Customer Reviews

Dragon Rule: Book Five of The Age of Fire

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As the fourth book in this series, I loved it. Unfortunately it was both a thrilling and a frustrating experience. I won't touch on the plot except to say that it was intensely satisfying, even as a bridge to the final novel; I've always loved politics more than battle, and this fits the bill very nicely. The writing, editing and general construction, however, let it down.

As with the fourth book, one gets the feeling that the author has written most of it at the last minute: it is plagued with fragmented sentences, odd passages that lead to nowhere, strange shifts in perspective and many embarassing typographical errors (though I understand this speaks more to the quality of the copyeditor than the author).

This shouldn't happen. The quality of the first three books was exceptional; the fourth and fifth are exercises in frustration, especially when the excessively irritating fragmented sentences and inconsistent characterisation (since when did one character in particular suddenly become another's "staunch ally"? If you know to what I refer, that was particularly left-field) throw you out of the story with frowns and mutterings of "huh?"

You can do better, E. E. Knight. You HAVE done better. I will still rush out and buy Dragon Fate as soon as it hits the shelves, but please try and not make it a disappointing experience.

I am a big fan of the Age of Fire series by E.E. Knight, and really enjoyed reading the first four books in the series. Naturally, when the fifth book was released (and on a side note, there will also be a sixth), I was eager to read it.

Overall it is a good book, with very well-thought-out characters, landscapes, and actions. Besides being a bit too short of a book, which results in some scenes ending abruptly, my only real complaint was in the absurd amount of typographic errors throughout the book. I don't mean little typos either, like 'teh' instead of 'the'. I mean serious flaws in editing, like confusing character names and reversing gender pronouns, especially during moments of dialogue.

Now I don't know if my copy happened to be a first run and so these errors were missed, or maybe the copy editor was on vacation and some assistant didn't do his/her job properly, but there were enough errors/mix-ups throughout the book to make me have to do constant double takes and re-read lines to figure out who was actually talking.

All in all, I would still recommend the series to anyone who enjoys a clever story about dragons.

I've read Books 1 through 5 and enjoyed them all but it seems like the editing quality went downhill with the last two - typos and misused pronouns, confusion about which character is speaking. Errors like that take me back out of what would otherwise be an engrossing story. I hope the last book in the series will be much improved in that regard.

This was, as usual, a very good read. The characters are involving, interesting, and you care about them despite (because of?) their somewhat alien viewpoint on humans and their place in the world.

Something I've noticed in the last two books of this series, as well as with some of the vampire earth novels, is a very long build up for an event with a VERY fast, blink and you miss it, resolution to those events. It almost seems like the author hit a word count and said "drat, need to wrap it up before the deadline."

Rule is, first and foremost, a transition novel between the fourth and sixth books. If you don't have that in mind, the book probably doesn't seem good. The whole thing is a bundle of plotlines that are brought up and left unresolved and not much definate happens the whole time, unlike the previous books which can stand alone. That isn't good for the volume itself. However, it does serve to set up for the final book quite well.

Moreover, we finally get to see what I wanted since book one-the three siblings finally interacting on a regular basis. That was missing in Dragon Strike, which made the book a letdown for me. Here, though, they maneuver around and bounce of each other. The book has a ten year gap from the last one and by this time they've gotten used to each other's existance, but even with the lost time theres still alot of character clash. The Dragons personas, and watching them interact and change over the course of the book, is the high point-action scenes are less prominant, and I barely miseed them. One point had Auron planning a party and I was actually enjoying myself.

Unfortunatly, it's held back by numerous flaws. The editing is pretty bad. There are several typos, weird perspective changes, and overall a bad flow between many scenes. Often I got the sensation that the characters had forgotten what just happened in the last section, as something big would come up and then be dropped. Moreover, it's the shortest book yet and feels even more rushed then the others, with scenes feel shortened or excised(summarizing a conversation, for instance, rather then actually recounting it). If Knight had taken the time to slow down, elaborate, and add some filler, it would have been much better. As it is, I feel that I have to make do with a bare minimum offering, and only the characters keep it up. The one good thing is that unlike the other books, which started out well and rushed in the last half, Rule does the opposite. The "finale" comes 3/4ths through the book, leaving a long, well connected epilogue section that was probably the best part. Except for the very end, which focuses on Wistala's....ahem, personal issues and they overshadow the larger picture, in a detrimental way. That shouldn't have been the last scene IMO, and that's all I'll say.

Finally, the book seems to go out of it's way to reintroduce characters from previous books and wrapping a few old things up, or showing them in a new light. While that's fine, it also goes out of it's way not to introduce anything or anyone new either-everything's been seen before, and the world and cast does not expand in any noticable way. However, some of the "in a new light" stuff borders on character derailment and in one case, retcon. More bad editing, I guess.

The gist of it is that Rule is a worthy continuation of the series, but pays for the character interaction in terms of editing. If it had been longer and more flushed out, it probably would have been the best book. Nevertheless, I eagerly await the final book, which unfortunatly has been delayed six months.

The book Dragon Rule, which is the fifth book in E. E. knight's age of fire was a well thought out, fantasy novel, with a lot of political scandal involved. Something you would not expect from a bunch of dragons. The book itself, short. Despairingly so. However, it is a good read. Once I started reading it, I didn't want to put it down. So much seems to happen in such a short span, that when the book ended, I was left disappointed. However, the book was good enough to leave me twitching with anticipation for the next installment, of the Age of Fire. So despite its shortness, I give the book a B+ overall. Its only downfall is the length, but Plot, dialogue, action and even some romance, all make up for the books one hindrance. So in the end, if you have a little spare time, this is a quick, and good read that I suggest. However, I would suggest reading books 1-4 first, so that way you aren't left in the dark at the beginning.

The story continues engaging the main cast of characters; don't want to say too much about the storyline, but good enough that I can't wait for book 6. The only downside was all the typos, mismatched characters; it feels like this was rushed into print.

This book has less battles and bloodshed and focuses on the politics of the conquered world and the results of the emotional conflicts of the siblings that have built up over the previous books.

The Copper works to complete his empire so he can give up position as Tyr before he is forced from it. While AuRon deals with present problems after his world is turned upside down or at least on its side as his brother takes all that he loves from him. Wistala fears for the future and tries to protect the humanoid races from the selfish intentions of her brother's alliance while serving as his queen-consort.

I feel the final book will be plentiful in the epic battles that filled the previous books and so it makes sense to fill this book with emotional conflicts and tension so that the series comes to a climatic end in Dragon Fate (which is a very fitting title considering how this book ends). My only complaint is that it was short (300 pages), 100 pages less than book 1&2 and about 70 pages less than book 3&4. There are typos but who do you blame for that? (I think I remember there being a :) in there but I'm not sure.)

Start with book one of the series and allow the characters to develop through the first 3 books. You really need all the background to understand book four and book five. E E Knight does a fantastic job of pulling you in and making you root for all 3 siblings. How does one choose which is right or fighting for the right side. His setting is complete as well. I found it easy to visualize the living space, the surroundings, the characters, and how they all feel. I love that these stories are from the dragon's point of view. Just love 'em that much more. Buy them all!

My book arrived on schedule and was in very good shape. A great deal! I love this series by EE Knight!