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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
(Warning: Some slight spoilers ahead!)
As a lover of dragons and fantasy, this book immediately caught my interest. I pretty much love anything fantasy-related. The only problem is that fantasy can be a pretty "cut-copy" kind of genre. A lot of authors stick to the same general layout when they write the world and characters for their books. It seems to always be the same: The magical elves, the mountain dwarves, and the mortal humans. Dragons are usually the big-bad monsters or the wise-good reptiles. So, when I picked up this book, I was a little cautious. I wasn't sure if it would end up being just another samey fantasy book or a hidden gem. But I was still eager to try it out. In the end, even if I don't particularly like it, I still get some enjoyment just because I like reading about faraway fantasy lands filled with magic and magical creatures.
So, is this book one of those hidden gems? No, not really. After reading it, I can sum up my overall feelings with a big "meh".
I thought it was really cool to have the dragon as a main character, though I feel the potential was wasted. Hearing the small tid-bits of dragon culture and lives was pretty interesting. I think the book should have been more focused on that. Maybe going more into the history of the different dragons and their culture and languages. The history of the world was nice, but nothing was was super unique or memorable. I guess for me, there were tiny pieces of interesting parts of history. For example, I thought the concept of having the dragon living and being raised by wolves was very interesting! Overall though, the book just isn't that captivating. It gets so boring at times, honestly. Nothing really caught my attention or really inspired me to keep going. The dragon's journey wasn't that harrowing or compelling. It's not like where Frodo has to take the One Ring to Mount Doom or the entire world will plunge into an era of chaos. Nothing feels frantic or energetic. Sometimes, it just feels that "this dragon is going here and here just because he wants to."
I think that maybe if the journey had more feeling or had more at stake, it would be more inspiring to read on about. The beginning pieces are there, but they need to be emphasized a bit more. If Auron was the last of his kind and had to find the fabled DragonLand (or something similar to that), then it should feel like that. Auron should be thinking about how he holds the key to his species survival! Or if it had a more "fish out of water" type of feel. Auron could be a dragon that knows next-to-nothing about the world below and is forced to retreat after a giant dragon war or something like that. He has to survive in environments he has never seen before and interact with creatures he didn't know existed in order to get back to the dragon lands. As I said before, it starts out trying to give this kind of feel, but it falls short. As it is now, it's just...eh. Kind of boring.
Also, it doesn't really help that Auron isn't a very interesting character in my opinion. Having a dragon (who was partially raised by wolves) sounds like it would make for a great narrating voice! Instead, I feel that if you took Auron out and plopped in a human, elf, dwarf, etc., it wouldn't have much of an impact. Having Auron make observations in a more dragon-perspective from his culture and up-bringing would have made it more interesting to read about. Also, Auron didn't feel like he made any huge character developments. He is traveling through a world entirely new to him, and it doesn't seem to have had any effect on him at all.
With all that said, there were some parts of the book I really did like. As I said before, showing the lifestyle of dragons and some of their culture was something I enjoyed reading a lot. I personally liked the explanation that the reason dragons hoard treasure such as jewels and coins (having to eat to them in order to make their scales hard). That was an interesting twist! There were a few moments in the book that I liked and wished were expanded upon or had more of an impact on Auron / the story (such as living with wolves).
Dragon Champion isn't a bad book in my opinion, just one that's...okay. I still went through it and didn't mind it too much, but it fell short. It is a book with some interesting bits to it. If you like fantasy (and dragons!) books, I would still recommend that you at least take a peek at it and see if you like it. If you can get past the flaws and enjoy it, it's not a bad book at all and can be an enjoyable read.
As a lover of dragons and fantasy, this book immediately caught my interest. I pretty much love anything fantasy-related. The only problem is that fantasy can be a pretty "cut-copy" kind of genre. A lot of authors stick to the same general layout when they write the world and characters for their books. It seems to always be the same: The magical elves, the mountain dwarves, and the mortal humans. Dragons are usually the big-bad monsters or the wise-good reptiles. So, when I picked up this book, I was a little cautious. I wasn't sure if it would end up being just another samey fantasy book or a hidden gem. But I was still eager to try it out. In the end, even if I don't particularly like it, I still get some enjoyment just because I like reading about faraway fantasy lands filled with magic and magical creatures.
So, is this book one of those hidden gems? No, not really. After reading it, I can sum up my overall feelings with a big "meh".
I thought it was really cool to have the dragon as a main character, though I feel the potential was wasted. Hearing the small tid-bits of dragon culture and lives was pretty interesting. I think the book should have been more focused on that. Maybe going more into the history of the different dragons and their culture and languages. The history of the world was nice, but nothing was was super unique or memorable. I guess for me, there were tiny pieces of interesting parts of history. For example, I thought the concept of having the dragon living and being raised by wolves was very interesting! Overall though, the book just isn't that captivating. It gets so boring at times, honestly. Nothing really caught my attention or really inspired me to keep going. The dragon's journey wasn't that harrowing or compelling. It's not like where Frodo has to take the One Ring to Mount Doom or the entire world will plunge into an era of chaos. Nothing feels frantic or energetic. Sometimes, it just feels that "this dragon is going here and here just because he wants to."
I think that maybe if the journey had more feeling or had more at stake, it would be more inspiring to read on about. The beginning pieces are there, but they need to be emphasized a bit more. If Auron was the last of his kind and had to find the fabled DragonLand (or something similar to that), then it should feel like that. Auron should be thinking about how he holds the key to his species survival! Or if it had a more "fish out of water" type of feel. Auron could be a dragon that knows next-to-nothing about the world below and is forced to retreat after a giant dragon war or something like that. He has to survive in environments he has never seen before and interact with creatures he didn't know existed in order to get back to the dragon lands. As I said before, it starts out trying to give this kind of feel, but it falls short. As it is now, it's just...eh. Kind of boring.
Also, it doesn't really help that Auron isn't a very interesting character in my opinion. Having a dragon (who was partially raised by wolves) sounds like it would make for a great narrating voice! Instead, I feel that if you took Auron out and plopped in a human, elf, dwarf, etc., it wouldn't have much of an impact. Having Auron make observations in a more dragon-perspective from his culture and up-bringing would have made it more interesting to read about. Also, Auron didn't feel like he made any huge character developments. He is traveling through a world entirely new to him, and it doesn't seem to have had any effect on him at all.
With all that said, there were some parts of the book I really did like. As I said before, showing the lifestyle of dragons and some of their culture was something I enjoyed reading a lot. I personally liked the explanation that the reason dragons hoard treasure such as jewels and coins (having to eat to them in order to make their scales hard). That was an interesting twist! There were a few moments in the book that I liked and wished were expanded upon or had more of an impact on Auron / the story (such as living with wolves).
Dragon Champion isn't a bad book in my opinion, just one that's...okay. I still went through it and didn't mind it too much, but it fell short. It is a book with some interesting bits to it. If you like fantasy (and dragons!) books, I would still recommend that you at least take a peek at it and see if you like it. If you can get past the flaws and enjoy it, it's not a bad book at all and can be an enjoyable read.
I like that the story was from the point of view of the dragon. A unique enough writing. But the storyline never really captured my interest enough. Kind of just worked my way through the book.
Dragons are a dying race as dwarves, elves, blighters, and especially man take over the world. Auron a dragon still to young for flight escapes an attack on his family's next and si forced to travel for years with only rumors to guide him to a mentor, who might know the secret which is destroying his race.
The first time I read The Age of Fire books was a decade ago now, in 2012, and I loved them. There aren't a lot of books told from the perspective of dragons. Lots that have dragons in them, but not a lot that have dragons tell them. I loved them a lot.
I still love them, and am surprised at the things that I remembered, like the creation mythos. J
It's creative and interesting, and generally a lot of fun. A little more graphic than I remember, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
But it's far from perfect. The dialogue was often stilted and awkward, and more exposition -- and badly delivered exposition at that -- than anything. It ended abruptly and anti-climactically, and there were several inconsistencies (for instance, at one point, AuRon mentions how mindspeech isn't a conversation but a sharing of experiences, but earlier in the novel there was a misunderstanding in the mindspeech that could only have happened by a misunderstanding of the words used). The vocabulary choice wasn't always the best, where Knight chose to use less common words than normal which didn't work with the narration style. The story didn't flow as smoothly as it probably should have. There seemed to be a lot of loose or dropped threads, which I'm trying not to criticize just yet,since they might be picked up in the later books.
But overall, I enjoyed the story. I love the creativity, and I love dragons, and I think that, overall, they're fairly entertaining and mostly solid.
I still love them, and am surprised at the things that I remembered, like the creation mythos. J
It's creative and interesting, and generally a lot of fun. A little more graphic than I remember, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
But it's far from perfect. The dialogue was often stilted and awkward, and more exposition -- and badly delivered exposition at that -- than anything. It ended abruptly and anti-climactically, and there were several inconsistencies (for instance, at one point, AuRon mentions how mindspeech isn't a conversation but a sharing of experiences, but earlier in the novel there was a misunderstanding in the mindspeech that could only have happened by a misunderstanding of the words used). The vocabulary choice wasn't always the best, where Knight chose to use less common words than normal which didn't work with the narration style. The story didn't flow as smoothly as it probably should have. There seemed to be a lot of loose or dropped threads, which I'm trying not to criticize just yet,since they might be picked up in the later books.
Spoiler
The Great Weakness of dragons was, apparently, that they imprint on the first person they see when they hatch, instead of the fact that dragons are being killed off because they have no sense of community and live isolated lives, and that male dragons can't seem to get over their instinct of attacking other males when they find them, which would have been a far more realistice AND compelling weakness than "oh yeah, they think if whoever raises them as their parent unlike every other race lolololol."But overall, I enjoyed the story. I love the creativity, and I love dragons, and I think that, overall, they're fairly entertaining and mostly solid.
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dragons are cool this is something we all can be united on but Dragons in stories tend to be mysterious or extremely powerful upon first meeting them. What if the curtains were pulled back and the mysteriousness was removed while our main character who is a dragon shows us what’s it like to grow up as a dragon? Highly recommend and looking forward to book two.
This book goes into a lot of detail regarding dragon lifestyles and culture. I enjoyed it.
The part with the wolves is certainly the most amusing, especially listening to it as an audiobook.
The part with the wolves is certainly the most amusing, especially listening to it as an audiobook.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book would’ve been better if it had been about 200 pages shorter.
The story was a bit slow at times, but other than that; it was a pretty good book.