A Dawn of Dragonfire

Dragonlore #1

by Daniel Arenson

"Their wings thudded. Their flames roared. Thousands of dragons, warriors of Requiem, soared through wind and darkness. Their cries rose in the night: for war, for fire, and for glory."

A Dawn of Dragonfire (Dragonlore, Book One) — a new, epic fantasy for fans of A Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings
________________

The people of Requiem, an ancient kingdom, can grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons. Their hearts are noble, their wisdom great, their kingdom a land of beauty and peace.

This peace will soon burn. From the south, a fire rises. Birds of flame take flight. The phoenixes soar, beasts of heat and wrath, large as dragons and cruel as wildfire. Their purpose is one: destroy the land of dragons.

Requiem's dragons have defeated countless enemies. Their claws are sharp and their flames bright. But how can they fight the phoenixes, creatures woven of sunfire itself?
________________

In 2011, the Song of Dragons trilogy introduced readers to mythical Requiem. Today, after 100,000 copies sold, a new dawn rises. Dragonlore returns to Requiem with an epic story—for both new readers and old fans—of blood, steel, and dragonfire.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Young Adult, Fiction, Magic, Ebooks, Epic Fantasy

274 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Daniel Arenson is a bookworm, proud geek, and USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction. His novels have sold over a million copies. The Huffington Post has called his writing "full of soul." He's written over forty novels, most of them in five series:

EARTHRISE — They came from deep space. They came to destroy us. Against the alien onslaught, Earth stands alone. But we will fight. We will rise. We will win. Start reading with Earth Alone, the first novel in this military science fiction series.

REQUIEM — Welcome to Requiem, an ancient kingdom whose people can grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons. Requiem is explored in six trilogies, which can be read in any order. If you're new to Requiem, you can start reading with Requiem's Song (you can download it for free). For fans of dark, gritty fantasy like A Game of Thrones.

MOTH — Discover Moth, a world torn between day and night—its one half drenched in eternal daylight, the other cloaked in endless darkness. For fans of classic fantasy worlds such as Middle Earth and Narnia. Start reading with Moth, the first novel in this epic fantasy saga.

ALIEN HUNTERS — Got trouble with aliens? Call the Alien Hunters. A group of scruffy mercenaries, they'll remove the pest for you. Low rates. No questions asked. Start reading with Alien Hunters, the first book in this space opera series. For fans of Star Wars, Firefly, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

KINGDOMS OF SAND — Enter a world of sand and splendor, a world where gladiators battle in the arena, where legionaries and barbarians fight for glory, and where empires rise and fall.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This almost received 5 stars from me. I will admit that I was riveted through much of it. A few flaws that I will cover below but I must start with saying this was a fun, anxiety-packed adventure!


This is a world were dragons can shift their beings from a dragon form to human. They can walk, talk, fight and work like any man or woman. but they can also take to the skies and breath fire. They seem to live a life equally comfortable in either form.

We start off with an attack on Royal siblings. Teenage Mori and her brother Orin are assaulted by Phoenixes. They murdered Orin and Mori barely escapes to warn her family of the impending attack. Now these are not your small phoenixes we see in the likes of Harry Potter or something. Oh no, These are huge birds of smoke and flame and are larger than the dragons! Now I have read books of phoenixes in various shapes and sizes but never this big. And these guys seem to be impenetrable in their bird form which leaves the Dragons on a losing end.

The phoenixes are led by Solina. An orphan princess raised amongst the Dragons and when exiled she finds a new life and has filled it with thoughts of vengeance! She is one twisted woman. She has the most messed up views of love that I have ever read about. She claims to love Prince Elethor but kills his family (and worse!)....um...NO.

This book is filled with tense anticipation as the dragon try to find ways to defeat their attackers. Or, for that matter, simply survive! I hated each moment I had to put this book down once I got into it.

I really liked the characters. I even like how twisted Solina is. From sweet Mori who is violated in the worst of was, to goofy Bayrin, and Warrior knight Lyana and others. The most annoying character was the High Priestess whose thoughts are often very self-centered.

I felt that Daniel Arenson must like Tolkien's novels. I could see a lot of similarities in an influential manner. Most of it was fun but it actually annoyed me when if came down to the riddle scene which plays out almost exactly like The Hobbit.

I will definitely be continuing this series and it comes with my recommendations to any fans of dragons, phoenixes or great fantasy battles! Although please note, it is filled with violence including rape, death of children, etc. Only for the strong of will!

*I received a free copy of this novel from Moonclipse in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are strictly my own.*

[Lizzy Lessard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I understand that fantasy books like to engage in a quest and that there is some leeway in how much time it would realistically take to get to one place from another. But early in the novel, there was one sequence that didn’t make sense to me. Lyana witnesses another character being killed. This character’s death was apparently the only thing delaying the attack on the city and Lyana was suppose to have left earlier to reach the city in time. She doesn’t. She waits until this character dies and Lyana is then chased down by three enemies. These enemies keep up with her, but she’s somehow able to out maneuver them long enough to find a cave. She shifts from dragon to human form. The enemy is stupid enough to lose their advantage in their phoenix form and they shift to human form too. She fights them one at a time and wins. She then finds her brother, Elethor, and warns him of the attack. They STILL make it to the city just as the attacks begin.

My question is this: What were the hundreds of villains doing during this ordeal that didn’t follow Lyana? Playing Tetris? They had ample time to reach and destroy the city before either Elethor or Lyana showed up.

Much of my dislike for this novel comes from my disappointment in the characters. Despite the difference of histories, the characters begin the book like a herd of “Bella”s (depressed and mopey) – except our villain, Solina. It felt like the plot dictated the personalities of the characters, while normally, the characters’ personalities would manipulate the plot.

For example, Elethor begins the novel as a lovesick artist, who spends his entire life obsessing over his lost love. His lost love happens to be Solina, who will kill half his family by chapter three. The moment he sees Solina again, he forgets that Solina had a very good reason for killing his family, and rejects her without hesitation. Throughout the course of the novel, he insists that he’s torn over her, but his actions are 100% against her. He never falters from this decision to side with his family, not even once.

Mori is probably my least favorite character. Her entire personality is “victim”. She’s raped in the first chapter and throughout the rest of the novel, she acts like its both her fault and she’s incapable of defending herself. Except for this one scene with Bayrin, where she drops this victim act to outshine him in battle and then offer some funny one-liners after they almost die. There’s not one shred of evidence that either character has a sense of humor besides this one scene. Also, she does “suddenly” fall in love with Bayrin and all it takes is him saying that he won’t let some guy rape her again. Geez, high standards, right? I’m hoping that EVERY guy would do their damndest not to let some woman be raped, even if he doesn’t like her.

I do like Solina. I feel that she is justified in her actions against this dragon kingdom, although she may have gone overboard. I don’t like how she has to small talk every time she catches up with one of the good guys. Bad people don’t start a conversation with “Hey, how have you been? I heard your Dad died, well, cause I killed him.” Not only is Solina insistent on spilling out her life story at every opportunity, but her minions are determined to use every one liner possible while fighting our good guys. You don’t sneak up on someone and make a joke. That’s a Disney only move.

And the end. I think the author went overboard in proving how evil she was. Every time she’s mentioned, another kid gets chopped in half. Seriously? Why are these kids frolicking around in the middle of battle? There’s no mention of adults being killed, so these kids must have been on their own. Why were our “heroes” so delinquent in protecting these children OVER and OVER again?

And the very end. Thanks, Elethor, for single handedly causing a sequel. (F+)

(I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.)

[K.K. Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Sterne

also.. naja ich finde das Buch hatte viel Potential aber hat das bei weitem nicht genug ausgenutzt um mich zu überzeugen - leider.

Es waren einfcah zu flache Charaktere und eine zu flache Welt und ... naja ich war da leider nicht so wirklich überzeugt.
Von daher weiß ich auch nicht ob ich die Reihe weiter verfolge ..

[Anna (Ink of Books) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ne. Also wirklich ne. Tut es euch nicht an.

[Travis Desormeaux · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you read one of his books you read them all it’s the same thing over and over. Don’t waste your time reading this. You would be more entertained watching paint dry

[Corinna Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not a page turner

I love a great page turner that I just can’t put down. Unfortunately, this was not it for me. The story is a great one and I want to know how it ends. I doubt I will find out. This got stale with repetitive scenarios and story line. I have seen this author put out some great reads. Sadly disappointed.

[Cami Eslick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dragons and phoenixes battling like the moon and the sun. The battle scenes are epic and the characters have depth and our as diverse as one would expect in a kingdom this size. I author doesn't pull punches when it comes to what happens in a war and who could be on the chopping block. Very reminiscent of George R.R. Martin. I look forward to the next one!!!

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich bin mir irgendwie immer noch unschlüssig, was ich von dem Buch halten soll.. Irgendwie fand ich es ganz gut, irgendwie aber auch nicht. Teilweise war es etwas zu langatmig.
Ob ich mir teil 2 hole, weiß ich noch nicht

[Leah Chalmers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun and interesting fantasy, but for some reason it didn't really catch me and though I finished the first book, I didn't pick up the second in the trilogy which I do own.

[Tess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I disliked all of the details when children were maimed and killed. I won’t be continuing the rest of this series. Disgusting.

[Alicia Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know what it was but I ABSOLUTELY loved how the first few chapters were done. Multiple pov but it all flowed in a single timeline one event leading to another character which led onto the next event SEAMLESSLY. No going back and forward in time.
There probably a better way to explain it but either way I liked it.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bis jetzt weiß ich immer noch nicht genau, was ich genau von dem Buch halten soll.

Es hat sich gut lesen lassen und die Handlung ließ keine Fragen offen. Die Charaktere waren mir etwas zu seicht und auch langweilig.

Zu meiner Unterhaltung hat es aber beigetragen.

[SARIT · Rating 3 out of 5]

The people of Requiem born with the ability to shift into dragons. They have thrived, though of course their numbers are nowhere near where their golden age long long ago was. Nova Vita is their new capital and the Vir Requis have scattered across Requiem.

However, early on, we hear of a war that happened 30 years ago, when Requiem's armies attacked the Tiranor, a country that makes it's dwelling in the sands and deserts. No real reason is ever quite given for the war; it almost seems undeserved, like Requiem just attacked a country only because they were different. Throughout the book, I often wondered and wished the Vir Requis had learned from the attacks on them not to go out to war against others and to try to extinguish another race. Now, Tiranor people had risen from the damage the war had caused and they seek a revenge. Their leader is Solina; a lost princess that had been adopted into the Vir Requis family as an orphan. Beside this she also was suffering was ridiculed of her "difference" - inability to shift to a dragon. In time she became the lover of a prince Elethor which was the only light in her life in the court. When their secret romance discovered, it was unacceptable and the king judge her to be banished to desert. In her anger and sorrow she tried to attack the him and was scarred by the dragon fire of the eldest son of the king. In the desert she found the secret magic of the sun that allowed her to transform into a phoenix. The phonix form protect her and her people from the dragons fire. More then this they couls absord the fire and burn the dragon shifters to death. Solina returned to Requiem in purpose to reclaim her lost love and destroy the kingdom. I did like Solina - I feel that she is justified in her actions against this dragon kingdom, although she may have gone overboard.
The war is on and the dragons of Requiem are losing and being slain as the can't fight the fire of the Phoenix. In last desperate action, they must turn to a demon buried deep in the grounds centuries before and a talisman of moon magic that may or may not exist to save the kingdom.

I must admit that much of my dislike for this novel comes from my disappointment in the characters
It seems that there’s not one shred of evidence that either character has a sense of humor. for exemple:

* Elethor begins the novel as a lovesick artist, who spends his entire life obsessing over his lost love. His lost love happens to be Solina, who will kill half his family by chapter three. The moment he sees Solina again, he forgets that Solina had a very good reason for killing his family, and rejects her without hesitation.

* Mori is probably my least favorite character. Her entire personality is “victim”. She’s raped in the first chapter and throughout the rest of the novel, she acts like its both her fault and she’s incapable of defending herself.

I really hope that in the next books things will be improved.

[Emmanuelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahh, it's so good to get back into the world of Requiem. The story begins 300+ years after the last seven survivors from the Song of Dragons trilogy. We now hear of their ancestors, the ancient royal lines descendend from Aeternum, Terra Eleison, Gloriae, Agnus Dei, etc. The dragons have thrived, though of course their numbers are nowhere near where their golden age long long ago was. Nova Vita is the new capital and the Vir Requis have scattered across Requiem.

However, early on we hear of a war that happened 30 years ago, when Requiem's armies attacked the Tiranor, a country that makes it's dwelling in the sands and deserts. No real reason is ever quite given for the war; it almost seems undeserved, like Requiem just attacked a country because they were different. Throughout the book, I often wondered and wished the Vir Requis had learned from the attacks on them not to go out to war against others and to try to extinguish another race.

And now, the Tiranor people have risen from the damage the war had caused. We find out that the true conqueror seeking revenge for the war against Tiranor is Solina; the lost princess that had been adopted into the Vir Requis family as an orphan. Because of her "difference" and inability to shift, she was ridiculed; we never quite know whether she was ridiculed for real or whether she just read between the lines and thought people didn't like her.

The battle ensues as Solina attacks the Vir Requis. Once again the Vir Requis find lost artifacts and go in the search to bring them back to Requiem to save the day! While the story somehow seems very repetitive of the Song of Dragons book (aka, Requiem under attack for being "different" and will be wiped out of existence is the artifacts aren't recovered....and they manage to survive in the nick of time), the book is still VERY enjoyable. It's fun to hear briefly of how the Vir Requis have recovered from near decimation and of their determination to stay alive.

[Ugur · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Dawn of Dragonfire, first book of the Dragonlore series, was written by Daniel Arenson and published in August 4, 2012 by Moonclipse.

This story tells the war between two nations. In the past the people of Requiem, who can transform into dragons, destroyed their enemies in the south by killing most of their people. The people of the south kingdom found a way to transform into phoenixes which are stronger than the dragons and are not effected with dragon fire.

Phoenixes attack to the Kingdom of Requiem and most of them have died. But the prince of the Requiem starts a journey to eliminate the phoenix threat.

I got this book from Netgalley. Thank you, Netgalley.

Reviewed on March 02, 2014 and you can find details at hundredbooksayear
Plot 6/10
Characters 4/10
Style 5/10
Setting 5/10
Entertainment 5/10
Overall: 2.5/5.0

The story and the plot is interesting but the characterization and the causal connections are very weak and this cause me to attach the story. It is difficult to understand the motivation of the characters.

I try to rate plot, characterization, style, setting and entertainment separately and take the average of these for overall rating. The overall rating is 2.5 which translates, it is between “it was ok” and “liked it”.

[Lexi Woschkolup · Rating 4 out of 5]

So book 1 of the Dragonlore books and I have to say I'm a little disappointed about the ending. I fully expected the end battle to push through as a continuance to book 2. But it just kind of stopped. One minute I'm reading about a character passing out from pain, on the verge of death. The next he's waking up in the temple and being healed and the battle is over. For now. I mean really? There was a large demon that was summoned that came barreling out from the depths of hell to help end this battle and still the enemies got away. They fled. The character development was all towards the end with a majority of the characters. I'm a little torn on whether this book was great or just good. I liked it a lot and I will probably really the other 2 books in this trilogy before I go back and read the Song of Dragons trilogy. It seems like Mr. Daniel Arenson writes in 3's so that makes it a little easier for me. However...there's a large list of books I'm currently reading. I might want to go to those.

However if you're looking for a good read that you can be able to put down for a little. Something that keeps your attention but isn't dire to finish and you're looking to pass the time. I would say this is a great book for you. I would probably put this with YA material only because it talks about death and decay and rape. But it's your discretion who you let read it.

[Cheryl Landmark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love fantasy books that feature dragons, so I was hoping this one would be awesome. Unfortunately, it fell a little short of awesome for me, even though the writing was good enough to keep me reading to the end.

It was non-stop action from the get-go, and while I do like a fast pace, this one seemed to zoom along at breakneck speed with hardly a chance to catch your breath. It was unrelentingly hopeless, bleak, depressing, violent, dark and gory. And, after a while, all the action scenes took on a similar, repetitive quality that almost made me want to skip over them.

Bayrin's character tried to instill some humour into the dire situations, but to me it just seemed forced and not very amusing. In fact, I found I couldn't connect very well with any of the characters--they were all kind of meh to me. Lyana was too vain, conceited and bullyish, Mori was too weak and weepy and victimish, Elethor was too meek and whiny and unkingish, and Solina was too cold, cruel and insaneish.

The premise of the book was interesting and intriguing, but it just didn't seem to come together as well as I had hoped it would. Will I read the next one in the series? Probably, but not any time soon.

[Joy Wilson]

Better ending than beginning

I read a lot of fantasy and quite frankly this book didn't call to me at the beginning. The characters seemed plywood thin and the story line a bit trite. I will say that as I continued to read, Mori and Bayrin really grew on me and Elethor filled out into a real person. The battles were very well written and tense, the pain was evident. Unfortunately you still have the fight to find the artifact/magic/miracle cure that saves the people, but it is okay when handled well. I am interested to see where Arenson goes from here, does he do the revenge path, the third party threatens everything, the miraculous repentance. I will read the rest of the series to see. Please understand that this is not a bad book or poorly done fantasy, it just didn't grab me with a unique story; however, well written fast paced books are certainly fun and this series promises to have an unusual twist or two.

[Cynik · Rating 2 out of 5]

A world with were dragons. And they seem to be one of the weakest races there is. And dumbest. In their past they were nearly extinct after a war with griffons. Down to 7 living members of their race. They rebuilt. At the first sign of a threat (thousands of phoenixes rising into the sky) the prince takes his approx 30 troops to investigate and fight them. Slaughtered. His sister takes word to their home city about it and 50,000 phoenix are on her tail. So the king takes his 5000 warriors out to fight. The villain of the story is quite insane and nearly every scene with her is about killing children. And two big mcguffins the dragons read their history books to discover might be able to defeat phoenix so two desperate quests are started while their home city is under attack by an unstoppable foe. It was OK for the creatures and mythology in the world but the story and writing I didn't go for.

[Jocelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fairly typical of a "quest fantasy," where the characters need to travel to protect their people, save the world, etc. While the book is ok, and the writing was good enough to keep me reading, something just didn't click for me. The odds were stacked so high against the dragon people that the book has a hopeless feel all the way through it that took away much of the enjoyment of the book. I don't see myself continuing this series.

[Jeny Sparrs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore this book!!!! I fell head over heels in love with all the dragon characters and despised the Phoenix characters. Could not put the book down. I loved that they had their own myths and lore that they found out was all true. My imagination thrived on this book. Can't wait to read the second book!

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good, and I wish I had more time to read the other books in the series. I liked the writing, the story, and the cliffhanger. It was killing me to know what creatures Solina had risen up from the ground to go after Requiem, so I had to look it up on Amazon. Knowing wyverns are in the next book just sealed the deal for me that I HAVE to read it at some point.

[Saquiba · Rating 1 out of 5]

The idea for the plot was pretty good but everything was too rushed. The development of characters never really took place. The plot looked good but the writing failed to deliver. But I finished it- and regret it now. The story and the ideas for characters was great. But it was not written well. Three hours of my life I am never getting back.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A masterful story wrapped in magic and blood. I have read many, many fantasy novels but none with the sense of realism that comes with Daniel Arenson. Oh, there is magic, dragons, and even an army of phoenixes. This was an introduction to a mythical war unlike anything I have read to date. There is love and hate. Betrayal and revenge. It had it all and just wouldn't let me put it down.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, but I'm giving up for now. I still might finish it sometime (on the class trip, perhaps?), but I also might just put it off till dragons fly again. Life is too short and too hard-pressed to read books one does not enjoy (unless they are assigned by one's teacher. ; )

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good plot building, good story line, however the characters were terribly boring and most part extremely irritating! Could not finish this book any longer. I should have downloaded the free sample prior to actually buying the full copy of this book!

[Ingrid Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the story compelling and the characters enjoyable.

My only real complaint was that a couple of the the evil entities were too similar to the Song of Dragons trilogy. For me, this made them less menacing and detracted from the overall story.

[Emily Borsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it 3 stars...but I am already reading the 2nd one. It is entertaining, and I like the characters...but it is sort of simplistic in some ways...and grisly in others. I just really like dragons.

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took awhile to get into the book but once I got passed that I really enjoyed reading the book. I enjoyed the storyline and loved the characters. Arenson has a wonderful imagination and loved the part of the abyss.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read!! I think it would make a great movie with todays technology in cinema. Parts were repetitive but the rest made it worth reading. Some parts were very violent but thats to be expected in the realm of dragons, etc.