Hey everyone,

Hope you are all well. Autumn is definitely coming round the corner, the air feels a little cold and the rain doesn’t seem to stop in my area. Work has been a bit more busy but maybe towards the end of the year it will get better.

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable war for almost two hundred years. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.

Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war.

Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He’s going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn’t get the chance.

Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He’ll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.

Published: July 2019

Published Edition: March 2020

Publishers: Orbit

Page Count: 571

Genre: Fantasy, Adult, Dragons

Goodreads Star Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Review

I read this book in the second week of the TomeTopple Readathon, the prompt was to read a book from a Black author and I dont own that many books written by Black authors but I will change that, I swear.

This book follows Tau a young man who has been told by his father to follow the life of a soldier but Tau doesn’t want to be. Until an incident happens and Tau loses his father in a blood duel something you can achieve when you become a high ranking soldier. You then seen Tau change to urge payback over the loss of his father and it leads him to the trials to become a Lesser, Tau is then achieved to join the army only because he is unwilling to give up which is something you will see alot in the progression of this book. You feel very sympathetic towards him over the loss of his father and a change in life, you want him to succed in his plan of revenge and he has this built up angression inside him in which he discovers something else about the history of their Queen and why Dragons are a last resort.

The magic system in this book is not the focal point, the focal point are the battles which is something I don’t really go for, I find the magic system to be interesting but the way how Evan Winter writes a battle scene it feels greater and grander. Each one after another is brutal to the extent, on Goodreads the blurb mentions Game of Thrones meet Gladiator and I be honest it is soo good. It is a great interpretation to war and also the mention of Black Lives Matter. There is a mention in the book how the Nobles treat the Lessers different, also when Tau is speaking to a woman who is a Gifted and the room changes when the Nobles are heavily guarded that Tau, a Lesser, is speaking to her.

Evan Winter has created such an amazing Fantasy book, the world building that has been made is perfect, the characters are well written and I looking forward to the next book because I am curious as to what will happen and how Tau will grow after his sudden change at the end of this one. I don’t like spoiling everything because it is up to the reader if they want to do that, I am here to give you the option of reading it becasue I think you might like it.

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I hope everyone is well and good. I did have plans to post this review this Bank Holiday but from waking up Saturday morning hearing about the news of Chadwick Boseman I kept it on hold. While reading and listening to this book, I couldn’t stop thinking about Wakanda as like an inspiration while reading it. I just want to say, Chadwick Boseman was a steller man who deserved all the love and affection, he joined the MCU at the perfect time and he outshone in all of his work. I think what we can take away is that he was a man who fought with his heart and passion, he never backed down and he continued to fight. A King has laid down to rest and watching all of us in the stars. Wakanda Forever.

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