Declan Finn's Wyverns Never Die (Honeymoon from Hell Book 3)

A Book Review

Once upon a time I knew a girl. Her name was Stephanie Souders, and she was an awesome human being. She has since been called home to be with Jesus and we all miss her. But while I knew Steph, she told me about a Science Fiction convention where she volunteered every year. It was (and is) called DragonCon. It is well known as being a crazy place, with massive quantities of people stuffed into multiple hotels in Atlanta, Georgia on the first weekend of college football season. I’ve always wanted to go, but circumstances have prevented me from doing so. Maybe someday though.

All of that to say that Declan Finn’s Wyverns Never Die (Honeymoon from Hell Book 3) is set at a huge Science Fiction convention in Georgia in late August and that it is tooooootally not DragonCon as evidenced by the fact that it is name WyvernCon and wyverns are nothing at all like dragons. Or sumfin’. Listen, I’m trying here. I actually managed to type that with a semi-straightish face. Somewhat.

There is something appealing about the combination of a sex-crazed serial killer and his wife the vampire that I just can’t seem to put my finger on, but it works. Add in a dash of Catholicism (as is required of every protagonist in a Finn-written novel) and you’ve got a mix that can’t be matched elsewhere. Seriously, no one has even tried. It makes me wonder exactly what goes in at Finn’s mind. It also makes me not want to know. I’m a complicated person.

The fact remains that reading a book set at a place I’ve always wanted to go was an absolute blast and Finn describes it just like Steph did, only with more detail. That makes sense. He put the event in a book and Steph was describing it verbally. Mikey Mason also does a song (Waiting to Wait In Line) about the lines there and Finn’s description fits perfectly with the way Mason’s song describes things. Seriously, it was like reading a book about Disney World while cuddled up while laying on your Mickey Mouse pillow with Fantasia playing in the background. I loved it.

I don’t want to spoil too much here, but the mass chaos in Wyverns Never Die leads to a bunch of fen living out their fantasies. I love that about that. It is not possible to be a geek and not picture one’s self as a post-apocalyptic terror. We all want to be the person who survives in the ashes and leads humanity back from the brink with our pluck, our wits, and a weapon of our own choosing. Personally, I always pictured myself with a AR15 and a tomahawk, but that’s just me. The thing is, massacring things that massacred all the people and coming out on top is what we’re wired to do. I wanted to be there when all the craziness was going down and I couldn’t because Wyverncon doesn’t actually exist.

Of course, Wyverns Never Die is about more than just the con itself. We get the usual cast of characters: Marco, the aforementioned do-gooder with the gun and knife collection, Amanda, his wife the vampire, Rory also a vampire, but with law enforcement connections, Galadren the elf who thinks he’s in a Tolkien novel but isn’t, etc. The list goes on. All have their places and all work to flesh out the world and the action within it.

The action sequences are full of off the charts intensity with highly detailed violence. I don’t read a Declan Finn action sequence, I live it. It’s like watching a movie in slow motion. It’s not The Matrix with Neo. It’s easier to track than that. Marco is also known for his blade work, and not just martial arts and guns. Not that there’s anything wrong with guns and fists, but it adds a dimension to things. Of course, it’s possible that I’ve just watched too much Forged in Fire, but I like a description of a fight that goes slash slash instead of boom boom.

Oh, and we get some bow and arrow action this time around. One (that’s me, I’m One) wonders if Finn has ever fired a bow when he shows the kind of pinpoint accuracy under pressure in Wyverns Never Die. Because I have spent some time at the archery range and that’s hard to do. Then again, it worked for Katniss Everdeen. The Rule of Cool would seem to apply as well, so maybe I’ll shut up.

Stop laughing, it could happen.

The villain this time around is unknown at first. Marco and friends refer to it as “X” and they’re trying to figure out what they’re up against. I can’t say it ends up being exactly what they expected, but it ends up being a world class villain. Like a EPh.D. (for Evil PhD.) in Evil Studies from the University of the Evilly Evil at Evilsville. No one else would make the kind of black magic powered weapons this thing is pushing. Really. Who makes weapons out of cremation diamonds? It’s evil. It’s more fun when we find out who it is. I love a good villain (by which I mean a totally evil villain) to root against, and Finn gave me one.

Wyverns Never Die is the third book in a series, except that there was another Marco and Amanda series (Love at First Bite) before this one, so it’s kind of the seventh book in the series, if you follow. It is an awesome experience but it is not a good starting point. I don’t mean to discourage you from reading this thing, but honestly you’re better off starting with The Neck Romancer, the first book of Honeymoon from Hell or, better yet, Honor At Stake, the first book in the Love at First Bite series.

There is a lot of backstory here and it helps to know it before venturing in. I found myself a bit confused at first because I missed Good to the Last Drop, the last book of Love at Bite. I blame Finn for that. He couldn’t possibly have told me about it more than ten trillion times and how am I supposed to remember that it exists at that point? I’m going to go back and read it, but not before I get to Cross Over (Honeymoon from Hell Book Four). I can’t wait and I already own it.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Elven Athames

Wyverns Never Die (Honeymoon from Hell Book 3)
Declan Finn
Self Published, 2025

Wyverns Never Die (Honeymoon from Hell Book 3) is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Wyverns Never Die (Honeymoon from Hell Book 3)