Steelheart (de Lohr Dynasty Book 3)

I bought this as part of a package of the De Lohr Dynasty and it was so out of sync with the rest of the books that it was suspicious. The writing was good, but the errors were HORRENDOUS. There were dropped letters, insertions of extra words in sentences, and the most glaring typo was the heroine, who was called "Emilie" throughout the book, but in one instance was misspelled to "Emily". Poor proofreading. This story was not as strong as the other books in the series.

I really loved this story. And it most certainly CAN stand alone. I had a difficult time putting the book down to get anything else done. I loved that it was a longer novel as they tend to delve deeper into the characters. I loved that David was an imperfect hero. Actually, I loved everything about the book. Another reviewer mentioned typo's. Actually, for a book of this length, there were surprisingly few. I think KLB has set the bar so high with her superb storytelling and character development that some readers are groping to find fault with a nearly faultless book. Hooray for another great book. I can't wait to read Daniel's story!

Awesome! I would have to disagree with the folks that thought it was too much like Rise of the Defender. If you were a new reader to Le Veque, the background provided would allow you to read this book out of sequence (her goal). However, for me having read over 40 of her books (yes, I mostly live in the medieval period), I had a unique dimensional experience. Especially during the tournament. Like watching it from multiple viewpoints. Excellent!

I really hate to give another Le Veque novel a bad review, but I was very disappointed in this book. I have enjoyed many Le Veque's novels - I loved the Dragonblade series. I believe I have read all of her medieval works and buy them as soon as they are available. Unfortunately, it's either hit or miss with her - she has some fabulous books and some horrible books. Her last few have been disappointments - and this is the worst disappointment yet.

We have been introduced to David de Lohr in many of her previous novels as a secondary character - brother, liege, grandfather; which has led many of us to anticipate his story. But the whole format of this novel was a disaster. Instead of an independent David story - it tries to dovetail with events in his brother Christopher's story, "Rise of the Defender." In attempting to give context to the Steelheart story, we have whole sections lifted from ROTD book - which felt so sudden and out of place I think I got whiplash. The problem was there was no context in Steelheart to give context to the excerpts from ROTD. Advice from me - don't read Steelheart without first reading Rise of the Defender, you'll feel completely lost. I read ROTD a couple years ago, and I still felt like events were jumping out at me from dark corners, especially the references to Dustin and Marcus and their relationship.

Also, the events in the two books didn't mesh well together. At one point, Christopher was negotiating with Emilie's father for a betrothal between Emilie and David; at another point (excerpt from ROTD) he acted like he'd never met her or heard of her before. And events that took place in Steelheart that should have been a big deal, didn't have any place or mention in ROTD (okay, I know ROTD was written frist, but she shouldn't have tried to put big events in Steelheart inside the time frame of ROTD).

But aside from this totally disorienting rehash of one book inside another, the David / Emilie love story just didn't do anything for me. I think Emilie was right when she told David that she wasn't a priority for him. He showed little interest in her when she wasn't immediately before him. He never seemed in a hurry to get back to her - letting months go by while he wandered England, seemingly aimlessly. I didn't feel any real chemistry and reason for their love story- only physical attraction. It was pretty flat and blah. Emilie would have been better off moving on and telling David to get lost after the second or third time he abandoned her.

What was the deal with the nanny/mistress they called "Mother" and her spitting every time she talked? It was getting really old hearing how they had to wipe their faces or their sleeves or their chests off every time she talked to them. It was a completely unnecessary distraction. And I did not need to hear descriptions of how their father used her without really liking her. I could have done without the younger sisters and their shallow, one-dimensional characters. Their endless pranks were mean, petty and got tiresome - never really moving the story forward or having any particular bearing on it. Wouldn't 16 and 18 year old girls have grown out of that? With typical ages at marriage being around 15 and 16 years old, they should all three have been married or betrothed long before this.

On an editorial note . . . where was her editor? Terrible grammar and word use issues. Wrong prepositions, wrong verb tenses, adverbs in place of adjectives, extra words in sentences, and a lot of repetitive filler. Many wrong word choices: example, a severe military defeat is a "rout," not a "route." And the list goes on.

Overall, this might have worked better as a short story. There just wasn't enough meat in the story to make a novel . . . which is probably why such a large portion of it was imported from ROTD.

Not recommended.

This would have been a good book but for the additional many paragraphs from Rise of the defender which was distracting. And there was a lot of spelling errors and mistakes such as the heroine was described early in the book as having Brown hair but later in the book as she was preparing for a party it described as having blonde hair. I did appreciate the recipe at the end of the book.

Excellent illumination of David de Lohr's experiences during the same timeframe of his older brother Christopher as The Defender. Highly recommended to gain a fuller understanding of the depth of David's character and the unbreakable bonds of brothers.

Great Le Veque novel with the romance, political intrigue and surprises. This story blends well with the "Rise of the Defender" storyline incorporated . What an interesting concept and well executed by Ms. Le Veque.

I gave this book three stars because I felt like I was reading rise of the defender again. This was David and Emily's story not Christopher's and Dustin's story. All in all nice story and good new set of characters. Sorry not one of my favorites.

As, has come to be expected of klv an excellent book. characters are well thought out, plots are strong and storylines move at a fast but smooth pace. I do enjoy her books. Easy to read and follow. Editing is usually very good.

I've read a lot of her ebooks now and I've greatly enjoyed them all. Great storylines and wonderful character developments. I also love that she keeps writing more. BUT timelines are all over the place, but I' getting used to that and I like it. There is no keeping them straight!!!!!

Action romance and strong endearing characters!! Kathryn LeVeque never disappoints! Love familiar characters or families that become a part of the story. The storyline itself grabs the reader! Plenty of action!

This is the very first book Ii read by Kathryn Le Veque that I was disappointed in. Two much of her other novels blending in the book. Some of the things that happened I already read in other novels of hers. Don't get me wrong, I like when she refers to other stories. or persons, but I thought this was a little two much. She is still a favorite of mine, and I look forward to more of her books.

This is the very first book Ii read by Kathryn Le Veque that I was disappointed in. Two much of her other novels blending in the book. Some of the things that happened I already read in other novels of hers. Don't get me wrong, I like when she refers to other stories. or persons, but I thought this was a little two much. She is still a favorite of mine, and I look forward to more of her books.

Really sad that this book contained 50% coined from a previous novel...essentially paying to read something twice. Don't know why except a rush to meet a "need". First books were much better and even required me to go back and read an update on the Plantagenets...which was a good history lesson...also had to explore how castles were built. But this book required nothing.

Boring!! Same story line, very little sexy scenes, main female character description very similar to most others ( short,rosebud mouth, blonde.), Kathryn Le Veque follows pretty much the same story line. First DeWolf was the best.

I have read and love all of Kathryn LeVeque's books but this one fell short for me. The story line was too weak and slow pace, I didn't like that there were too many excerpts from Rise of the Defender.