4 out of 4 stars
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Royal Dragoneers is Book One of the Dragoneers Saga written by M. R. Mathias.
Aspiring King’s Ranger Jenka de Swasso knows he is in trouble after disobeying his mother and his master by following his prey all the way deep in the hills teeming with trolls, goblins and ogres. Things take a new turn when a lime colored dragon saved him from a band of three attacking trolls. Jenka, then, realizes that not all dragons are enemies.
However, Master Kember, a former King’s Ranger and Jenka’s mentor, feels there is a need to seek an audience with the king about the recent event. Together with Jenka and two more of his trainees, Solman and Rikky, they set out for the treacherous journey to King’s Island. They are joined by a King’s Ranger, two of his Foresters and a pair of druids practicing High Magic from the Order of Dou, whose mission is to inform the king of an imminent war to be initiated by the trolls led by Gravelbone, the avenging Goblin King riding a nightshade.
This is a fast-paced, exciting, action-filled and suspenseful fantasy book told in the third person omniscient point of view. The action and suspense begin as early as the first chapter and never seem to stop until the end. Moreover, the plot is very unpredictable with twists and turns at almost every chapter and several surprises along the way that the possibility of guessing what would happen next is non-existent.
The writing is casual making the book easy to read and understand. The author described every fictitious creature very vividly that the reader can almost imagine not only the sparkling and vibrant colors of the dragon scales but also the gruesome and ugly form of the gigantic trolls and orcs with even the minute details effectively depicted.
In addition to the great plot is the set of well-developed and admirable characters. The Dragoneers are smart, brave, honorable and selfless. They have their own share of pains and losses making it easy to relate with them and root for them. Even the minor characters are memorable. Herald is the fatherly King’s Ranger, Linux is the well-meaning and powerful druid, Mysterian is the intimidating witch and Blanchard is the arrogant king.
In the end, the reader is rewarded with an exciting and justifiable climax followed by a denouement that offers hope and anticipation for the next book in the series.
However, other readers may find this book too intense for their taste. The killings may be too graphic while the deaths may be too painful. Scenes of torture and slaughter are not for the faint of heart. Moreover, I noticed some missing words and typo errors (like Ricky instead of Rikky and Solmon instead of Solman) which are thankfully very few.
I, therefore, give this book the rate of 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend it to fans of fantasy novels and to those who enjoy stories about goblins, orcs, trolls, ogres, witches and dragons. Some scenes, however, are not suitable for young readers.
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The Royal Dragoneers
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