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ayoung720's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-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
5.0
One of the best, most-refreshingly unique fantasy stories that I've read in a long time. The Rage of Dragons is a fast-paced story that still manages to build out a well-developed world, really cool magic/power system, and characters who grip your attention with every move they make. While I am a huge fan of slow-burn fantasy world building a la Brandon Sanderson, the pacing of this story kept me hooked from beginning to end, reminding me a lot of another favorite author, John Gwynne. Can't wait to start book two!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Genocide, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Gore
Moderate: Torture and Slavery
Minor: Vomit, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Fire/Fire injury
crybabybea's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Hmmm. I'm on the fence. It wasn't a terrible book by any means, but for me the pacing felt a bit choppy and off.
First of all, the prologue was amazing and gripped me more than any other prologue I've read, holy.
If you like action scenes, you will really love this book. It's pretty much entirely training/fighting scenes. I will say the fighting scenes are well-written and choreographed, being easy to follow while still being tense and exciting. The middle of the book dragged a bit as we went through training after training and they kind of all muddled together after a while. I love action scenes but I think this had a bit too many for my tastes. They do well to progress the plot, but I would have liked to see more time dedicated to characterization, especially fleshing out the side characters. I did love the action but wanted a bit more time with the characters to really connect to the story.
That being said, The Rage of Dragons is an incredibly immersive read and I was thoroughly impressed by the author's world-building. The writing itself isn't anything flashy, but Evan Winter does a great job at setting each scene and revealing lore bit by bit. There were a couple info-dumpy moments but I can forgive them because the overall experience was quite cinematic and exciting. The magic system is incredibly unique and has extreme drawbacks which makes the magic feel meaningful and awe-inspiring. Even the dragons are unique in the way they are connected to the world and magic system. Speaking of, dragons are an important part of this world but they are not a main character by any means, so don't go into this expecting to read about dragon riders or anything.
I loved the themes of vengeance and breaking the chains of oppression. Our main character, Tau, is a member of the Lesser caste of the Omehi tribe. Because of this, he is biologically destined to be less important, less powerful, and to die as fodder in the war against the native Xiddeen population. But after the death of his father, he uses his unhinged rage to break all the rules and force the old ways to acknowledge the power of a man scorned. I found it really interesting for the main character to be of a lower social caste of an imperial invading army. It was a nice change compared to other books with similar themes and added a complexity to the story that I enjoyed.
Here's the thing though, I'm a character loving girlie. I don't mind plot-based books but to really fall in love with a book I have to fall in love with its characters, whether they are likeable or not. I liked our main character Tau and his descent into pure madness fueled by rage and vengeance. He is a fine sometimes unlikeable character and I admire the author's dedication to his motives. He literally has one goal in mind and will do anything and sacrifice anyone to get there. He reminded me a lot of Rin from The Poppy War. He also had some Leeroy Jenkins moments which were frustrating and entertaining. Though I will say his progression is honestly pretty unbelievable and he seems almost impossibly invincible at times. I'm just also not a huge fan of the meritocratic messaging that you can overcome any obstacle by just training really hard and working harder than everyone else.
The other characters were lacking a lot as well. I found it hard to follow his quest for vengeance because I had no connection to the person he is seeking to avenge. As well, he gains many comrades in his quest along the way, and they kind of all blend into one person because we don't spend much time with them outside of battle. Even the main love interest I found lacking in characterization, and she often came across as just another goal on Tau's list and a plot device to push him forward. Because of this lack of depth, some of the emotionally heavy-hitting moments in the later half of the book don't hit like they should.
If you can push through the lull in the middle of the book, the ending is explosive and thrilling. It just takes a little bit to get there, and I found the emotional reveals a bit lackluster, but still fun.
I would still recommend this to fantasy lovers as I think it is overall fun and engaging. I'm interested in continuing the series though I'm disappointed I didn't get the mind-blowing experience I was expecting out of book one.
First of all, the prologue was amazing and gripped me more than any other prologue I've read, holy.
If you like action scenes, you will really love this book. It's pretty much entirely training/fighting scenes. I will say the fighting scenes are well-written and choreographed, being easy to follow while still being tense and exciting. The middle of the book dragged a bit as we went through training after training and they kind of all muddled together after a while. I love action scenes but I think this had a bit too many for my tastes. They do well to progress the plot, but I would have liked to see more time dedicated to characterization, especially fleshing out the side characters. I did love the action but wanted a bit more time with the characters to really connect to the story.
That being said, The Rage of Dragons is an incredibly immersive read and I was thoroughly impressed by the author's world-building. The writing itself isn't anything flashy, but Evan Winter does a great job at setting each scene and revealing lore bit by bit. There were a couple info-dumpy moments but I can forgive them because the overall experience was quite cinematic and exciting. The magic system is incredibly unique and has extreme drawbacks which makes the magic feel meaningful and awe-inspiring. Even the dragons are unique in the way they are connected to the world and magic system. Speaking of, dragons are an important part of this world but they are not a main character by any means, so don't go into this expecting to read about dragon riders or anything.
I loved the themes of vengeance and breaking the chains of oppression. Our main character, Tau, is a member of the Lesser caste of the Omehi tribe. Because of this, he is biologically destined to be less important, less powerful, and to die as fodder in the war against the native Xiddeen population. But after the death of his father, he uses his unhinged rage to break all the rules and force the old ways to acknowledge the power of a man scorned. I found it really interesting for the main character to be of a lower social caste of an imperial invading army. It was a nice change compared to other books with similar themes and added a complexity to the story that I enjoyed.
Here's the thing though, I'm a character loving girlie. I don't mind plot-based books but to really fall in love with a book I have to fall in love with its characters, whether they are likeable or not. I liked our main character Tau and his descent into pure madness fueled by rage and vengeance. He is a fine sometimes unlikeable character and I admire the author's dedication to his motives. He literally has one goal in mind and will do anything and sacrifice anyone to get there. He reminded me a lot of Rin from The Poppy War. He also had some Leeroy Jenkins moments which were frustrating and entertaining. Though I will say his progression is honestly pretty unbelievable and he seems almost impossibly invincible at times. I'm just also not a huge fan of the meritocratic messaging that you can overcome any obstacle by just training really hard and working harder than everyone else.
The other characters were lacking a lot as well. I found it hard to follow his quest for vengeance because I had no connection to the person he is seeking to avenge. As well, he gains many comrades in his quest along the way, and they kind of all blend into one person because we don't spend much time with them outside of battle. Even the main love interest I found lacking in characterization, and she often came across as just another goal on Tau's list and a plot device to push him forward. Because of this lack of depth, some of the emotionally heavy-hitting moments in the later half of the book don't hit like they should.
If you can push through the lull in the middle of the book, the ending is explosive and thrilling. It just takes a little bit to get there, and I found the emotional reveals a bit lackluster, but still fun.
I would still recommend this to fantasy lovers as I think it is overall fun and engaging. I'm interested in continuing the series though I'm disappointed I didn't get the mind-blowing experience I was expecting out of book one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Blood, Gore, Murder, War, and Violence
Moderate: Vomit, Body horror, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, and Alcohol
straw_hat_kd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Rage of Dragons is incredible. From the first page to the last I found myself wanting to come back to this world and find out what's going to happen next. The world building is incredible. You understand the stakes of what's going on in this world and regardless of what's going on in the story, the looming threat is always a factor. The battles...the way Evan puts words together to describe the battles is surreal. There's one passage where he describes the sound of a weapon hitting a helmet and I could imagine it allas if I was right there. The main character, Tau, a beast. Every battle he gets in is as engaging as the next. Around Chapter 6 and 7, the book hits another gear and I was unable to stop reading. I finished the second half of the book in a few short hours. The chapters are broken down into smaller digestible chunks which made it easier to get through the longer chapters, especially in the beginning. There 's twists, betrayals, demons, dragons and so much more all set in a South African inspired fantasy world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, War, Gore, Genocide, and Death
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Rape
blacksphinx's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, Death of parent, War, Violence, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Moderate: Sexual content and Vomit
Minor: Sexual assault and Rape
_forestofpages's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
If you enjoy a frustratingly stupid main character who has no character growth and a book with a lot of training montages, you might like this book.
I however, did not enjoy my time reading this.
The pacing started out slow, revved up and got interesting then slowed down until the last 100 pages or so. The characters, including Tau are fairly one dimensional and none of them are given the time or tlc to make me care about any of them, which really is a shame because a few of them had such interesting introductions, but the author did nothing with them.
The plot is a typical revenge fantasy, but because that's not enough apparently the author added in a colonizer vs colonized war plot that came in at the last second to delay the actual revenge plot. The fact that the people that you are supposed to be rooting for are the colonizing force that started the war is hardly touched on until the last 100 pages.
The world building is interesting, but a lot of it is just set dressing for the training montages and skirmishes. About 85% of the book is just that; battles and training then more battles and more training etc. For a book called Rage of DRAGONS there sure is a lack of dragons.
Now onto the personal issues: the book has a society that is Matriarchal, but the only really important recurring female character is Tau's lover who really just served to move the plot forward and to be an expositional device. The only other important female character is the Queen who is just talked about but doesn't appear until near the conclusion of the book. There are a lot of lines that are said by soldiers or thought by Tau that are casually sexist or just generally disrespectful towards women, this bothered me since the book already is very male centric despite it having a society where women supposedly hold all the power. Historically women are marginalized, but this is a FANTASY book and I really don't understand why fiction authors especially in fantasy, keep mirroring their societies on the real world, when they coul literally do anything they want. Like, for example, not demeen women.
Another issue was the malicious and colonizing nature of the Omehi. They are the aggressors and also built a classist society and are constantly seen as Gifted by their Goddess and are right to be doing the horrible things they do. The classism is such an interesting conversation but everytime the author got close to really diving into that, he'd change the subject by having Tau do something stupid.
Honestly, the absolute stupidity and lack of awareness of Tau was the main reason this rating is so low. Having an unlikable MC is fine, but stupidity I can't tolerate. He never learns from his mistakes, has no regard for people's lives even, and especially the people he supposedly cares for. And he does so many things that, by the laws of the society he lives in, should get him killed on the spot, yet he somehow just gets away with it?
(Side rant: for a book filled with detailed gore and violence and literal child murder, the fake/made up curse words are a strange choice. Like cursing is where the author draws the line but graphic body horror is totally fine?)
This entire story was frusrating and uninteresting. Nothing was explored, all of the characters were forgettable to me, and Tau was so painful the read. I will read book two because I paid money for it, and I hope, given my low expectations, that I will like it.
I however, did not enjoy my time reading this.
The pacing started out slow, revved up and got interesting then slowed down until the last 100 pages or so. The characters, including Tau are fairly one dimensional and none of them are given the time or tlc to make me care about any of them, which really is a shame because a few of them had such interesting introductions, but the author did nothing with them.
The plot is a typical revenge fantasy, but because that's not enough apparently the author added in a colonizer vs colonized war plot that came in at the last second to delay the actual revenge plot. The fact that the people that you are supposed to be rooting for are the colonizing force that started the war is hardly touched on until the last 100 pages.
The world building is interesting, but a lot of it is just set dressing for the training montages and skirmishes. About 85% of the book is just that; battles and training then more battles and more training etc. For a book called Rage of DRAGONS there sure is a lack of dragons.
Now onto the personal issues: the book has a society that is Matriarchal, but the only really important recurring female character is Tau's lover who really just served to move the plot forward and to be an expositional device. The only other important female character is the Queen who is just talked about but doesn't appear until near the conclusion of the book. There are a lot of lines that are said by soldiers or thought by Tau that are casually sexist or just generally disrespectful towards women, this bothered me since the book already is very male centric despite it having a society where women supposedly hold all the power. Historically women are marginalized, but this is a FANTASY book and I really don't understand why fiction authors especially in fantasy, keep mirroring their societies on the real world, when they coul literally do anything they want. Like, for example, not demeen women.
Another issue was the malicious and colonizing nature of the Omehi. They are the aggressors and also built a classist society and are constantly seen as Gifted by their Goddess and are right to be doing the horrible things they do. The classism is such an interesting conversation but everytime the author got close to really diving into that, he'd change the subject by having Tau do something stupid.
Honestly, the absolute stupidity and lack of awareness of Tau was the main reason this rating is so low. Having an unlikable MC is fine, but stupidity I can't tolerate. He never learns from his mistakes, has no regard for people's lives even, and especially the people he supposedly cares for. And he does so many things that, by the laws of the society he lives in, should get him killed on the spot, yet he somehow just gets away with it?
(Side rant: for a book filled with detailed gore and violence and literal child murder, the fake/made up curse words are a strange choice. Like cursing is where the author draws the line but graphic body horror is totally fine?)
This entire story was frusrating and uninteresting. Nothing was explored, all of the characters were forgettable to me, and Tau was so painful the read. I will read book two because I paid money for it, and I hope, given my low expectations, that I will like it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Classism, Racism, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, and Sexism
nerdkitten's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Murder, Violence, War, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Genocide, Medical content, Vomit, Sexual content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Deportation, Torture, Excrement, and Misogyny
little_white's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, War, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Vomit, Blood, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Rape, and Torture
danielle_sips_tea's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Ableism
ehmannky's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I've had this book for a year now and for some reason kept putting it off. Which was my loss because this is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It's just fast-paced and interesting and compelling and the characters and their motivations are so well done. It is a book about war, and one that looks at colonization and violence from caste system. If you're not in the mood for a lot of fight scenes, it's not for you. But if you're good with that it's fabulous.
If you liked R.F. Kuang's Poppy War series, you'll probably love this.
If you liked R.F. Kuang's Poppy War series, you'll probably love this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, War, Violence, and Classism
Moderate: Vomit, Body horror, and Child death
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
vldinh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, War, Vomit, and Murder
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Rape