#BlogTour-‘The Rage Of Dragons’ by Evan Winter

About the book…

‘A captivating epic fantasy from a major new talent’ Anthony Ryan, author of ‘Blood Song’

‘Intense, inventive and action-packed from beginning to end – a relentlessly gripping, brilliant read‘ James Islington, author of ‘The Shadow Of What Was Lost’

The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable war for generations. The lucky ones are born gifted: some have the power to call down dragons, others can be magically transformed into bigger, stronger, faster killing machines.

Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Tau Tafari wants more than this, but his plans of escape are destroyed when those closest to him are brutally murdered.

With too few gifted left the Omehi are facing genocide, but Tau cares only for revenge. Following an unthinkable path, he will strive to become the greatest swordsman to ever live, willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill three of his own people.

‘The Rage Of Dragons  launches and unmissable epic fantasy series about a world caught in an endless war and the young man who will become his people’s only hope for survival. 

‘Utter and complete perfection. Winter has created an absolute masterpiece of a novel’ The Bookbag

‘Intense, vivid and brilliantly realized – a necessary read’ Anna Smith Spark, author of ‘The Court Of Broken Knives’

‘Stunning debut fantasy’ Publishers Weekly

‘Fans of Anthony Ryan’s Blood Song will love this’ Django Wexler, author of ‘The Thousand Names’

‘A Xhosa-inspired world complete with magic, dragons, demons and curses, The Rage of Dragons takes classic fantasy and imbues it with a fresh and exciting twist’ Anna Stephens, author of ‘Godblind’

‘A gripping tale . . . with one of the most enthralling hero’s journeys I’ve read’ S. A. Chakraborty, author of ‘The City Of Brass’

The biggest, dragon sized thanks to Nazia Khatun of Little,Brown UK for the blogtour invite and the gifted review copy of ‘The Rage Of Dragons’ , which is out now in hardback, ebook and audiobook editions.

I genuinely am struggling for what to say about this book. It, and Chuck Wendig’s ‘Wanderers’ have both given me that spidey sense of tingling fingers when I picked them up, that feeling that you are about to dive into something incredibly special, a feeling that doesn’t come over me very often. Both have rocketed into my top 10 books of the year without a shadow of a doubt.

Launching a series,especially a fantasy one, requires so many ingredients that often the end product can be exhausting to read and overshot with setting up plotlines, but immediately you get this book from the very first page. As with the characters, you are plunged into a war, a battle scene which is horrific and bloody , something which has been going on for so long that day to day survival is key. No one dares think any longer that that.

It is a matriarchal society,ruled by a dragon queen, Taifa, able to control and use dragons to fight with, whilst the Gifted, the Chosen who can use their powers to mutate, combine forces  and energies are dying at the hands of the hedeni and savages. Their powers are not saving them from death and the onslaught of war. Omehi losses are so catastrophic that Queen Taifa has to do the unthinkable and sacrifice her own troops to win the battle which starts the ar, but there is an unforgivable loss which sends ripples throughout their world…

”One hundred eighty-six cycles later”

A reader may be forgiven for thinking that this is a throwaway remark, however, that one sentence tells you pretty much all you need to know about the what happened next-a world has been established which is steeped in blood, death and military training where battles, fights and war is ongoing. Children are born and raise into classes (such as High Common) . Into this world steps Tau,a Chosen-

”So  much of Chosen culture revolved around fighting and tests,but he didn’t want to spend a cycle of his life at the Southern Ihashe Isikolo,sparring with other wood-headed brutes,just so they could all spend a tenth of their lives on the front lines of an undending war.He didn’t want to kill women and men he’d never met,and equally important,he didn’t want them to kill him.”

In one swoop we have a sense of Tau, his moral compass, and his role in the story which is yet to be played out.

He is the moral crux of the story, in a war so long, so devastating with millions of deaths, it takes the spotlight on one person, bringing it down to the personal level and making it resonate that informs the story, sets the path of the book and brings the reader along for the ride. In a sea of deaths, it would be easy to lose sight that a single one is too many, but in a land beset by a war which has informed history, culture and, to an extent, everyone’s futures, Tau is the hero that is needed. A reluctant one, a forced one but this story shows the unending nature of hope and how the power of the individual to step outside of their assigned role in life, and challenge a status quo, has the potential to  change all lives for the better.

The action is brutal, the creatures terrifying, use of dragons is electrifying-all of this Evan does with aplomb whilst being careful not to overuse these devices so it becomes a drudge to read. He never loses sight of the story of his people, and although I did have to read quite a few passages over several times to get the names of characters into my head and their assigned roles, I found myself swept up in a cataclysmic battle and carried forward with the story.

I felt it was an allegorical tale for our time-we may not be being beset by actual war, but it feels like there is a daily onslaught of erosion of liberties, the rise of ‘acceptable’ racism (never ever acceptable but people are actually letting these words fly from their mouths and fingers as if they were),sexism, poverty and injustice. Battle weary and scared is probably how many of us feel at the current state of affairs as well a being on the precipice of an era of uncertainty, whilst being sure things are continuing to steadily get worse.There may not be six legged creatures ridden by savages with bone swords chasing us,but looking at the news it is easy to understand that not all monsters wear their true face.

I loved everything about this-the world building, the reason why Evan wrote it, the representation it brings, the glorious cover, I could  not find fault with it even if I tried-and I don’t want to. And it’s only Book 1 (sqeals with unadulterated glee!)AND for a book with dragons in the title, it doesn’t overplay it’s hand at all. Pure, glorious, epic fantasy. What more could you want?

About the author…

Born in England to South American parents, Evan Winter was raised in Africa near the historical territory of his Xhosa ancestors. He always wanted to be a writer, but went to university first, tended bars in two countries, became a director and cinematographer whose work has been viewed more than 500,000,000 times online, met a couple conmen in the process, was threatened by UK mobsters in a case of mistaken identity, worked with wonderful A-list celebrities, unbelievably talented unknowns, and became the Creative Director for one of the world’s largest infrastructure companies, all before realizing that the words in his head would never write themselves. So, before he runs out of time, he started writing them.

More to the point, he grew up reading fantasy, loving fantasy, and believing that it’s our stories that make us who we are. He remembers being fourteen and sitting on his bed for countless hours in the summer, reading Robert Jordan with Sarah McLachlan’s music playing in the background. He remembers being transported to brilliant worlds of magic, heroism, conflict and wonder. He remembers the lessons learned when he grew up alongside Rand, contemplated life with Drizzt, fought against hard odds with Druss, rejected a destined life like Sparhawk, and decided that, even if doing the right thing ends up badly, Ned was a good man who should be emulated.

Evan remembers thinking that, though he has but one life to live, by reading and writing he could experience a thousand more.

Links-http://evanwinter.com/

Twitter @EvanWinter