This was such a fun read, full of dragons, magic, and a courageous but disgruntled dragonslayer! For whatever reason (probably nostalgia from all those fantasy series I read in the summer as a kid) I’m always drawn to epic fantasy series in the summertime, and Dragonslayer was the perfect fit for me! I loved the hero, Guillot, and the reality of his character as a has-been, down on his luck knight.
In Dragonslayer, a dragon has been awakened for the first time in thousand years in the empire of Mirabaya. The dragon is Alpheratz and he awakes to find all of his brethren, including his mate, slain by humans. He has no idea how long he has been asleep and he is NOT happy. He proceeds to do what classic medieval dragons tend to do and he begins wrecking havoc and demolishing villages across the countryside. The king and the Prince Bishop send a man to call upon their last hope, Guillot, aka the last surviving Chevalier of the Silver Circle, the order known to have been able to defeat dragons. Unfortunately for the kingdom, Guillot has spent years in essentially alcoholic depression after being kicked out of the city for an incident involving the prior king. The bannaret officer who is sent to retrieve Guillot manages to coerce him into visiting the Prince Bishop and they set off on their journey to the king. Along the way they rescue a young girl named Solene accused of using magic and bring her along with them. As the characters head out on their journey, and then their mission to defeat the dragon, Guillot begins to realize something darker is going on with the Prince Bishop than he first assumed. And Solene begins to realize just how special her magical abilities truly are. Meanwhile, the whole time Guillot is dealing with some pretty heavy withdrawal issues as he tries to go off of alcohol use.
I loved following the character Guillot around as he interacted with other characters and “prepared” for his journey to hopefully defeat the dragon. Guillot is the perfect mix of sincere and crabby, and I truly got attached to his character throughout the story! I also really appreciated that the author dealt with Guillot being an alcoholic throughout the whole story, and that it actually had an effect on his life, rather than having him simply “be better” when the need arose.
The only semi-qualm I had with the whole story (which isn’t really a qualm, it just felt slightly unbelievable) is that Solene’s magic is a little too powerful. For the most part this didn’t really bother me, but it did seem a little too convenient at times. There is a specific scene in the library where she can suddenly just understand essentially another language, just because she wants to. And she can also find content in books, within a massive library, just by “thinking” about a topic and the book falls down. I’m all for female characters being extremely powerful, but this felt like a little too much to me. That being said, I really enjoyed Solene’s character and her part in the story otherwise!
Overall, Dragonslayer is a great read for readers like me who are looking for an epic fantasy to immerse themselves in for a few hours!
In Dragonslayer, a dragon has been awakened for the first time in thousand years in the empire of Mirabaya. The dragon is Alpheratz and he awakes to find all of his brethren, including his mate, slain by humans. He has no idea how long he has been asleep and he is NOT happy. He proceeds to do what classic medieval dragons tend to do and he begins wrecking havoc and demolishing villages across the countryside. The king and the Prince Bishop send a man to call upon their last hope, Guillot, aka the last surviving Chevalier of the Silver Circle, the order known to have been able to defeat dragons. Unfortunately for the kingdom, Guillot has spent years in essentially alcoholic depression after being kicked out of the city for an incident involving the prior king. The bannaret officer who is sent to retrieve Guillot manages to coerce him into visiting the Prince Bishop and they set off on their journey to the king. Along the way they rescue a young girl named Solene accused of using magic and bring her along with them. As the characters head out on their journey, and then their mission to defeat the dragon, Guillot begins to realize something darker is going on with the Prince Bishop than he first assumed. And Solene begins to realize just how special her magical abilities truly are. Meanwhile, the whole time Guillot is dealing with some pretty heavy withdrawal issues as he tries to go off of alcohol use.
I loved following the character Guillot around as he interacted with other characters and “prepared” for his journey to hopefully defeat the dragon. Guillot is the perfect mix of sincere and crabby, and I truly got attached to his character throughout the story! I also really appreciated that the author dealt with Guillot being an alcoholic throughout the whole story, and that it actually had an effect on his life, rather than having him simply “be better” when the need arose.
The only semi-qualm I had with the whole story (which isn’t really a qualm, it just felt slightly unbelievable) is that Solene’s magic is a little too powerful. For the most part this didn’t really bother me, but it did seem a little too convenient at times. There is a specific scene in the library where she can suddenly just understand essentially another language, just because she wants to. And she can also find content in books, within a massive library, just by “thinking” about a topic and the book falls down. I’m all for female characters being extremely powerful, but this felt like a little too much to me. That being said, I really enjoyed Solene’s character and her part in the story otherwise!
Overall, Dragonslayer is a great read for readers like me who are looking for an epic fantasy to immerse themselves in for a few hours!