This was a fantasy book written in a slightly different way – using an African theme and introducing a completely new world. The writer throws you in the deep end with the prologue, and then spends most of the book backfilling all the lore and information you need to understand things.
Luckily this information is demonstrated over time instead of a massive information download from some character. It felt natural to me, even getting some critical information about the cultures here halfway through the long book.
Despite the name of the book there aren’t many appearances of dragons, and I thought they might be a bit more interesting if the author wrote about them more.
Although I liked just about everything in this book I found the main character to be a little too one-dimensional. He’s bent on revenge and to be the most powerful soldier so that he can exact that revenge. He shows little in the way of thinking more deeply about the situation, what his long game is, and almost no curiosity about the people and institutions he has sworn to destroy.
There was a little bit of a Hunger Games feeling, too. All these scripted events and competitions and rules and whatever served just as a way to show the main character building his following and his skills. All these events had just the right timing and were held in just the right place so that our hero could take advantage.
This book was described elsewhere as revenge fantasy, so I suppose we shouldn’t let realism get in the way. I’m probably overthinking things anyway – it is best to just sit back, relax and enjoy the story.
Next I am reading Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy.
