Scan barcode
A review by poisonenvy
Dragon Outcast: The Age of Fire, Book Three by E.E. Knight
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Age of Fire series right now is a reread from about 2012. I remember back then reading this series and loving it a lot.
I'm not so sure I do anymore. It's still fun enough, and entertaining, I guess. I haven't given up on it yet, and I still fully intend to finish it (though, I think this'll be the last time I read it). But there's a lot of things about these books that make me 😐
The whole male dragons getting "excited" when they smell young human females is uncomfortable AF and it's a very, very strange choice. Since this doesn't happen with female dragons, I'd actually forgotten about it from my relatively recent reread of Dragon Champion. But yes, it's still weird and uncomfortable.
There was a lot of like, weird dragon sexism in Dragon Avenger that I was more or less willing to overlook, but then you get this book where the main female character doesn't seem to have any consistent characterization. She's what the author wants for whatever situation the author wants her to, regardless of it makes sense with her characterization or past choices. Also, this book really drives home how almost boring Wistala's story was in relation to her two brothers.
And there's emotions seem to lack any real emotion, at least to my senses. Things happen, but it doesn't really dive into the motivation or the emotions behind decisions. This is not to say this book was entirely devoid of emotion. There were some parts that I absolutely emphasized with. But I think my taste in books has changed over these last 10 years to enjoy writing that's more on the emotive side, and this just doesn't hit the right notes.
Like I said, this book is fine and it's entertaining, and I'm not planning on dropping the series (it's not impossible that I will, but at the moment I'm not, and I seem to recall enjoying the last three books more than the first three books). I do have a particular soft spot for underdog's-meteoric-rise-to-power stories, and this scratches that itch (and almost makes me want to reread Harry Turtledove's Krispos series), and if nothing else, I'm always a sucker for books told from the POV of a dragon. Sapient dragon stories are 100% some of my favourite fantasy tropes.
I'm not so sure I do anymore. It's still fun enough, and entertaining, I guess. I haven't given up on it yet, and I still fully intend to finish it (though, I think this'll be the last time I read it). But there's a lot of things about these books that make me 😐
The whole male dragons getting "excited" when they smell young human females is uncomfortable AF and it's a very, very strange choice. Since this doesn't happen with female dragons, I'd actually forgotten about it from my relatively recent reread of Dragon Champion. But yes, it's still weird and uncomfortable.
There was a lot of like, weird dragon sexism in Dragon Avenger that I was more or less willing to overlook, but then you get this book where the main female character doesn't seem to have any consistent characterization. She's what the author wants for whatever situation the author wants her to, regardless of it makes sense with her characterization or past choices. Also, this book really drives home how almost boring Wistala's story was in relation to her two brothers.
And there's emotions seem to lack any real emotion, at least to my senses. Things happen, but it doesn't really dive into the motivation or the emotions behind decisions. This is not to say this book was entirely devoid of emotion. There were some parts that I absolutely emphasized with. But I think my taste in books has changed over these last 10 years to enjoy writing that's more on the emotive side, and this just doesn't hit the right notes.
Like I said, this book is fine and it's entertaining, and I'm not planning on dropping the series (it's not impossible that I will, but at the moment I'm not, and I seem to recall enjoying the last three books more than the first three books). I do have a particular soft spot for underdog's-meteoric-rise-to-power stories, and this scratches that itch (and almost makes me want to reread Harry Turtledove's Krispos series), and if nothing else, I'm always a sucker for books told from the POV of a dragon. Sapient dragon stories are 100% some of my favourite fantasy tropes.