cecil from the man he was and to show him that he doesn't have to give up all that he was. Cecil's anger does slow things as it keeps Tallant and Milton from bringing him all that they find and equally keeps Cecil from seeking out what they can bring to the situation. But it cannot be expected that twelve years of loss, both of someone you love and of a life course, to be resolved in just a single encounter. Tallant finds the little ways to show the two brothers what they still have. Milton works to find out what is going on int he kingdom and give Cecil a place to rest the burden he has. All working together they can make the land the home it was once.
Watching the fire slowly build between Tallant and Cecil, seeing the relationship repair in time between Cecil and Milton, and figuring out what was going on with the wards made for an engaging and beautiful story. This was a great read that came to an excellent HEA!
Tallant and Milton are returning to Milton's home after twelve years, so it makes sense that there are changes but the changes are immense. It turns out that the wards which protect the lands from dragons have fallen many years ago and many have died in those years. Milton's loved ones, his lover Irene and his brother Cecil, are either missing or dramatically changed and angry. Tallant is left trying to help Milton find his way back to the people he loves and solve the problem of the wards to once again make home the safe place he had so loved.
Cecil is a hard man at first and he is all anger and violence. Tallant can see beneath that to the sadness and the lack of desire to lead but has difficulty getting that to come out. It takes working out what has happened in the past few years to see what changed Cecil from the man he was and to show him that he doesn't have to give up all that he was. Cecil's anger does slow things as it keeps Tallant and Milton from bringing him all that they find and equally keeps Cecil from seeking out what they can bring to the situation. But it cannot be expected that twelve years of loss, both of someone you love and of a life course, to be resolved in just a single encounter. Tallant finds the little ways to show the two brothers what they still have. Milton works to find out what is going on int he kingdom and give Cecil a place to rest the burden he has. All working together they can make the land the home it was once.
Watching the fire slowly build between Tallant and Cecil, seeing the relationship repair in time between Cecil and Milton, and figuring out what was going on with the wards made for an engaging and beautiful story. This was a great read that came to an excellent HEA!
August 22, 2022
This was really interesting.
It starts off as a pair of battle-bound mercenary’s, Milton a human, and Tallant an elf, leave their battle days behind them and head to Milton’s home. Here we discover that Milton was forced to leave for 12 years because he was in love with Irene, the local nobles daughter. In the time he has been gone, the Duke has gone mad and been locked away in a tower, the words protecting the little kingdom have fallen allowing dragons to rampage the lands, and Milton’s younger, scholarly brother Cecil has become a deadly warrior taking the name “Rasnake” or Dragon Slayer. All of this however, pales in comparison, for in Cecil, Tallant finds his destiny.
It’s Cecil that I found the most intriguing. 12 years ago, when Milton left, Cecil was a young scholar. His hands were soft, delicate, and dedicated to the artistic renderings of illuminated manuscripts. His body was slight. He dressed in robes. Now he is a warrior. He dresses in leather and armor. His long hair is braided and holds charms and beads. His hands are muscular, scarred, calloused, rough, and large with muscle. No longer suited for the scholarly pursuits he was forced to abandon, Cecil embraces the warrior he has become, and mourns the loss of both the innocence and the pastimes of his youth.
Now, Cecil is confronted by the return of his older brother, the introduction of a powerful, tattooed, elf battle mage, and the fact that this battle mage wants him. He is in turns bold and shy, aggressive and recalcitrant. As dominant as he is in his day-to-day life, you can see that he wants to submit to his growing feelings for Tallant. Although the novel never takes the reader into anything explicit, I can’t help but imagine the push and pull, battle and play, dominance and seduction, that might play out between these two men in the bedroom.
It starts off as a pair of battle-bound mercenary’s, Milton a human, and Tallant an elf, leave their battle days behind them and head to Milton’s home. Here we discover that Milton was forced to leave for 12 years because he was in love with Irene, the local nobles daughter. In the time he has been gone, the Duke has gone mad and been locked away in a tower, the words protecting the little kingdom have fallen allowing dragons to rampage the lands, and Milton’s younger, scholarly brother Cecil has become a deadly warrior taking the name “Rasnake” or Dragon Slayer. All of this however, pales in comparison, for in Cecil, Tallant finds his destiny.
It’s Cecil that I found the most intriguing. 12 years ago, when Milton left, Cecil was a young scholar. His hands were soft, delicate, and dedicated to the artistic renderings of illuminated manuscripts. His body was slight. He dressed in robes. Now he is a warrior. He dresses in leather and armor. His long hair is braided and holds charms and beads. His hands are muscular, scarred, calloused, rough, and large with muscle. No longer suited for the scholarly pursuits he was forced to abandon, Cecil embraces the warrior he has become, and mourns the loss of both the innocence and the pastimes of his youth.
Now, Cecil is confronted by the return of his older brother, the introduction of a powerful, tattooed, elf battle mage, and the fact that this battle mage wants him. He is in turns bold and shy, aggressive and recalcitrant. As dominant as he is in his day-to-day life, you can see that he wants to submit to his growing feelings for Tallant. Although the novel never takes the reader into anything explicit, I can’t help but imagine the push and pull, battle and play, dominance and seduction, that might play out between these two men in the bedroom.
June 6, 2023
I wanted this to be a minimum of 100 pages longer and with some solid editing because I loved this without all that. And with it? Easy 5 stars. I immediately fell in love with the characters and the world and the conflict and the bonds. The pacing was sometimes a little inconsistent and at times I wanted to linger or flesh something out further, so again, with 100 more pages this would be absolute magic. Hell, make this a series. I'd read the hell out of this series.
The romance at times felt a little off because one of our love interests was married, but the information we got at the end cleared up why that wasn't really an issue. That said, I don't like cheating, so I would've enjoyed the romance a lot more had I gotten that info straight up.
I'm genuinely sad this is solely a novella and there's no more of this world. There's so much here to love that fits my tastes like a glove and I want more of these characters on their adventures. I gobbled this up and now I'm left wanting more. At least this author has an insane number of publications to her name, so perhaps I'll try another.
The romance at times felt a little off because one of our love interests was married, but the information we got at the end cleared up why that wasn't really an issue. That said, I don't like cheating, so I would've enjoyed the romance a lot more had I gotten that info straight up.
I'm genuinely sad this is solely a novella and there's no more of this world. There's so much here to love that fits my tastes like a glove and I want more of these characters on their adventures. I gobbled this up and now I'm left wanting more. At least this author has an insane number of publications to her name, so perhaps I'll try another.
April 19, 2018
I wanted to like this book. Truly I did. Because I like the author and she's great at world-building. This fantasy tale, on the surface, seemed like a sure bet. Dragons! Elves! Soul-bonding! Castles! I mean, talk about personal fantasies- this ticked almost every box for me.
However, and this is a reluctant however, I really didn't like one of the MC's. I mean, not that he was evil or conniving, Cecil really did not grow on me. I found him contradictory- he was introduced as this great battle-horned warrior and a few pages on, he morphs into this 'sulky teen' persona. And because of this, I found a hard time enjoying the story, especially the parts that he was in. I quite preferred Milton- who was not even a love interest. Somehow, Milton's relationship with Tallant- the other MC- was more interesting. I enjoyed the fantasy bits of this story, the world building was good and the battle scenes against the dragons were well, exciting. But the love story was a meh.
However, and this is a reluctant however, I really didn't like one of the MC's. I mean, not that he was evil or conniving, Cecil really did not grow on me. I found him contradictory- he was introduced as this great battle-horned warrior and a few pages on, he morphs into this 'sulky teen' persona. And because of this, I found a hard time enjoying the story, especially the parts that he was in. I quite preferred Milton- who was not even a love interest. Somehow, Milton's relationship with Tallant- the other MC- was more interesting. I enjoyed the fantasy bits of this story, the world building was good and the battle scenes against the dragons were well, exciting. But the love story was a meh.
April 1, 2018
I generally quite like megan derr, but this book was a disappointment. First i gave it 2 stars, cause well i did finish it at least, but then thought better and changed to 1. It was just not interesting. There were so much potential, but instead of realising it the author managed to write a boring mystery about boring characters with unclear romance. Waste of money.
May 25, 2018
A fast read
The premise sounded interesting, but it was very basic. A very simple mystery easily figured out. I wish the characters were more fleshed out. I like the author but will probably stick with her other series and not venture away from it.
The premise sounded interesting, but it was very basic. A very simple mystery easily figured out. I wish the characters were more fleshed out. I like the author but will probably stick with her other series and not venture away from it.
October 21, 2018
Definitely worth reading if you love heroes that are harsh and hostile on the outside while in fact they are kind-hearted and caring. I was instantly enamored of Cecil. The plot is rather simple but engaging and the romance has just the right amount of fluff. Recommended!
January 10, 2021
It's sad because this has all the elements to be such a cool story but it was too rushed and definitely could have benefited from tighter editing. Also surprised to see basic spelling errors in published works?! It's a fun romp, but it could have been so much more!
April 8, 2018
Read in anthology Fairytales Slashed 3.
Banished brothers, dragons, magic, mad kings and missing princess. All written with Megan Derr's excellent fairy tale panache.
Banished brothers, dragons, magic, mad kings and missing princess. All written with Megan Derr's excellent fairy tale panache.
April 18, 2018
Good
As always i enjoy Megan Derr's writing. I really liked the main character, and the setting. Very satisfied with purchase.
As always i enjoy Megan Derr's writing. I really liked the main character, and the setting. Very satisfied with purchase.
July 24, 2018
Tallant & Cecil
This was fun and as usual the fantasy setting had this natural feeling I always got with M. Derr books. There are dragons, battle brothers and magic: yeah!!
A nice little one ^_^
This was fun and as usual the fantasy setting had this natural feeling I always got with M. Derr books. There are dragons, battle brothers and magic: yeah!!
A nice little one ^_^
January 26, 2019
I enjoyed this tale of magic, dragons, wolves, and bonds. Bonus elf mage!
February 26, 2019
4.25 stars
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July 24, 2022Not great. Not terrible.
Megan Derr is a bit hit and miss for me, I really enjoy some of her stories but by no means all of them.
Megan Derr is a bit hit and miss for me, I really enjoy some of her stories but by no means all of them.
January 26, 2021
First of all I have to say that the summary posted isn't correct. Tallant isn't an elf astray. Yes he left his homeland but he wasn't disowned. The elves have a tradition that when an elf comes of age his Fate is read from the Fate Reader and written onto a stone. Well Tallant's fate was bound to wolves which meant he was never meant to return home and to travel. That by no means meant he was disowned.
Other than that it was a good story although at times Cecil was too much and even though I can see his point, to not let his brother explain was frustrating.
Other than that it was a good story although at times Cecil was too much and even though I can see his point, to not let his brother explain was frustrating.
June 18, 2018
A very good 3 stars! I actually liked Tallant - a lot -, and Cecil, the reluctant hero by circumstance, was cute in his innocence. I suspected something early on regarding his marriage (after all, I have read a couple of Derr's books and things are frequently not what they seem), so the end came as no surprise. The story itself was a bit confusing and not very convincing, but the romance was worth reading it ...
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