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Space Dragons in Battle Mechs
Being a space dragon has its challenges.
Especially when you can’t fly. The storms of ether wind can rip you right off the asteroid you call home, hurling you into space to never be seen again.
Firen tries to make the most of it, raising his daughter, Tarly, as best he can. But opportunities are scarce when you’re a lowly ice miner on the outer belt. His future is pitifully grinding out his centuries in a nameless town on a dark rock, hoping his home survives the next meteor strike.
One fateful day, strange refugees from a distant system plunge their lives into chaos. An indomitable threat approaches. Will anything survive?
A fun fantasy adventure for all ages with themes of warm romance, grimdark horror, and litrpg elements. There are dragons, mechs, magic, and a formidable villain. The writing is fast-paced with minimal fluff, accelerating further in later chapters. A fantasy-leaning romantasy.
Especially when you can’t fly. The storms of ether wind can rip you right off the asteroid you call home, hurling you into space to never be seen again.
Firen tries to make the most of it, raising his daughter, Tarly, as best he can. But opportunities are scarce when you’re a lowly ice miner on the outer belt. His future is pitifully grinding out his centuries in a nameless town on a dark rock, hoping his home survives the next meteor strike.
One fateful day, strange refugees from a distant system plunge their lives into chaos. An indomitable threat approaches. Will anything survive?
A fun fantasy adventure for all ages with themes of warm romance, grimdark horror, and litrpg elements. There are dragons, mechs, magic, and a formidable villain. The writing is fast-paced with minimal fluff, accelerating further in later chapters. A fantasy-leaning romantasy.
- GenresDragons
408 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 17, 2024
22 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Barreth
5 books22 followersHi, I’m Ben. I live in Kansas City with my wife and three kids. I’m a software developer for CarePortal and I strive to reflect Jesus with my life. I write fantasy stories that are fun, fast-paced, and full of adventure.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 1, 2024
A fun read! This book kept me entertained and wanting to read more! Would definitely recommend!
March 9, 2025
Space Dragons in Battle Mechs has many individually impressive elements that it struggles to fit together.
The book begins with a compelling depiction of a tough frontier life and familiarizes the reader with the unique setting and two of its protagonists, promising a fairly grounded and “weighty” narrative.
However, this promise ends up being abandoned fairly quickly. Instead, the author opts for a much lighter narrative with things just happening without much build-up, foreshadowing, or even effort.
In general, this story can be summarized by one phrase: “lack of commitment.”
The story doesn’t commit to character development: things simply happen to characters. For example, two characters can just happen to be destined to be together because of some magic BS. While most events leave them basically unchanged. None of the story’s protagonists seem particularly concerned or upset that literally everyone they knew is dead, getting over it in less than a couple of minutes,
It doesn’t commit to its plot: Space Dragons in Battle Mechs can’t fully decide whether the threat should be taken seriously or serve as a background for the character’s cheery banter, which results in it being stuck in an awkward middle ground.
It doesn’t commit to some of its themes. For example, it explicitly mentions an inequality between the dragons of the inner system and the dragons of the outer belts, with the latter being forced to subsist on scraps while providing the inner system with resources, and then it… simply does nothing with that premise?
Even its initial commitment to its worldbuilding noticeably starts to wane by the middle of the book, with more and more things getting explained away by magic.
All in all, Space Dragons in Battle Mechs was shaping up to be really great, but then seemingly got marvel-pilled and ended up being just okay. It has some fairly strong characters and an interesting world, but its tendency to let things just happen out of the blue and its lack of tonal consistency prevent it from reaching true greatness.
The book begins with a compelling depiction of a tough frontier life and familiarizes the reader with the unique setting and two of its protagonists, promising a fairly grounded and “weighty” narrative.
However, this promise ends up being abandoned fairly quickly. Instead, the author opts for a much lighter narrative with things just happening without much build-up, foreshadowing, or even effort.
In general, this story can be summarized by one phrase: “lack of commitment.”
The story doesn’t commit to character development: things simply happen to characters. For example, two characters can just happen to be destined to be together because of some magic BS. While most events leave them basically unchanged. None of the story’s protagonists seem particularly concerned or upset that literally everyone they knew is dead, getting over it in less than a couple of minutes,
It doesn’t commit to its plot: Space Dragons in Battle Mechs can’t fully decide whether the threat should be taken seriously or serve as a background for the character’s cheery banter, which results in it being stuck in an awkward middle ground.
It doesn’t commit to some of its themes. For example, it explicitly mentions an inequality between the dragons of the inner system and the dragons of the outer belts, with the latter being forced to subsist on scraps while providing the inner system with resources, and then it… simply does nothing with that premise?
Even its initial commitment to its worldbuilding noticeably starts to wane by the middle of the book, with more and more things getting explained away by magic.
All in all, Space Dragons in Battle Mechs was shaping up to be really great, but then seemingly got marvel-pilled and ended up being just okay. It has some fairly strong characters and an interesting world, but its tendency to let things just happen out of the blue and its lack of tonal consistency prevent it from reaching true greatness.
May 16, 2024
Fun story with original setting
Entertaining story harbouring nice characters, likable ones, others more on the unsavory side, stereotyped just enough to make them and their interactions more fun but without spoiling them.
It is mostly on the light adventure side with situations resolving quickly. Mostly : so there is some drama that gives some contrast, even though it's not going full dark and so, still fits the general tonality of the book.
The worldbuilding itself is also original, space fantasy with life thriving in a place that ought to be inhospitable, and it gives root to a lot of fun concepts.
The conclusion is not an outright cliffhanger but remains open for further books, so we'll see.
And, hell, dragons and mechs. Dragons weren't badass enough ?... Yet ancient wisdom reminds me that there's no such thing as overkill, especially when it comes to badasseness. So, yeah, dragons and mechs, do it !
Entertaining story harbouring nice characters, likable ones, others more on the unsavory side, stereotyped just enough to make them and their interactions more fun but without spoiling them.
It is mostly on the light adventure side with situations resolving quickly. Mostly : so there is some drama that gives some contrast, even though it's not going full dark and so, still fits the general tonality of the book.
The worldbuilding itself is also original, space fantasy with life thriving in a place that ought to be inhospitable, and it gives root to a lot of fun concepts.
The conclusion is not an outright cliffhanger but remains open for further books, so we'll see.
And, hell, dragons and mechs. Dragons weren't badass enough ?... Yet ancient wisdom reminds me that there's no such thing as overkill, especially when it comes to badasseness. So, yeah, dragons and mechs, do it !
September 23, 2025
Alex, I'll take things I didn't see coming for $500
Okay, to be fair I did see the broad strokes coming because, after all, it's the name of the book.
What I didn't see coming was the creation and an engaging example of world building. It's a fun new playground, and Ben makes the most of it.
Buckle up for an unexpectedly fun romp and a new world to play in!
Okay, to be fair I did see the broad strokes coming because, after all, it's the name of the book.
What I didn't see coming was the creation and an engaging example of world building. It's a fun new playground, and Ben makes the most of it.
Buckle up for an unexpectedly fun romp and a new world to play in!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews