The Last Dragon Rider The Wild Realms of Véneanár Book 1
Epic Fantasy/ Romance
The Wild Rose Press, Inc
August 9, 2017
100
Trained as an elite warrior from childhood, the elven crown prince Flintathriël fights to bring a stop to a war that began before he was born. With the aid of his betrothed Sairalindë, a skilled mage and dragon rider in her own right, they must find the Book of Souls – an ancient and mysterious tome rumored to have belonged to the god Hath’Raal.
When the missing book turns up in the hands of Mnuvae, the bastard child of the dead king, Flintathriël finds himself fighting to not only save his people from this new threat but also trying to keep Sairalindë safe when Mnuvae takes over the dragons in her attempt to win back the kingdom she believes is rightfully hers.
The love Flintathriël and Sairalindë share shines pure and true, but when the smoke of the battle clears, will their hearts survive the aftermath of war or will their love become a casualty that cannot be revived?
Reviewed by: Douglas C. Meeks
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
Well I was not sure what I was getting with this novel but it turns out it is a bit of epic fantasy mixed with a bit more romance than something like “The Lord Of The Rings”.
While I was enjoying the story the similarity of names and the random use of shortened forms and even a nickname a few times made it harder to read than it ever should have been.
Basically, we have a story where it becomes hard to say who is actually evil, the present evil seems more like a result of the present “good guys” (for lack of a better term) past misdeeds.
As with all epic fantasy we have the epic battle and the tragic sacrifices but we do get a fairly well-done story even if a bit verbose at times. I must admit that at times I felt like I was wading through this book to get to the next “good” parts but we never got to the level of the color of grass and the hardness of rocks as Tolkien did in his massive epic.
All things considered I enjoyed it but even with the shortened length I did a bit of scanning and lost little if anything, this would seem to have been a good candidate for a very good longer novel than a multi-volume story but a better editor would be required.
4 Stars because at the end of the book I was entertained, I was not stuck with a cliff-hanger ending but a bit of a tease to see what comes next so 4 Stars it is and unlike most epic fantasy, this first novel can be read and enjoyed for its own contents and not a partial story although there are a few important things that most readers will want to pursue into the next book but my fear is that this is a story that could produce a good second book but if it tries to become a trilogy I fear we will see a much weaker book in the future.
2nd Place: NOVELLAS & SHORTS
