The Rage of Dragons is a military fantasy book (and the first in a four-book series) by newcomer author Evan Winter. It revolves around concepts like castes, revenge and cycles of violence and has an African-inspired setting. And it’s really good.
It has a strong start, something I haven’t seen much in adult fantasy in English, with slower and more exposition-based beginnings being more prevalent. It also has a really fast pacing, which makes it difficult to put the book down as the tension and action are kept high. This may be a problem for slower readers, as it rarely grants a respite or has a more relaxed scene to enable you to put it down. Me, a book-junkie, read it in a couple of days and had to stop myself from reading it faster. That said, some variations in the overall tension and pacing, allowing the reader to put it down and reflect on it would have been nice.
The characters are good, with their motivations being easy to understand and without strange out-of-character moments. That said, the main character is the only one who has an arc (maybe a couple of the secondary but they are minor arcs) and it felt a bit rushed. On the other hand, the events happen unpredictably and there’s little plot armor so the power escalation is very believable. It also has some great friendships/comradery, which is one of my favorite aspects of the subgenre, and a nice romantic thread, which I loved.
The world, though not a huge epic one, is well realized and is always present in the dialogue; be it in their expressions or customs or hierarchy. It brings a new setting that’s not medieval-Europe-based to the fantasy table, which is always nice to see.
Finally, it has an interesting ending with a hell of a twist that promises great things for the next installment (The Fires of Vengeance), coming out this November tenth.
Spoiler Commentary:
Tau reminded me of Kaladin (Stormlight Archive), though maybe because they are the closest things I’ve read to military fantasy. I really like how he will literally go to hell to get revenge and that he is considered a hero for the things he does, even though they come from a somewhat selfish and revenge-based motivation.
Arcwise, he goes from non-violent to thinking only of revenge very quickly (though it's plausible given the death of his father). His hate of the noble caste is also quite believeable, unlike how fast he comes to accept Kellan, which I think sould have been more gradual., even with Zuri and Jayyed vouching for him.
His relationship with Zuri was great, with both of them showing agency and love and not being stupid and keeping secrets (as is common). Her death at the end was something I wasn’t expecting and that hit hard (I really don’t like when couples get split), unlike Jayyed’s which I could see coming. His friendship with his sword-brothers was also really nice and I liked how he was the best fighter but not the leader of the group.
I really like how the author explores the themes of violence, the cycles it generates and whether or not they can be broken or not without giving the answer (which would have sounded preachy). I think stories now tend to show the author’s opinion on a topic and be really “this is good and this isn’t”, making his take was a refreshing one.
The world wasn’t explored much, leaving the grander picture to be experienced more in depth in the following installments. It focused more on the caste system and the social inequalities which I liked because of the way in which it created conflict for Tau, forcing him to keep his mouth shut (which I can relate to at times). Another thing I liked was the fact the the Chosen are a Queendom and not a Kingdom, which is something I don't think I've seen before but that is very logical.
Finally, I’m very curious to see where the story goes after Zuri’s death and Tau taking the mantle of queen’s champion. I expect a lot of focus on depression and mental instability in the next book (much like in this one but more exacerbated).
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