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Storm of Magic #2
Dragonmage
Magic is stirring across the world. A storm is coming. On Ulthuan, the Phoenix King of the high elves nears death and competition for his position has erupted into open war. Lord Rathien of Caledor seeks to awaken the dragons from their long sleep and use their strength to ensure his ascent to the Phoenix Throne. Meanwhile, Prince Valaris of Ellyrion, aided by a powerful but naïve mage, wants to harness the power of the storm of magic to defeat his rival and achieve his goal. As their forces clash, greater powers manipulate events to their own purposes, leading the two elf nobles into a conflict that threatens to destroy them both… and the world with them.
- GenresFantasy
124 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2011
1 person is currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Chris Wraight
219 books383 followersChris Wraight is a British author of fantasy and science fiction.
His first novel was published in 2008; since then, he has published books set in the Warhammer Fantasy and Stargate:Atlantis universes, and has upcoming titles in the Warhammer 40K setting.
He is based in the south-west of England.
His first novel was published in 2008; since then, he has published books set in the Warhammer Fantasy and Stargate:Atlantis universes, and has upcoming titles in the Warhammer 40K setting.
He is based in the south-west of England.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 26, 2021
+1 Well-written and engaging, I especially liked how the initial battle scene was constructed, as well as the action scenes featuring the Caledorian dragons.
+1 I'm quite a fan of the Warhammer Fantasy dragons allied with the High Elves, and they feature quite a lot in this story (including a female dragon, which was my fave). The fact that they can communicate telepathically with the Elves make them not just cool steeds, but characters on their own right with their own peculiarities.
-1 Of course, there's the fact that the bond between the High Elf and the dragon is not always one of mutual understanding. Even though they're far older and powerful, both physically and mentally, dragons are also seen pretty much as servants bent to the will of their Elven riders, and they're supposed to go fight the Elves' enemies whenever they're woken from their long sleep :S In the story's plot, the dragons ultimately were pretty proactive in this respect, but there's that too.
+-1 Female representation was minimal, to say the least. Apart from the female dragon and mentions of house servants, there's only a main female character, a mage called Anlia. All the rest of players in this story - All the soldiers (we assume), the other mages, the Sword Masters of Hoeth, the Elven Lords, most dragons (we assume), most Chaotic antagonists (we assume), they're all men.
Anlia's powerful and proactive, yes, but her powers also keep being used by more than one man in order to achieve power and glory, and her backstory includes the trope of the too powerful woman who lost control and accidentally killed people (and this is not particularly subverted as Elsa's story is), so she also spends the whole story being chased by her own people, who want to bring her to justice. To cap it all, it turns out (spoiler), that she has been possessed by a Chaos daemon all this time, and said daemon ends up killing her just as she seemed to be finally enjoying her fully-fledged power. Yay.
+-1 There's no explicit sexualization in the descriptions, which is unfortunately quite rare in Warhammer books (and miniatures heh). Of course, Anlia is also repeteadly described as beautiful specifically, even though technically all High Elves, male and female, are canonically very beautiful. But what else is there when it comes to the women, you understand *eyeroll* xD
-1 There is a very cringy moment when the Ellyrian Elf Lord Anlia is working for gets into her bedroom uninvited at night to discuss plans and stuff, and Anlia jokes that he shouldn't be in a lady's room at that hour. The entitled Elf immediately replies without missing a beat that 'pah, if he were after that he would have had it a long time ago lol', and just eww. If you're going to portray rape culture in your universe and your story, male writers, at least criticize it or something, and it isn't enough to say 'we're showing another example of how arrogant he is!' because Anlia, the recipient of this, doesn't seem to particularly mind about that incredibly creepy reply. Can we please stop adding rape "humour" to fantasy stories? Thanks.
+1 There's some anti-war and anti-binarism content as well, from the part of a follower of the Caledorian Elf Lord. The story features the war between the Ellyrian and Caledorian factions, with two Elf Lords who are vying for the throne of the Phoenix King. This character keeps seeing the war between both sides and all the hunger for power as unnecessary and horrible, and his inner commentary was one of the most interesting parts of the story for me. He's also the one riding the female dragon, so bonus point xD
+1 I'm quite a fan of the Warhammer Fantasy dragons allied with the High Elves, and they feature quite a lot in this story (including a female dragon, which was my fave). The fact that they can communicate telepathically with the Elves make them not just cool steeds, but characters on their own right with their own peculiarities.
-1 Of course, there's the fact that the bond between the High Elf and the dragon is not always one of mutual understanding. Even though they're far older and powerful, both physically and mentally, dragons are also seen pretty much as servants bent to the will of their Elven riders, and they're supposed to go fight the Elves' enemies whenever they're woken from their long sleep :S In the story's plot, the dragons ultimately were pretty proactive in this respect, but there's that too.
+-1 Female representation was minimal, to say the least. Apart from the female dragon and mentions of house servants, there's only a main female character, a mage called Anlia. All the rest of players in this story - All the soldiers (we assume), the other mages, the Sword Masters of Hoeth, the Elven Lords, most dragons (we assume), most Chaotic antagonists (we assume), they're all men.
Anlia's powerful and proactive, yes, but her powers also keep being used by more than one man in order to achieve power and glory, and her backstory includes the trope of the too powerful woman who lost control and accidentally killed people (and this is not particularly subverted as Elsa's story is), so she also spends the whole story being chased by her own people, who want to bring her to justice. To cap it all, it turns out (spoiler), that she has been possessed by a Chaos daemon all this time, and said daemon ends up killing her just as she seemed to be finally enjoying her fully-fledged power. Yay.
+-1 There's no explicit sexualization in the descriptions, which is unfortunately quite rare in Warhammer books (and miniatures heh). Of course, Anlia is also repeteadly described as beautiful specifically, even though technically all High Elves, male and female, are canonically very beautiful. But what else is there when it comes to the women, you understand *eyeroll* xD
-1 There is a very cringy moment when the Ellyrian Elf Lord Anlia is working for gets into her bedroom uninvited at night to discuss plans and stuff, and Anlia jokes that he shouldn't be in a lady's room at that hour. The entitled Elf immediately replies without missing a beat that 'pah, if he were after that he would have had it a long time ago lol', and just eww. If you're going to portray rape culture in your universe and your story, male writers, at least criticize it or something, and it isn't enough to say 'we're showing another example of how arrogant he is!' because Anlia, the recipient of this, doesn't seem to particularly mind about that incredibly creepy reply. Can we please stop adding rape "humour" to fantasy stories? Thanks.
+1 There's some anti-war and anti-binarism content as well, from the part of a follower of the Caledorian Elf Lord. The story features the war between the Ellyrian and Caledorian factions, with two Elf Lords who are vying for the throne of the Phoenix King. This character keeps seeing the war between both sides and all the hunger for power as unnecessary and horrible, and his inner commentary was one of the most interesting parts of the story for me. He's also the one riding the female dragon, so bonus point xD
June 7, 2023
Nothing necessarily special, but it was an engaging and short read.
March 23, 2012
This is the second book on the trilogy of novellas penned by three of the most interesting writers noawadays writing for Warhammer (Fantasy). The first was reviewed here These novellas links to the new expansion on the warhammer tabletop game called Storm of Magic where magic is running amok. Wizards are more powerful, giant beasts ravage the lands and everything can happened..
This tale is set on a island (Ulthuan) and on the Sea. Razumov was on plains/forest (Empire)and the sands (Tomb King lands), and the Hour of Shadows was in a forest/mountain (Athel Loren).
As the Phoenix King of the high elves nears death there are war on the horizont. After a disastrous battle both participants try to achieve the goal to become the next Phoenix King. Lord Rathien of Caledor seeks the aid of the dragon (even if he is not a dragon lord) and in other end Prince Valaris of Ellyrion aided by a naïve mage wants to harness the power of magic that will allow him win.
It's interesting as the chapters go and we see what each party is seeing. I really enjoy reading about the dragons and dragon fighting. We've got here some interesting battle scenes and the epilogue was very good.
In overall another great tale and in my opinion of the three there isn't one that is all that above other. They are equivalent and I enjoy reading them. Chris Wraight is great writer.
This tale is set on a island (Ulthuan) and on the Sea. Razumov was on plains/forest (Empire)and the sands (Tomb King lands), and the Hour of Shadows was in a forest/mountain (Athel Loren).
As the Phoenix King of the high elves nears death there are war on the horizont. After a disastrous battle both participants try to achieve the goal to become the next Phoenix King. Lord Rathien of Caledor seeks the aid of the dragon (even if he is not a dragon lord) and in other end Prince Valaris of Ellyrion aided by a naïve mage wants to harness the power of magic that will allow him win.
It's interesting as the chapters go and we see what each party is seeing. I really enjoy reading about the dragons and dragon fighting. We've got here some interesting battle scenes and the epilogue was very good.
In overall another great tale and in my opinion of the three there isn't one that is all that above other. They are equivalent and I enjoy reading them. Chris Wraight is great writer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews