Author: Aaron Pogue
Publisher: Consortium Books
Genre: Fantasy
Book Description:
Publication Date: December 20, 2011
The Kingdom of the Sarianne
teeters on the brink. While its tyrant king plays out his petty vendettas,
rebellion foments on the edges of his domain. Politics and power struggles
gamble civilization on the tides of war.
Yet war is not the greatest threat to civilization. A far older enemy rises. The dragons are waking and these fiends of Chaos will swarm across the world of men, razing it to bedrock just as they have done in ages past.
But this time the world of men has a champion in Daven Carrickson. Once a beggar and still a fugitive from the king's justice, Daven is also a hero with unrivaled powers. A brush with one of the deadly dragons left him forever bonded to the beast and able to tap into the ever-shifting maelstrom of Chaos that roils beneath man's fragile reality.
It is a dangerous connection, one that threatens to consume him. Can he pay even that ultimate price if it means the salvation of humanity?
Yet war is not the greatest threat to civilization. A far older enemy rises. The dragons are waking and these fiends of Chaos will swarm across the world of men, razing it to bedrock just as they have done in ages past.
But this time the world of men has a champion in Daven Carrickson. Once a beggar and still a fugitive from the king's justice, Daven is also a hero with unrivaled powers. A brush with one of the deadly dragons left him forever bonded to the beast and able to tap into the ever-shifting maelstrom of Chaos that roils beneath man's fragile reality.
It is a dangerous connection, one that threatens to consume him. Can he pay even that ultimate price if it means the salvation of humanity?
Review:
I try to read books that are part of a series consecutively, if I can, but
in and of itself, that’s a problem, especially if only part of the series has
been published. That is not the case
with this particular novel, being the second book in a trilogy, so there’s no
excuse. Dragonswarm by Aaron Pogue had
the misfortune of being read directly following the Kingkiller series by
Patrick Rothfuss. Having said that,
Pogue did an excellent job in having Daven pull me out of the magic cloud of Kvothe
and drop me into the swarm of dragons – whose names are impossible to pronounce.
If you’re a reader who is more inclined to love a story that is more
centered on action and plot development, than character-centered, much like
epics like Lord of the Rings by Tolkien or the Gunslinger Series by King, then
this is a story for you. A majority of
the writing focuses on the magic, the dragons, the quest, and the ensuing
battle. Pogue is able to create a great
visual.
Being a character-centered reader and writer, I would have loved to see
more development in the relationship between Daven and his lady love, his
schoolboy friend, and more conflict with the King and the leaders at the
Academy. However, I loved the connection
Daven had with, and against, the dragons.
I’ve never seen dragons depicted in this particular light before, and
found it mesmerizing. The magic shared between the two is also a very
imaginative element.
This was a good read. I enjoyed
it, and I would definitely recommend it.
Till next time,
~T.L. Gray
Author of the Arcainian Series
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