Rating: 4/5 stars
Pages: 304
Genre: High Fantasy
Publisher: Macmillan-Tor/Forge
Release Date: July 2, 2019
Once a member of the King's personal guard, Guillot dal Villevauvais spends most days drinking and mourning his wife and child. He’s astonished—and wary—when the Prince Bishop orders him to find and destroy a dragon. He and the Prince Bishop have never exactly been friends and Gill left the capital in disgrace five years ago. So why him? And, more importantly, how is there a dragon to fight when the beasts were hunted to extinction centuries ago by the ancient Chevaliers of the Silver Circle?
On the way to the capitol city, Gill rescues Solène, a young barmaid, who is about to be burned as a witch. He believes her innocent…but she soon proves that she has plenty of raw, untrained power, a problem in this land, where magic is forbidden. Yet the Prince Bishop believes magic will be the key to both destroying the dragon and replacingthe young, untried King he pretends to serve with a more pliable figurehead.
Between Gill’s rusty swordsmanship and Solene’s unstable magic, what could go wrong?
(blurb taken from goodreads)
** Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an eARC of this book**
I’m really not sure what to rate this book. I generally liked it. It was an entertaining read, full of magic and action. I particularly liked the chapters from the point of view of the dragon. I thought the ending fighting was really well written, and engaging—and where the book left off definitely guaranteed that I’ll read the next one, so overall good, but didn’t strike that magic note with me.
Otherwise, I found the hints of world-building that were there intriguing, I especially loved the depth of the history, and how it was brought into the present for the characters, but at the same time, it felt like there were things that could just be more rounded out. The same for the magic, there was some discussion of how the magic worked, but then Solène just seemed super OP anyway, so it almost felt like it didn’t apply. But alas, the whole I want more complaint is one I have frequently, so, if you find you tend to love a lot of world-building, then you might find the same, otherwise, I wouldn’t worry about my belly-aching haha.
Where I was disappointed, was that it was a book that’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect. Which is definitely just a personal thing. It disappointed me, but I could actually see specifically seeking this book out because I just want some action packed dragonslaying action! There's definitely a mood that would go well with this.
If you love classic high fantasy, and want a book about a guy going to slay a dragon, this is definitely a book to check out. It's full of action, magic and definitely some good humor!
To buy the book:
To learn more about the author: