Too much of the first part of this book was dedicated to the main character being drunk and out of it. The dragon awakening and exploring the world was the best part, but the story around that moved too slowly for me to stay interested in the entire book.

I went into the book thinking that it would be a story about dragons that were nice or only unkind when treated badly AND since it seems dragons in this fantasy world were wiped out much as wolves in some areas...I couldn't get into the story. It was well written and I am sure it will appeal to those that love this kind of series. It has all the elements....I just couldn't get into it today. I have days left before the book expires AND might give it another try. If so, I will give feedback at that point. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book...sorry it was not my cup of tea...at least today. And, I did not make it back in time but later did read that the dragons do play a major part in the series and that it was a stellar series indeed!

Somewhat blunt fantasy prone to telling; centered on a quest with a has-been swordsman, a villainous priest & a powerful mage. Very basic, hews very close to stereotype & could do more to distinguish itself. I liked the dragon best.

While, like Kate, I prefer my dragon stories to have the dragons on the good guys' side, I'll take what I can get as far as they go. And the title was obvious enough! I also really like this particular cover art illustrator who does a lot of work for books published by Tor, so whenever I see one of his works, I'm often even more interested. But, while this book did deliver on what it promised, it sadly didn't do much else. 

Gill has it fairly well settled that his heroic days are in the past. Content to spend his days drinking and mourning the loss of his family, he's shocked when he's call upon by the Prince Bishop to kill a dragon. For one, aren't dragons gone? And for two, why on earth would the Prince Bishop choose him of all people? But every good hero needs a companion, and Gill finds his in an unexpected place: a witch burning. While Solene has very little control over her powers, it is possible that her abilities could be necessary to dispose of the dragon. And so this odd couple sets out on what could either be a grand adventure or a grand disaster.

This is one of those strange books to review. I know it, and the other two books in the series, were very positively reviewed, and I understand why. The writing is solid. The characterization is interesting and fleshed out. And the adventure is just what is says it is: two oddballs on a dragon-slaying quest. There's nothing technically wrong with any of these things, and I think I can say with some confidence, judging on all the positive reviews, there is definitely an audience out there who wants this type of straight-forward, non-challenging fantasy adventure. I can even be one of them sometimes, as I know I've definitely come across books that haven't pushed the limit much but still scratched a particular entertainment itch. For me, though, I just wanted...more. 

In many ways, we've seen Gill and Solene many, many times before. Especially Gill. He's the drunken, ex-hero who lost his family and lost his vaulted position in society until he gets an unexpected call-to-arms. I get that personal loss is a deep well of emotional motivation and exploration, but man, the drunk dude who loses his wife and kid, sinks into drinking, but then once the adventure starts never gives them a second though? Seen that guy a few too many times. If you're going to kill off the family and make the loss still poignant enough that your main character is essentially drinking himself to death over it still, I want to see the story address his actual emotional arc for getting through that. Not just have an adventure happen and have it seem like all he really needed was a distraction to put those pesky deaths out of his mind. 

Solene, too, was fine enough. But again, we've seen the magic user with no control of her powers in a land that hates magic a million times before. The fact that others may want to use her powers for their own ends is no shocker and a theme that has been run to death. Like Gill, she's a likable character on her own, it's just that there wasn't much there to make her stick out from the massive crowd of characters just like her who came before. 

I think one of the best and most unique things about this book were the chapters from the antagonist's perspective, the dragon's perspective. This was probably one of the few major twists and interesting takes the story had to offer, and I thought the author pulled it off very well. The dragon had a very interesting voice, and hearing that side of the equation is definitely not something I had seen before in this type of book. 

Overall, there's nothing really wrong with this book. I've just read this type of swords and staffs fantasy adventure a million times before. The main characters didn't have enough to make them stand out, and while the adventure was fun enough, it never seemed to dive any deeper than the surface level on any given theme. In many ways, it's a beach read fantasy story. And that's not an insult! Sometimes we all just need a solid, expected, non-challenging story to get us through the day. I think I had just hoped for more from this one. 

Rating 6: A bit of a let down and not adding much that is new to the genre. 

(Link will go live June 26)

Dragonslayer turned out to be surprisingly – and epically – marvelous. I’m saying this because I picked up the ARC last year and it got buried under the weight of the towering TBR pile. I always meant to get to it, but just didn’t quite. Then I got the audiobook last month. Audible was having a sale and I got the first two books in the series for cheap. Or cheaper anyway. I’ve discovered that epic fantasy and SF work really well in audio – it’s easy to get caught up in the action and forget I’m walking a treadmill or stuck in traffic.

So when I bailed on an audio I just couldn’t tolerate, I remembered I had Dragonslayer. And that, surprising for an epic fantasy, it was only about 10ish hours long. That’s amazeballs. For an epic fantasy that truly is epic in scope, the series as a whole is blissfully NOT epic in length. The entire trilogy clocks in at just a shade over 900 pages, or just a hair over 30 hours in audio. Most epic fantasy in audio hovers around the 24 hour mark.

Dragonslayer is proof positive, very positive, that an epic fantasy can be told without turning into a tall pile of many thousand page doorstops. So if you know someone who is interested in epic fantasy but daunted by the length, Dragonslayer is terrific.

Part of what made it so good, at least from my perspective, is that it didn’t turn out to be any of the things I thought it was going to be at the beginning. Except that it claims to be epic fantasy, and it certainly is that, albeit of the sword and sorcery variety – something that we don’t see nearly enough of these days.

It all begins with Gill, technically Guillot dal Villerauvais. Gill is the drunken has-been who used to be the best swordsman in the kingdom. Now he’s the town drunk in the town where he’s supposed to be seigneur, the local squire.

We get the impression that he’s old and washed-up. That he’s pissed away his skill and his glory. But we think he’s Falstaff, a fat buffoon, when he’s really more like Cazaril in The Curse of Chalion. He used to be a hero. It’s both a pain and a purpose when he discovers that he’s STILL the hero, even if he doesn’t want to be, or feels that he’s no longer remotely capable of being.

He’s also not half so old as his world-weary voice (expertly acted by Simon Vance in the audio) makes him appear to be. Discovering late in the story that Gill is, at most, 40 years old is a bit of a shock. Gill is a heartbroken, heartbreaking lesson in what happens to a person when they realize that all their dreams are behind them.

The classic story about dragonslaying usually features the dragon as a rampaging beast out to slay all it encounters, whether for eating or just for the joy of slaughter. Here we have a thinking creature, woken from a long slumber by a troupe of pillaging humans intent on ransacking his cave in search of magical treasure. The dragon in this story may be the force that starts the action, but he’s not, even in the worst of his depredations, the villain of the piece.

That place is reserved for the Prince-Bishop Amaury, the power behind the Mirabayan throne and at the head of the newly formed – and illegally magical – Order of the Golden Spur, whose purpose is to hunt out magic and turn it to their own use. Or rather, to Amaury’s own use.

It’s been said that people whose titles are longer than their names are always complete arseholes. That’s certainly true in Amaury’s case. He also seems to be an object lesson about power corrupting and absolute power corrupting absolutely.

Not that he has ABSOLUTE power – at least not yet. But he’s working on it.

Amaury believes that Gill stands in his way. Because Gill has always stood in his way – at least according to Amaury. This time, he’s going to get what he wants out of Gill and then Gill is going to get what’s coming to him.

Unless, of course, Gill manages to stand in his way – again. If Gill can manage to stand at all.

Escape Rating A+: There is so much going on in this book, and all of it is fascinating. Or at least it was to me. This was one where I got so into it I started switching back and forth between the audio and the ebook. Because I just wasn’t listening fast enough – but the reading was so very good.

There are reasons why narrator Simon Vance is in the Narrator Hall of Fame, and plenty of hours of those reasons are in Dragonslayer.

There were so many elements to this story, and the more I think about it the more I believe I’ve found – or at least seen glimpses of.

While the biggest part of the story wraps around Gill’s quest to pull himself back together, slay the dragon and avenge the people it’s killed, his is not the only story and he’s not the only hero in this tale.

Solène, the young mage, has her own story to tell, and her own journey to reach her destiny. It just so happens that her journey and Gill’s keep intersecting – from the beginning when he saves her from burning at the stake, to the end of this installment where she saves him from an assassin. In between, while he takes the direct path to the dragon, Solene takes herself to learn magic, only to be forced to choose between a place she can be safe – and the right thing to do.

One refreshing element of the story is that while Gill and Solène come to rely on each other and care about each other, it’s a relationship that does not fall into any neat pigeonholes. Gill doesn’t have himself together enough to feel capable of the kind of mentorship that even an ersatz parental relationship would require, and there is blissfully NO HINT WHATSOEVER that this will ever turn romantic. It’s lovely to show that not all close relationships, particularly close opposite sex relationships, HAVE to end in romance.

Last but not least, while this book was published in mid-2019 and probably finished sometime the previous year, finishing it today showed some striking parallels between the way that towns and villages were emptying out in hopes of getting away from the dragon and the response to the current COVID-19 pandemic in real life. In both cases, public spaces are empty and people are fearful. A virus is even harder to outrun than a flying, fire-breathing dragon.

The hints about the past of this world, the long ago time of great magic, great mages and even greater dragons give tantalizing clues to the journey that Gill and Solene will have to undertake in the remaining books of the trilogy, Knight of the Silver Circle and Servant of the Crown.

I’ll be listening to Knight of the Silver Circle in the morning, possibly as you are reading this review. I can’t wait!

Lo he mencionado numerosas veces en este blog, a mí hay muchos libros que me entran por los ojos. Una portada bonita, una buena campaña de marketing. Y en parte lo disfruto, esa emoción por algo desconocido, por descubrir una historia que promete sensaciones interesantes. Y es precisamente ese efecto el que genera expectativas que se van al garete bastante rápido. Antes de seguir la reseña echadle un vistazo a la portada de este libro. Y luego al título. ¡Cazadragones! ¡Portadón con dragón! Sí, ¿os suena de algo esto, eh, Priorato del Naranjo? No aprendo.

Dragonslayer está situada en el mismo mundo de fantasía pseudomedieval de la antigua trilogía de Hamilton. En este caso la historia gira alrededor del viaje de redención de un tipo cuya meta consiste en acabar con la criatura mítica que da nombre al libro (y a la trilogía), algo que, por supuesto, cambiará el curso de los acontecimientos en el reino y en todo el continente. Lord Guillot, que en su día fue un gran guerrero y ahora es el lord de un pequeño pueblo inspirado en Francia (creo que se llama Villerauvais o algo por el estilo, lo siento pero no retenía ninguno de los nombres al leer) se tira a la bebida cuando su mujer muere. Es entonces cuando el dragón aparece y Guillot ve la oportunidad de dejar esos años de ebriedad y de deshonra atrás. Monta un grupo de personas con los que viajar y cruzar el país y sale en busca del dragón. No hay más, por el camino se encuentra a personajes, bandidos, trabas con soldados, etc. Nada que no hayamos leído antes.


Y ahí radica mi problema. No tengo reparos en leer una novela de fantasía sencillita, o incluso clónica. Me gustan las novelas de aventuras, disfruto de los dragones, de las batallas, de personajes heroicos que se levantan del charco de barro y resurgen de un trauma. Son historias que me llaman la atención, aunque sean olvidables. Pero cuando una historia que has leído cientos de veces está contada sin gracia, sin personalidad, sin un atisbo de estilo, entonces todo se va al garete y se vuelve insoportable. Dragonslayer es un libro que tenía todo los números para gustarme, para evadirme durante un fin de semana: dragones, caballeros, un libro breve (no llega a las 300pgs), una premisa conocida... Pero está escrito con tan poca gracia, los personajes son tan sosos, y la tensión está tan mal llevada que se me hizo eterno el viaje con Guillot a lo largo de estas 300 páginas. El libro no cuenta nada, no reflexiona sobre apenas nada que no sea la típica frase de taza de Wonderful. Los personajes no tienen ningún tipo de conexión emocional y se nota demasiado la artificialidad de su diseño. Se nota que estás leyendo un libro escrito por un tipo, y no una historia. Eso sin contar con que el final es tan predecible que solo con la sinopsis ya intuiréis dónde y cómo va a terminar. Una lástima, porque era una novela en la que había puesto unas expectativas bastante bajas pero que ni siquiera así ha llegado a cumplir. Por si hay algún interesado, los dos siguientes libros de la trilogía están al caer, el segundo ya ha sido publicado y el tercero está ahí ahí. Y por supuesto, con unas ilustraciones de cubierta despampanantes.

I really enjoyed this for its straightforward and linear narrative, with old school goodies and baddies. It tells the story of Gill, an ageing knight of the Silver Circle who is a drunkard and is called back to service in an effort to slay a dragon. Along the way, he meets Solene, a young woman with magical abilities trying to make her way in the world without being burned as a witch. What I will say from the start is that this is pretty generic quest fantasy, but sometimes that can be really enjoyable, and for me, Dragonslayer had enough callbacks to Arthurian legend to keep my interest. There are very few grey areas or characters in the narrative, but there is a certain amount of political intrigue in the background that was enjoyable and definitely increased the nuance of the plot. I liked the fact that we get snippets from the dragon's point of view and I thought that the last third of the book really built well to the conclusion, setting up the next book superbly. Overall, this is not a fantasy novel that will take the genre in a new direction, but it is well crafted and enjoyable I will definitely be reading book 2.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really liked this new read from Duncan Hamilton. It has some great characters - washed up alcoholic and witch in hiding - and sets up further installments. While the characters are new, the setting and milieu of the world will be very familiar to those who have read other books by the same author.

I woud rate this fantasy as 3.5. It was well-written. Characters were well developed and the plot moved along at a good pace. I would read more books from this author and look forward to a sequel.

Dragonslayer is the first book in the epic fantasy series of the same name by author Duncan Hamilton. I have been so into fantasies lately and I have always been intrigued by and love books that feature dragons, so I knew this was going to be right up my alley. The cover of this book drew me in immediately, and it kind of reminded me of the Eragon series. Though I will say, Dragonslayer is more adult and is more on the epic fantasy scale. I am super excited to read the next book in this series. The world was confusing for me at times, but that can sometimes be the case in Epic fantasy, and Duncan Hamilton does include a world map, which really helps when I am trying to place things for context.

Dragonslayer is the story of Guillot dal Villevauvais, also known as Gill. Once Gill rescues Solene, the story really started to take off for me. Solene was more interesting to me than Gill because of her magic, but I really did enjoy the dynamic between the two of them throughout the story. I didn't dislike Gill per se, but I didn't love him like I loved Solene and the drgaon. In fact, my favorite part of the story is that we did get to see things from the dragon's point of view, which was completely awesome. Most of the time, I felt like I understood the dragon and motivations more than some of the other characters! Because we got to catch a glimpse, even more than a glimpse really, inside the Dragon's mind, I was so firmly on his side, rather than the people who were hunting him's side. (#teamdragon)

At times I was hoping for a bit more detail, both on the character building front and in the world building arena, but what the story did not lack was action. Dragonslayer is action packed, so if you are a fan of action filled adventure fantasies, this is going to be an awesome series for you to dive into. There are still many questions left unanswered by the end of Dragonslyer. I am hoping that we get many of those answers in the next book. Dragonslayer is set to be a trilogy, and it is one that I am interested in continuing.

Dragonslayer is the first episode in a Duncan M. Hamilton's new fantasy series, to be followed by Knight of the Silver Circle and Servant of the Crown. Though rather rough around the edges at times, it shows promise. In it, two outsiders come together to save the day after a dragon is roused from a long sleep.

I liked the book because of the theme. Fantasy. The plot was intriguing. The writing was good. I would recommended to those who like adventure, magic, and love.
The book was like a journey that took me along with it for a ride.

There be Dragons!

The idea of a new series about dragons had me super excited. That said, I found myself so over the story by a third of the way in and struggled to finish. Things that had promise didn't quite live up to that. Obviously many loved it, and that's great. Reading is such a personal thing, up there with how you like your coffee (not a banal statement when the morning rises and falls on this little fact). To mix the metaphors, Dragonslayer was just not "my cup of tea!"
Mind you I will take another run at this story after a bit to see if I change my mind.

A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis

Author of one of BuzzFeed ‘s Greatest Fantasy Books of 2013

In his magnificent, heroic, adventure fantasy, Dragonslayer, Duncan M. Hamilton debuts the first book in a fast-moving trilogy: a dangerous tale of lost magics, unlikely heroes, and reawakened dragons.

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 replacing the 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?

Review

Thanks to the publisher and author for an advanced reading copy of Dragonslayer (Dragonslayer #1) in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this eARC did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novel.

First off, Richard Anderson is probably the best cover designer out there so I’ll pick up any book solely based on his artwork. He is a fantastic follow on IG (flaptraps) if you are a cover connoisseur like myself. Another thing that intrigued me was the author behind the story. Seeing how well received his Wolf of the North trilogy was (thought I haven’t cracked it) gave me hope that I was in for a spectacular story.

Well, Dragonslayer fell a little short of expectations, unfortunately. Not that it is necessarily a bad read, but it plays heavy on much-used tropes and doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. The writing is great and the storyline was fine, especially the scenes from our dragon antagonist’s POV, but everything else was sorta meh. The characters aren’t very memorable, there is a ton of dialogue, and with a title like Dragonslayer, I expected a good bit o’ slayin which I didn’t really receive. The ending left hope that the story will gain some momentum in Books 2 & 3, and I do plan on seeing if that holds true, but I don’t expect to be champing at the bit to get the sequels.

All of the faults I perceive could be chalked up to the fact that I don’t read much classic fantasy which is more world-building / character-background oriented fantasy and lacks some of the hack-n-slash that I am used to in today’s releases. I enjoy fast-paced stories with memorable characters, bloody battles, and world-building that you can visualize yourself standing amongst. I just didn’t get that here and it left me scrambling for my next read.

All in all, if you enjoy classic fantasy and stories about dragons and their slayers, give Dragonslayer a shot and see if you like it. I just can’t give it a high recommendation.

Dragonslayer reveals a kingdom waking from a long slumber free of magic and dragons. When a forgotten foe emerges from his cavern, it’s up to the most unlikely of heroes to save the day. What ensues is the oftentimes hilarious story of a knight well past his prime and his attempts to regain some of the glory he lost decades ago. It’s action-packed, filled with intrigue and betrayals, surprises and ferocious magic. Most importantly, it’s entertaining from start to finish.

The book provides a rare break from stock fantasy characters, giving us an unlikely hero, a sorceress without any formal training, and a dragon whose perspective we get to experience. The hero provides a hilarious focal point. He’s the antithesis of a revered knight, fallen from grace amidst an endless blur of drink and laziness. His past successes have caught up with him and, though he knows he’s no match for a dragon in his later years, he takes on the task without blinking an eye. He doesn’t take anyones crap, making him one of the most interesting people in this otherwise typical medieval kingdom. Mobs, highwaymen, villains – all of them seem to fall to his sheer lack of fear. With Solene, we get an introduction into the magic that was once a great force in the kingdom. She quickly grows from an unsure amateur hiding among distant villages to an extremely powerful mage whose abilities become terrifying.

The most interesting perspective comes from the dragon as he awakens from a centuries-long slumber. It’s a rare thought process to follow, showing humans as the villains who have forced these once majestic creatures to fight back viciously. There’s a deep sadness throughout when you realize he’s the last of his kind. He’s misunderstood as so many dragons are, making the central task of his slaying bittersweet.

Overall, Dragonslayer is a break from the norm. We get to follow these characters as they journey into the unknown, vowing to protect the kingdom from a foe pulled straight out of legend. In addition to well-written fights and skirmishes, a rich mythology is revealed from the kingdom’s earliest days, promising a fascinating continuation as the series progresses. I look forward to seeing what awaits our unlikely hero and the powerful sorceress in the books to come.

You had me at dragons. A solid YA fantasy based off the classic damsel in distress/let's go slay a dragon trope. But with a twist! The twist is great: humanizing dragons, giving them memory, purpose, family. Making us sympathize with the dragons. You feel connected with the characters and disappointed when the book ends. Recommend.

This book is technically pretty solid. It has all the general pieces of a good fantasy. It has magic,  dragons, knights, action, and adventures. It also has a fun premise, if somewhat unoriginal in concept. And yet, there were some things that seemed missing from the story. Small details that really are what make a story interesting.

For example, Gil, the main character has a pretty generic and lackluster backstory. He was once the greatest knight in the land, then turned away from his knighthood and turned to alcoholism after the death of his wife and child, who are only mentioned when the plot demands it.

In fact, there were large parts of the story that seemed to happen because the plot simply demanded it to be so, and that is never a good sign.

Another issue I had was that I couldn't quite love these characters. They were all technically interesting, and yet I couldn't bring myself to fully care in the way I wanted to.

The dragon parts were the most interesting because I feel like it was unexpected to see his side of things. And yet, I would have wanted to actually see more of the dragon's interactions with humankind.

In the end, I think I just wanted more. It felt average. It felt forgettable. And while I wouldn't mark this in a list of bad books, I also cannot quite say I recommend it.

If you've read it, I want to hear your thoughts. If you haven't and are planning on it, I hope you enjoy it!

This is one of those rare times when you can judge a book by its cover. Dragonslayer is everything you would expect, upon seeing an angry looking dragon on a dramatic book cover. It’s a perfect example of an epic fantasy, with the journey just beginning.
Dragonslayer is the first novel in a new series of the same name by Duncan M. Hamilton. As you can guess, from both the cover and the title, this book is about hunting a great dragon. But there’s more to it than that, naturally. The real highlights of this novel are the characters.
This series follows Guillot dal Villevauvais, aka Gill, as well as several others, on their quest to deal with the big bad dragon of the world. Gill is a classic fantasy character. He’s been through his fair share of hardships, but he’ll always step up and do the right thing when he’s needed.

Dragonslayer is perhaps the best example of epic fantasy to come out in 2019. It’s everything I’ve grown up expecting and hoping for, when it comes to dragon hunting series. It’s tense and dark, with brooding lead characters, and a strong set of supporting characters.
Admittedly, I don’t always go for the novels where it’s clear that dragon hunting will be done. I usually tend to lean in the opposite direction, with my dragon preference. However, every now and then I’ll indulge. And I’m so glad I picked Dragonslayer to be that exception for me.
This novel was one that slowly built up. It never rushed, and it didn’t really need to. We had plenty of time to get to know the world, the characters, and even the antagonist (the dragon) himself. And there was more than one plan or type of thinking when it came to the humans. The added politics here was very much appreciated.
I’ll admit I was both interested and surprised to see some of the tale told from the dragon’s eyes. I hadn’t expected that. But it was a nice twist. Antagonists are almost always better when you can understand their motivations.
It did take me a little while to start liking the main hero of this tale; Gill. Though it was actually kind of fascinating to have a hero introduced in such a non-heroic way. I suppose it made his actions seem all the more impressive; that he stepped up to deal with this threat, despite his downward spiral.
There are plenty of other characters in this novel as well. Two are more important than the rest, but their development is so integral to the plot, I’m almost tempted to leave it there and say no more about them. I will say that I did have a favorite, and that she appears much later in the novel.
I’m honestly curious to see where the next part of this trilogy is going to go. I have a few ideas, but obviously nothing concrete. Once Duncan Hamilton releases a title, we’ll probably have a better idea of what we’re in for. But I’m looking forward to finding out.

An expedition deep in the mountains, searching for a mysterious artefact, finds far more than they expect. They find this world's last living dragon, waking him from his centuries long slumber. In the time he has slept, humans turned their backs on magic, and are only now returning to its use. The last that Alpheratz remembers is humans hunting down his kind and butchering them. So he responds with aggression at these new invaders. Once he learns he is the last of his kind, he vows vengeance, and begins attacking human settlements.

To deal with the new threat, once renowned, now disgraced master swordsman Guillot dal Villerauvais, last of the Chevaliers of the Silver Circle, is sent after it. But Gill has had more practise lifting a wine bottle than a sword these past five years, and though the original Chevaliers were the dragonslayers of old, they were imbued with magic long since forbidden. What hope does Gill possibly have against a creature out of legend?

Guillot is an excellent antihero. The kind I always fall for. He's not a bad man. He's broken and hurting still over the loss of his family, and a deep betrayal. I just want to hug him, to stuck the broken pieces back together. Once a master swordsman, Gill has lost much of his skill thanks to turning to wine in an effort to numb the intense emotional pain. That all changes when a beast not seen for a millenium wakens and begins terrorising the countryside. As the last Chevalier of the Silver Circle, Gill is charged with killing the creature.

After Gill, or equal to, Alpheratz is my favourite character. He, too, is suffering from intense pain, and the loss of his family. For centuries on end, he slept after being wounded in battle. When meddling humans accidentally awaken Alpheratz, he kills them. His last memory is of humans attacking him. Fully awake, the great dragon goes to find his mate, or any of his kin. Find her he does, in her mountain cave. A pile of bone stripped of scales, horns, teeth, and claws. Desecrated. And beyond her body, the remains of their egg clutch, all destroyed.

This was soooooo sad! I wanted to soothe Alpheratz too! And his story made me loathe the humans in this book in general. Reflecting our own world, these humans found a source of energy/power they just had to use and abuse. They used magic willy-nilly, and drained it from areas, killing trees, plants, etc, in the places they drew heavily upon. They started invading the dragons' territories, slaughtering those defending their lands, using magic to do so. It sickened my heart that these humans just took what they wanted, butchering the indigenous beings who objected to this theft. These humans committed genocide, pure and simple.

I adored the French influences in the story. From people and place names, to even some of the dragon mythology. I can't wait for the next book! If you love stories of dragons, be sure to check this awesome read out!

***Many thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing a hardcopy in exchange for a fair and honest review. Also reviewed via Netgalley. Reviewed for JBN Book Tours.

I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it. The writing was good, the characters were good, and the pacing was good. Just good. It was a familiar tale, with familiar settings. That doesn’t make it bad, just not as interesting as it could’ve been. To me, this is the kind of book perfect for someone maturing out of YA, because it would probably feel fresh to them. It wasn’t the kind of book I couldn’t put down, but it was engaging enough that I would read the next in the series.