Taming Fire (The Dragonprince's Legacy, #1) [Kindle Edition]

Aaron Pogue (Author)

Book Description

Daven Carrickson grew up as a beggar in the filthy alleys beneath the shadows of the palace. He's the son of a known thief, disgraced and despised. His only real talent is his ability with a sword, and his only real chance at finding honor or a home is a desperate dream of joining the King's Guard.

Then Daven receives a new future when Master Claighan invites him to study magic at the Academy. The wizard offers to make him into a new kind of soldier: a swordsman equally skilled with forged blades and mystic forces. It only helps that Daven has no home, no family, and nothing left to lose.

But when conspiring forces destroy the wizard's plans, Daven finds himself wanted for treason and murder. Hunted by a great black beast of a dragon, caught between the King's Guard and a rebel force led by a rogue wizard, Daven's only hope of surviving is to become more than he's ever dreamed possible.

Taming Fire is the first book in the Dragonprince Trilogy. Approximately 110,000 words.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Aaron Pogue is a husband and a father of two who lives in Oklahoma City, OK. He started writing at the age of ten, and lays claim to more than a dozen finished novels, as well as a handful of short stories, scripts, and videogame storylines. His first novels were high fantasy set in the rich world of the FirstKing, including the bestselling fantasy novel Taming Fire, but he's explored mainstream thrillers, urban fantasy, and several kinds of science fiction. Gods Tomorrow represents the introduction to a long-running science fiction cop drama series focused on the Ghost Targets task force.

Aaron is the president and CEO of the Consortium, Inc., an Oklahoma City-based non-profit that's striving to establish a new patronage. He's also head publisher with the company's imprint, Consortium Books. Aaron has been a Technical Writer with the Federal Aviation Administration and a writing professor at the university level. He's currently pursuing a Master of Professional Writing degree at the University of Oklahoma.

Aaron maintains a personal website for his friends and fans at AaronPogue.com, he runs a writing advice blog at UnstressedSyllables.com, and he is a founding artist at ConsortiumOKC.com.

Product Details

• File Size: 669 KB
• Print Length: 360 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Masked Fox Publishing; 1 edition (June 21, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0056IVLRM
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,953 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #14 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Coming of Age
  • #59 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror > Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

122 of 134 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome July 9, 2011

By mark conservative

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was a great book. I finished it in less than 2 days (it would have been quicker but work and kids can sometimes get in the way.) I am a huge fantasy fan and have read all the big name authors and recently, a lot of the newer authors with my kindle. This book was one of the best books I've read.
If you're like me, finding a new author is a blessing and a curse. Happy to have found a great world with great characters and phenomal pacing but sad you will now again be forced to wait for the next book. Finding this book to me was like finding George R.R. Martin way back when or stumbling across Brent Weeks first trilogy or Peter V. Brett's books. I know every fierce reader out there has favorites all their own BUT if you are looking for a book everybit as good as anything I have read (that's saying something) give Aaron Pogue a try this book was ridicuously good and at .99 you can't beat it.
YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED

53 of 60 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Feelings - 3 1/2 stars August 26, 2011

By J. Prince

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

After reading this book, I'm not entirely sure where my feelings fall. I felt that this book had a very strong beginning. Aaron Pogue does a good job of drawing you into the plot and keeping the plot moving. However, I must admit I was somewhat frustrated by the frequent and sometimes unnecessary turns of events and seeming changes in the lead's personality. Despite some frustration and irritation with the events in the book, I was still drawn into the plot enough to want to finish the book. Overall I would say most of the things I have a problem with are more personal preference than writing ability, so 3 and 1/2 stars is based on 3 for a personal level and 4 on a professional level.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars "Taming Fire"...the Pros and Cons...2 1/2 to 3 Stars November 17, 2011

By R. Nicholson TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Taming Fire" is the first book in a fantasy trilogy by author Aaron Pogue. This is both a Kindle e-book (503 Kb) and paperback (361 pages) and is priced at $0.99 and $12.81 respectively.

SPOILERS (general theme...no specifics revealed)

Our hero, Daven Carrickson, is a young shepherd with some skills at swordplay. A wizard by the name of Claighan arrives and tells him of a dark scourge that is soon about to invade the land. He further eludes to the fact that Daven has special skills (that he was unaware of) that are essential to thwarting this evil tide...skills that must be developed and honed before they can be used effectively. Intially he refuses to believe this seemingly impossible tale, but after some lenghty discussion with Claighan, he reluctantly and somewhat skeptically agrees to accompany the wizard to see the King and to further his learning. And so the adventure begins.

END SPOILERS

The Pros:
1.) an intriguing story full of some new ideas and promise.

2.) I thought the writing quality of the first halve of the book was above average...it maintained my interest and had me looking forward to continue reading more of this book.

3.) beautiful (if somewhat dark) cover art...very appealing

The Cons:
1.) a hero whose development seemed to progress at a snails pace. It just seemed to take forever for Daven to develop his 'talent'. I can understand that a young character may need extra time and training, but this was so sluggish in moving along, I nearly lost patience with this story.

2.) other than with his school peers (at the beginning of the book), every confrontation Daven had, saw him on his backside, scrambling to survive...a scenario that simply became repetitious and from a reader perspective, started to get stale and even a little frustrating in its frequency.

3.) because of a combo of 1.) and 2.) the latter halve of the story seemed to bog down with repetitious topics, slowing the story telling down to a crawl.

4.) *spoiler*...towards the end Daven is left with two choices...siding with either the King or the main villain, Lareth and his rebel band. The problem, from a reader perspective was that both choices were equally unappealing...the King was such an self-centered, stupid character who surrounded himself with people who were mean and cruel. Lareth the evil mastermind, seemed an unlikely choice as well because he was...er, well...the bad guy, but when compared to the alternative (the King), he almost appeared a more reasonable choice in many regards.

5.) *spoiler*...we end up with a final confrontations that uses a 'save-the-day-at-the-last-gasp' writing technique. Daven and his ally, the black dragon, are taking a beating...it appears all is about to be lost. BUT our hero uses his newly found conjuring skills (yes, finally some usable 'skill') to make a special magical sword out of the earth at his feet (yes, from the earth no less), to finally dispatch the main villain at the last second. Totally unexpected, totally unbelievable! Totally a Young Adult genre ploy.

6.) there were some noticeable writing concerns e.g. repetitious wording...
for instance...the word 'growl' (or some derivative of it) was used 30 times throughout this work.
Likewise, the word 'scream' (or a derivative) was used 54 times in the book and 13 times! in the last chapter alone. These are the kind of occurrences that make me wonder what the editor was doing. Did no one (author, friends, proof readers) not notice this?

7.) no map. A tale with a lot of traveling and locales that were geographically diverse enough to merit one.

Conclusion:
A book that had such promise...it started out so well. But it lost its momentum and faltered in the latter half.

A 'superhero' ending to save the final battle...unfortunately this cast a tainted shadow on all the good things that went on before.

Early on I was looking forward to the second book...not so sure now.

As it is...2 1/2 to 3 Stars.

Ray Nicholson

More About the Author

Aaron Pogue is a husband and a father of two who lives in Oklahoma City, OK. He started writing at the age of ten, and lays claim to more than a dozen finished novels, as well as a handful of short stories, scripts, and videogame storylines. His first novels were high fantasy set in the rich world of the FirstKing, including the bestselling fantasy novel Taming Fire, but he's explored mainstream thrillers, urban fantasy, and several kinds of science fiction. Gods Tomorrow represents the introduction to a long-running science fiction cop drama series focused on the Ghost Targets task force.

Aaron is the president and CEO of the Consortium, Inc., an Oklahoma City-based non-profit that's striving to establish a new patronage. He's also head publisher with the company's imprint, Consortium Books. Aaron has been a Technical Writer with the Federal Aviation Administration and a writing professor at the university level. He's currently pursuing a Master of Professional Writing degree at the University of Oklahoma.

Aaron maintains a personal website for his friends and fans at AaronPogue.com, he runs a writing advice blog at UnstressedSyllables.com, and he is a founding artist at ConsortiumOKC.com.