kellsieherrmann's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
hgranger's review
I love the premise of this book--African fantasy is a new and exciting idea in a genre saturated with European/ medieval style fantasy, and the ideas of a struggle against an unfair system, an unassuming hero, and an epic adventure pulled me in. Unfortunately, I could not get into the book. I had a hard time connecting to any characters, especially Tau, who seemed too bland for me to care, although I admit, I don't know if I would have cared more if I had kept reading. What finally made me stop was the realization that the goriness was only escalating and there was too much fighting for me. If you enjoy the fight scenes in books and movies, it may be perfect. I hate not to finish a book, but I couldn't convince myself I cared enough about what happens to Tau to read through anymore rape, disembowelments, and knife cutting through to the bone descriptions.
llmacrae's review against another edition
3.0
Rage of Dragons is a tricky one for me. I enjoyed the style of writing and the audiobook narrator, who was absolutely fantastic, but I would have liked a teeny bit less fighting and a bit more exploration of the world, magic, and overarching plot.
This is a revenge-focussed epic fantasy that follows the familiar, “coming of age, boy from backwater village, and fighting/military school,” type tropes, but turned somewhat on their heads. It’s set in an African-inspired world with a clear (and unjust) hierarchical caste system, which makes it easy to root for Tau and the other underdogs suffering under it.
If you like revenge stories, frequent training and fighting sequences, and anger driving someone to achieve their goals, you’ll have a brilliant time with this. I am not typically a fan of these things, so didn’t enjoy this one as much as I would have liked - but there are still many things to enjoy here.
People are essentially categorised when they’re born - there are nobles and lessers, gifted and non-gifted, and the chasm between the haves and the have-nots is enormous. They live in a world of violence, where war is life, and raids can happen at any time. However, we spend most of our time in the view point of the Omehi people who invaded (and therefore instigated this endless war), but you can’t help but feel sorry for their descendants who are caught in this do-or-die existence. It was quite unique, and threw up some moral dilemmas on which side and individual people to root for!
There is also a Goddess who bestows protection and gifts on a select few, and some of those have the power to call on dragons. This is just epic, and I enjoyed learning more about what this entails (and the toll it takes) towards the end of the book. It’s also a lot darker than I expected - not just the explanation about dragons - but the punishments, the unfairness, the slaughters, all of it.
Oh, and there’s a demon world, too. My goodness those parts kept me on the edge of my seat. Definitely one of the most intriguing parts of the book, as terrifying as it was!
Tau as a talentless, gift-less main character was compelling - especially when you factor in his determination to succeed - but he rarely showed more emotion than the anger/rage that is fuelling him on his revenge quest, and subsequently often made rash decisions that I struggled to follow.
In a way, he reminded me of Eska from Rob J. Hayes’ War Eternal series. Both books are brilliant, but I do struggle a little with characters who are mostly angry. He was compelling, and I did root for him, but I didn’t like him very much. He did have his moments, though (mostly with Suri) where he let his guard down and more of his personality to shine through.
That being said, it is easy to root for a character so determined to achieve his goal and who works so hard that you do want to see them succeed. I enjoyed the magic and how Tau constantly pressed the boundaries of it, and would have loved to discover more about this. I also liked the growth of Tau’s friendship with his sword brothers.
Having more female characters would also have been great - especially as they are the ones who can be gifted and often have the power, both literal and figuratively, over Tau and the others.
But overall, I’m not sure the story worked for me. It was very well-written and well-narrated, and clearly excelled in the military style training, duels, skirmishes, strategies, and other battle scenes. They are varied, but they are also constant, and I did find myself zoning out a little after the twentieth description of Tau’s ferocity in battle.
Having seen the original cover and going by the name, I was expecting more dragons in this book, too, which seems to be setting up for the rest of the series.
Overall a fun read and one I’m glad I experienced!
This is a revenge-focussed epic fantasy that follows the familiar, “coming of age, boy from backwater village, and fighting/military school,” type tropes, but turned somewhat on their heads. It’s set in an African-inspired world with a clear (and unjust) hierarchical caste system, which makes it easy to root for Tau and the other underdogs suffering under it.
If you like revenge stories, frequent training and fighting sequences, and anger driving someone to achieve their goals, you’ll have a brilliant time with this. I am not typically a fan of these things, so didn’t enjoy this one as much as I would have liked - but there are still many things to enjoy here.
People are essentially categorised when they’re born - there are nobles and lessers, gifted and non-gifted, and the chasm between the haves and the have-nots is enormous. They live in a world of violence, where war is life, and raids can happen at any time. However, we spend most of our time in the view point of the Omehi people who invaded (and therefore instigated this endless war), but you can’t help but feel sorry for their descendants who are caught in this do-or-die existence. It was quite unique, and threw up some moral dilemmas on which side and individual people to root for!
There is also a Goddess who bestows protection and gifts on a select few, and some of those have the power to call on dragons. This is just epic, and I enjoyed learning more about what this entails (and the toll it takes) towards the end of the book. It’s also a lot darker than I expected - not just the explanation about dragons - but the punishments, the unfairness, the slaughters, all of it.
Oh, and there’s a demon world, too. My goodness those parts kept me on the edge of my seat. Definitely one of the most intriguing parts of the book, as terrifying as it was!
Tau as a talentless, gift-less main character was compelling - especially when you factor in his determination to succeed - but he rarely showed more emotion than the anger/rage that is fuelling him on his revenge quest, and subsequently often made rash decisions that I struggled to follow.
In a way, he reminded me of Eska from Rob J. Hayes’ War Eternal series. Both books are brilliant, but I do struggle a little with characters who are mostly angry. He was compelling, and I did root for him, but I didn’t like him very much. He did have his moments, though (mostly with Suri) where he let his guard down and more of his personality to shine through.
That being said, it is easy to root for a character so determined to achieve his goal and who works so hard that you do want to see them succeed. I enjoyed the magic and how Tau constantly pressed the boundaries of it, and would have loved to discover more about this. I also liked the growth of Tau’s friendship with his sword brothers.
Having more female characters would also have been great - especially as they are the ones who can be gifted and often have the power, both literal and figuratively, over Tau and the others.
But overall, I’m not sure the story worked for me. It was very well-written and well-narrated, and clearly excelled in the military style training, duels, skirmishes, strategies, and other battle scenes. They are varied, but they are also constant, and I did find myself zoning out a little after the twentieth description of Tau’s ferocity in battle.
Having seen the original cover and going by the name, I was expecting more dragons in this book, too, which seems to be setting up for the rest of the series.
Overall a fun read and one I’m glad I experienced!
jimhart3000's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
megabyte117's review
4.0
Revenge-centric stories are common, but it can be difficult to make it feel fresh and exciting all the way through. This book mostly manages to achieve this through the strong worldbuilding and character development - the only negatives really coming from awkward exposition dumps.
steph72000's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
fairsweeting's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
hkuhlman7's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I have no idea what people see in this book. It’s the same death-begets-death/“vengeance in vain” plot we’ve seen 300 times. It’s also advertised that the protagonist seeks revenge on “those who betrayed him.” He was not betrayed at any point in this story. The author compares his book to Robert Jordan’s “expansive worlds” and Sanderson’s “detailed magic systems”. Neither of those things are present whatsoever. This book lacks soul. It’s only around 500 pages and reads pretty quick, but it still felt like a slog because I was just searching for something interesting and so little was there. An African-inspired fantasy setting is super cool, the enervation and Isihogo realm stuff was cool, but that’s about all that was there for me. Maybe I was just in the wrong spot while reading this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Classism
classysmarta's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
prat_reads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0