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A review by peter__b
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
4.0
While the 'origin story' formula is well defined by now, it's hard to argue with the results when they're put together so well. There's very little new here in terms of the story with your unlikely hero experiencing some trauma before going on a vengeance fueled journey to punish those who wronged him. Along the way, you have a love interest and some (admittedly awesome) training montages that eventually lead to some personal and narrative twists before a big (but unfortunately bland) climax. However, while you might be disappointed to hear that the story and plot are quite straight forward, the execution of the protagonist's character arc and world-building still made this stand out as a very enjoyable read.
The African background to this fantasy world was a welcomed departure from your usual middle-age, European fare, although the abundant use of foreign words did make it hard to follow at times. The magic system was similar to a few I've come across before, but it still felt well thought out and unique in its own right. I also liked that it wasn't overused and that the protagonist wasn't solely defined by it. The world was nicely built up and even though there were a few long-winded expository scenes, it still felt nicely developed and worked well for the story.
The characters were a strong point for me as well. The protagonist was mostly likeable and easy to get behind, although his constant brooding and unflinching determination did get a bit excessive at times. The supporting cast of characters was quite decent with a handful of secondary characters having enough personality to make them unique, albeit generally flat overall. The antagonist characters weren't developed much, but it didn't hurt the story since they were more the goal for the protagonist rather than an active hindrance. I would also have liked the 'foreign enemy' to have been explored more, but I suspect that was left for future books.
I quite enjoyed the writing. I suspect the amazing narrator of the audiobook played a big part in that though since he absolutely nailed everything from the accents and voices to pacing and pronunciation. One could argue that there were too many action scenes and while it wasn't that much of an issue for me, I would have appreciated a slightly more diverse array of conflicts. Surprisingly (for me anyway), the first and third acts were quite average while the second act had me hooked. The combination of seeing the protagonist grow as a fighter and see him get gradually closer to his goal just worked marvellously. As for the other two acts, the first was very standard setup while the last was a bit rushed and let down by the fact that the protagonist got so comically overpowered, that I no longer feared for his safety. The climax just became a question of which secondary characters the author was going to kill off.
Despite all those (mostly minor) gripes, it's hard to fault a book that made it hard to put it down. The pacing was consistently quick which meant I was constantly engaged and eager to find out what happened next. Sure, I knew what story beats to expect, but I cared enough about the characters to want to see how they would react to them. As far as fantasy books go, this was easily one of the more fun ones I've read in a while and so it's an easy recommend to anyone who's a fan of the genre. Yes, it has its faults (some of which I didn't even list since they didn't bother me), but for what it set out to do, it did very well.
The African background to this fantasy world was a welcomed departure from your usual middle-age, European fare, although the abundant use of foreign words did make it hard to follow at times. The magic system was similar to a few I've come across before, but it still felt well thought out and unique in its own right. I also liked that it wasn't overused and that the protagonist wasn't solely defined by it. The world was nicely built up and even though there were a few long-winded expository scenes, it still felt nicely developed and worked well for the story.
The characters were a strong point for me as well. The protagonist was mostly likeable and easy to get behind, although his constant brooding and unflinching determination did get a bit excessive at times. The supporting cast of characters was quite decent with a handful of secondary characters having enough personality to make them unique, albeit generally flat overall. The antagonist characters weren't developed much, but it didn't hurt the story since they were more the goal for the protagonist rather than an active hindrance. I would also have liked the 'foreign enemy' to have been explored more, but I suspect that was left for future books.
I quite enjoyed the writing. I suspect the amazing narrator of the audiobook played a big part in that though since he absolutely nailed everything from the accents and voices to pacing and pronunciation. One could argue that there were too many action scenes and while it wasn't that much of an issue for me, I would have appreciated a slightly more diverse array of conflicts. Surprisingly (for me anyway), the first and third acts were quite average while the second act had me hooked. The combination of seeing the protagonist grow as a fighter and see him get gradually closer to his goal just worked marvellously. As for the other two acts, the first was very standard setup while the last was a bit rushed and let down by the fact that the protagonist got so comically overpowered, that I no longer feared for his safety. The climax just became a question of which secondary characters the author was going to kill off.
Despite all those (mostly minor) gripes, it's hard to fault a book that made it hard to put it down. The pacing was consistently quick which meant I was constantly engaged and eager to find out what happened next. Sure, I knew what story beats to expect, but I cared enough about the characters to want to see how they would react to them. As far as fantasy books go, this was easily one of the more fun ones I've read in a while and so it's an easy recommend to anyone who's a fan of the genre. Yes, it has its faults (some of which I didn't even list since they didn't bother me), but for what it set out to do, it did very well.