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The Wardstone Trilogy #1
The Sword and the Dragon:
When the Royal Wizard of Westland poisons the king so that his puppet prince can take the throne and start a continental war, a young squire is forced to run for his life carrying the powerful sword that his dying monarch burdened him with from the death bed.
Two brothers find a magic ring and start on paths to becoming the most powerful sort of enemies, while an evil young sorceress unwillingly falls in love with one of them when he agrees to help her steal a dragon's egg for her father. Her father just happens to be the Royal Wizard, and despite his daughter's feelings, he would love nothing more than to sacrifice the boy!
All of these characters, along with the Wolf King of Wildermont, the Lion Lord of Westland, and a magical hawk named Talon, are on a collision course toward Willa the Witch Queen's palace in the distant kingdom of Highwander. There the very bedrock is formed of the powerful magical substance called Wardstone.
Who are the heroes? And will they get there before the Royal Wizard and his evil hordes do?
Whatever happens, the journey will be spectacular, and the confrontation will be cataclysmic.
Two brothers find a magic ring and start on paths to becoming the most powerful sort of enemies, while an evil young sorceress unwillingly falls in love with one of them when he agrees to help her steal a dragon's egg for her father. Her father just happens to be the Royal Wizard, and despite his daughter's feelings, he would love nothing more than to sacrifice the boy!
All of these characters, along with the Wolf King of Wildermont, the Lion Lord of Westland, and a magical hawk named Talon, are on a collision course toward Willa the Witch Queen's palace in the distant kingdom of Highwander. There the very bedrock is formed of the powerful magical substance called Wardstone.
Who are the heroes? And will they get there before the Royal Wizard and his evil hordes do?
Whatever happens, the journey will be spectacular, and the confrontation will be cataclysmic.
Kindle Edition
First published July 24, 2010
351 people are currently reading
2141 people want to read
About the author
M.R. Mathias
89 books397 followersM. R. Mathias is a member of the Authors Guild who cares for his wife, a Breast Cancer Warrior who has Parkinson's. After raising two boys into fine young men, they and two dogs split their time between a modest smalltown home, and an apartment built on a floating dock on Lake Ultura (aka Lake Texoma) which foots into an amazing State Park brimming with all sorts of wildlife. Like the wizards of old, he tends to the animals who share the area and inspire the creatures in his works. He likes to fish, write, play guitar, and he builds all sorts of things out of reclaimed wood. He sold over two million eBooks most of them before eBooks were cool. His work is critically acclaimed, and has earned multiple literary awards, including a coveted Locus Poll nomination.
**Featured in the March 2020, Publisher's Weekly article, "As Luck Would Have It"
"The Master of Epic Fantasy" - Kindle Nation Daily, Nov. 2017
Mathias has authored several fantasy series and compiled an admirable list of accolades along the way.
--Devious Arcana, (ongoing)
--The Wardstone Trilogy (3 Books)
-- Perpetual Fantastica Fantastica (4 Books)
--The Dragoneer Saga (6 Books)
--The Legend of Vanx Malic (10 Books)
--The Crimzon and Clover Short Story Series (8 Books)
--Master Zarvin's Adventures (3 Books)
--Dragon Racers (3 books)
If you are a Kindle Unlimited user, treat yourself to some of the best "hidden gem" fantasy ever written.
Find M. R. Mathias online: mrmathiasbooks .com
Here is what others are saying about M. R. Mathias:
"There are few writers in the genre of fantasy that can equal the creative mind of M.R. Mathias - now acknowledged as a master in this genre of dragons and dwarves, and magic, and spells, and all aspects of fantasy."-- Top 100, Hall of Fame, Vine Voice, Book Reviewer, Grady Harp
"M.R. Mathias imagines a setting that will entice readers and lead them, along with his characters, on a breathtaking adventure." -- Readers Favorite Book Awards review of M. R. Mathias's 2017 Award Winning novel "A Gossamer Lens" from The Legend of Vanx Malic series
"M.R. Mathias is a master at world building and is so good with creative descriptions that you can almost feel the wind whipping through your hair as you soar along on the back of a dragon." -- Readers Favorite Awards review of M. R. Mathias's 2015 "Gold Medal" Award Winning novel "Blood and Royalty" from The Dragoneer Saga"
"You've (Mathias) already achieved much, much more than so many people who like to think of themselves as writers." -- @Gollancz The Deputy Publishing Director of SF, Fantasy & Horror list of the Orion Publishing Group, 2013
**Featured in the March 2020, Publisher's Weekly article, "As Luck Would Have It"
"The Master of Epic Fantasy" - Kindle Nation Daily, Nov. 2017
Mathias has authored several fantasy series and compiled an admirable list of accolades along the way.
--Devious Arcana, (ongoing)
--The Wardstone Trilogy (3 Books)
-- Perpetual Fantastica Fantastica (4 Books)
--The Dragoneer Saga (6 Books)
--The Legend of Vanx Malic (10 Books)
--The Crimzon and Clover Short Story Series (8 Books)
--Master Zarvin's Adventures (3 Books)
--Dragon Racers (3 books)
If you are a Kindle Unlimited user, treat yourself to some of the best "hidden gem" fantasy ever written.
Find M. R. Mathias online: mrmathiasbooks .com
Here is what others are saying about M. R. Mathias:
"There are few writers in the genre of fantasy that can equal the creative mind of M.R. Mathias - now acknowledged as a master in this genre of dragons and dwarves, and magic, and spells, and all aspects of fantasy."-- Top 100, Hall of Fame, Vine Voice, Book Reviewer, Grady Harp
"M.R. Mathias imagines a setting that will entice readers and lead them, along with his characters, on a breathtaking adventure." -- Readers Favorite Book Awards review of M. R. Mathias's 2017 Award Winning novel "A Gossamer Lens" from The Legend of Vanx Malic series
"M.R. Mathias is a master at world building and is so good with creative descriptions that you can almost feel the wind whipping through your hair as you soar along on the back of a dragon." -- Readers Favorite Awards review of M. R. Mathias's 2015 "Gold Medal" Award Winning novel "Blood and Royalty" from The Dragoneer Saga"
"You've (Mathias) already achieved much, much more than so many people who like to think of themselves as writers." -- @Gollancz The Deputy Publishing Director of SF, Fantasy & Horror list of the Orion Publishing Group, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 197 reviews
May 25, 2012
FBC Review published for the original edition of this novel that launched Mr. Mathias
INTRODUCTION: Several weeks ago I wanted to find some new independent books to read - I did some posts about the ones reviewed by me and Mihir in 2010 - and I spent an hour or two checking Smashwords sff books: blurb, first page and then random pages from the excerpt if interested.
Out of maybe 50 novels I looked at, The Sword and the Dragon was the only one that intrigued me since despite the traditional sounding blurb, the first page attracted me and then I liked what I read in the random pages I tried. I downloaded the extensive excerpt linked above - at about 100k words it is as long as a regular novel - and I read it and then I bought the full book.
The Sword and the Dragon is the debut of the author and the first novel in The Wardstone trilogy of which the second book is early next year, but it tells a pretty complete story in itself ending the main threads introduced here while planting the hooks for the next volumes.
FORMAT/CLASSIFICATION: The Sword and the Dragon is available only electronically for now and it stands at about 235k words, so the equivalent of ~700 print pages. There are 59 numbered chapters and an Epilogue, while the main POV's are the two Skyler brothers Hyden and Gerard, the squire Mikahl and to a lesser extent the wizard Pael and his daughter Shaella. Several other secondary characters get interlude-like segments that present the happenings in various places outside of the main characters' locations at the time. A map of the novel's mainland kingdoms is available HERE, though there are hints of distant places and people.
The Sword and the Dragon is true epic fantasy with all the tropes associated - dragons, elves, wizards, giants, dwarves, fairies, trolls, lizard people, zombies, quests, destined heroes, dastardly villains, powerful demons that are ready to escape their containment and bring evil to the world, magical animals, people that can talk with animals, kings, lords, warriors, you name it, it is probably there - that manages to be absolutely fresh and zany with some great twists. I want to emphasize again that while there will be a sequel soon, The Sword and the Dragon ends its main arc so it is a standalone part of a greater tapestry.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "Gerard Skyler used his free arm to wipe the sweat from his brow before it had a chance to drip into his eyes. Scaling the towering, nesting cliff for the second time was far harder than he had expected it to be. No one had attempted the climb two days in a row before. His body was still sore and raw from yesterday’s climb, but he could not afford to stop and rest. He was more than three hundred feet above a rocky canyon floor. A fall would undoubtedly be fatal. The last thing he needed, at the moment, was burning eyes and blurred vision."
So the novel starts and I liked the above paragraph so I kept reading and got hooked on the story. In essence The Sword and the Dragon is set to be the replay in the present of the novel of events of long ago, when escaped demons brought darkness to the world until a king with a magic sword made by dwarves, giants and elves working together - races that tend to dislike each other and humanity to boot - and a sorcerer that could talk with animals, united all the living things to defeat evil and imprison the nasty demons with a powerful dragon guarding the Seal.
But the dragon was smart enough not to want to be trapped for ever in guarding the portal to the underworld, so she put in an escape clause that will trigger when humans start doing some bad things; enter evil wizard Pael who is set to use dark magic, nasty tricks and the wiles of his daughter Shaella to put in motion events that will lead to the breaking of the seal...
Well, so it goes but what if Shaella actually falls in love with the "sacrifice boy" that Pael needs at a crucial moment, or what if the story as retold is not quite complete missing some ingredients, or what if a key magic artifact goes to the wrong brother and the magic sword loses its magic and goes to the wrong heir? Read the novel and you will find out some answers...
Hoping that the above will give you an inkling why I found The Sword and the Dragon so much fun, I want to talk a bit about the actual execution of the storyline above. The first thing I noticed about The Sword and the Dragon is that it's a true work of love from the author. The world of the novel is described in quite a lot of detail, while the characters have a lot of pages that allow us to get to know them. However the book mixes well descriptions with action, so I never felt the narrative flow stalling.
The Sword and the Dragon starts with essentially two threads, one following the life of two of the secretive Skyler clan youngsters: brothers Gerard and Hyden and one following the squire Mikahl trying to fulfill the last wishes of his protector plus some "behind the scenes" action from Pael that sets the scene so to speak, but at some point it manages to skilfully switch the threads into the more familiar ones - quest to stop the bad guys - though not without introducing some twists in the narrative. The Sword and the Dragon manages to keep the balance between the threads and when as expected things start converging, the tension ratchets up and the book becomes impossible to put down till the end.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a high level of editing for a quite long independent novel - there are some little mistakes here and there and occasionally character names are misspelled a little but no typo stands out. While a traditional fantasy in many respects, The Sword and the Dragon does not shy from explicit language when appropriate and characters, even ones readers may get to like may die or be transformed in unexpected ways.
Overall The Sword and the Dragon (A+) is an impressive debut - a traditional fantasy that manages to be fresh and a novel that while it is the start of a series, it succeeds in offering a complete reading experience. I suggest to try the extended sample linked above and if you love it as I did, get and read it!
INTRODUCTION: Several weeks ago I wanted to find some new independent books to read - I did some posts about the ones reviewed by me and Mihir in 2010 - and I spent an hour or two checking Smashwords sff books: blurb, first page and then random pages from the excerpt if interested.
Out of maybe 50 novels I looked at, The Sword and the Dragon was the only one that intrigued me since despite the traditional sounding blurb, the first page attracted me and then I liked what I read in the random pages I tried. I downloaded the extensive excerpt linked above - at about 100k words it is as long as a regular novel - and I read it and then I bought the full book.
The Sword and the Dragon is the debut of the author and the first novel in The Wardstone trilogy of which the second book is early next year, but it tells a pretty complete story in itself ending the main threads introduced here while planting the hooks for the next volumes.
FORMAT/CLASSIFICATION: The Sword and the Dragon is available only electronically for now and it stands at about 235k words, so the equivalent of ~700 print pages. There are 59 numbered chapters and an Epilogue, while the main POV's are the two Skyler brothers Hyden and Gerard, the squire Mikahl and to a lesser extent the wizard Pael and his daughter Shaella. Several other secondary characters get interlude-like segments that present the happenings in various places outside of the main characters' locations at the time. A map of the novel's mainland kingdoms is available HERE, though there are hints of distant places and people.
The Sword and the Dragon is true epic fantasy with all the tropes associated - dragons, elves, wizards, giants, dwarves, fairies, trolls, lizard people, zombies, quests, destined heroes, dastardly villains, powerful demons that are ready to escape their containment and bring evil to the world, magical animals, people that can talk with animals, kings, lords, warriors, you name it, it is probably there - that manages to be absolutely fresh and zany with some great twists. I want to emphasize again that while there will be a sequel soon, The Sword and the Dragon ends its main arc so it is a standalone part of a greater tapestry.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "Gerard Skyler used his free arm to wipe the sweat from his brow before it had a chance to drip into his eyes. Scaling the towering, nesting cliff for the second time was far harder than he had expected it to be. No one had attempted the climb two days in a row before. His body was still sore and raw from yesterday’s climb, but he could not afford to stop and rest. He was more than three hundred feet above a rocky canyon floor. A fall would undoubtedly be fatal. The last thing he needed, at the moment, was burning eyes and blurred vision."
So the novel starts and I liked the above paragraph so I kept reading and got hooked on the story. In essence The Sword and the Dragon is set to be the replay in the present of the novel of events of long ago, when escaped demons brought darkness to the world until a king with a magic sword made by dwarves, giants and elves working together - races that tend to dislike each other and humanity to boot - and a sorcerer that could talk with animals, united all the living things to defeat evil and imprison the nasty demons with a powerful dragon guarding the Seal.
But the dragon was smart enough not to want to be trapped for ever in guarding the portal to the underworld, so she put in an escape clause that will trigger when humans start doing some bad things; enter evil wizard Pael who is set to use dark magic, nasty tricks and the wiles of his daughter Shaella to put in motion events that will lead to the breaking of the seal...
Well, so it goes but what if Shaella actually falls in love with the "sacrifice boy" that Pael needs at a crucial moment, or what if the story as retold is not quite complete missing some ingredients, or what if a key magic artifact goes to the wrong brother and the magic sword loses its magic and goes to the wrong heir? Read the novel and you will find out some answers...
Hoping that the above will give you an inkling why I found The Sword and the Dragon so much fun, I want to talk a bit about the actual execution of the storyline above. The first thing I noticed about The Sword and the Dragon is that it's a true work of love from the author. The world of the novel is described in quite a lot of detail, while the characters have a lot of pages that allow us to get to know them. However the book mixes well descriptions with action, so I never felt the narrative flow stalling.
The Sword and the Dragon starts with essentially two threads, one following the life of two of the secretive Skyler clan youngsters: brothers Gerard and Hyden and one following the squire Mikahl trying to fulfill the last wishes of his protector plus some "behind the scenes" action from Pael that sets the scene so to speak, but at some point it manages to skilfully switch the threads into the more familiar ones - quest to stop the bad guys - though not without introducing some twists in the narrative. The Sword and the Dragon manages to keep the balance between the threads and when as expected things start converging, the tension ratchets up and the book becomes impossible to put down till the end.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a high level of editing for a quite long independent novel - there are some little mistakes here and there and occasionally character names are misspelled a little but no typo stands out. While a traditional fantasy in many respects, The Sword and the Dragon does not shy from explicit language when appropriate and characters, even ones readers may get to like may die or be transformed in unexpected ways.
Overall The Sword and the Dragon (A+) is an impressive debut - a traditional fantasy that manages to be fresh and a novel that while it is the start of a series, it succeeds in offering a complete reading experience. I suggest to try the extended sample linked above and if you love it as I did, get and read it!
July 20, 2012
Amazon suggested this based on a Dalglish book I downloaded. Gave it a try, got a few chapters in, and got bored. Just really kind of meh. Nothing grabbed my attention, nothing really stood out. Despite the stellar reviews, I'd file this one with Eragon. Same treatment of standard fantasy tropes. Don't know if I'd call it bad, but it definitely bored me to the point of not wanting to read farther, so take that as you will.
The opening scene is lackluster, at best, and just kind of jumps around, constantly keeping us at the periphery even though we are inside the characters' heads. Farm boys (or tribesmen, actually, but eh, same difference) are climbing cliffs to harvest eggs that they sell. The eggs provide such a significant portion of their income (clearly they rely on consistent egg harvests) that I begin to wonder why none of the tribe at all have thought to, I don't know, build some scaffolding, or permanent handholds, or something to maybe make the whole enterprise less dangerous. Maybe some guardrails. The reader is left wondering if the danger is perhaps due to the climb posing some barbaric rite of passage, but unfortunately the reason seems to simply be "because artificially contrived tension, that's why!" so we're never enlightened, and are forced to assume that this society is comprised of nothing but idiot man-children. A ring is found, an egg hatches, and the most boring prophecy ever is rattled off like it ain't no thang. Also elves are mentioned.
It reminded me so much of Eragon, in fact, that I felt that if I was going to read a trite knockoff of Eragon, I might as well just read Eragon.
Tl;dr: just read Eragon. Paolini's a lot of things, but he's not boring.
The opening scene is lackluster, at best, and just kind of jumps around, constantly keeping us at the periphery even though we are inside the characters' heads. Farm boys (or tribesmen, actually, but eh, same difference) are climbing cliffs to harvest eggs that they sell. The eggs provide such a significant portion of their income (clearly they rely on consistent egg harvests) that I begin to wonder why none of the tribe at all have thought to, I don't know, build some scaffolding, or permanent handholds, or something to maybe make the whole enterprise less dangerous. Maybe some guardrails. The reader is left wondering if the danger is perhaps due to the climb posing some barbaric rite of passage, but unfortunately the reason seems to simply be "because artificially contrived tension, that's why!" so we're never enlightened, and are forced to assume that this society is comprised of nothing but idiot man-children. A ring is found, an egg hatches, and the most boring prophecy ever is rattled off like it ain't no thang. Also elves are mentioned.
It reminded me so much of Eragon, in fact, that I felt that if I was going to read a trite knockoff of Eragon, I might as well just read Eragon.
Tl;dr: just read Eragon. Paolini's a lot of things, but he's not boring.
July 16, 2012
I found this book to be highly entertaining and engaging. MR Mathias’s The Sword and the Dragon, the first in the Wardstone trilogy delivers action, adventure, and an exciting world of dragons, elves, wizards, mystical creatures, kings, battles, ancient pacts, and quests… the story unfolds in a familiar plot of villains and heroes, yet is so full of twists and turns that it kept my attention and pulled me into the characters and the story.
The action starts immediately and doesn’t let up.
I really liked that Mathias didn’t try to describe the fantasy world first and then build the story. He just drew me in with the action and I was able to see the world through the characters’ eyes. Mathias makes this world believable.
Mathias creates exciting battles and yet the characters are able to find moments of shared humor and compassion for each other throughout the book. There is no shortage of new experiences for the multiple characters.
The story includes characters that you love and characters that you love to hate. Qualities of bravery, loyalty, friendship, and love abound. Yet the main characters also experience the real emotions of fear and self-doubt as they are challenged beyond anything they ever imagined.
One of my favorite aspects about this book is how the two brothers grow and change throughout the story. The evil wizard is a formidable opponent for the heroes of the story. The conflict kept me reading and not wanting to put the book down. When I read fiction, I want to relate to the characters and I felt an immediate connection to Hyden, Gerard, and Mik as well as other characters. Overall, this book is a terrific read.
The action starts immediately and doesn’t let up.
I really liked that Mathias didn’t try to describe the fantasy world first and then build the story. He just drew me in with the action and I was able to see the world through the characters’ eyes. Mathias makes this world believable.
Mathias creates exciting battles and yet the characters are able to find moments of shared humor and compassion for each other throughout the book. There is no shortage of new experiences for the multiple characters.
The story includes characters that you love and characters that you love to hate. Qualities of bravery, loyalty, friendship, and love abound. Yet the main characters also experience the real emotions of fear and self-doubt as they are challenged beyond anything they ever imagined.
One of my favorite aspects about this book is how the two brothers grow and change throughout the story. The evil wizard is a formidable opponent for the heroes of the story. The conflict kept me reading and not wanting to put the book down. When I read fiction, I want to relate to the characters and I felt an immediate connection to Hyden, Gerard, and Mik as well as other characters. Overall, this book is a terrific read.
September 19, 2010
I finally finished this mammoth novel and was not at all disappointed. M.R. Mathias is a fabulous new talent that I'll be watching closely in the future. His writing is tight, his characters unique and believable and I would highly recommend him to anyone who wants to sink into a good fantasy saga.
June 24, 2012
An intricate plot, two brothers going in opposite directions with life and death struggles at every turn. A book you will hate to put down before you come to the end. With a promise of one or two more to follow.
July 23, 2014
Big time fun - "all cliches and all fresh" epic fantasy - if that makes sense.
FBC Review below:
INTRODUCTION: Several weeks ago I wanted to find some new independent books to read - I did some posts about the ones reviewed by me and Mihir in 2010 - and I spent an hour or two checking Smashwords sff books: blurb, first page and then random pages from the excerpt if interested.
Out of maybe 50 novels I looked at, The Sword and the Dragon was the only one that intrigued me since despite the traditional sounding blurb, the first page attracted me and then I liked what I read in the random pages I tried. I downloaded the extensive excerpt linked above - at about 100k words it is as long as a regular novel - and I read it and then I bought the full book.
The Sword and the Dragon is the debut of the author and the first novel in The Wardstone trilogy of which the second book is early next year, but it tells a pretty complete story in itself ending the main threads introduced here while planting the hooks for the next volumes.
FORMAT/CLASSIFICATION: The Sword and the Dragon is available only electronically for now and it stands at about 235k words, so the equivalent of ~700 print pages. There are 59 numbered chapters and an Epilogue, while the main POV's are the two Skyler brothers Hyden and Gerard, the squire Mikahl and to a lesser extent the wizard Pael and his daughter Shaella. Several other secondary characters get interlude-like segments that present the happenings in various places outside of the main characters' locations at the time. A map of the novel's mainland kingdoms is available HERE, though there are hints of distant places and people.
The Sword and the Dragon is true epic fantasy with all the tropes associated - dragons, elves, wizards, giants, dwarves, fairies, trolls, lizard people, zombies, quests, destined heroes, dastardly villains, powerful demons that are ready to escape their containment and bring evil to the world, magical animals, people that can talk with animals, kings, lords, warriors, you name it, it is probably there - that manages to be absolutely fresh and zany with some great twists. I want to emphasize again that while there will be a sequel soon, The Sword and the Dragon ends its main arc so it is a standalone part of a greater tapestry.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "Gerard Skyler used his free arm to wipe the sweat from his brow before it had a chance to drip into his eyes. Scaling the towering, nesting cliff for the second time was far harder than he had expected it to be. No one had attempted the climb two days in a row before. His body was still sore and raw from yesterday’s climb, but he could not afford to stop and rest. He was more than three hundred feet above a rocky canyon floor. A fall would undoubtedly be fatal. The last thing he needed, at the moment, was burning eyes and blurred vision."
So the novel starts and I liked the above paragraph so I kept reading and got hooked on the story. In essence The Sword and the Dragon is set to be the replay in the present of the novel of events of long ago, when escaped demons brought darkness to the world until a king with a magic sword made by dwarves, giants and elves working together - races that tend to dislike each other and humanity to boot - and a sorcerer that could talk with animals, united all the living things to defeat evil and imprison the nasty demons with a powerful dragon guarding the Seal.
But the dragon was smart enough not to want to be trapped for ever in guarding the portal to the underworld, so she put in an escape clause that will trigger when humans start doing some bad things; enter evil wizard Pael who is set to use dark magic, nasty tricks and the wiles of his daughter Shaella to put in motion events that will lead to the breaking of the seal...
Well, so it goes but what if Shaella actually falls in love with the "sacrifice boy" that Pael needs at a crucial moment, or what if the story as retold is not quite complete missing some ingredients, or what if a key magic artifact goes to the wrong brother and the magic sword loses its magic and goes to the wrong heir? Read the novel and you will find out some answers...
Hoping that the above will give you an inkling why I found The Sword and the Dragon so much fun, I want to talk a bit about the actual execution of the storyline above. The first thing I noticed about The Sword and the Dragon is that it's a true work of love from the author. The world of the novel is described in quite a lot of detail, while the characters have a lot of pages that allow us to get to know them. However the book mixes well descriptions with action, so I never felt the narrative flow stalling.
The Sword and the Dragon starts with essentially two threads, one following the life of two of the secretive Skyler clan youngsters: brothers Gerard and Hyden and one following the squire Mikahl trying to fulfill the last wishes of his protector plus some "behind the scenes" action from Pael that sets the scene so to speak, but at some point it manages to skilfully switch the threads into the more familiar ones - quest to stop the bad guys - though not without introducing some twists in the narrative. The Sword and the Dragon manages to keep the balance between the threads and when as expected things start converging, the tension ratchets up and the book becomes impossible to put down till the end.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a high level of editing for a quite long independent novel - there are some little mistakes here and there and occasionally character names are misspelled a little but no typo stands out. While a traditional fantasy in many respects, The Sword and the Dragon does not shy from explicit language when appropriate and characters, even ones readers may get to like may die or be transformed in unexpected ways.
Overall The Sword and the Dragon (A+) is an impressive debut - a traditional fantasy that manages to be fresh and a novel that while it is the start of a series, it succeeds in offering a complete reading experience. I suggest to try the extended sample linked above and if you love it as I did, get and read it!
FBC Review below:
INTRODUCTION: Several weeks ago I wanted to find some new independent books to read - I did some posts about the ones reviewed by me and Mihir in 2010 - and I spent an hour or two checking Smashwords sff books: blurb, first page and then random pages from the excerpt if interested.
Out of maybe 50 novels I looked at, The Sword and the Dragon was the only one that intrigued me since despite the traditional sounding blurb, the first page attracted me and then I liked what I read in the random pages I tried. I downloaded the extensive excerpt linked above - at about 100k words it is as long as a regular novel - and I read it and then I bought the full book.
The Sword and the Dragon is the debut of the author and the first novel in The Wardstone trilogy of which the second book is early next year, but it tells a pretty complete story in itself ending the main threads introduced here while planting the hooks for the next volumes.
FORMAT/CLASSIFICATION: The Sword and the Dragon is available only electronically for now and it stands at about 235k words, so the equivalent of ~700 print pages. There are 59 numbered chapters and an Epilogue, while the main POV's are the two Skyler brothers Hyden and Gerard, the squire Mikahl and to a lesser extent the wizard Pael and his daughter Shaella. Several other secondary characters get interlude-like segments that present the happenings in various places outside of the main characters' locations at the time. A map of the novel's mainland kingdoms is available HERE, though there are hints of distant places and people.
The Sword and the Dragon is true epic fantasy with all the tropes associated - dragons, elves, wizards, giants, dwarves, fairies, trolls, lizard people, zombies, quests, destined heroes, dastardly villains, powerful demons that are ready to escape their containment and bring evil to the world, magical animals, people that can talk with animals, kings, lords, warriors, you name it, it is probably there - that manages to be absolutely fresh and zany with some great twists. I want to emphasize again that while there will be a sequel soon, The Sword and the Dragon ends its main arc so it is a standalone part of a greater tapestry.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "Gerard Skyler used his free arm to wipe the sweat from his brow before it had a chance to drip into his eyes. Scaling the towering, nesting cliff for the second time was far harder than he had expected it to be. No one had attempted the climb two days in a row before. His body was still sore and raw from yesterday’s climb, but he could not afford to stop and rest. He was more than three hundred feet above a rocky canyon floor. A fall would undoubtedly be fatal. The last thing he needed, at the moment, was burning eyes and blurred vision."
So the novel starts and I liked the above paragraph so I kept reading and got hooked on the story. In essence The Sword and the Dragon is set to be the replay in the present of the novel of events of long ago, when escaped demons brought darkness to the world until a king with a magic sword made by dwarves, giants and elves working together - races that tend to dislike each other and humanity to boot - and a sorcerer that could talk with animals, united all the living things to defeat evil and imprison the nasty demons with a powerful dragon guarding the Seal.
But the dragon was smart enough not to want to be trapped for ever in guarding the portal to the underworld, so she put in an escape clause that will trigger when humans start doing some bad things; enter evil wizard Pael who is set to use dark magic, nasty tricks and the wiles of his daughter Shaella to put in motion events that will lead to the breaking of the seal...
Well, so it goes but what if Shaella actually falls in love with the "sacrifice boy" that Pael needs at a crucial moment, or what if the story as retold is not quite complete missing some ingredients, or what if a key magic artifact goes to the wrong brother and the magic sword loses its magic and goes to the wrong heir? Read the novel and you will find out some answers...
Hoping that the above will give you an inkling why I found The Sword and the Dragon so much fun, I want to talk a bit about the actual execution of the storyline above. The first thing I noticed about The Sword and the Dragon is that it's a true work of love from the author. The world of the novel is described in quite a lot of detail, while the characters have a lot of pages that allow us to get to know them. However the book mixes well descriptions with action, so I never felt the narrative flow stalling.
The Sword and the Dragon starts with essentially two threads, one following the life of two of the secretive Skyler clan youngsters: brothers Gerard and Hyden and one following the squire Mikahl trying to fulfill the last wishes of his protector plus some "behind the scenes" action from Pael that sets the scene so to speak, but at some point it manages to skilfully switch the threads into the more familiar ones - quest to stop the bad guys - though not without introducing some twists in the narrative. The Sword and the Dragon manages to keep the balance between the threads and when as expected things start converging, the tension ratchets up and the book becomes impossible to put down till the end.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a high level of editing for a quite long independent novel - there are some little mistakes here and there and occasionally character names are misspelled a little but no typo stands out. While a traditional fantasy in many respects, The Sword and the Dragon does not shy from explicit language when appropriate and characters, even ones readers may get to like may die or be transformed in unexpected ways.
Overall The Sword and the Dragon (A+) is an impressive debut - a traditional fantasy that manages to be fresh and a novel that while it is the start of a series, it succeeds in offering a complete reading experience. I suggest to try the extended sample linked above and if you love it as I did, get and read it!
August 26, 2011
When I first heard about this book, it was compared to T.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Once I started reading, I saw the comparisons. There is a ring of power in both, a ring that can do evil things. There is a quest of many people. There is a map at the beginning of the book (because all good fantasy novels have a map). There are funny, hard to pronounce names.
That's where the comparisons stop.
I fell into this novel and though I'm only 200 pages into it, I can't put it down. Its characters haunt me in my sleep; they stay on my mind when I'm waking and away from the novel. I have to find out what happens next. This story is compelling, intriguing, captivating. It's grabbed me by the throat and won't let go. The writing is engaging; the journey (both of the reader and the questers) keeps you flipping the pages. The fact that the blurb for books 2 & 3 of the trilogy is in the back of the book makes me want to read faster so I can find out just how *that* happens to those characters.
* * *
The rest of my review... How much more can I say? Other than this book kept me captivated until the very end. I don't think I breathed the last 100 pages. Action packed, this novel made me laugh, cry, cheer and agonize as the characters went through their trials. I can't wait to get my hands on Kings, Queens, Heroes and Fools to see what happens next.
That's where the comparisons stop.
I fell into this novel and though I'm only 200 pages into it, I can't put it down. Its characters haunt me in my sleep; they stay on my mind when I'm waking and away from the novel. I have to find out what happens next. This story is compelling, intriguing, captivating. It's grabbed me by the throat and won't let go. The writing is engaging; the journey (both of the reader and the questers) keeps you flipping the pages. The fact that the blurb for books 2 & 3 of the trilogy is in the back of the book makes me want to read faster so I can find out just how *that* happens to those characters.
* * *
The rest of my review... How much more can I say? Other than this book kept me captivated until the very end. I don't think I breathed the last 100 pages. Action packed, this novel made me laugh, cry, cheer and agonize as the characters went through their trials. I can't wait to get my hands on Kings, Queens, Heroes and Fools to see what happens next.
January 31, 2011
Review for readersfavorite.com.
The author uses an old concept and used many other tales ideas to compose this book. The chapters leave you hanging and you always want to keep reading to see what will happen next.
The story is of a people that possess the knowledge of the whereabouts of the biggest bird’s nest in the land. Thus they are the only ones that can collect eggs from them. They have rules to how many eggs they can take from each nest and also to protect the birds from other predators.
One young man, on his expedition to get the eggs, finds a ring that seems to contain some magic in it. Without knowing its importance in the timeline of his world, he uses it carelessly. Thus he attracts the eye of the evil forces and their evil plans for the world.
His brother, in the meantime, is chosen by the White Goddess to do great or bad things for their people. According to legends a hawkling has hatched and bonded with him. It is a sign that many things are about to change forever.
Also, it is the tale of a squire who is on a secret mission from his dying king. He is to deliver a package from a priest to a giant in the middle of a deep forest. He is also charged to guard the coveted sword of his king from falling into the hands of the wrong people. But how is he to do this when the entire kingdom will come after him for stealing it. He has to leave his kingdom on the orders of the dying king and no one knows about this mission. Thus his absence will be linked to the poisoning of the king and the disappearance of the sword at the same time. Yet the pursuit of his kingdom becomes nothing when he finds out a wizard is also hunting the sword.
You will find magic, dragons, kings, wizards, princes, elves, and a whole array of characters ready to delight you. It reads a bit like Lord of the Rings combined with Aragon. I reservedly recommend it to adults. It has sexual scenes in it.
This is an electronic book that was a bit hard to read. On my computer it came as a word document that was divided in the weirdest places by the name of the book. For this reason I believe that it will be hard to sell. Readers will see the jumble of words and it will appear too much to digest at once. It would be much better as a properly formatted e-book or PDF file, which will provide a less crowded feel to it.
The author uses an old concept and used many other tales ideas to compose this book. The chapters leave you hanging and you always want to keep reading to see what will happen next.
The story is of a people that possess the knowledge of the whereabouts of the biggest bird’s nest in the land. Thus they are the only ones that can collect eggs from them. They have rules to how many eggs they can take from each nest and also to protect the birds from other predators.
One young man, on his expedition to get the eggs, finds a ring that seems to contain some magic in it. Without knowing its importance in the timeline of his world, he uses it carelessly. Thus he attracts the eye of the evil forces and their evil plans for the world.
His brother, in the meantime, is chosen by the White Goddess to do great or bad things for their people. According to legends a hawkling has hatched and bonded with him. It is a sign that many things are about to change forever.
Also, it is the tale of a squire who is on a secret mission from his dying king. He is to deliver a package from a priest to a giant in the middle of a deep forest. He is also charged to guard the coveted sword of his king from falling into the hands of the wrong people. But how is he to do this when the entire kingdom will come after him for stealing it. He has to leave his kingdom on the orders of the dying king and no one knows about this mission. Thus his absence will be linked to the poisoning of the king and the disappearance of the sword at the same time. Yet the pursuit of his kingdom becomes nothing when he finds out a wizard is also hunting the sword.
You will find magic, dragons, kings, wizards, princes, elves, and a whole array of characters ready to delight you. It reads a bit like Lord of the Rings combined with Aragon. I reservedly recommend it to adults. It has sexual scenes in it.
This is an electronic book that was a bit hard to read. On my computer it came as a word document that was divided in the weirdest places by the name of the book. For this reason I believe that it will be hard to sell. Readers will see the jumble of words and it will appear too much to digest at once. It would be much better as a properly formatted e-book or PDF file, which will provide a less crowded feel to it.
February 4, 2011
The Sword and the Dragon
This epic fantasy is wonderfully written with exquisite detail that makes you believe the characters are real. From Hyden the archer and his brother Gerard to the elves to the Dying King Balton’s faithful squire Mikahl, set on a journey to deliver the magical sword Ironspike to a giant, all the actions of these characters jump off the pages of a plot with so many sub plots that the reader is kept enthralled and on the edge of his or her seat wondering what will happen next.
Gerard with his magic ring and the beautiful young sorceress Shaella who possessed magical powers fall in love while in pursuit of a dragon’s egg for her father the royal Wizard. They and Hyden with his magical hawk, Talon are on a collision course to the kingdom of Highwander where the potent magical substance called Wardstone is formed.
Whether our hero brothers or the evil Royal Wizard get to the Wardstone first is complimented by a veritable feast of tasty subjects that leave our heads spinning with magical ideas as the fantasy draws us closer and closer into a mythic web of awe inspiring proportions. This one deserves five stars.
Johnny Oops
This epic fantasy is wonderfully written with exquisite detail that makes you believe the characters are real. From Hyden the archer and his brother Gerard to the elves to the Dying King Balton’s faithful squire Mikahl, set on a journey to deliver the magical sword Ironspike to a giant, all the actions of these characters jump off the pages of a plot with so many sub plots that the reader is kept enthralled and on the edge of his or her seat wondering what will happen next.
Gerard with his magic ring and the beautiful young sorceress Shaella who possessed magical powers fall in love while in pursuit of a dragon’s egg for her father the royal Wizard. They and Hyden with his magical hawk, Talon are on a collision course to the kingdom of Highwander where the potent magical substance called Wardstone is formed.
Whether our hero brothers or the evil Royal Wizard get to the Wardstone first is complimented by a veritable feast of tasty subjects that leave our heads spinning with magical ideas as the fantasy draws us closer and closer into a mythic web of awe inspiring proportions. This one deserves five stars.
Johnny Oops
January 1, 2013
I really wanted to like this book. I wouldn’t have even glanced at it (yet another generic fantasy novel) if it wasn’t a self-published work, which says something about the author — that and the fact that he started writing in prison to escape insanity. I mean, you gotta give this kind of determination a chance.
There’s a lot of good things inside «The Sword and the Dragon»: the main characters are very likable and more tridimensional than usual — their interaction *feels* real, something a lot of good authors struggle to do sometimes. Moreover, some scenes and a lot of the action have a gritty quality I’ve never seen before — not necessarily realistic, but vivid.
The trouble with this book is that it’s very kitsch. Some of the characters take way too much space in the narrative only to be killed off or dismissed a couple pages later. Too many characters got blurred in my mind sometimes, and some of the good guys — and almost all of the bad guys — are incredibly cliché. I made as far as halfway through the book before I decided to put it away.
I think Mathias is a raw diamond. This was his very first novel, and he’s written many more since. One day I’ll check back on his work, select a more recent book, and see if he grew to the fullest extent of his obvious potential.
There’s a lot of good things inside «The Sword and the Dragon»: the main characters are very likable and more tridimensional than usual — their interaction *feels* real, something a lot of good authors struggle to do sometimes. Moreover, some scenes and a lot of the action have a gritty quality I’ve never seen before — not necessarily realistic, but vivid.
The trouble with this book is that it’s very kitsch. Some of the characters take way too much space in the narrative only to be killed off or dismissed a couple pages later. Too many characters got blurred in my mind sometimes, and some of the good guys — and almost all of the bad guys — are incredibly cliché. I made as far as halfway through the book before I decided to put it away.
I think Mathias is a raw diamond. This was his very first novel, and he’s written many more since. One day I’ll check back on his work, select a more recent book, and see if he grew to the fullest extent of his obvious potential.
July 15, 2013
I don’t care what some of the haters said. I liked it and enjoyed reading it. Is this book perfect? No, but I have yet to read a book that doesn’t have flaws. As long as the flaws aren’t too big and screw with the story who cares. This book in my opinion doesn’t have that type of flaw.
The book is long and does start slow in fact it was a little tedious. You have to have patience it gets really good. I like the fact that there are boatloads of characters. It kept it interesting and engaging. They were all crucial to the story in some way. Besides he kills off most of them anyway. Nobody is safe even one of the main characters is killed. That just makes it that much more interesting.
The plot has lots of twists and turns to it kept me on my toes so to speak. This is not some easy book you can run right through. You actually have to think. He did write fantastic battle scenes they were pretty graphic and bloody. I really enjoyed this book and have started on book two.
The book is long and does start slow in fact it was a little tedious. You have to have patience it gets really good. I like the fact that there are boatloads of characters. It kept it interesting and engaging. They were all crucial to the story in some way. Besides he kills off most of them anyway. Nobody is safe even one of the main characters is killed. That just makes it that much more interesting.
The plot has lots of twists and turns to it kept me on my toes so to speak. This is not some easy book you can run right through. You actually have to think. He did write fantastic battle scenes they were pretty graphic and bloody. I really enjoyed this book and have started on book two.
July 16, 2013
I found this book to be nothing special over the standard fantasy books that are out there. It is better than some but also worse than some. I could take it or leave it. I will continue with the series because I have already read the first book. It follows the standard fantasy template of good vs. evil. There was a twist in here that made it a little better. But still it is the same typical fantasy story that is rehashed all the time. I am not saying that is bad because obviously it is a formula that works or there wouldn’t be thousands of books out there. I am just saying it is middle of the pack.
The brothers each find a magical item and go on a quest. Along the way they meet Mik with a magic sword. They team up to defeat Pael the evil wizard. There you go I just told you the whole story in three sentences. If you like fantasy novels with dragons and such this will probably be good for you. It is decently written and kept me interested long enough to finish it. But is nothing special.
The brothers each find a magical item and go on a quest. Along the way they meet Mik with a magic sword. They team up to defeat Pael the evil wizard. There you go I just told you the whole story in three sentences. If you like fantasy novels with dragons and such this will probably be good for you. It is decently written and kept me interested long enough to finish it. But is nothing special.
January 10, 2014
Writing: 1
Story: 0
Satisfaction: 1
I guess the title should have given me my first clue but I have a soft spot for indie fantasy writers so why not.
Think of every fantasy trope possible, try to link them all together, then add in as much excessive detail and inner thought processes as possible, and you would have this book. Here's an example of the first: there's a magic ring that this kid finds. He starts to get paranoid that people want to take it from him. Familiar? And then there's a sword that another kid has to get up a mountain and a distinctly evil wizard.
Sigh.
I wasn't invested in any of the characters and I found the constant inner reasoning to be irritating.
Story: 0
Satisfaction: 1
I guess the title should have given me my first clue but I have a soft spot for indie fantasy writers so why not.
Think of every fantasy trope possible, try to link them all together, then add in as much excessive detail and inner thought processes as possible, and you would have this book. Here's an example of the first: there's a magic ring that this kid finds. He starts to get paranoid that people want to take it from him. Familiar? And then there's a sword that another kid has to get up a mountain and a distinctly evil wizard.
Sigh.
I wasn't invested in any of the characters and I found the constant inner reasoning to be irritating.
August 24, 2010
When I started reading this novel, and saw it was 700 pages, I was thinking it would suffer from burn out somewhere in the middle. Boy, was I wrong! The novel has a steady flow throughout, and the descriptions of various scenes throughout the novel are imaginative. The story is told from the points of view of quite a few different characters, from the good guys to the bad guys, and a couple of their animal friends. It has elements from every fantasy novel out there, including the classic tragic hero journey. It kept me interested. I would recommend this to anyone who has read such novels as Lord of the Rings or the Eragon series of books.
February 6, 2012
The Sword and the Dragon by M.R. Mathias is the first book in The Wardstone Trilogy. The story centers around the brothers Gerard and Hyden two young men of the Skyler clan. The clan is famous for being the only people who know the location to harvest the eggs of a certain hawkling that they sell for very high prices during trade fairs. This year with Hyden being the clans greatest hope for a win over the elves in the annual archery competition he is forbidden to undertake the dangerous climb to earn his honor by getting a good harvest of eggs. Gerard offers to do the climb twice once for himself and once for his brother in order to ensure his brother has eggs for himself at the trade fair. Climbing the massive peak to reach the eggs is a dangerous and grueling affair and no one has done it two days in a row before. While Gerard is on his second trip to the top he notices an item shining from one of the nests and discovers a ring.
He keeps the ring for himself, but lives up to his agreement and gives the second harvest of eggs to his brother. In that batch of eggs packed in a special moss to protect them and prevent them from hatching an unthinkable thing occurs. One of the eggs hatches beginning the events of a prophecy of the Skyler clan. After the trade gathering the brothers go in separate directions and the story follows their journeys.
M.R. Mathias has a talent for world building. This story takes place on a truly epic scale with wonderful locations, cultures, and characters. There is one specific location where a character encounter a very unique version of local wildlife and I was impressed with the ingenuity of it.
There is a lot of stuff going on in this book so it's not a casual read. It is definitely worth the time and effort though. This is an author to keep an eye out on, I already have the second book in this series as well as several others he has written.
Review copy provided by the author.
He keeps the ring for himself, but lives up to his agreement and gives the second harvest of eggs to his brother. In that batch of eggs packed in a special moss to protect them and prevent them from hatching an unthinkable thing occurs. One of the eggs hatches beginning the events of a prophecy of the Skyler clan. After the trade gathering the brothers go in separate directions and the story follows their journeys.
M.R. Mathias has a talent for world building. This story takes place on a truly epic scale with wonderful locations, cultures, and characters. There is one specific location where a character encounter a very unique version of local wildlife and I was impressed with the ingenuity of it.
There is a lot of stuff going on in this book so it's not a casual read. It is definitely worth the time and effort though. This is an author to keep an eye out on, I already have the second book in this series as well as several others he has written.
Review copy provided by the author.
January 23, 2012
The beginning of this book is very nice--lots of action, decent characters, even interesting POV character shifts, which are hard for me to get involved in. However, the author doesn't keep it up; once you get past the first 100 pages in this 500+-page book, the action shifts to a lot of summaries of action--instead of getting to see what the characters see and feel what the characters feel, we get a summary of all but a few things, which isn't nearly as satisfying. I felt like the author should have written more, shorter books with unrelenting action rather than trying to stuff everything into three books. If he had had the same excellent pacing and action from the beginning, I would have been able to overlook a lot of other nitnoids, but as it was, I just got annoyed.
For example, I didn't care for the villains; they didn't seem to be fully developed and I couldn't find them terribly threatening, but that may have been because they didn't really get much action in the book until after the author had started summing things up. They get a few scenes here and there, but the main villain comes across as mostly a lite, overly melodramatic version of Flagg from Stephen King's books. Another thing--there are a couple of token women and other races, but really, this book is about seeing things from the perspective of the male, human characters. If the character is female or non-human, expect an early death, a supporting role for the male, human chosen ones, or a lot of sobbing over a lover. But like I said--if the whole book had been as immediate and fun as the beginning, I probably wouldn't have noticed or cared.
For example, I didn't care for the villains; they didn't seem to be fully developed and I couldn't find them terribly threatening, but that may have been because they didn't really get much action in the book until after the author had started summing things up. They get a few scenes here and there, but the main villain comes across as mostly a lite, overly melodramatic version of Flagg from Stephen King's books. Another thing--there are a couple of token women and other races, but really, this book is about seeing things from the perspective of the male, human characters. If the character is female or non-human, expect an early death, a supporting role for the male, human chosen ones, or a lot of sobbing over a lover. But like I said--if the whole book had been as immediate and fun as the beginning, I probably wouldn't have noticed or cared.
January 5, 2013
This was a good fantasy for those of you who like the type of sword and sorcery, dragon, magic and demon type of books. This is one of the best that I've read in a while. This is the first in the trilogy. One king is poisoned, leaving an important kingdom in disarray, while an evil wizard has plans to take over the entire known human world through the King's son, the Prince. All is not lost, as the King's magic sword and his by-blow son have been sent on a quest to find out who they are, and to save the Kingdom of man. The plot takes all kinds of twists and turns on its way to the final battle royale between the evil wizard Pavel and the Kingly by-blow Mikhail. Along the way he has help from Giants, wolves, men, elves, dwarfs, and others who aid him on his quest. Mathias did a great job in his characterization and plot. While you will recognize some of the tropes that you expect, it is still a rousing good read. There are some things that are a bit cliched, like naming the Witch Queen, Willa, and making sure that things always seems darkest just before some special thing happens to win the day. I still enjoyed the book quite a bit. There are a few grammatical errors, but these can be easily overlooked in a book of this length.
Mathias has no trouble taking out important characters, so the book can get emotional at times. The next book promises more of the same - as the wizard has a daughter - the Dragon Queen, who is ruling one of the major cities and has a thing for a demon locked in the Nethers. It should be a rousing read as well.
Mathias has no trouble taking out important characters, so the book can get emotional at times. The next book promises more of the same - as the wizard has a daughter - the Dragon Queen, who is ruling one of the major cities and has a thing for a demon locked in the Nethers. It should be a rousing read as well.
June 25, 2013
Mathias' fantasy fiction novel would make an exciting comic book series or video game that both teens and adults alike will find hard to put down. Although it's quite lengthy, debut books normally in a series try to confess and disclose as much information as possible to draw the readers in, and the author executed it perfectly and with ease. Reminiscent to The Lightning Thief and Harry Potter at times, this novel have potential to reach many readers of all ages and keep them more than interested to discover what could be in store next in this action=packed trilogy. Mathias has created a magical world we only get to visit in our wildest dreams and some may never want to leave. It contains a slew of well thought out characters, good guys AND bad guys, where we all get to choose our favorites hoping some may return in the second addition to make guest star appearances. And, the adventurous and unforgettable scenes will linger long after we must say goodbye...for now.
July 17, 2013
There are a lot of good things inside this book. All the characters are likable even Pael and Shaella have some likability. A lot of the action scenes have a gritty quality and are vibrant. They are extremely well written. I thought he did a very good job on those. The other parts of the book were somewhat disappointing. They did not have the same quality as the fight scenes.
A lot of the characters take too much space in the story only to be killed off in a few pages. The characters confused me a lot of the time. There were just so many to try and keep track of. A lot of the characters are bland and clichéd. They are like all the other characters in a million different fantasy books.
In conclusion even though this was not up to the standards of Tolkien it is still a decent book. I passed several enjoyable hours with it. It is pretty good for a first attempt. I think this author will only get better the more he writes.
A lot of the characters take too much space in the story only to be killed off in a few pages. The characters confused me a lot of the time. There were just so many to try and keep track of. A lot of the characters are bland and clichéd. They are like all the other characters in a million different fantasy books.
In conclusion even though this was not up to the standards of Tolkien it is still a decent book. I passed several enjoyable hours with it. It is pretty good for a first attempt. I think this author will only get better the more he writes.
December 3, 2015
It's always so bittersweet to start a long book with characters that are so easy to get attached to. On one hand I feel a sense of achievement and excitement that I finished this book, while I'm sad I have nothing left to read about the characters I spent so much time reading about. There are characters you'll love to hate, and there are others who fit the brave and loyal hero role, perfectly.
This is your very definition of an epic fantasy! There's so much action with amazingly described battle scenes. The story flows well once you get the hang of how it transitions from each scene.
The story as a whole is an investment for the reader. There is so much going on here, and a lot of information that you must absorb to fully understand the plot. There is so much in this book with dragons, wizards, elves, mystical creatures and you wrap them all up with high adventure and you've got a pretty great book!
This is your very definition of an epic fantasy! There's so much action with amazingly described battle scenes. The story flows well once you get the hang of how it transitions from each scene.
The story as a whole is an investment for the reader. There is so much going on here, and a lot of information that you must absorb to fully understand the plot. There is so much in this book with dragons, wizards, elves, mystical creatures and you wrap them all up with high adventure and you've got a pretty great book!
February 1, 2012
After plowing through “The Sword and the Dragon” by ace author M.R. Mathias, I was swept in along with the rest of the masses of his fans into his world of post-Tolkien non-Martin medieval dark fantasy. Though this book has the elements of role-playing games, there is a story there, and not a simple one, but is a good one. There’s action, a love interest, magical rings, a magic sword, an evil wizard, and last, but not least, a dragon. Ah, and don’t forget the eggs! Literally. This book is great, because the story has all of the goodies we like in our memories of role-playing games, but it doesn’t feel like I’m rolling dice when I’m reading it. By combining a well balance of action, intrigue, family ties, and a love interest, Mathias has created a clever novel that’s hard to put down. Excellent work, five stars!
July 17, 2013
I think this is a great story. There are brothers who turn into enemies, evil wizards and a plethora of magical beings. They all come together to make the perfect story. I liked this book from the first chapter. It engaged me and started me on this incredible ride.
All the characters were extremely well developed down to the most minor one. There are a lot of characters but that just made the story better in my opinion. They all added something to the story in some way. Shaella was more evil than her father Pael I think and that was an interesting twist. There is another twist with Shaella but I cannot reveal it. That would be wrong.
The scenery and magical beings are well described. He took a lot of time with them I believe because they are so vivid and real. The amount of detail really makes this book shine. I am looking forward to more books from this author.
All the characters were extremely well developed down to the most minor one. There are a lot of characters but that just made the story better in my opinion. They all added something to the story in some way. Shaella was more evil than her father Pael I think and that was an interesting twist. There is another twist with Shaella but I cannot reveal it. That would be wrong.
The scenery and magical beings are well described. He took a lot of time with them I believe because they are so vivid and real. The amount of detail really makes this book shine. I am looking forward to more books from this author.
June 30, 2012
In The Sword and the Dragon, M.R. Mathias paints a richly imagined world with bold, ambitious strokes. This is a complex fantasy adventure filled with a rich cast of characters and multiple distinct story lines. Fans of George R. R. Martin and Raymond Fiest will enjoy The Wardstone Trilogy.
March 29, 2015
Hyden is annoyed that he doesn’t get to make the climb this year, but all the Elders are counting on him to win the archery tournament. When his brother comes back with more than enough for him, he doesn’t think twice about letting his brother keep the bauble he found, even though technically his brother was on his climb. When they visit the fortune teller’s tent, neither Hyden nor Gerard can believe her prediction, even when it starts to come true. Hyden thus sets out on a journey to become Hyden Hawk, bearer of the legacy of Dahg Mahn, friend to elf, king, Seawardsman, and all creatures, not the least of which his faithful hatchling, Talon. Can he take on the mantle of Dahg Mahn and fight the growing evil, as those in the ancient stories? He isn’t sure he can bear such a burden, but he may not have any choice.
In the Sword and the Dragon M.R. Mathias sets up the Wardstone Trilogy, and it reads like an epic fantasy. Kingdoms are warring, demons are emerging, prophecies are being fulfilled and questioned. All the heroes are reluctant, but necessary. The traipsing over the known world - utterly required by epics - is prevalent and there are many magical and mystical creatures encountered. Although the story dragged a bit I was enchanted by the back stories and the slow reveal of the prophetic nature of the quest, and honestly quite impressed by the realistic humanity displayed in the motivations of both the good and bad guys, to the point where I felt some degree of dismal sadness for the role that the bad guys played, even though it had to be so for the story to progress. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy, and hope it sets up a new universe for more stories to unfold.
In the Sword and the Dragon M.R. Mathias sets up the Wardstone Trilogy, and it reads like an epic fantasy. Kingdoms are warring, demons are emerging, prophecies are being fulfilled and questioned. All the heroes are reluctant, but necessary. The traipsing over the known world - utterly required by epics - is prevalent and there are many magical and mystical creatures encountered. Although the story dragged a bit I was enchanted by the back stories and the slow reveal of the prophetic nature of the quest, and honestly quite impressed by the realistic humanity displayed in the motivations of both the good and bad guys, to the point where I felt some degree of dismal sadness for the role that the bad guys played, even though it had to be so for the story to progress. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy, and hope it sets up a new universe for more stories to unfold.
February 3, 2014
"No good, reasonable or honorable man would want to have the responsibility of ruling over others."
Almost four stars.
Something of a struggle to rate it so low because the story itself is great. A complex, multi-threaded skein of high fantasy with the requisite humans, elves, dragons, wizards, etc. In addition many flawed characters--not-so-good good folks, and not-so-bad bad folks--make for pleasurable reading. Satisfying conclusion while bridging to the next volume of the series. Good job.
So why only three stars? Because of the storytelling. So much head hopping that the reader is left dizzy and unsure whose point of view he is in at the moment. Also, telling, data dumps, and lots of unnecessary adverbs. And the writing: "sing up", "shooting out", "swallowed up", catch up with", "Chomped away", "armed to the teeth with weapons", "ended up", "eyes as big as saucers", "thin yet course [sic] fur", "scrounge up," etc. In fairness the prose got better as the story progressed, but a single pass by a skilled, disinterested editor would have improved readability immensely.
Still a better-than-average read.
Almost four stars.
Something of a struggle to rate it so low because the story itself is great. A complex, multi-threaded skein of high fantasy with the requisite humans, elves, dragons, wizards, etc. In addition many flawed characters--not-so-good good folks, and not-so-bad bad folks--make for pleasurable reading. Satisfying conclusion while bridging to the next volume of the series. Good job.
So why only three stars? Because of the storytelling. So much head hopping that the reader is left dizzy and unsure whose point of view he is in at the moment. Also, telling, data dumps, and lots of unnecessary adverbs. And the writing: "sing up", "shooting out", "swallowed up", catch up with", "Chomped away", "armed to the teeth with weapons", "ended up", "eyes as big as saucers", "thin yet course [sic] fur", "scrounge up," etc. In fairness the prose got better as the story progressed, but a single pass by a skilled, disinterested editor would have improved readability immensely.
Still a better-than-average read.
November 14, 2014
A king is poisoned. His squire sent on a dangerous and secret mission. Two brothers find themselves the keepers of two special talismans-a ring and a special bird. These events, though they seem unrelated, will set forth a chain of events that will change the lives of people everywhere.
The Sword and the Dragon is true fantasy. Kings, wizards, dragons, epic battles, magic; you name it this book has it.
M.R. Mathias brings his world to life very vividly. You see it all perfectly in your head as you read. There are some times where the descriptions can run a bit long, but they are very few and far between and it doesn't take away from the story.
The characters are done well too-they are fully developed and you see everything the way they do. They are all on a journey, and they all have a part to play in shaping the future of their world.
This is a book any fantasy lover would enjoy. M.R. Mathias has brought us his world in an entertaining and captivating way.
The Sword and the Dragon is true fantasy. Kings, wizards, dragons, epic battles, magic; you name it this book has it.
M.R. Mathias brings his world to life very vividly. You see it all perfectly in your head as you read. There are some times where the descriptions can run a bit long, but they are very few and far between and it doesn't take away from the story.
The characters are done well too-they are fully developed and you see everything the way they do. They are all on a journey, and they all have a part to play in shaping the future of their world.
This is a book any fantasy lover would enjoy. M.R. Mathias has brought us his world in an entertaining and captivating way.
June 27, 2015
A Memorable Fantasy Book.
I have read and enjoyed several of M.R. Mathias's books and this one, The Sword and the Dragon (The Wardstone Trilogy book 1) is equally as well written.
For any reader who likes a good fantasy book, you will not do any better than to follow this author.
As the name states, this is the first book of a trilogy, and I am looking forward to reading the other two in the series.
There are many memorable scenes in this story. The characters are numerous and varied, but all are believable. The story is gripping, and you will not want to put it down, till you reach the stunning conclusion.
Most of your emotions will come into play as you progress into this thrilling adventure fantasy, tears will flow as well as laughter.
If you are looking for a novel with plenty of good - versus evil and plenty of tragedies, action, and adventure, then this is for you and I would certainly recommend it to all readers.
I have read and enjoyed several of M.R. Mathias's books and this one, The Sword and the Dragon (The Wardstone Trilogy book 1) is equally as well written.
For any reader who likes a good fantasy book, you will not do any better than to follow this author.
As the name states, this is the first book of a trilogy, and I am looking forward to reading the other two in the series.
There are many memorable scenes in this story. The characters are numerous and varied, but all are believable. The story is gripping, and you will not want to put it down, till you reach the stunning conclusion.
Most of your emotions will come into play as you progress into this thrilling adventure fantasy, tears will flow as well as laughter.
If you are looking for a novel with plenty of good - versus evil and plenty of tragedies, action, and adventure, then this is for you and I would certainly recommend it to all readers.
September 14, 2015
This is an absolutely wonderful fantasy novel! I haven’t read fantasy books for years and I’m thrilled to have read this one. I was completely enthralled from the first page to the last. This story has everything a fantasy world needs: elves and giants, humans and dragons, demons and fairies, and lots and lots of magic. The storyline is complex but not overwhelming and none of it feels forced. I found the main characters to be well developed individuals. Hyden and Mikahl especially impressed me with their commitment to their destinies and to their friends.
This is the first book in a trilogy. While it leaves you wanting more, it is complete in itself. Anyone who enjoys fantasy or adventure will enjoy this book. The writing is excellent and the author’s style is very approachable. In addition, the book has been edited extremely well. I highly recommend this book to readers of all ages.
Happy Reading!
This is the first book in a trilogy. While it leaves you wanting more, it is complete in itself. Anyone who enjoys fantasy or adventure will enjoy this book. The writing is excellent and the author’s style is very approachable. In addition, the book has been edited extremely well. I highly recommend this book to readers of all ages.
Happy Reading!
February 1, 2015
'The Sword and the Dragon' is an adventurous epic fantasy that does not disappoint. M. R. Mathias has created a fantasy world filled with complex and intriguing characters, and a plot that never slows down. There is much to enjoy with plenty of fantastic creatures, including dragons, and world building that will make you feel like you are a part of the story.
Mikahl was my favourite character, as a true, determined, and brave hero who doesn't sway from his path, and who shines under the author's wonderful writing style. Overall, this is a great book for fantasy fans looking to invest their time and interest in a memorable series. I look forward to reading the next book!
Mikahl was my favourite character, as a true, determined, and brave hero who doesn't sway from his path, and who shines under the author's wonderful writing style. Overall, this is a great book for fantasy fans looking to invest their time and interest in a memorable series. I look forward to reading the next book!
July 6, 2014
Upon King Balton’s untimely death, Mikahl was tasked with delivering a message and the king’s magical sword to the King of the Giants. Along his journey he aligns with an elf, and a couple of others, and form a lasting bond to the end.
I was emotionally drained by the time I finished this story. I had so much invested in the characters that I felt their pain too. Be forewarned, this is a very long story. But it was well worth the read. I didn't like that it left the fate unknown for some, but I could tell that the story will continue, and I can’t wait to read it.
I was emotionally drained by the time I finished this story. I had so much invested in the characters that I felt their pain too. Be forewarned, this is a very long story. But it was well worth the read. I didn't like that it left the fate unknown for some, but I could tell that the story will continue, and I can’t wait to read it.
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