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Dragon Age #2
Dragonforge
Following the events of Bitterwood, war erupts as human rebels seize the town of Dragon Forge, home to the foundries that equip the dragon armies. But the human struggle may be doomed as long as the mysterious goddess Jazz plots to keep humans enslaved. Can Bitterwood, Jandra, and Zeeky defeat her? And can the dragons survive the wrath of their own vengeful deity, Blasphet the Murder God?
ebook
First published January 1, 2008
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About the author
James Maxey
96 books188 followersI've been an avid reader since I first picked up a book. Luckily, I was within biking distance of three different libraries growing up. I was a skinny kid. If only I had maintained that link between biking and reading, I might be a skinny adult.
I'm also a writer. I wrote my first book as a kid, an adventure about pirates and ghosts. When I was a teenager, I used to write superhero adventures. Then I went to college and was steered toward writing "literature." It took me several years to shake that off, and today I write the sort of books I devoured by the shelf when I was sixteen, fast-paced fantasy, SF, and superhero adventures, which I use to explore deeper questions about life. My goal is to always be thought-provoking and always be fun.
I've had short stories in about a dozen anthologies and magazines. My novels to date are:
Nobody Gets the Girl
The Dragon Age trilogy
Bitterwood
Dragonforge
Dragonseed
Burn Baby Burn
The Dragon Apocalypse
Greatshadow (January 2012) -- A team of superpowered adventurers are recruited by the Church of the Book to extinguish the primal dragon of fire, Greatshadow.
Hush (July 2012) -- An effort to complete a quest for a fallen friend, the warrior woman Infidel stumbles onto a plot to kill Glorious, the primal dragon of the sun, and plunge the world into permanent cold and darkness, the elemental domain of the dragon Hush.
Witchbreaker (January 2013) -- A young witch named Sorrow has lost control of her magic after tapping into the spirit of Rott, the primal dragon of decay. Her desperate quest to save what remains of her humanity leads to an uneasy alliance with an amnesiatic warrior who might be the legendary champion of the church known as the Witchbreaker. But can there combined powers prevail when they trigger the wrath of Tempest, the primal dragon of storms?
I'm also a writer. I wrote my first book as a kid, an adventure about pirates and ghosts. When I was a teenager, I used to write superhero adventures. Then I went to college and was steered toward writing "literature." It took me several years to shake that off, and today I write the sort of books I devoured by the shelf when I was sixteen, fast-paced fantasy, SF, and superhero adventures, which I use to explore deeper questions about life. My goal is to always be thought-provoking and always be fun.
I've had short stories in about a dozen anthologies and magazines. My novels to date are:
Nobody Gets the Girl
The Dragon Age trilogy
Bitterwood
Dragonforge
Dragonseed
Burn Baby Burn
The Dragon Apocalypse
Greatshadow (January 2012) -- A team of superpowered adventurers are recruited by the Church of the Book to extinguish the primal dragon of fire, Greatshadow.
Hush (July 2012) -- An effort to complete a quest for a fallen friend, the warrior woman Infidel stumbles onto a plot to kill Glorious, the primal dragon of the sun, and plunge the world into permanent cold and darkness, the elemental domain of the dragon Hush.
Witchbreaker (January 2013) -- A young witch named Sorrow has lost control of her magic after tapping into the spirit of Rott, the primal dragon of decay. Her desperate quest to save what remains of her humanity leads to an uneasy alliance with an amnesiatic warrior who might be the legendary champion of the church known as the Witchbreaker. But can there combined powers prevail when they trigger the wrath of Tempest, the primal dragon of storms?
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 3, 2011
Warning: This review contains major spoilers for Bitterwood (Book 1 of the Bitterwood Trilogy).
Stop reading now if you don’t want to know what happened in Bitterwood
What It’s About
The old dragon king is dead, and his dream of human genocide is dead with him. The new king dreams of a better world where all the sentient races can live together in a just society, but this dream is not without opponents. A prominent human prophet sees the old king’s death as the perfect time to start an uprising to reclaim human independence, and events get even more out of hand when a group of devotees frees the old king’s brother, known as the Murder God, from prison.
Why I Like It
Much like Bitterwood, the best part of Dragonforge is the ever-shifting conflict. Many of the characters from the first book return in this one, along with several new ones, and all of them still have interesting and overlapping goals. It’s a thrilling ride when the plot starts rolling downhill to the climax because there are so many important players and it feels like almost anything can happen.
The world gets much more fleshed out in Dragonforge than it did in Bitterwood. In the first book it always seemed a little odd to me that the humans could fall so far, from their current dominance of the Earth to being basically serfs in a medieval feudal society. That fall makes a lot more sense in this book, which works in some of the backstory of what happened and makes it more plausible.
There are also some great character arcs in Dragonforge. I don’t want to give anything away, but there is one character in particular that I enjoyed. This character was fairly static in the first book, but goes through a dramatic transformation in this book. The transformation makes sense as it’s happening, but I definitely didn’t see it coming.
What I Don’t Like
The pacing of the last half of the book is a little strange. The plot thread that seems to me like the most important one, the one with the highest stakes, gets resolved before the climax even really gets going. There are also several times when the viewpoint is inconsistent, where characters’ internal thoughts are interrupted by a voice that just sounds like an all-knowing narrator trying to fill you in on details from the first book.
The Bottom Line
Dragonforge keeps the “anything could happen next” feel of the first book, and adds some more interesting character arcs and a more fleshed out world on top of it. It’s a good sequel, so if you’ve read Bitterwood and enjoyed it, don’t hesitate to pick up Dragonforge.
Stop reading now if you don’t want to know what happened in Bitterwood
What It’s About
The old dragon king is dead, and his dream of human genocide is dead with him. The new king dreams of a better world where all the sentient races can live together in a just society, but this dream is not without opponents. A prominent human prophet sees the old king’s death as the perfect time to start an uprising to reclaim human independence, and events get even more out of hand when a group of devotees frees the old king’s brother, known as the Murder God, from prison.
Why I Like It
Much like Bitterwood, the best part of Dragonforge is the ever-shifting conflict. Many of the characters from the first book return in this one, along with several new ones, and all of them still have interesting and overlapping goals. It’s a thrilling ride when the plot starts rolling downhill to the climax because there are so many important players and it feels like almost anything can happen.
The world gets much more fleshed out in Dragonforge than it did in Bitterwood. In the first book it always seemed a little odd to me that the humans could fall so far, from their current dominance of the Earth to being basically serfs in a medieval feudal society. That fall makes a lot more sense in this book, which works in some of the backstory of what happened and makes it more plausible.
There are also some great character arcs in Dragonforge. I don’t want to give anything away, but there is one character in particular that I enjoyed. This character was fairly static in the first book, but goes through a dramatic transformation in this book. The transformation makes sense as it’s happening, but I definitely didn’t see it coming.
What I Don’t Like
The pacing of the last half of the book is a little strange. The plot thread that seems to me like the most important one, the one with the highest stakes, gets resolved before the climax even really gets going. There are also several times when the viewpoint is inconsistent, where characters’ internal thoughts are interrupted by a voice that just sounds like an all-knowing narrator trying to fill you in on details from the first book.
The Bottom Line
Dragonforge keeps the “anything could happen next” feel of the first book, and adds some more interesting character arcs and a more fleshed out world on top of it. It’s a good sequel, so if you’ve read Bitterwood and enjoyed it, don’t hesitate to pick up Dragonforge.
July 16, 2012
Despite problems, I couldn't help but like this book. First, let me get my main gripe out of the way.
In this sequel to Bitterwood where intelligent dragons rule the world there are two humans named Jandra & Pet. Pet, cloistered as a dragon's pet for many years desires Jandra in a big way. Jandra alternates between attraction/repulsion of Pet but privately desires him as well. Pretty routine as far as storybook romances go and nothing shocking in this passage:
"He (Pet) drifted into a fantasy that began with the offer of a cup of warm cider on a cool evening, then moved to a vision of Jandra’s gown and his pants tangled together at the foot of a bed."
Again, nothing really out there until you consider an earlier introductory passage: "A human female sixteen years of age, Jandra had been raised by Vendevorex almost as a daughter." And combine it with "Beside her stood Pet, a human male nearly ten years older."
Maybe it's just my 21st century sensibilities but I couldn't help but cringe every time I read a passage about either of these two longing for the other. At times I wondered if the author forgot the age of his characters:
"Bitterwood sensed that the change in her (Jandra) since last they’d met was more than just a change of wardrobe. He strained to keep up with her. She definitely hadn’t been this strong or fast when they’d first met. Then, she’d been little more than a child in a young woman’s body."
And our hero from the previous book...well, his description says it:
"Bant (Bitterwood) looked nothing like anyone’s hero. His hair was thinning; he was missing quite a few teeth, and, though he was strong and wiry, he wasn’t as tall as a hero should be. His clothes were little more than rags, and twenty years of survival beneath an open sky had left him with a face of wrinkled leather."
When one looks at the cover of the first book, Bitterwood, does that picture match the above description? Maxey doesn't go for the stereotypical good looking or even adult protagonist look. I do wish the author had narrowed the main characters a little - you have Gaxon the dragon, Jandra, Pet, Bitterwood, and Zeeky but none of their point of views were overly compelling reads. I definitely felt like this was a plot driven story.
There was also a discontinuity between the backdrop of Dragonforge and Bitterwood. In the previous book, I got the impression that the "world" was almost like a preserve, e.g. Cynthia, an Atlantean, says she's on an ecological survey. However, in this book, it's almost as if the world is simply a playground for one power-mad Atlantean.
However, despite the plot inconsistencies and at times strained dialog, it wasn't a bad book. It was an enjoyable read moves the story along and I will pick up the third and final book.
In this sequel to Bitterwood where intelligent dragons rule the world there are two humans named Jandra & Pet. Pet, cloistered as a dragon's pet for many years desires Jandra in a big way. Jandra alternates between attraction/repulsion of Pet but privately desires him as well. Pretty routine as far as storybook romances go and nothing shocking in this passage:
"He (Pet) drifted into a fantasy that began with the offer of a cup of warm cider on a cool evening, then moved to a vision of Jandra’s gown and his pants tangled together at the foot of a bed."
Again, nothing really out there until you consider an earlier introductory passage: "A human female sixteen years of age, Jandra had been raised by Vendevorex almost as a daughter." And combine it with "Beside her stood Pet, a human male nearly ten years older."
Maybe it's just my 21st century sensibilities but I couldn't help but cringe every time I read a passage about either of these two longing for the other. At times I wondered if the author forgot the age of his characters:
"Bitterwood sensed that the change in her (Jandra) since last they’d met was more than just a change of wardrobe. He strained to keep up with her. She definitely hadn’t been this strong or fast when they’d first met. Then, she’d been little more than a child in a young woman’s body."
And our hero from the previous book...well, his description says it:
"Bant (Bitterwood) looked nothing like anyone’s hero. His hair was thinning; he was missing quite a few teeth, and, though he was strong and wiry, he wasn’t as tall as a hero should be. His clothes were little more than rags, and twenty years of survival beneath an open sky had left him with a face of wrinkled leather."
When one looks at the cover of the first book, Bitterwood, does that picture match the above description? Maxey doesn't go for the stereotypical good looking or even adult protagonist look. I do wish the author had narrowed the main characters a little - you have Gaxon the dragon, Jandra, Pet, Bitterwood, and Zeeky but none of their point of views were overly compelling reads. I definitely felt like this was a plot driven story.
There was also a discontinuity between the backdrop of Dragonforge and Bitterwood. In the previous book, I got the impression that the "world" was almost like a preserve, e.g. Cynthia, an Atlantean, says she's on an ecological survey. However, in this book, it's almost as if the world is simply a playground for one power-mad Atlantean.
However, despite the plot inconsistencies and at times strained dialog, it wasn't a bad book. It was an enjoyable read moves the story along and I will pick up the third and final book.
July 31, 2015
What I like about James Maxey is that he grows as a writer. Not many people can admit that something is wrong with the book and change it like he did. I was a little unprepared for the whole sci-fi world jumping that was brought into this series but then again that just made it even better.
I do have to admit it got a little crazy but in the end it made a lot of sense. I was a little confused about the whole prophets thing and sorta wished there was a middle ground were people did believe in god but weren't crazy. Maybe that'll happen in the third book.
I do have to admit it got a little crazy but in the end it made a lot of sense. I was a little confused about the whole prophets thing and sorta wished there was a middle ground were people did believe in god but weren't crazy. Maybe that'll happen in the third book.
July 20, 2019
If I were to give my review a title, it would be “Not even worth the time it would have taken to read it”. Oh, wait, I already did, on Amazon. It's a ten year old review but reviewing things on Amazon is probably a waste of time. I think the Goodreads reviews may be more trustworthy. Hence the migration.
I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction, and I don't usually take the time to write reviews for what I read. Perhaps that's reprehensible of me, but who's got the time? And yet, every now and then I read a book so bad I feel compelled to warn others against wasting their money, especially at the price they are charging for even soft-covers these days.
For someone accustomed to the delicious feast of C.J. Cherryh’s truly alien aliens, or Orson Scott Card’s, this book was an offence to my reading sensibilities. Obviously an attempt to cash in on the popularity of dragons, from the very first page I got the sense that Maxey’s dragons aren’t really dragons, they’re just dragon shaped people, and not particularly interesting people at that.
If I hadn’t been so desperate for absolutely anything to read at the time, I would probably have tossed the book at page 23, when the “elderly matriarch dragon” comes out hobbling on a cane. A cane? What in the seven hecks would a four legged creature use a cane for? And if these creatures aren’t really dragons of the four-footed variety, more like scaly humans with wings, that needed to have been made clearer at the onset.
The first two chapters of the book utterly failed to interest me in the main character’s so-called plight (he’s an errand boy who isn’t going to be allowed to breed because he’s gray instead of blue) or in any of the details of his colorless life. There was little in his personality that I found admirable or sympathetic. It wasn’t that he was evil or unpleasant (vis-à-vis the leper in Donaldson’s offense-against-the-literary-world series), just that he was…bland. If he had been killed by the female dragons at the end of the second chapter I would have found it a relief.
Maxey’s descriptions of the dragons themselves do not sound like observations that a non-human would make about members of its own species, they sound like the descriptions that humans would have of the dragons after seeing them for the first time. The main character, upon seeing female dragons for the first time in many years, observes that they have heads like “goat skulls”. Baby dragons look like “turtles” to him.
The dragon society seems like a pointlessly vile collection, some enthusiastically cannibalizing their own infants, others pontificating on bloodlines with the snotty sort of superiority that one might expect in an upper class Victorian matron in a romance novel. We are expected to believe that this group of females in a matriarchal society has been carefully breeding their own species for generations, and they give a rat’s ass about color? Pleh. More anachronistic thinking. Our own human society has developed a color prejudice because we have societies of different developmental levels and custom distinguished by color. It makes about as much sense for a supposedly technologically advanced society to breed for scale color as it would for humans to spontaneously decide to breed for hair color above intelligence, speed, health, etc.
And throughout the first two chapters, the POV character is unfailingly bland in his reactions. There’s nothing in him that I can identify with. Hey, they’re eating their children. Hmm, I’d heard of something like that but I hadn’t expected them to be so enthusiastic about it. Oh, please, mother dear, I came here hoping you’d change your mind and allow me to breed after all. After all, I’m intelligent and I just cleverly defeated three of your warriors, why does it make a big deal that I’m gray instead of blue (especially since there are a lot of other colors that are okay for other dragons to have). You won’t change your mind? Aww, darn, well, thanks for not drowning me at birth like you should have. Bye, now.
The only character with any flavor at all is the villain, and little enough there. Rife with indirect POV violations, way too much “telling” instead of showing, anachronistic thinking inappropriate to the society the POV character was raised in (yes, I did make it to the third chapter where the POV changes to a female human. Ugh.), poorly done, bland and unevenly constructed characters who I found it impossible to empathize with, all combined to induce me to put the book down after chapter 4. I wasn’t that desperate; I could tell that there was worse to come.
Even the basic believability factor of the writing was fairly low. We are given to understand that the main character has spent his life as an errand boy. Yet he easily and quickly defeats not one, but three female dragons “trained from birth in the warrior’s arts”. Gee, d’ya suppose it was because they were just girls? The three “warrior” dragons came across like members of an anime grrl-band, one of them with a bad case of P.M.S. Only, it turns out that she can be forgiven her I-hate-men attitude because she was gang-raped by a bunch of renegade men, excuse me, males, earlier.
Gosh, change the anatomy and they sound just like people, don’t they?
In fact, after reading the first couple of chapters, if I’d had to guess how this book came about, I’d have predicted that the author wrote it and had it critiqued by his crit-group, and they told him that it was too boring to sell, it had nothing new to say, it was only a regurgitation of the endless stream of bland fantasy story that the author must have read prior. So he thought “I know, I’ll just change all the people into dragons and then it’ll be different…then it’ll sell”.
Sadly, that was indeed the case.
Seriously, though, what really torques me off is that the editors, who are supposed to be rejecting this sort of poorly written garbage, have just induced me to spend $8 on a story that literally wasn’t worth the time it would have taken to read it. I seldom pay much attention to which publishing house a novel is out of before I buy, but in the future I will be on the lookout for Solaris as a publisher to avoid.
I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction, and I don't usually take the time to write reviews for what I read. Perhaps that's reprehensible of me, but who's got the time? And yet, every now and then I read a book so bad I feel compelled to warn others against wasting their money, especially at the price they are charging for even soft-covers these days.
For someone accustomed to the delicious feast of C.J. Cherryh’s truly alien aliens, or Orson Scott Card’s, this book was an offence to my reading sensibilities. Obviously an attempt to cash in on the popularity of dragons, from the very first page I got the sense that Maxey’s dragons aren’t really dragons, they’re just dragon shaped people, and not particularly interesting people at that.
If I hadn’t been so desperate for absolutely anything to read at the time, I would probably have tossed the book at page 23, when the “elderly matriarch dragon” comes out hobbling on a cane. A cane? What in the seven hecks would a four legged creature use a cane for? And if these creatures aren’t really dragons of the four-footed variety, more like scaly humans with wings, that needed to have been made clearer at the onset.
The first two chapters of the book utterly failed to interest me in the main character’s so-called plight (he’s an errand boy who isn’t going to be allowed to breed because he’s gray instead of blue) or in any of the details of his colorless life. There was little in his personality that I found admirable or sympathetic. It wasn’t that he was evil or unpleasant (vis-à-vis the leper in Donaldson’s offense-against-the-literary-world series), just that he was…bland. If he had been killed by the female dragons at the end of the second chapter I would have found it a relief.
Maxey’s descriptions of the dragons themselves do not sound like observations that a non-human would make about members of its own species, they sound like the descriptions that humans would have of the dragons after seeing them for the first time. The main character, upon seeing female dragons for the first time in many years, observes that they have heads like “goat skulls”. Baby dragons look like “turtles” to him.
The dragon society seems like a pointlessly vile collection, some enthusiastically cannibalizing their own infants, others pontificating on bloodlines with the snotty sort of superiority that one might expect in an upper class Victorian matron in a romance novel. We are expected to believe that this group of females in a matriarchal society has been carefully breeding their own species for generations, and they give a rat’s ass about color? Pleh. More anachronistic thinking. Our own human society has developed a color prejudice because we have societies of different developmental levels and custom distinguished by color. It makes about as much sense for a supposedly technologically advanced society to breed for scale color as it would for humans to spontaneously decide to breed for hair color above intelligence, speed, health, etc.
And throughout the first two chapters, the POV character is unfailingly bland in his reactions. There’s nothing in him that I can identify with. Hey, they’re eating their children. Hmm, I’d heard of something like that but I hadn’t expected them to be so enthusiastic about it. Oh, please, mother dear, I came here hoping you’d change your mind and allow me to breed after all. After all, I’m intelligent and I just cleverly defeated three of your warriors, why does it make a big deal that I’m gray instead of blue (especially since there are a lot of other colors that are okay for other dragons to have). You won’t change your mind? Aww, darn, well, thanks for not drowning me at birth like you should have. Bye, now.
The only character with any flavor at all is the villain, and little enough there. Rife with indirect POV violations, way too much “telling” instead of showing, anachronistic thinking inappropriate to the society the POV character was raised in (yes, I did make it to the third chapter where the POV changes to a female human. Ugh.), poorly done, bland and unevenly constructed characters who I found it impossible to empathize with, all combined to induce me to put the book down after chapter 4. I wasn’t that desperate; I could tell that there was worse to come.
Even the basic believability factor of the writing was fairly low. We are given to understand that the main character has spent his life as an errand boy. Yet he easily and quickly defeats not one, but three female dragons “trained from birth in the warrior’s arts”. Gee, d’ya suppose it was because they were just girls? The three “warrior” dragons came across like members of an anime grrl-band, one of them with a bad case of P.M.S. Only, it turns out that she can be forgiven her I-hate-men attitude because she was gang-raped by a bunch of renegade men, excuse me, males, earlier.
Gosh, change the anatomy and they sound just like people, don’t they?
In fact, after reading the first couple of chapters, if I’d had to guess how this book came about, I’d have predicted that the author wrote it and had it critiqued by his crit-group, and they told him that it was too boring to sell, it had nothing new to say, it was only a regurgitation of the endless stream of bland fantasy story that the author must have read prior. So he thought “I know, I’ll just change all the people into dragons and then it’ll be different…then it’ll sell”.
Sadly, that was indeed the case.
Seriously, though, what really torques me off is that the editors, who are supposed to be rejecting this sort of poorly written garbage, have just induced me to spend $8 on a story that literally wasn’t worth the time it would have taken to read it. I seldom pay much attention to which publishing house a novel is out of before I buy, but in the future I will be on the lookout for Solaris as a publisher to avoid.
September 24, 2024
Here be dragons! Lots of the scaly bleeders. So many, in fact, that the beggars need taking down a peg or two…
James Maxey’s world of tyrannical dragons and downtrodden humanity seems original, until you think of Anne McCaffrey. Her Pern books, fantasy through and through in tone and intent, are also built upon a solid SF world concept. But these similarities do not mean Maxey loses points, indeed, he’s managed what McCaffrey did, making us hungry to unravel his mysteries. In this genre, that’s the battle fought and won.
As revealed in the precursor book Bitterwood, three kinds of dragon rule what appears to be a far-future Earth, with the massive Sun Dragons top dogs, and ‘magic’ provided by nanotech relics.
This second book in what we assume is a trilogy sees the world poised on the brink of change. The dragon king Albekizan is dead, his plans to exterminate mankind undone. His son Shandrazel has decided to establish a Commonwealth of races. But uniting so many belligerent factions isn’t easy, and trouble is brewing in the mountains…
Maxey’s book provides the perfect template for the modern fantasy novel. A massive cast of inter-related characters demands multiple story strands, we’re presented with different perspectives on each player, most of them go through a transformative arc, and there’s a balanced amount of inner-voice musing to further round them out. The world is well-constructed, its mysteries revealed in dabs of well-timed exposition. There’s a love story, a cute kid, and a talking pig.
Capable may sound like we’re damning Maxey with faint praise, but he is, and extremely so. The mix of SF/ fantasy does not always convince, and the novelty of the dragons wears off when you realise they are all too human. But Maxey keeps the pages turning. If we allow that there are difficult books, this would be exact opposite. Easy does not mean rubbish, however, and if you want a bit of well-crafted, mass-market fantasy, different enough to be interesting, though not to be actually different, you could do worse.
James Maxey’s world of tyrannical dragons and downtrodden humanity seems original, until you think of Anne McCaffrey. Her Pern books, fantasy through and through in tone and intent, are also built upon a solid SF world concept. But these similarities do not mean Maxey loses points, indeed, he’s managed what McCaffrey did, making us hungry to unravel his mysteries. In this genre, that’s the battle fought and won.
As revealed in the precursor book Bitterwood, three kinds of dragon rule what appears to be a far-future Earth, with the massive Sun Dragons top dogs, and ‘magic’ provided by nanotech relics.
This second book in what we assume is a trilogy sees the world poised on the brink of change. The dragon king Albekizan is dead, his plans to exterminate mankind undone. His son Shandrazel has decided to establish a Commonwealth of races. But uniting so many belligerent factions isn’t easy, and trouble is brewing in the mountains…
Maxey’s book provides the perfect template for the modern fantasy novel. A massive cast of inter-related characters demands multiple story strands, we’re presented with different perspectives on each player, most of them go through a transformative arc, and there’s a balanced amount of inner-voice musing to further round them out. The world is well-constructed, its mysteries revealed in dabs of well-timed exposition. There’s a love story, a cute kid, and a talking pig.
Capable may sound like we’re damning Maxey with faint praise, but he is, and extremely so. The mix of SF/ fantasy does not always convince, and the novelty of the dragons wears off when you realise they are all too human. But Maxey keeps the pages turning. If we allow that there are difficult books, this would be exact opposite. Easy does not mean rubbish, however, and if you want a bit of well-crafted, mass-market fantasy, different enough to be interesting, though not to be actually different, you could do worse.
February 28, 2022
So sllllooooowwwww
Narrator: 1⭐ ouch. Echoey audio and the differences between characters and their accents is not the best. Makes for a less enjoyable experience. Good pacing and tone though. The women all speak with lisps which is super irritating and the dragons all sound like they’ve got cotton mouth.
Parents: not for under 18 - R rated
Language: very strong (R; Fbombs present)
Violence: R rated gore
Sexual content: lots nudity, descriptive adult content, 18+
The story 3⭐. I have not read the first book but for what you hear, you wouldn’t know this is the second book in a series. Like another reviewer mentioned, this tale is rather wandersome and you don’t really understand why you care about hardly anything happening in this book. The chunk with the Goddess was an entertaining highlight. The dragons are so humanoid that if you removed draconic references you’d swear they were human. The mature content makes this a strongly inappropriate read for those under 18 even though some of that content is laughable enough your eyes might roll out of your skull.
Overall a rather bland and poorly performed book, hopefully book 3 is better?
—I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Narrator: 1⭐ ouch. Echoey audio and the differences between characters and their accents is not the best. Makes for a less enjoyable experience. Good pacing and tone though. The women all speak with lisps which is super irritating and the dragons all sound like they’ve got cotton mouth.
Parents: not for under 18 - R rated
Language: very strong (R; Fbombs present)
Violence: R rated gore
Sexual content: lots nudity, descriptive adult content, 18+
The story 3⭐. I have not read the first book but for what you hear, you wouldn’t know this is the second book in a series. Like another reviewer mentioned, this tale is rather wandersome and you don’t really understand why you care about hardly anything happening in this book. The chunk with the Goddess was an entertaining highlight. The dragons are so humanoid that if you removed draconic references you’d swear they were human. The mature content makes this a strongly inappropriate read for those under 18 even though some of that content is laughable enough your eyes might roll out of your skull.
Overall a rather bland and poorly performed book, hopefully book 3 is better?
—I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
May 4, 2018
I had requested and received audiobook version of this book for free from the author, in exchange for an unbiased review.
I hadn't read Bitterwood, the first book of this series and had directly started with this second book. Thankfully the book has a lot of backstory provided and I was able to get a grasp on what's happening. Too much isn't lost. This then works alright as a stand-alone. But I would love to go read the first book too, if I get a chance. And then continue with future books of the series.
What I loved about this book is its unique treatment of dragons. It slightly reminded me of Eragon. The relation woven between Dragons and humans and their interaction and battles are all so very intriguing. The writing style is great, plot is solid and the characters are well written. The fantastic story kept me interested throughout and kept coming back everyday to learn what happens next.
What lets this book down is the below par narration. The different voices Eric Joseph Chancy tried to use for characters were pretty poor and his delivery felt lacking too. I'm sure he could've done a better job.
I hadn't read Bitterwood, the first book of this series and had directly started with this second book. Thankfully the book has a lot of backstory provided and I was able to get a grasp on what's happening. Too much isn't lost. This then works alright as a stand-alone. But I would love to go read the first book too, if I get a chance. And then continue with future books of the series.
What I loved about this book is its unique treatment of dragons. It slightly reminded me of Eragon. The relation woven between Dragons and humans and their interaction and battles are all so very intriguing. The writing style is great, plot is solid and the characters are well written. The fantastic story kept me interested throughout and kept coming back everyday to learn what happens next.
What lets this book down is the below par narration. The different voices Eric Joseph Chancy tried to use for characters were pretty poor and his delivery felt lacking too. I'm sure he could've done a better job.
December 29, 2023
There's one big thing that needs to be gotten out of the way and I've seen other reviews mentioned it. There is a character who is sexually attracted to a teenager. At one point he literally says he wants to become her friend so he can fuck her it's absolutely horrific. It is extremely uncomfortable and the worst part of the book. Aside from that there's also multiple mentions of rape and assault which don't make any sense to the story. In fact there is at one point where Pet justifies it. As a mild spoiler this is a world set in the future where technology is basically back to the middle ages but the humans before were all extremely advanced so it makes me wonder if the author really thinks that individuals would be so inclined to raping still. There's a lot of this book that doesn't make any sense. I didn't hate it though it is interesting and I want to see where the final one goes. If you can get past the weird obsession with assault and rape then you're fine.
May 17, 2018
The story continues and isn't too bad. It takes a bit of a twist into the realm of science fiction, which I didn't have a problem with; it did get confusing when I was left hanging without explanations about particulars involving the Atlanteans. I can't go into further detail without spoilers.
The author seemed to have lost his original proofreader because this volume was plagued with many typos and added words-it got to be rather annoying when they continued throughout.
Despite the problems I had with this book, the story was still good and entertaining; plus, I for one found it rather refreshing that this author isn't timid about killing off characters. As long as the story remains good I'll keep reading through the series until its conclusion.
The author seemed to have lost his original proofreader because this volume was plagued with many typos and added words-it got to be rather annoying when they continued throughout.
Despite the problems I had with this book, the story was still good and entertaining; plus, I for one found it rather refreshing that this author isn't timid about killing off characters. As long as the story remains good I'll keep reading through the series until its conclusion.
October 19, 2021
Impressive !!
This book was really great with details that made it feel real.The chapter of the fight was gruesome in its details of the fall of Dragons Forge,in that the fate of so many dragons met their end.Also the battle of the Nest was horrifying in the slaughter of the dragons and the slaughter of the humans as well. James's story was told in really dramatic battles with the Goddess. A fantastic read .
This book was really great with details that made it feel real.The chapter of the fight was gruesome in its details of the fall of Dragons Forge,in that the fate of so many dragons met their end.Also the battle of the Nest was horrifying in the slaughter of the dragons and the slaughter of the humans as well. James's story was told in really dramatic battles with the Goddess. A fantastic read .
April 7, 2021
I felt this one was a bit weaker then the previous book, as I really did not like the direction it was going as I liked the idea of them focusing on how to build a society between the dragons and the humans and the struggles that goes with it. But it just keeps going with the theme of Dragons vs humans.
July 18, 2021
This was a good story, but I'm not sure how I feel about the science fiction elements.
October 31, 2025
It's been a long time since I read a fantasy book which I found so gripping as this one. On to the next book in the series!
January 8, 2010
From ISawLightningFall.com
Middle installments of trilogies are tough going. Trapped between initial exposition and the ultimate conclusion, the author must entice his audience without the aid of novelty or resolution. No wonder that so many feel muddled and meandering, a detour from the story's destination rather than a stop along the way. But occasionally you'll happen upon one that consolidates the best parts of its predecessor, dumps its flaws and transforms into a standout novel in its own right. That's exactly what happens with James Maxey's Dragonforge, sequel to Bitterwood.
King Albekizan is dead. The once-mighty dragon lord perished mysteriously when an attempted massacre of incarcerated humans broke out into armed rebellion. Now his once-exiled son Shandrazel is in charge, and he has grand visions of a land where equality reigns, a place where dragons and men can dwell together in harmony. But there are almost as many obstacles to his dream as scales on his hide. The valkyrie legions, female guardians of the dragonic bloodlines, believe such plans endanger their genetic heritage. Ragnar the prophet has begun fomenting resistance among downtrodden humans, amassing war machines with the aid of a Cherokee engineer named Burke. Then there's Blasphet, also known as the Murder God, a dragon dedicated to senseless slaughter who has a coterie of suicidal followers dedicated to following his every whim. And just when you think those might be complications enough, Shandrazel has to deal with that most difficult of foes -- himself. When a realm long ruled by mere might faces strains, lofty ideals can fade like frost under the noonday sun.
Dragonforge improves on its predecessor in most every way. Maxey's mélange of high-fantasy tropes and hard science prove particularly effective. Magic meshes with nanotechnology, siege engines with steampunk, subterranean wyrms with wormholes. "Unique" is a word much bantered about in speculative fiction, but the novel displays a creative vision unlike anything I've ever encountered. It also contains plenty of thematic grit. Characters opine on weighty subjects such as libertarian anarchy and philosophical nihilism. And the actions scenes (of which there are plenty) are so cracking good that I wouldn't be at all surprised to see some Hollywood studio snap up the screen rights. The downside? Well, the prose is a bit rough at points, and fanatical Ragnar is almost a caricature. But these are relatively minor quibbles. Dragonforge burns bright.
Middle installments of trilogies are tough going. Trapped between initial exposition and the ultimate conclusion, the author must entice his audience without the aid of novelty or resolution. No wonder that so many feel muddled and meandering, a detour from the story's destination rather than a stop along the way. But occasionally you'll happen upon one that consolidates the best parts of its predecessor, dumps its flaws and transforms into a standout novel in its own right. That's exactly what happens with James Maxey's Dragonforge, sequel to Bitterwood.
King Albekizan is dead. The once-mighty dragon lord perished mysteriously when an attempted massacre of incarcerated humans broke out into armed rebellion. Now his once-exiled son Shandrazel is in charge, and he has grand visions of a land where equality reigns, a place where dragons and men can dwell together in harmony. But there are almost as many obstacles to his dream as scales on his hide. The valkyrie legions, female guardians of the dragonic bloodlines, believe such plans endanger their genetic heritage. Ragnar the prophet has begun fomenting resistance among downtrodden humans, amassing war machines with the aid of a Cherokee engineer named Burke. Then there's Blasphet, also known as the Murder God, a dragon dedicated to senseless slaughter who has a coterie of suicidal followers dedicated to following his every whim. And just when you think those might be complications enough, Shandrazel has to deal with that most difficult of foes -- himself. When a realm long ruled by mere might faces strains, lofty ideals can fade like frost under the noonday sun.
Dragonforge improves on its predecessor in most every way. Maxey's mélange of high-fantasy tropes and hard science prove particularly effective. Magic meshes with nanotechnology, siege engines with steampunk, subterranean wyrms with wormholes. "Unique" is a word much bantered about in speculative fiction, but the novel displays a creative vision unlike anything I've ever encountered. It also contains plenty of thematic grit. Characters opine on weighty subjects such as libertarian anarchy and philosophical nihilism. And the actions scenes (of which there are plenty) are so cracking good that I wouldn't be at all surprised to see some Hollywood studio snap up the screen rights. The downside? Well, the prose is a bit rough at points, and fanatical Ragnar is almost a caricature. But these are relatively minor quibbles. Dragonforge burns bright.
February 8, 2017
have thoroughly enjoyed reading the 2nd book of this trilogy and am fascinated at the way humans had control of the planet and were supposedly really evolved but got overthrown by the dragons which they themselves had engineered as sport in hunting and that now humans are once again rebelling and trying their utmost to overthrow the dragons rule and might once again be the rulers of the planet with dragons hunted for sport!! the two religious extremist factions are as usual senseless and driven by hate of all things that do not follow their own belief but it seems things never change where humans are concerned, these idiot fanatics always manage to get a great following of people ready to die and kill for their belief!! the dragons in fact made more sense than the humans!! dying to see how this trilogy will end but i am sure that they will never live peacefully side by side respecting one another!!
May 13, 2009
I finished this one last month but just haven't gotten around to writing the review.
I liked this one about as much as the previous book.
Setting: We get to see a little more of the world. The lair of the goddess and the Nest were both kind of cool and fun. The whole dimensional travel and stuff just felt a bit weird and out of place (even though this is supposed to be far future) though. Maybe even a bit too convenient.
Plot: There were 2-3 main storylines here. And a couple sub-plots. Nothing too fancy but also not distracting or poorly handled.
Conflict: My biggest problem with this book (and the series) is the super-human-ness of all the characters. But, I know that James is working on this and (probably) fixed it for the next book in the series. The biggest source for conflict in this story is about religion and diety beliefs, and I felt that James took a too simple approach. All rational, thinking characters decried religion; and all lunatics and idiots embraced it. James could have made this much more complex and dirty, I feel.
Character: He does do a great job with creating likable (or hate-able) characters. We meet some new ones and learn fun facts about existing (to the series) ones. This is definitely one of James' strengths as a writer.
Text: James is a competent writer and has lots of intriguing stories in his head. His craft mastery gets better with each book I read of his.
I liked this one about as much as the previous book.
Setting: We get to see a little more of the world. The lair of the goddess and the Nest were both kind of cool and fun. The whole dimensional travel and stuff just felt a bit weird and out of place (even though this is supposed to be far future) though. Maybe even a bit too convenient.
Plot: There were 2-3 main storylines here. And a couple sub-plots. Nothing too fancy but also not distracting or poorly handled.
Conflict: My biggest problem with this book (and the series) is the super-human-ness of all the characters. But, I know that James is working on this and (probably) fixed it for the next book in the series. The biggest source for conflict in this story is about religion and diety beliefs, and I felt that James took a too simple approach. All rational, thinking characters decried religion; and all lunatics and idiots embraced it. James could have made this much more complex and dirty, I feel.
Character: He does do a great job with creating likable (or hate-able) characters. We meet some new ones and learn fun facts about existing (to the series) ones. This is definitely one of James' strengths as a writer.
Text: James is a competent writer and has lots of intriguing stories in his head. His craft mastery gets better with each book I read of his.
April 10, 2018
Dragonforge is the sequel to James Maxey's Bitterwood.
It is the rarest of second installations in a trilogy, in that each character has their own self contained arc and the book can be enjoyed as a self contained volume. Orson Scott Card read this book first and enjoyed it so much he went back and thoroughly enjoyed the first volume as well.
If you did successfully read Bitterwood first know that the characters you know and love that survived the first book (and even a few that seemingly didn't!) are back and we get to expand the scope of the world, delve into back stories, learn starting revelations but more importantly see them grow and change in satisfying and sometimes hair-pulling ways. New characters, settings and revelations are put into action and Maxey throws things at you from out of the blue that have been carefully telegraphed from the first book.
Dragonforge contains actions, interesting and even genre bending twists and turns, philosophical musings, wry humor and more than once had me yelling at the book in excitement.
This stands as a strong second part of one of my favorite trilogies and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a genre fan that wants to try something new, different and entertaining.
It is the rarest of second installations in a trilogy, in that each character has their own self contained arc and the book can be enjoyed as a self contained volume. Orson Scott Card read this book first and enjoyed it so much he went back and thoroughly enjoyed the first volume as well.
If you did successfully read Bitterwood first know that the characters you know and love that survived the first book (and even a few that seemingly didn't!) are back and we get to expand the scope of the world, delve into back stories, learn starting revelations but more importantly see them grow and change in satisfying and sometimes hair-pulling ways. New characters, settings and revelations are put into action and Maxey throws things at you from out of the blue that have been carefully telegraphed from the first book.
Dragonforge contains actions, interesting and even genre bending twists and turns, philosophical musings, wry humor and more than once had me yelling at the book in excitement.
This stands as a strong second part of one of my favorite trilogies and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a genre fan that wants to try something new, different and entertaining.
September 9, 2008
This book had the unfortunate position of being the fifth fantasy book I read during a fantasy binge that I was on. I'm normally not a big fantasy reader, so by this one, I was burned out on fantasy. The point being that I might have liked it more if I wasn't in a hurry to get it over and done with.
You could argue that this book isn't even fantasy (more like science fiction) since it takes place in the future and involves very unfantasy-like plot lines with nano technology and genetic modification. But really, that was my main problem with this book. For me, it just felt like Maxey was branching too far out from his original idea. I wish he had stuck to dragons. Dragons taking over the world I can swallow. A thousand-year-old woman who lives in an underground cave from which she controls the minute actions of the humans living above her using advanced technology that the rest of mankind has forgotten about - too far out there for me.
You could argue that this book isn't even fantasy (more like science fiction) since it takes place in the future and involves very unfantasy-like plot lines with nano technology and genetic modification. But really, that was my main problem with this book. For me, it just felt like Maxey was branching too far out from his original idea. I wish he had stuck to dragons. Dragons taking over the world I can swallow. A thousand-year-old woman who lives in an underground cave from which she controls the minute actions of the humans living above her using advanced technology that the rest of mankind has forgotten about - too far out there for me.
March 25, 2010
This is a follow on from book 1, "Bitterwood". I felt that this one was a lot better - the timeline was more consistent and less confusing, and it explained in further detail about the history of the humans and dragons which I found really interesting. I also enjoyed the dragons (though maybe not so much the Romeo and Juliet love story!).
I did wonder, though, that if all the females have to live together in the Nest, why is the Queen allowed to live in the palace? Why is she different?
I will definitely be reading book 3, as the conclusion of this book is quite a cliff-hanger and very dramatic! - it will be really exciting to see what happens now.
I did wonder, though, that if all the females have to live together in the Nest, why is the Queen allowed to live in the palace? Why is she different?
I will definitely be reading book 3, as the conclusion of this book is quite a cliff-hanger and very dramatic! - it will be really exciting to see what happens now.
July 5, 2012
The sequel to Bitterwood, this novel follows Jandra, Bitterwood, and the other characters as they continue to try and create equality between dragons and humans. As I started the book, I realized that I only remember bits and chucks of the first one, and I spent some time on Google trying to see if I could reconstruct the plot. I couldn't. However, I did find out that the author is a fairly devout atheist. Thankfully, this new information didn't affect my enjoyment of the book. Maxey's plot is still very creative and interesting, his characters deep, and his ability to timely let characters die, while setting up new characters to take their place is impressive. I'll keep reading.
November 23, 2008
This book took me forever to read, not because it wasn’t good, I just didn’t have any time to read. It made it a little difficult to keep some of the minor characters straight.
I really enjoyed this story! I almost don’t know who to root for, especially when it’s told from Jandra’s point of view. Like real life, there are good guys on both sides. Like real life, characters change.
A middle books in a series, this book has a lot of untied ends, and I just can’t wait to find out what happens next.
According to Amazon.com Dragonseed comes out July 6, 2009.
I really enjoyed this story! I almost don’t know who to root for, especially when it’s told from Jandra’s point of view. Like real life, there are good guys on both sides. Like real life, characters change.
A middle books in a series, this book has a lot of untied ends, and I just can’t wait to find out what happens next.
According to Amazon.com Dragonseed comes out July 6, 2009.
November 19, 2008
You may wonder why, after reading my review of Bitterwood, I would bother to read the sequel. I ran out of books and it was just sitting there looking unread, so I read it.
I'm glad I did, because the author seems to have developed his writing voice a little more. I enjoyed this one much more. It is a quirky view into a fantasy world with glimpses of how our world today became the world described in the book. It's entertaining enough, yet doesn't stand out above its peers in the fantasy genre.
I'm glad I did, because the author seems to have developed his writing voice a little more. I enjoyed this one much more. It is a quirky view into a fantasy world with glimpses of how our world today became the world described in the book. It's entertaining enough, yet doesn't stand out above its peers in the fantasy genre.
August 17, 2013
A sequel to Bitterwood, this book is far better than it's predecessor by miles. Not that Bitterwood was bad, it was just average.
Dragonforge was captivating and creative. Though I guessed a few of the plot twists, there were an equal number that were a shock. Maxey also does a fantastic exploration and elaboration of the world of The Dragon Age. This is one of the strong points of the book. The imagination and description of how the world came to be is simply fantastic.
Also, Blasphet is awesome.
Dragonforge was captivating and creative. Though I guessed a few of the plot twists, there were an equal number that were a shock. Maxey also does a fantastic exploration and elaboration of the world of The Dragon Age. This is one of the strong points of the book. The imagination and description of how the world came to be is simply fantastic.
Also, Blasphet is awesome.
October 5, 2011
Still just as intricately done as "Bitterwood!" Characters make major changes or stay the same, but it always feels right. Maxey unerringly builds the story so when things happen that you didn't see coming, you feel like, maybe not that you should have known, but that there really wasn't any other way it was going to happen.
Have you seriously not read the Dragon Age novels? Hi! Go get "Bitterwood" right NOW! These are NOT your typical dragon stories!
Have you seriously not read the Dragon Age novels? Hi! Go get "Bitterwood" right NOW! These are NOT your typical dragon stories!
October 16, 2008
I found it even better than the first one, as it explains some of the magic in the book better, mostly through the use of one of the more amusing characters in the first one (aka: the human girl who was raised by dragons)
One of the antongonists in the book kind of annoyed me a bit with how they were written compared to the rest of the characters, but it leaves me waiting for the next one to come out, mostly just to figure out what happens to all the people.
One of the antongonists in the book kind of annoyed me a bit with how they were written compared to the rest of the characters, but it leaves me waiting for the next one to come out, mostly just to figure out what happens to all the people.
February 8, 2013
Better than most middle books of trilogies I've read. Maxey delivers fast-paced hijinks with dragons and massive battles and , but also depicts a society coming apart at the seams at the same time it's trying to remake itself, and the pain and hate and suffering that such conflicts can cause (leaving our protagonists in a . Fun and thought-provoking, quite an achievement.
February 12, 2012
I started this series with this book, the second one. I found the Scifi/fantasy crossover really interesting. The story comes together well and makes a convincing world that is easy to immerse yourself in. I loved the way dragons were portrayed in this novel, with a lot of thought given to the way they move, think and interact with others.
September 15, 2010
This was the book after Bitterwood, and it was equally captivating. It was really fun and I went through it quickly. However, even though some series still work if one reads them out of order, this one wouldn't have made any sense at all if I had read it before Bitterwood. Read in order! It'll be more fun that way.
March 17, 2012
4.5 stars
Dragonforge is a cross fiction novel, filled to the brim with action and character development that has gripped me to the end. Science fiction and fantasy, its story is woven tightly with firm plausibility, I just couldn't find faults to doubt its world. I love the punchy prose as well.
Dragonforge is a cross fiction novel, filled to the brim with action and character development that has gripped me to the end. Science fiction and fantasy, its story is woven tightly with firm plausibility, I just couldn't find faults to doubt its world. I love the punchy prose as well.
June 29, 2013
Decent enough book, I did grow wearisome of the religion bashing after a point, and some of the reveals I smelled a mile away given the things that went on in Bitterwood. I'm hoping the third book washes away some of the disappointment this one left me with.
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