“The characters yank, twist, and shatter your heartstrings.”“Darkly delicious!”“If you’re looking for sweet and sexy M/M romance, this ain’t it, folks… move along. If, however, you’re looking for prolonged emotional and physical hurt/comfort against a rich fantasy backdrop… DING DING DING!”“I would expect this series to appeal to fans of CS Pacat’s Captive Prince and Jex Lane’s Beautiful … and Jex Lane’s Beautiful Monsters.”
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A tormented dragon prince.
A captured elven assassin.
Duty demands they fight for their people but love has other plans.
Eroan, one of the last elven assassins, lives for one purpose: kill the queen.
He would have succeeded if not for her last line of defense: Prince Lysander. Now, captured and forced into the queen’s harem, Eroan sees another opportunity. Why kill just the queen when he can kill them all? It would be simple, if not for the troubled and alluring dragon prince. A warrior, a killer, and something else… something Eroan finds himself inexplicably drawn to.
Trapped in a life he despises, Lysander knows his time is running out.
If the queen doesn’t kill him for his failures, her enemies will. There’s nothing left to live for, until an elf assassin almost kills him. A stubborn, prideful, fool of an elf who doesn’t know when to quit. An elf who sparks a violent, forbidden desire in Lysander. If Lysander can’t save himself, maybe he can save the elf and maybe, just maybe… one stubborn elf will be enough to bring down the queen before her reign brings death to them all.
Silk & Steel is a 85,000 word full-length novel.
This series is a dark fantasy intended for mature readers. While Silk & Steel is a love story, it is not for everyone.
Silk & Steel features a gay dragon shifter, a bisexual elf, and adult themes. There is triggering content that some readers may find distressing. For trigger warnings please click on the book cover and scroll to the copyright pages.
Professionally edited and proofread.
Series Reading Order:
Silk & Steel, Silk & Steel, #1
Iron & Fire, Silk & Steel, #2
Blood & Ice, Silk & Steel, #3 (Pre-order today).
Also in this world:
The Black Prince (Pre-Order today)
more
Wow, just wow! If you are expecting or want fluffy clouds, unicorns, and rainbows, this book is NOT for you! This series is so dark (how dark is it?), if you have triggers, this book probably has one that will set you off, and you should stay far away. As a reader of this author’s other nom de plume, Pippa DaCosta, I knew what to expect. But, wow, it’s dark! However, this book is also full of hope, redemption, strength, attraction, and courage. I love Lysander’s and Eroan’s characters, and they are just perfect for each other as they both complement each other’s perceived weaknesses. Not only that, I love (or love to hate) the other characters that hold them up and tear them down. Ms. Nash’s great writing skill has a way of taking you on a lonely, fearful, and tearful but uplifting reading path and making you love it. At the end, I was ready for a book full of fluffy clouds, unicorns, and rainbows to counteract this one, but I did love every moment I spent immersed in this wonderful, dark book. When is the next coming out?!? I highly recommend this book but only to those than can handle the depths of despair and heights of hope this book can take you on! I was provided the e-book which I voluntarily reviewed.
Silk & Steel is the first major foray into M/M for author Pippa DaCosta, writing under the pen name Ariana Nash. As the author warned in her readers’ group on Facebook, it’s an emotional rollercoaster and very, very dark.
Anyone familiar with the author’s other works will know to expect AMAZING world-building, and will not be disappointed. Ariana Nash crafts a post-apocalyptic world of dragons and elves, with humans clinging onto the outskirts, battered but not broken.
Our heroes are an unlikely pair—a steely elven assassin and a disgraced dragon prince, thrown together by circumstance. They forge an unlikely connection across the lines of battle, but the war between their two peoples is not kind to any who dare to step outside the definition of ‘enemy.’
If you’re looking for sweet and sexy M/M romance, this ain’t it, folks… move along; nothing to see here. If, however, you’re looking for prolonged emotional and physical hurt/comfort against a rich fantasy backdrop… DING DING DING! Just be aware that it’s a series, and it’s slow burn. You’re gonna have to wait for the ultimate ‘C’ payoff in this H/C tale, but knowing the author as I do, I’m confident it will be well worth the deferred gratification.
I would expect this series to appeal to fans of CS Pacat’s Captive Prince, Jex Lane’s Beautiful Monsters, and possibly the works of TJ Klune. It’s well worth a read for fans of tortured heroes, but heed the warnings.
Here be dragons.
“Silk & Steel” is an incredibly intense novel and not for the faint of heart. It’s dark and twisted and emotionally taxing, especially for people who have had to fight with their own sexuality all their life. Lysander – one of the main characters – is repeatedly told he is broken for desiring other males and abused for it. If you have any morals you will find some of the things that happen to him objectionable. But he survives and doesn’t let it twist him into a sick, sadistic individual. His story more than anything else in this book made me see that if you read between the lines ultimately this is a story of hope. Hope for freedom and love, hope that there’s a way to escape the pain of hiding who you love, hope that there’s a way to right the wrongs done to you and by you. It’s not an easy read and will leave you wrecked but it was worth the feeling of a fist squeezing my throat to be part of Eroan and Lysander’s journey.
What is better than a book with a sexy, swoony, moody hero? A book with two sexy, swoony, moody heroes!
If you don’t already know, Ariana Nash is the darker, more erotic pen name of Pippa DaCosta. So if you’re familiar with her work, you’ll be pleased to know that this contains just the same amazing world building, deep characters, strong emotions and complex plot that can be found in her previous work. What you get is more, more darkness, more lust, more steam and more heroes. In fact this has two for the price of one, since it’s an MM erotic dark fantasy read.
The book had me gripped from start to finish, the writing is mesmerising and I totally fell for both Eroan and Lysander. These are two wonderful characters, both with their challenges and imperfections, but in such different ways. Eroan is focused to the point of being blinkered, an aloof man who uses his job as an excuse to avoid getting close to others, rather than face the truth. Lysander is good soul, caught in a world of political machinations and nastiness. Dragged down by others until he no longer sees that goodness inside of him.
The story is set, possibly, on an alternative or future Earth, one where dragon shifters have invaded the planet and spread like wildfire. Elves and humans are both threatened species, struggling to survive and always hoping to find a way to fight back against the dragonkin. Eroan is an elf, a trained assassin whose mission is to kill the Dragon Queen. Lysander is the ‘broken’ dragon, virtually outcast by his kin and a pawn in the games played by his mother, the Queen. He’s also a ferocious warrior who got between Eroan and his mission.
What ensues is the start of an exciting adventure and shifting glimpses of a great love story. Just as Eroan and Lysander start to forge a connection fate tears them apart. She then continues to keep bringing them within spitting distance of each other but never letting them meet. Woven through this are lots of other plot strands. There is the politicking both within each dragon den and between the different factions, the struggles of the elves and the fledgling alliance between elves and humans. A very fragile alliance given their past history.
I can picture the author sitting with a malevolent little grin on her face. See her laughing at the knowledge that she has dangled such tempting treats in front of our eyes, only to cruelly and heartlessly snatch them away at the last second. She needs to get back to writing because I need more Eroan, I need more Lysander and I need them NOW!!!!
Darkly delicious! Wow! I’m stunned absolutely speechless! I need the next book now! This book was dark, deadly and crude. In this new world of dragons and elves two unlikely broken souls struggle to survive against all odds. I loved the characters each fighting their own battle and brought together in the darkest of times. At the end I’m left hungry for more especially with that cliffhanger!
WARNING: This is a M/M that’s DARK.
I’ve had a book hangover from Silk & Steel for over a week, that’s how good Ariana Nash is. Not surprising since Ariana Nash is the alter ego of Pippa DaCosta.
Nash has a warning for this book: This book is brutal! It will chew your heart, spit it out and dance on the broken pieces.”
She was more than right. I was actually excited when I heard DaCosta was branching out into this genre, M/M. Not going to lie, I didn’t really understand the genre until I read some really good authors, and now, well like any well written book, it doesn’t really matter.
And to call Silk & Steel a well written book doesn’t do it justice. Nash’s world building is amazing. She brings the reader along for the ride, without it being a lecture and doesn’t make you feel like you’re playing catch up.
As for the Nash’s warning, please take it heart, but she’s right. But at the same time, this book is worth the journey. It’s brutal and beautiful. You’ll be on the edge of your seat more than once, and you won’t want to put it down.
review to come
“Being a survivor, living with the pain, healing from it, it makes you strong.”
The very first (full length) Ariana Nash book, that started three amazing series (so far!) and set me off on my m/m fantasy voyage of discovery….Silk & Steel .
This is book one in the Silk & Steel trilogy, a dark m/m fantasy tale of dragon shifters and elves, sworn enemies to lovers, devastating war, violence and bloodshed. But it’s also a love story.
In Silk & Steel we are introduced to Eroan, a bisexual elven assassin on a life’s mission to eliminate the Dragon Queen. Except he’s been captured by the Queen and is currently being tortured and kept as part of her harem.
And then we have Lysander, a prince of dragons, who is a failure in his mother’s eyes, gay, without any offspring and really not the warrior son the Dragon Queen has always wanted. And now she wants him to force himself on Eroan. If his mother doesn’t kill him, the annoying elf surely will.
This is dark and there are triggers. But it is also uplifting and heartening and steamy (so steamy ) and unique and a total page-turner.
I totally loved it and I totally loved the rest of the series too .
Highly recommended.
All the stars .
Really enjoyed this story/book