Night Shift Dragons by Rachel Aaron / Bach Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller
Series: DFZ #3
Published by Audible on May 5, 2020
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Length: 14 hours, 41 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible
They say family always sticks together, but when youâre your dadâs only lifeline and the whole worldâhumans, dragons, and godsâwants you dead, âfamily bondingâ takes on a whole new meaning.
My name is Opal Yong-ae, and Iâm in way over my head. I thought getting rid of my dadâs bad luck curse would put things back to normal. Instead, Iâm stuck playing caretaker to the Great Dragon of Korea. That wouldnât be so bad if he wasnât such a jerk, or if every dragon on the planet wasnât out to kill him, or if he was my only problem.
Turns out, things can always get worse in the DFZ. When a rival spirit attacks my god/boss with the aim of turning the famously safety-optional city into a literal death arena with Nik as his bloody champion, Iâm thrust onto the front lines and way out of my comfort zone. When gods fight, mortals donât usually survive, but Iâm not alone this time. Even proud old dragons can learn new tricks, and with everything I love falling to pieces, the father Iâve always run from might just be the only force in the universe stubborn enough to pull us back together.
Night Shift Dragons is the final book of the DFZ series.  Opal has some daddy issues. Sure, she has the normal ones, rebellion against a controlling parent and a desperate need to get out from under their thumb. Then she has the not so normal ones like; being the only human daughter to a dragon and a bad luck curse her father put on her so she would fail and have to come home. And you thought you had issues with your parents, bet they never cursed you. Now Opal is stuck with her father after the curse had some unusual side effects.  When everything went wrong, he ended up in a coma and now she is his only magical lifeline to this world. I guess with all this family time, being magically attached at the hip, maybe they will be able to work through their issues.
Nik, the almost boyfriend, has no idea where Opal has gone and it has been months. Desperate to find her he makes a bargain that puts him in incredible danger. He has a death sentence hanging over his head unless he can find a way finagle the magical promise he made. But he and Opal have been up against worse odds, havenât they?
I struggled a bit with Part-Time Gods, the second book of this series because Opal was so focused on thwarting her fatherâs curse that she lost sight of everything else, even Nik, the most patient partner in the land. But the Opal I loved from Minimum Wage Magic is back with her super cute can-do attitude and ingenuity. She is going to find a way to get out of this mess she has gotten herself into and heck she might as well help Nik with his huge problem too while she is at it.
There are some great cameos by a few of the characters from the Heartstriker series. Amelia being my favorite and I definitely liked seeing how you get the Spirit of Dragons to appear. The DFZ is also an interesting character, as the spirit of the city she is both the best and the worst of what people are in her city and I liked how unusual that made her.
The romance between Opal and Nik is also one I really like. Each person is their own individual but they are also a team and try to help each other out. Nik made some poor choices when Opal disappeared. I loved that he owned them completely never blaming her at all. Theyâve both made mistakes in the past but it was great to get them back on target and deal with the family drama that haunted Part-Time Gods.
The culmination and big showdown at the end are well worth the wait and I enjoyed every twisty moment in it, even if my stomach didn’t.
This is the end of this series that is an exercise in what if Storage Wars was mashed up with a world where âgods are real, dragons are traffic hazards, and buildings move around on their ownâ.  I really like the world this is set in and all the potential of it for so many different kinds of stories. I’m sincerely hoping that Rachel Arron finds other compelling stories to tell in this world.
Narration:
Emily Woo Zeller is a good fit for the voice of Opal. She did another good performance of the narration overall. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Emily Woo Zeller
Audie award-winning actor, voiceover artist, dancer, and singer Emily Woo Zeller (member SAG-AFTRA) is based in Los Angeles, though her work has been seen and heard internationally. Her wide range of work has included theater and extensive dubbing for film and television in Southeast Asia. Emilyâs lifelong theater and dance work includes performance with Ellis Wood Dance, Dutch Kills Theater, FACT/SF, Facing East Dance and Music, Oracle Theater, and physical theater collective Lampazo Group.
Audiofile Magazine named Emily as one of the âBest Voices of 2015â in Nonfiction and Culture for her work on THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo and âBest Voices of 2013â in Nonfiction and Culture for her work on GULP by Mary Roach. Awards include 2018 Audie for FIRE ROAD by Kim Phuc Phan Thi, Ashley Wiersma; 2015 SOVAS VOICE ARTS AWARD for THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo; 2015 Audie Nomination for her work on THE BEAM: SEASON 1 by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant; Audiofile Magazine Earphones Awards for narrations of THE POPPY WAR by R. F. Kuang; FIRE ROAD by Kim Phuc Phan Thi, Ashley Wiersma, AFTER THE ECLIPSE by Sarah Perry, KITCHEN CHINESE by Ann Mah, UNDER A PAINTED SKY by Stacey Lee, THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo, GULP by Mary Roach, and TIES THAT BIND, TIES THAT BREAK by Leslie Namioka; the 2009 Tristen Award for Best Actress as Sally Bowles in CABARET; and the 2006 Roselyn E. Schneider Prize for Creative Achievement.
Emily holds a degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Dance and Performance Studies, with a minor in Nutritional Sciences. She is a certified yoga teacher.
About Rachel Aaron / Bach
Hello, my name is Rachel Aaron, and I write the Heartstriker books, a new Urban Fantasy series about misfit dragons, starting with Nice Dragons Finish Last. I also wrote The Legend of Eli Monpress fantasy series for Orbit Books about a wizard thief and the poor bastards who have to try and stop him. PLUS I’m also the author of the new, rolicking fun Science Fiction romance Fortune’s Pawn under the name Rachel Bach. Confused yet? I know I am!
I was born in Atlanta, but I currently live a lovely, nerdy, bookish life in Athens, GA with my lightspeed son, perpetually understanding husband, and fat dog. Besides my own books, the internet knows me best for writing very fast. The best way to get to know me is probably to read my blog or follow me on Twitter or Facebook.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Robin Audio20
i’m always up for a good dragon story.
Right!!! That is the best part about fantasy a Dragon could show up at anytime.
Your review reminds me that I need to get busy and listen to the original series and this spin off. Glad to see it is still going strong to the end.
I really enjoyed the Heartstrikers series. It was a lot of fun and Julian the beta Dragon boy is adorable.
I need to finish the other series before starting this one but I’m sure I’ll love it too
While you don’t have to have read the prior series to get what is going on in this one I think it will be more enjoyable if you have, plus if you’ve already started Heartstrikers you should finish it. It is a lot of fun.
I own the Heartstrikers series on audio and part of this series. I’ve been enjoying your reviews and hope to get to them. Someday.
I hope so too. So many books, so little time. I had such a great time with the Heartstrikers series. It is a good buy and a fun ride.
This sounds like such a keeper here and I love seeing that solid teamwork happen. Glad you had a good time with this one here.
Great review.
Solid writing and I really liked the choices Opal had to make in Night Shift Dragons. The story ended in a satisfying place.
Good review! I need to finish the Heartstriker series before I start these.