MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Aram Raythe has the power to challenge the gods. He just doesn’t know it yet. Aram thinks he’s nothing but a misfit from a small fishing village in a dark corner of the world. As far as Aram knows, he has nothing, with hardly a possession to his name other than a desire to make friends and be accepted by those around him, which is something he’s never known. But Aram is more. Much, much more. Unknown to him, Aram bears within him a gift so old and rare that many people would kill him for it, and there are others who would twist him to use for their own sinister purposes. These magics are so potent that Aram earns a place at an academy for warrior mages training to earn for themselves the greatest place of honor among the armies of men: dragon riders. Aram will have to fight for respect by becoming not just a dragon rider, but a Champion, the caliber of mage that hasn’t existed in the world for hundreds of years. And the land needs a Champion.
Because when a dark god out of ancient myth arises to threaten the world of magic, it is Aram the world will turn to in its hour of need.
MY REVIEW
A classic coming of age epic fantasy tale with dragons, dragon riders, mages and creepy void creatures! It’s such a good story that gives several classic tropes and pulls no punches from the very start with great and lovable characters and a superb narration by Ben Farrow. It’s no wonder this has gotten so much love from the blogging community and is an SPFBO-7 semi-finalist.
This book is a CHONKER at 800+ pages and 27 hours long on audio, but it is worth the time put in! ML Spencer did a wonderful job creating this world and the characters within it that you just absolutely loved to watch grow. I really like that Aram is not a typical protagonist, in that he is on the spectrum. It is not often you get that type of inclusion, and not only that but done in such a fantastic way that you don’t really realize it unless you are paying attention to all the signs. I have a cousin on the spectrum and when he gets old enough to read… or listen to the audio I’m going to make sure he gets to see a hero just like him.
“Because once a rope is unlaid, it can’t ever be strong again. I think one strong rope would do the world more good than a few weak ones.”
This was an emotional read from start to finish and tugged on my heart strings several times. If you haven’t decided you want to read this book by now, maybe I should mention that there are freaking DRAGONS and DRAGON RIDERS and very long final battle that is close to two hours! Did I mention DRAGONS?!?! You should really read or listen to this book!
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for me though. The overuse of “suddenly” was a bit much for me, especially the use of it in the last 2 hours. It’s a word that I’ve grown to dislike very much because of its usage in LotR. The only other thing I have a real question about is the dragon on the cover and the dragon that Aram rides. Based on the description, they are not the same which is a bit confusing and I don’t know why they would be different.
Wolfmantula.com 