Rise of the Dragon King

The Dragoneers Saga #5

by M.R. Mathias

ASIN moved from less recent edition

In this episode of the Dragoneer Saga, the kingdom is beginning to find its roots as trade ships and men travel and barter with the Old World Clover mapped for them all. Banished King Richard finds an adventure of his own; One that might just lead to the end of the Dragoneers.

Clover and her infamous dragon Crimzon return to help our heroes fight an evil wizard from the Old World before he and his colossal monsters ravage the Mainland of what is now known as the New World.

Love, loss, and aerial dragon battles galore await readers in this fifth volume of the International Bestselling YA Dragoneer Saga.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 11, 2014

About the author

M. R. Mathias is a member of the Authors Guild who cares for his wife, a Breast Cancer Warrior who has Parkinson's. After raising two boys into fine young men, they and two dogs split their time between a modest smalltown home, and an apartment built on a floating dock on Lake Ultura (aka Lake Texoma) which foots into an amazing State Park brimming with all sorts of wildlife. Like the wizards of old, he tends to the animals who share the area and inspire the creatures in his works. He likes to fish, write, play guitar, and he builds all sorts of things out of reclaimed wood. He sold over two million eBooks most of them before eBooks were cool. His work is critically acclaimed, and has earned multiple literary awards, including a coveted Locus Poll nomination.

**Featured in the March 2020, Publisher's Weekly article, "As Luck Would Have It"

"The Master of Epic Fantasy" - Kindle Nation Daily, Nov. 2017

Mathias has authored several fantasy series and compiled an admirable list of accolades along the way.

--Devious Arcana, (ongoing)

--The Wardstone Trilogy (3 Books)

-- Perpetual Fantastica Fantastica (4 Books)

--The Dragoneer Saga (6 Books)

--The Legend of Vanx Malic (10 Books)

--The Crimzon and Clover Short Story Series (8 Books)

--Master Zarvin's Adventures (3 Books)

--Dragon Racers (3 books)

If you are a Kindle Unlimited user, treat yourself to some of the best "hidden gem" fantasy ever written.

Find M. R. Mathias online: mrmathiasbooks .com

Here is what others are saying about M. R. Mathias:

"There are few writers in the genre of fantasy that can equal the creative mind of M.R. Mathias - now acknowledged as a master in this genre of dragons and dwarves, and magic, and spells, and all aspects of fantasy."-- Top 100, Hall of Fame, Vine Voice, Book Reviewer, Grady Harp

"M.R. Mathias imagines a setting that will entice readers and lead them, along with his characters, on a breathtaking adventure." -- Readers Favorite Book Awards review of M. R. Mathias's 2017 Award Winning novel "A Gossamer Lens" from The Legend of Vanx Malic series

"M.R. Mathias is a master at world building and is so good with creative descriptions that you can almost feel the wind whipping through your hair as you soar along on the back of a dragon." -- Readers Favorite Awards review of M. R. Mathias's 2015 "Gold Medal" Award Winning novel "Blood and Royalty" from The Dragoneer Saga"

"You've (Mathias) already achieved much, much more than so many people who like to think of themselves as writers." -- @Gollancz The Deputy Publishing Director of SF, Fantasy & Horror list of the Orion Publishing Group, 2013

Reviews

[Vidya-Book Driven Life · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fifth book of the Dragoneer saga series gives another adventure filled story to its readers. King Richard, who was thrown in a far away island, was liberated by King Chad and his men, in their love of taking over the new world. The new world is ruled by Jenka, with his fellow dragoneers. Things seems calm in the new world on the outside. But, the relationships start failing and there are new storms brewing, bigger and more terrible than before. Meanwhile, King Richard becomes even more cruel and plot to overthrow Jenka for no good reason. Jenka and his mates, with their dragons, face both physical and emotional challenges that they must overcome.

The writing was good, as always. And the action and adventure fills the air. Love, friendship and loyalty are tested. The characters are well developed as well and the villains are portrayed more tougher.

In spite of all this, I had two major problems with this book. First, Rikky's love on a married woman! For some reason, I feel that this book doesn't need these extras. It makes their long friendship a complete mess.

Second, the book doesn't end here. Although I can accept cliffhangers, I can't accept 'to be continued' endings. That is unacceptable in a book for me. Atleast major story should have brought to an end. Or at least there must be a mention in the heading that it's been split into parts.

I am the one who gave 5 stars for the previous book in this series. But, this book is a no-no for me, mainly because of the above two reasons.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dragoneer Book 5

8 years have passed and the New World has found the Old World. March is on vacation and King Richard has been exiled. The Dragoneers face their newest challenge when some rouge wizards fake an invasion in order to spring a trap that holds the Kingdom ransom.

Jenka's powers have become otherworldly and a bit creepy. I didn't care for the changing love interests but I guess it all worked out in the end. I did enjoy the colossals though, you'll see.

Bonus Content: Vanx Malic Prequel - Foxwise

[Craig Ott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining

I read the book., going onto the next one. What more can be said. Yes, books seem repetitive, but so is life.

[Rekha Seshadri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd give this a 2.5 rating for the story.

This is the fifth book in the Dragoneer series, if you overlook the novella that preceded them.
The sequel begins with King Richard, a dragoneer who is exiled on a small island called Serpent Isle. Even as he sinks into the dark abyss of mental illness and evil cravings, focusing more on his past memories, Richard shows the reader occasional glimpses of his former self. As he sets off on a new journey and forges an alliance with King Chad, his brother - the ruler and the other dragoneers face a new challenge and fight dangerous battles. When Colossals, powerful winged creatures, attack the warriors and their dragons, they uncover dark magical elements at work - wizards from the Old World.
What does this signify for Clover and Crimson and their friends? What role does Richard play in the tumultuous events affecting the fragile peace in their kingdom - the New World?

The novel is engrossing in places and some characters are well defined. The book has a Young Adult vibe despite the seemingly experienced and older characters. There is no system of magic in this fantasy world and no restrictions on magical abilities. Spells seem easy to master and are cast by most of the characters in the book. The narration often strikes a discordant note with the use of modern slang and cuss words in a clearly medieval setting. The author does have a way with descriptions, especially of the battle scenes.

I've the read the free promotional novella - a way of testing the waters when it comes to unfamiliar authors. It had a different and more vibrant feel to it - something I found lacking in this tale. A language and structure edit could do wonders for this one.

That said; you may end up liking it in the current avatar.

[Ian Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fantasy book, and seemingly there have been a number in the series before it. I am not sure how much before is relevant to this story, as there are many references to things I could not understand, but since the predominant tool in this book is magic, I guess there is an inevitability about that. The book seems to have two major strands, one for "King Richard" and one for some other assorted dragoneers, who are elsewhere. There are monsters, wizards, battles where they throw spells at each other or use defensive spells, and for me, since I have no idea what such a spell would do until told, I found there to be surprisingly little tension.

The book is well-written at the sentence level, but I found that on a larger scale, the structure tended to be a sequence of events that as far as I could tell were not linking entirely into a whole, This may be because of a serious flaw. I am 72% through the kindle edition, and it is not a large book, when it all stops and says "to be continued" and it continues then with a small novella about something else but related. Sorry, but this annoys me. Why not finish the story? As it is, I have no idea where this is going, and I am far from convinced I want to find out.

[Julie Baswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

King Richard has been banished for the last eight years, when visitors inform him of King Chad’s desire for him to marry one of his daughters. Richard jumps at the opportunity. He uses his new position to get close to King Chad, and gains another dragon on his quest to destroy the Dragoneers. Meanwhile, the Dragoneers have other problems with a powerful wizard poisoning the city’s water supply.

This was non-stop action from beginning to the end. I like that the dragons had such varied personalities and could voice their opinions. At times the battle would get so intense that I wasn’t sure the good guys would come out on top, or even survive. I love that about Mathias’ books. He makes you get caught up in the heat of the battle and you are so invested in the characters that you actually fear for them. It makes me sad that this was the ending to the saga, but I feel the author did give it a great ending.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I started here at book five and am still hooked! I love the way it is written, the narration and description of the situation-it's like your there. M.R. Mathias has quite the imagination and all the words to put it to paper.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a great book to read