RAGE OF DRAGONS REVIEW
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2020
- A review for Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter.
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I personally loved this book when I read it a few months ago. I grabbed it on a whim while I was at a bookstore in Minnesota and it was great! I definitely agree that if you don't enjoy training sequences and battle scenes then this book isn't for you because it's pretty much what this entire book is.
Tau definitely didn't really develop, lol. He was hotheaded and impulsive the whole time but I hope he really grows in Fires of Vengeance. I totally understand why people that don't like Tau, you did a great job of explaining your frustrations with him. He is definitely a big ol dumbass. I don't disagree with you about Tau haha, I think I just enjoyed the book so much that I didn't care how reckless he was. One of the weakest parts of this book was the love interest in my opinion. She was definitely there to info dump for the reader.
I loved the way that the magic was done. Where they pull their power from was really interesting to me. Great review!
I think Tau is a really misunderstood character moreso because of reader expectations of "what a protagonist is supposed to be" vs being taken on his own individual merits. That's an advantage I have to books and movies. I don't watch them checking off a list of preset things that must be done for it to be considered dont right. I read/watch their story and judge it based on what they give me and go from their. I'm not their to read/see "my" book/movie, I'm there to read/see theirs. As for Tau impulsiveness and waffling - he's young. He's also going against his nature. He's not a naturally assertive/vengeful person. This is all new to him so, if he were to do a seamless 180, I'd have been a little disappointed because people don't compartmentalize like that. A lot of readers/reviewers say they want originality vs tired tropes then refer to those tropes when a writer deviates from them. I listened to the audiobook and, as far as the prose was concerned, I thought it was as good as anything out there (but understand that's a preference thing because I've read books people raved about and was underwhelmed).
My TBR is exploding but I can't stop watching book reviews HELp
Saaaame
Ironically much of your criticism towards Tau's character is precisely why I like the story. He is *extremely* flawed and I love how his one-track mind essentially stopped him from being able to truly be Great with a capitol G.
I think it was the point of this book to make the revenge feel pointless. I don't think we were ever supposed to root for Tao's revenge. What we watched is his descent into the character he became at the end, and I feel like it was mostly a set-up for the next three books where he will grow into his true destiny. We basically saw his 'origin story' in this book, and I feel like the real story doesn't start until the 2nd one. That said I loved this book to death and thought it was highly entertaining for what it tried to do.
I agree. I think Book 1 is a set up and origin story for what is to come and we will see the character develop throughout the series. I don’t think anyone will argue how selfish and one track minded Tao is but I’m personally ok with it. He isn’t a conventional character and that’s refreshing. I’m excited to start Book 2.
Agreed. He makes me think of the character Nevada Smith from Harold Robbins The Carpetbaggers. His quest for revenge lets you see the total degeneration of a person so hell bent on avenging his parents death, he engages in behavior they would've hated and which were totally against his nature and he knew it but still felt his actions were justified and if someone else got hurt (which they did) so be it.
I appreciate your views on this book. It’s one I’ve had on my TBR for awhile, but a lot of people only talk about how great it is whereas I think your review gave me a better idea of what to expect when I go into it. I also find I have similar character-specific tastes as you. It’s very helpful!
It is so interesting to see the contrast from the Daniel's review of the book. This only shows that every book have its readers and one review both positive or critical does not necessarily tells you what is going to be your experience with that book. I personally enjoyed the audio book a lot but also agree with many of the points you made.
Tau is probably the most one-track-minded character I have ever encountered. lol.
But very realistic. People don't always grow.
*Training. Training. Training. Zuri. Training. Training.*
@@anotherworldhopper5344 baha!
I have read this book and I enjoyed it very much. Like you said the training part is a matter of taste because that was my favourite part, seeing the main character build up himself from scratch to become what he became at the end was so much satisfying. I look forward to read the second book when it comes later this year.
Thank you for your thorough review, it's always interesting to see other/ different perspectives on books you have read.
And thank you for giving your thoughts! I’m glad you enjoyed the book 😄
I really enjoy in-depth reviews like this. Cool to get a different perspective because I've only seen people who love this book. Great video.
This was the only book in a long time I couldn't put down. I loved every minute of it. I can see all your points and by the end Tau is kind of frustrating but I also feel for the guy. I agree with you on wanting to know more about the politics, I also hope we find out what drove them from their homelands. I guess he had plotted this out as a four book series, though.
When I first picked this book up it was on a recommendation from another booktuber. I wasn’t sure it was going to be my thing, about 6 hours later I had read nonstop and couldn’t put it down lol. One of my new favourite and can’t wait for the sequel later this year
Me too, I run through it lol
I had read the e-book when it was still self published on Amazon. Good book for a first time author. Had some major issues with plot holes and things that didn't make any sense. I also bought the paper book because Evan Winters is a cool guy and I really think that the second book will be better. Besides the issues the story was really interesting and having a fantasy book based on African mythology/folklore is welcome and we need more, much more fantasy books based on cultures other than European culture.
I've been meaning to get around to this, thankyou for excellent review! As soon as you started talking about training sequence i got the Mulan song in my head
Mannn, now that’ll be stuck in MY head! 😆
LETS GET DOWN TO BUSINESS
this book is still my favorite book I've read this year, I can't wait for book 2 ^.^
Aye this sounds like my kinda story. Especially with the whole defending the land from savage people stuff. This book seems very action oriented and that appeals to me 😁👍🏼 I'll definitely have to give this one a read as soon possible. I think you did a great job of letting us know what to expect and getting me hyped. Happy Reading July! 💜
It's a great book! There are absolutely points of criticism to be made but if you want non-stop action in your fantasy this book does that very well.
I'm finishing the Mistborn series right now. I enjoy Sanderson's writing style as well.
Thank you so much for this review, Elliot! I heard so many good things about this book, so I pushed through 20% of the book, just trying to get to ‘the good part.’ I really wanted to like it, but I realized constant fighting/action without the between the scenes development and pay-off isn’t my style. I’m so glad you had this review so I didn’t keep pushing on in a book I don’t think I will enjoy. I really love how well you articulate what went well in this book, and then what could have made it better.
With that said, I really appreciated the African tribal influence, and the Magic seemed interesting! I would be interested in future books by this author.
Love the color shift when you're doing characters. It breaks the monotony of the video. 🥰
I read and listened to a handful of reviews for this book but yours is the most elaborate one that I'm motivated to get a copy and start reading this. Thanks, Elliot. 🤓
You’ll have to let me know what you end up thinking of it!
@@ebnovels I will. I could get back to you at the end of the month. Thanks, Elliot. 🤓
@@ebnovels As promised, here I come back to give you what I think of this book.
I was able to finish it in less than 2 weeks and I must admit that there are parts that get me going faster than I intended (I initially planned out to read 1 chapter a day).
Your reviews gave justice to the book and how it connects to readers of fantasy novels such as you. What I'll be sharing are points that you might have missed on the technical aspects of this story (I'm not an expert like you are but I'll cite points objectively).
- The narration is centered on Tau but there is a section in a chapter that shifts to another character besides Tau. I like how this pops up suddenly just to break the monotony of narrative style. It also considers an outsider's point of view of the main characters from their perspective and insights.
- The focus on the training and action scenes kept me on my toes because of the descriptive style of illustrating the action. The training duration was a bit more lengthy than it's supposed to have, but this could be justifiable if it included personal conflicts of Tau with members of the Scale Jayyed (I was surprised to find out that they gelled together as a scale right away considering how they would intend to Kill each other just to get into the scale during the tryouts).
- The link between Tau and Jabari just vanished near the end of the story when they met during a skirmish. They grew up together and they help train each other. But it doesn't show that Tau tried to retrieve the connectedness he had with Jabari as a sword brother.
Overall, I enjoyed the book (big thanks to you ❤️ and your elaborate review). I could be giving this book a 4.5 rating on Goodreads. Looking forward to more of your reviews in the same magnitude as you did with this one. 🤓
Extra: The book's title was a bit misleading for it didn't delve into Dragons and how they played out roles in the history of the nobles (except for the one narrated in the Prologue). It should have been entitled "The Rage of Tau" but it would be perceived as a math book that deals with the Greek notation of time or time deviations. 😂
I completely agree with you in this review. I got it after listening to both Daniel Green's and Murphy's review, so I knew I was getting on a heavy action military novel. But Tau acting like an idiot and getting away with it because he is the main character, his narrow mind motivation and his unbreakable will and ability to surpass anything that the author throws at him just makes the book so much less compelling.
And that it is just my issue with the MC. The world itself or the cast system didn't feel as elaborate to me as people say. I don't hate the book, but I didn't love it either, and I don't understand why people love it so much.
I understand that people like different things but If someone who loved the book can explain to me why, I would appreciate it, because I just can't.
I’ve seen a few people say they just really love action in books, so if someone loves that, it’d make sense to like this 😆
@@ebnovels Can confirm, love action and this book.
I'm gonna be honest; i think a lot of the positive reviews is just to get the author into the video. Pandering basically
I ended up DNFing this at the 300 page mark, but this book has so many good reviews so I chalked it up to a "me" thing.
It was just constant battles and mock battles and men hitting each other in the face with swords at the expense of character, plot and world building. Plus, the MC had some thick plot armor and it really took all the tension out of the story. I was really interested in the underworld-type magic system it had going on, but there was not enough of it to hold my interest nor were there enough dragons. Like you mentioned, it would have benefitted from another POV.
However, there are quite a few fantasy readers I know that I think would enjoy this book and I've recommended it to them.
Totally agree, If your book is called The Rage of Dragons it ought to have more dragons in it!
Funny, this is almost exactly how I felt about Darrow in the Red Rising (the original trilogy). I am glad the plot and the other characters made up for all the things that drove me up the wall about Darrow, otherwise, it would not have been such an enjoyable read for me.
Great review!
I enjoyed this quite a bit, but I don't really disagree with anything you said! I think it worked for me in a sort of a "summer blockbuster" sort of way. I really enjoyed the world that was created and I think having multiple POVs would have definitely elevated the book. Hopefully the second book can add some different perspectives. I think this was Evan's first book so there is still plenty of room to grow. Great review and really nice to see a dissenting opinion on this book since all I have really seen is tons of praise.
I ultimately enjoyed this book but I definitely agree with your frustrations. Some parts of the book really dragged and other parts were fantastic and I couldn't put the book down. Fully agree that multiple perspectives would have been a huge improvement! Especially with the love interest, she was a super interesting character and I really wish we had gotten more about her! I have high hopes for the sequel though 🤞
1:10 now why does that sound familiar? 🧐
Your points are so solid that I think I m now hesitating to pick it up! 😓😢😢😢😢😥😥😓😓😓😓
Well I’d still give it a go! At the very least, if you end up not enjoying it, you’ll at least get to see what other people are so hyped about 😊
So I don’t agree with revenge in any aspect...I don’t usually like revenge stories or heavy battle and training sequences. However, I loved this book and although Tau has a lot of negative/immature personality traits, he never gives up. I love the persevering against all odds trope and the rise of the underdog. I would have loved a dual perspective with the character you mentioned wanting to know more about. I think he is someone most people could probably root for, more level headed as compared to Tau. I can’t wait for the sequels and to see what is in store for this world and these characters. I think Tau could go either way (ascend or descend) and it’s really intriguing
Really good review. I like how you provided examples which supported your opinion. That's something I've always enjoyed about your reviews and character analysis. I looked at it differently. He's young so (as an individual in his 50s) I would've been surprised if he didn't waffle. He's going against his nature so, if he'd just all of a sudden been a totally different person all the time, I would've looked at it as contrived. The same applies to his apparent selfishness and rashness. He's young; obviously traumatized; and blinded by his quest for revenge. There's also the need he has to humiliate his opponents the way he feels his father was humiliated. I totally understand this. When I read a book, any book, I don't read it and check off when the writer doesn't follow my preconceived notions of "how this is done correctly". No, I read their story, the way they told it and see if it works on its own merit. I don't want another cookie cutter protagonists who does everything the "right" way and is always responsible. The flaws are what made him appealing to me. The same with pushing back against the society, I can understand having your opinions about its flaws but not being able to bother yourself with working for the greater good because that would take you away from the task at hand. I'm a character driven reader as well but I don't want paint by number characters that follow the same arcs as every other charatcter. Speaking of Sanderson, that's the primary reason I like Dalinar and Shalon so much which is their flaws. They stray away from the standard Campbellian step-by-step protagonist motif.
I actually loved Tau. He was using his negative emotion to improve himself but not entirely for noble reasons. He became a ruthless mentally fighter, he reminded me of Michael Jordan and his ruthlessness but we gradually see him consider more than just revenge.
This was actually my favorite book of the thirty I’ve read this year. But non stop action is my thing.
Haha, and it’s not my thing at all!
I put this on my TBR, but I'm also a very character driven reader so I don't know if I'll like this book very much 😅
I ended up liking the action, but I didn't realize it was a military fantasy when I went into it, so I had to adjust my expectations a lot! I ended up having a lot of the same feelings about you did. I thought the world building was thought provoking, but there were some plot points that felt a bit rushed, and Tau just kinda made me feel sad, like there was so much potential but he just couldn't break out of a vicious cycle.
Hey I know things have been crazy for you recently but, are you and Sean still going to review The Night Circus?
I had really similar feelings about this book despite wanting to like it. On the one hand, it was fairly gripping and I couldn't put it down. On the other, it felt like one giant fight scene/training montage without a lot to care about.
The change that the Omehi culture needs is not likely to come from someone who is balanced or well- adjusted. In fact, I don't even know what it means to be well-adjusted under such conditions.
I enjoyed the second half more than the first. Isihigo really interested me.
Pinning this as watch for later until I read it but NOW YOU HAVE ME SO SCARED 🤣🤣
I’m eagerly awaiting your thoughts! 😆
The action is great, Tau is a dum dum as Elliot said but overall I think it's a solid read. There are definitely improvements to be made in book 2 but I had a blast with it. I have a feeling if Tau wasn't seemingly ONLY driven by his revenge then he would have been a better character.
Alex Nieves lol okay I still am holding out hope but hey, at least if I don’t like it I won’t be alone 😂
@@JessieMaeBooks True!
Omg I loved Tau, lol. But agree he was one dimensional but I loved his perseverance 😍
I have finally read Rage of Dragons! I agree with all your points, I think largely because I'm also a character driven reader.
I loved the book, it gripped me and had me hooked consistently with its fast action and new characters/events dropping in at just the right places. The magic is really cool, the action is so well done and the society becomes so clear the mkre you read. I enjoyed that it wasn't dumbed down, that I had to read for context on what an umqondisi was etc.
However, my main gripe with this book was that it presented the society as matriarchal (queendom, 'women and men' not the other way around) but most times a woman is encountered in the book they are not listened to or don't have any traits beyond being beautiful. Zuri had a lot of potential, but as you say mostly became exposition dumping. I felt nothing for the romance in the book because other than her nice thighs and lips I knew nothing about her.
Spoilers ahead.
Then Queens seem to mostly be figureheads, they have to circumvent the ruling council to get anything done because no one believes in them or trusts them. Every time the young queen is mentioned her looks are always commented on. I am hoping for much more in the future, but considering where the book left Tau my hopes aren't that high!
Despite this I still enjoyed the book. 4/5 needed more dragons.
Will you do review on Jade City? Thanks
I would have loved POVs from the love interest and the queen. The book opens with an epic battle and a really cool warrior queen and then the rest of the female characters in the book are so blah. I was also expecting more, um, dragons... I’m really hoping that book 2 has fewer of the issues that I had with book 1 because I think this series has the potential to be really great. I do think that Evan Winter is a good author with lots of cool ideas and while Rage of Dragons wasn’t my favorite, I’m excited to see him develop and improve as an author.
This was probably my favorite read last year, agree with Tau being single minded but to me, it felt like someone that was so consumed with hatred that nothing else mattered, felt like he wasn't capable of anything else, great review
Thank you for reading and reviewing this book! More awareness to black authors. It's unfortunate that you didn't enjoy it more though but every book is not for everyone
I really loved this book, and I think it was because I enjoyed the military scenes, but also Tau's glaring flaws AND his very human contradictions made him seem realistic.
To take another story with some class divide subplots, Mistborn Final Empire (just taken as a standalone), I thought Mistborn was much less believeable in this aspect, because among the skaa, people were won quickly and completely over to the rebellion.
Here, Tau keeps considerable elements of the society's ideological baggage as he starts to challenge others - which is much more realistic than the changes we see in Mistborn. Except for Vin using 'Lord Ruler' as a curse, which was like how Tau holds on to his attachment to the military.
I was impressed by the societies that have been set up (can't remember the names) - Tau's society, the 'natives', the external threatening force that Tau's society fled from, and the demons in the alternate dimension.
Tau wanted that guy to have anxiety about being killed before finally killing him.
With the 2nd guy he is already fighting so already has adrenaline pumping.
With the 3rd guy, it's his pride. He wants not just to kill him but to humiliate him.
Personally I loved it.
I've had this book on my physical TBR for a few months and I'm so hesitant to get started. On the one hand, it has high praise from critics I trust On the other, I'm not a big fan of military fantasy and revenge stories fairly boring to me. I'd rather see a character fight to protect what they have or fight to gain something, rather than simply fighting to avenge what they've lost.
Oh man, based on your tastes, I really don’t think you’ll like it 😬 But you should definitely find out for yourself!
Woah it's on my tbr this month. Should I read or not? Undecided.
DO IT
I’d say yes, unless you completely hate training sequences 😆
I think Tau's contradictions are him processing everything
I enjoyed the book overall, personally. Found it very hard to put down.
I don't think I'd describe the society as colonial though. While it is true they are invading the natives, as a society they are doing it fleeing from something with no support from a home continent. A colonial empire would be having some support from the original location and/or extracting value to serve the original home. This is more straight invasion than colony IMO.
On Tau's comment about peace. It has been a while since I read it, but I thought that concern about the class system and society was more giving voice to the political parts developing/to come and showing more clearly why peace wasn't going to be universally popular among the upper classes/castes. So I took it less of Tau endorsing that view of peace being bad for disrupting the society as Tau thinking through what it may mean in order to think about who would/should be for or against it.
I enjoyed it more than you but I do agree with all your points. They are accurate, I was just willing to let things slide more cus I thought the action was cool and Tau's combat/prowess arc was very fun to follow. But certainly it's not a very 'deep' book and to be quite honest, I thought the whole reason for why Tau does what he does, the scene where someone close to him has something bad done to them in the beginning--I thought it was fairly cartoonishly done, tropey and was not believable to me that he'd go all out like that for so long just cus of that
If you like good revenge books, you should read Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie! Btw, great review. I had basically the same opinion of Rage of Dragons.
I plan to eventually! Also, I think Vinland Saga is pretty fantastic as far as revenge stories go :)
Sounds good.
Have to admit that I'm more intrigued now, having heard your thoughts, but knowing what Daniel and Murphy made of it also. I'm wary, as that was the same split of opinions as for The Lies of Locke Lamora, and I found that painful to read. I can't agree with your take all the time though.
yea Locke Lamora was very overrated to me. first half of it has no plot at all and when the plot does come in towards the end it's fairly cartoony
OMG I sooooo agree! I really liked the world that Evan Winter created, but I absolutely can't stand Tau! If I wasn't listening to the audiobook I would have DNF'd it for sure.
SPOILER WARNING. I can relate to the flopping of character “development” that Tau goes through. But I do want to mention that you had it right I think. He’s struggling with the shock of losing his father, and acts out of emotional rather than reasoning. I do thinking however he is slowly starting to realize that revenge won’t fix things. Solving the inequalities will. And we can see that in the book. One thing Tau consistently declares is this thought “no matter what I do or how good I am or who I kill...I can’t save them”. This is his development. It isn’t fully developed by the end of the book; but I hope book 2 does it. Otherwise, good review :)
Disagree with your take on the book, but glad to see more people giving this a shot and getting more publicity. Definitely my favorite book of 2019
Hey! I'm new to the channel. Have seen 2 videos and already live the content.
I understand, respect and appreciate your opinion of this book and of Tau, but for the great majority of this video I disagree with you. I simply *_LOVED_* this book, beginning to end. Tau is *supposed* to be a deeply flawed individual, his flaws make him more human, instead of the perfect specimen of humanity we typically get in Fantasy. And I think the following books will show his growth, show him becoming less of one-track minded character (the end of the book kinda leaves him no choice but to add a new focus to his life).
I’m glad you liked it. I don’t think most of fantasy nowadays shows perfect characters. In fact, I think it’s a trend to have deeply flawed characters, at least from the books I’ve picked up!
@@ebnovels Granted, lately there _have_ been a good number of flawed protagonists, and in fact this actually goes back to the 70s with the occasional messed up characters like Thomas Covenant (by Stephen R Donalds), a man who you _really_ don't like at first (if ever), but is prophesied to save The Land (the "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever" book one being *Lord Foul's Bane* ). So maybe I exaggerated it. But so many of the other characters I grew up with (I'm much older than you, 47 at the end of this month) were barely flawed, if at all. I'm looking at the characters in such series as Weis & Hickman's "Dragonlance Chronicles" (other than Raistlin), David Eddings' characters, Raymond E Feist's and Anne McCaffrey's to name a few authors.
I will admit, I'm behind on the more modern Fantasy (and Science Fiction), and I'm slowly trying to get caught up on the more popular and well known IPs in the fields. So my education of the current crop of Fantasy characters is lacking (though not in the BrandoSando realm, caught up on him!).
Haha, and ironically, a lot of Sanderson’s characters are pretty likable 😆
Yeah, thought it was a pretty average decent book - some parts are pretty good, others not so much.
It's a quick read, pretty well paced with lots of action. Some parts of the setting and magic are cool.
Characters and story... nothing really new or impressive, so far.
I will check out the sequel to see if it improves.
I remember when Daniel Greene reviews this and his gushing love still made me unsure of this book.
Are the fights so much as a Drizzt novel? I always thought there were too many in those.
I haven’t read Drizzt 🙈 But the majority of this book is action/fight scenes.
Elliot Brooks haha, ok. Fair warning, you wouldn’t like them. They’re overrated anyhow.
@@mrgodliakHey!! The Dark Elf trilogy is fantastic. Speak for yourself! 😉
Zam weazle I suppose so, for me they were. Don’t get me wrong though, the Dark Elf Trilogy is good, I just don’t think Elliot would like them. I admittedly probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t kept on hearing how amazing they were beforehand, so a more level-headed approach helps sometimes. I still need to finish the following series, only Passage to Dawn left.
The thumbnail makes it seem like the book is the bad boy on campus and he just gave you a wink
I herd the second book actually focuses on more of the politics of the world and tau sets aside the revenge plots so maybe check the second one
I’ve seen that he’s still quite focused on revenge. Either way, I don’t plan on picking up the next one. There were even more elements of the book I found lacking beyond what I mentioned here. I appreciate the author’s intentions, but the execution failed in basically every way for my tastes.
I quite liked this book, I dont think I took issue with alot of how Tao bothered you.
What stood out to me was (like sanderson) I feel like his set ups were really well done. Something you dont think is a big deal at the time ends up impacting how he fights later or a moment in the story.
Secondly I found it tragic (and therefore good bc I got feels) that Tao essentially breaks a part of himself to make another part of him strong. There are consequences for how he wants to go about taking his revenge.
Lastly is I liked the world Evans created. Its clear the characters/ tribe or w.e we follow are unreliable. THEY think they know how the world/lore is, but you know theres more to it. I like how they dont know all the answers and what they think are facts isnt the full story.
Just so much more pros than cons for me with this one!
Finally! People keep raving about how great this book is, but all the time I read it I was thinking, “why is this guy so whiny.”
It's interesting to hear your not entirely positive thoughts on this book. Most of the reviews I've seen are positive, but I've always been hesitated about RoD despite all the praise and recommendations.
I don't think this is my type of book. I downloaded a sample and it opens with a battle... well, I just don't care. I have to REALLY care about the characters to care enough about the battle to read about a page of it at a time. Even with stormlight archives whenever the fight scene gets longer than one page I'd be bored, and I LOVE Kaladin and Adolin and Dalinar. Guess this is like going into a battle without Thrill... and I'm the kind of person who will never feel the Thrill.
RoD is not the book for me. I couldn't even finish the sample I've downloaded. I feel sorry, but I just couldn't care enough to continue. Battles are sooooooo boring 😐
Well that’s ok! I think knowing your own tastes as well as you do is going to hopefully help ensure that you pick up books that’ll work for you 😊
I don't know if I would so much call the Omehi "colonizers" as I would *_refugees._* To me, colonizers implies sending a *part* of your civilization off to inhabit a land and build an offshoot of your civilization there. But in the case of the Omehi, the *_entire_* peoples fled their homeland and arrived in this place as a last ditch effort to find a new home for *all of the Omehi, not just a small group.* They are a refugee people, fleeing threat -- I don't recall the name of the beings(?) they were fleeing -- that was literally an *_existential threat_* to their people, one that would have wiped them out. They came to this land not to create an offshoot of their civilization (a colony), but to rebuild and continue it completely.
Do you think you enjoyed it enough to read the sequel?
Unfortunately no, but I’d definitely read a different series if he writes one!
Tau was definitely annoying for me too, made frustratingly stupid decisions, really selfish, but i like characters who are flawed. I loved the book, and Tau grew on me more near the end. I really enjoyed reading the relationship with the sword brothers.
I liked it, even though I'm not usually a fan of all action books
As an African myself I was not exactly thrilled or impressed by the mythology and worldbuilding. This was all over the place, borrowing from diverse and unrelated parts of the continent, which even though as a work of fiction is at liberty to adapt, I don't see how this is taken to be the strongest recommendation for the book.
Tau is annoying but I love action sequences and training schools so those elements carried it for me :)
Ugh, Tao sucked for me also. I was hoping for some growth or something to make him less annoying. I appreciate that he didn't became this grand hero, but what he was, was annoying.
this... this seems remarkably similar to revenge wuxia/xianxia startings..
Was I the only person who was just grossed out by the sex scene? No woman would get into someone's dirty bathwater and just go for it. Would they? Because despite enjoying the book and really thinking the second book will be even better, it's apparently the sex scene that stuck with me.
I found their relationship very underdeveloped. It got to a point where no matter how rude or angry Tau was, she’d still give him physical affection. So...the sex scene seemed pretty on par with the rest of their relationship 😆
Yes! To me she seemed to be what a man imagines his dream girl is like in his head? e.g. obsessed with him for no real reason and without him having to try
Minor spoilers:
Hahahaha, yeah, that’s how it came across to me too. He just decided one day he wanted to be with her; and then-woah, whada u know!-she wants to be with him, tells him, and kisses him.
I agree that a multiple perspective would have made for an even greater read. But, not everybody is GRRM and not everyone wants their reads to be so dense. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE that ASOIAF is dense and I want it to be even more as I will begin reading A Feast for Crows, as soon as I am done with The Rage of Dragons, but sometimes a reader needs a good palate cleanser and a straight forward read.
As for Tau, I could not disagree with you more. I think that Tau is a logical product of his society. Especially, a society that murdered his FATHER. Do we really need to see this relationship with his father if he reacts this way? It's obvious what his father meant to him with that reaction. Let's face it, this society/culture that has bred/brainwashed Tau makes Tau's character development totally believable. What is one to expect from an imperialist crap society? I want to see Tau and his sword brothers break this caste system in half.
I love and am loving this book. I am almost done with it and, as first reads go, am enjoying it a lot more than the first installment of The Mistborn Trilogy. I guess being able to empathize with Tau depends on one's own experiences. I am loving this read and have not been bored one second.
I've not read it (on my TBR) but for any debut author I think it's best to do 1 POV because multiple POV's is tough as hell to nail for a newbie. Usually one POV feels neglected and things tend to jump around too much.
I said frequently throughout the review that Tau is a product of his society. While I thought that concept was interesting, Tau puts people in danger-people he’s supposed to care about-for his revenge. Maybe you haven’t read the parts yet where he ruins a lot of what other people are working toward and risks his sword brothers’ lives to do so, or maybe you just don’t think it’s a big deal, but that-along with his stupidity-made it so I couldn’t enjoy the story.
He does have other POVs. They’re infrequent, but they’re there.
@@ebnovels I see the points you are making. I am just not going to come to that same conclusion after one book. I do plan on continuing with this series when the second book comes out in November and expect to see a lot of growth as he matures and becomes wise from his experiences.
I mean, he's a kid for crying out loud. Abandoned by his mother, father killed, Zuri's friend killed because of Lekan. What Tau has gone through. Were he finds himself in this caste system. What the "nobles" have done to him, his loved ones, his kind, practically training them for the sole purpose of just being bait for their enemies.
With that against him you can't see why he doesn't consider himself part of the team? He didn't enter to become part of a team. He entered for vengeance and no, I am not okay with it but I am more annoyed with his society than I am with a boy who just wanted to pass his training, get injured so he could get out of the military, and get married so he could have a family.
Since when is straightforward writing a bad thing? Yeah i don't want books to be like "he drew his sword, stabbed his enemy, the enemy fell, he bleed, the hero moved on" but cryptic and flowery writing is annoying as all hell.
I didn’t say it was bad. Some people prefer more poetic writing though, and since it’s a book review, I thought that’d be helpful for people to know.
@@ebnovels oh I know you didn't say it. You just pointed out that some people are against it. So i was just mentioning the issue in general. I'm a Sanderson fan myself and I couldn't imagine going through 1200 pages of "poetic" writing haha.
Sorry for the confusion. Love ya, Elliot!
No worries! Thanks for the apology, but you’re all good-no apology necessary 😄 I also can’t imagine 1,200 pages of flowery writing 😅
@Sean Hi, Mr Elliot Brooks!
the sequel is coming out in july :)
Dream Master it’s coming out in November. Author confirmed it on Twitter.
Look at all those tabs ! 😮 I think this book is going to be Luna Bear's next chew toy 🤣
Do you have a sister named merphy?
the author shares the same first name as me :D
Hi Evan
Tau is the epitome of a Gary Sue character....single one-track minded, and almost zero character development. On page 1, he's like "I want revenge!" Page 500...."I want revenge!". And in-between, it's just him going "Arggh!! Sword fight to get stronger!". Tau is an idiot, moron, and puts everyone in danger to achieve his own selfish goals and desires, damning everyone else in the process. I just don't understand why this book gets the (pardon the pun), rage it gets. It's simply not a very good book.
I think some people are all about the action 💁🏻♀️
yeaaah... I don't think you understand the definition of Mary Sue/Gary Stu. That's not what one is at all, mate. Try again, and go look up the definition of a term before you use it, why don't ya?
So I would agree that Tau is a Gary Sue, actually, because he gets good at everything he puts his mind to, and within a short amount of time. I don’t know that the words following the original commenter’s statement were meant to be them defining the term, but rather adding into why they didn’t like Tau. You admitted in another comment that you might have exaggerated something because you weren’t caught up on modern fantasy, but then tell someone else to look something up when it’s possible you misunderstood what they were saying. Maybe they do have the term wrong, idk, but either way, I’d ask that you maybe think about how what you said comes across.
@@ebnovels "A Mary Sue is a generic name for any fictional character who is so competent or perfect that this appears absurd, even in the context of the fictional setting. Mary Sues are often an author's idealized or flawless self-insertion." --Wikipedia
"A Mary Sue is a character who is so perfect that he or she warps the world around them to display their perfection. It seems as though nothing in this universe except Mary Sue is even real, and is instead a plot device to make Mary Sue seem flawless and loved. A Mary Sue can destroy a piece of writing or media, since the characters existence will often forcibly make the world and people around them defy logic to simply display how amazingly radiant they are." --Urban Dictionary
"Mary Sue is a term used to describe a fictional character, usually female, who is seen as too perfect and almost boring for lack of flaws, originally written as an idealized version of an author in fanfiction." --dictionary.com
"The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment. She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. *_She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws - either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing._* " --tvtropes.org
Mary Sues tend to be this competent without having worked for it, and yet the vast majority of this book is Tau literally almost killing himself working to get better and better at fighting. In no way does he fit any common definition of Mary Sue. And you also discussed his flaws (idiocy, single-mindedness, in particular) in your video, so he is clearly not flawless, as a Mary Sue would be. (The topic of Mary Sue is something any hard core *Star Wars* fan has had to discuss the past 5 years)
ME FIRST ! I think ... :D
a great book :)
Some of your criticisms of Tau:
1) He is not deep enough
2) His trauma has made him one dimensional
3) He flip flops on his plan
4) He makes dumb decisions
Don't forget that he is a teenager who has suffered a tremendous loss which he blames himself for. Not all teenagers are potential geniuses who can masterplan their revenge. Tau is a dumb kid, I mean his initial plan for a cushy life was also very stupid, the only thing that changed in him was he got something to focus on.
I didn’t forget. I don’t need him to be a genius with a master plan, I just don’t want to follow such an idiotic character, which-as you stated-he was from the beginning. There’s absolutely room between those two extremes for characters to fall into; they don’t have to be either extremely intelligent or extremely stupid.
I don’t think his trauma made him one dimensional, I think the author did. There are plenty of characters dealing with trauma in books that are well fleshed out.
Kind of feel like you are bashing the book, majority of people loved it and I disagree with a lot that you said.☹️But I still get that this is your opinion and it wasnt for you
I actually share a lot of the issues mentioned by Elliot, would you mind to elaborate which points do you disagree with? Just out of curiosity.
For context: I liked the book enough to give a try to the rest of the series when it comes out, but found it extremely overhyped and narrow in its narrative approach.
What do you disagree with? It kinda feels like you are bashing the review 😉 (I’m messing around)
For a book called The Rage of Dragons, this story doesn't have a lot of the beasts in it. And Tau is definitely the most boring character I have ever encountered. This book was boring and disappointing
The book was meh. One of the most overrated books in years.
Maybe they really were savages!? Just saying...
Have you read the book?
I’ve not. Was there supporting evidence to define said term? I’d say hacking off scalps and eating still beating hearts is pretty savage. According the dictionary it’s got a pretty broad application. savage:
noun
1 : a person belonging to a primitive society
2 : a brutal person
3 : a rude or unmannerly person
@@ebnovels LOL dat clapback