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Wind
The first in a stunning fantasy quartet from K J Taylor. Wendland is a land of dragons, and of magic. The mysterious Drachengott grants magic to his worshippers - but is he truly a god? Rutger von Gothendorf is only a simple furrier, but he has become his village's local eccentric, thanks to his obsession with the murder of his brother by the Drachengott's servants. He holds onto the vague hope that he will one day have the chance to fight back against them - until one day a mysterious and beautiful woman named Swanhild comes into his life. Rutger is instantly smitten - but Swanhild knows more than she says, and a web of lies and deceit threatens to sour the love beginning to grow between them. And all the while, the Drachengott waits ...
- GenresFantasy
152 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2015
2 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
K.J. Taylor
27 books91 followersK.J.Taylor was born in Australia in 1986 and plans to stay alive for as long as possible. She went to Radford College and achieved a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications at the University of Canberra, where she is currently studying for a Master’s Degree in Information Studies.
She published her first work, The Land of Bad Fantasy through Scholastic when she was just 18, and went on to publish The Dark Griffin in Australia and New Zealand five years later. The Griffin’s Flight and The Griffin’s War followed in the same year, and were released in America and Canada in 2011. At the moment, she is working on the third set of books in the series, while publishing the second.
K.J.Taylor’s real first name is Katie, but not many people know what the J stands for. She collects movie soundtracks and keeps pet rats, and isn’t quite as angst-ridden as her books might suggest.
Find her on Facebook
She published her first work, The Land of Bad Fantasy through Scholastic when she was just 18, and went on to publish The Dark Griffin in Australia and New Zealand five years later. The Griffin’s Flight and The Griffin’s War followed in the same year, and were released in America and Canada in 2011. At the moment, she is working on the third set of books in the series, while publishing the second.
K.J.Taylor’s real first name is Katie, but not many people know what the J stands for. She collects movie soundtracks and keeps pet rats, and isn’t quite as angst-ridden as her books might suggest.
Find her on Facebook
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 27, 2015
Let's start with the good bits:
In this fantasy-world women are fighters, rulers and have jobs and nobody comments on it ever. The main-character isn't motivated by a fridged woman but by the death of his elder brother.
The gratuitous German the author uses is correct. Mostly. Well there are some typos. And a few instances of 'this is not wrong but this sounds odd to a native-speaker' (Heikchen, the language Britannisch).
And...uhm...well It's not sexist and the author is aware that Google Translate isn't a good source is a start right?
Now let's go to the bad bits:
The gratuitous German is in at least half of the cases exactly that: gratuitous and unnecessary. Naming the big bad Drachengott instead of Dragongod or something completely made up? Why not? I also had no problem with the German names for the different fractions (Ketzer (heretic), Gottlose (godless) and I just hope that Jüngen is deliberately spelled that way and the author didn't mean Jünger (disciple)).
I'm not sure what somebody who knows no German at all is going to think of that (though fantasy-readers should be used to remembering random letter-combinations that make no sense to them...)
But that's not all. The main character sometimes just speaks German because of reasons. It's not to convey that he's speaking a different language than when his dialogue is in English and the German phrases he uses all have equivalents in English. There is no point in him saying 'Guten Morgen' instead of 'Good Morning' or 'Verdammt' instead of 'damn'. The author wanted to show of her German skills.
No brownie-points for you.
(Also: no carrot smothies)
Also in non-linguistic matters: It's all very Generic Fantasy Novel 101. Rutger might not be The Chosen One in the narrow sense of the word but he's still Very Special. In his first magic training session it is already pointed out that he has magic talent like no other.
There is a stunningly beautiful and mysterious woman and of course he falls for her. Why? Because she's stunningly beautiful. We never never see much of their interactions outside their training and when Rutger thinks about Swanhild he thinks about how much in love he is with her and how beautiful she is and not much about...idk her character.
Not that we learn much about Rutger's character. He's mad because his brother was killed by a dragon. He has lots of other siblings but only two of them get names. He feels a bit sad about having to lie to them when he goes away to kill dragons. He loves Swanhild with the pure and true love only a teenage boy can feel towards a beautiful woman who teaches him magic and gives him the opportunity to see the world beyond the village he grew up in. (I am sure this is a 100% healthy and can in no way go wrong ever. Cheers to the happy couple!
)
And that's it. That's his characterization.
The plot itself is not better. Rutgen and Swanhild encounter problems on their way but they are always solved in a few paragraphs.
Rutgen fights his first dragon and is so scared that he makes a mistake? He catches himself just in time and kills the dragon after all. He was seriously injured in the process? Swanhild conveniently knows healing magic.
They fall from a great height? They land in a pond and aren't hurt at all (because that's exactly how physics works!
).
It's almost more annoying than plots where nothing bad happens to the main characters at all. There is genuinely nothing that really stops them for even just a few days.
What else? Oh there's a plot-twist that will only surprise you if you've lived in a cave all of your live, never interacted with other humans and consumed no media.
(Pictured: cave)
No wait. Strike that. Even in that case you will roll your eyes and say 'You don't really expect me to be surprised now, do you?'
ARC Provided by NetGalley
In this fantasy-world women are fighters, rulers and have jobs and nobody comments on it ever. The main-character isn't motivated by a fridged woman but by the death of his elder brother.
The gratuitous German the author uses is correct. Mostly. Well there are some typos. And a few instances of 'this is not wrong but this sounds odd to a native-speaker' (Heikchen, the language Britannisch).
And...uhm...well It's not sexist and the author is aware that Google Translate isn't a good source is a start right?
Now let's go to the bad bits:
The gratuitous German is in at least half of the cases exactly that: gratuitous and unnecessary. Naming the big bad Drachengott instead of Dragongod or something completely made up? Why not? I also had no problem with the German names for the different fractions (Ketzer (heretic), Gottlose (godless) and I just hope that Jüngen is deliberately spelled that way and the author didn't mean Jünger (disciple)).
I'm not sure what somebody who knows no German at all is going to think of that (though fantasy-readers should be used to remembering random letter-combinations that make no sense to them...)
But that's not all. The main character sometimes just speaks German because of reasons. It's not to convey that he's speaking a different language than when his dialogue is in English and the German phrases he uses all have equivalents in English. There is no point in him saying 'Guten Morgen' instead of 'Good Morning' or 'Verdammt' instead of 'damn'. The author wanted to show of her German skills.
No brownie-points for you.
(Also: no carrot smothies)
Also in non-linguistic matters: It's all very Generic Fantasy Novel 101. Rutger might not be The Chosen One in the narrow sense of the word but he's still Very Special. In his first magic training session it is already pointed out that he has magic talent like no other.
There is a stunningly beautiful and mysterious woman and of course he falls for her. Why? Because she's stunningly beautiful. We never never see much of their interactions outside their training and when Rutger thinks about Swanhild he thinks about how much in love he is with her and how beautiful she is and not much about...idk her character.
Not that we learn much about Rutger's character. He's mad because his brother was killed by a dragon. He has lots of other siblings but only two of them get names. He feels a bit sad about having to lie to them when he goes away to kill dragons. He loves Swanhild with the pure and true love only a teenage boy can feel towards a beautiful woman who teaches him magic and gives him the opportunity to see the world beyond the village he grew up in. (I am sure this is a 100% healthy and can in no way go wrong ever. Cheers to the happy couple!
)
And that's it. That's his characterization.
The plot itself is not better. Rutgen and Swanhild encounter problems on their way but they are always solved in a few paragraphs.
Rutgen fights his first dragon and is so scared that he makes a mistake? He catches himself just in time and kills the dragon after all. He was seriously injured in the process? Swanhild conveniently knows healing magic.
They fall from a great height? They land in a pond and aren't hurt at all (because that's exactly how physics works!
).
It's almost more annoying than plots where nothing bad happens to the main characters at all. There is genuinely nothing that really stops them for even just a few days.
What else? Oh there's a plot-twist that will only surprise you if you've lived in a cave all of your live, never interacted with other humans and consumed no media.
(Pictured: cave)
No wait. Strike that. Even in that case you will roll your eyes and say 'You don't really expect me to be surprised now, do you?'
ARC Provided by NetGalley
June 4, 2017
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
Rutger has always been a bit different. Wanting more than his current provincial life holds, he practices swordfighting, ensuring he's ready for ... he's not quite sure what. Until he meets Swanhild, an enigmatic young woman who knows exactly what she's training for - war. The two meet every day in the forest to practice magic and Rutger feels like he finally belongs somewhere. But Swanhild is hiding something. Will Rugter find out her secret before it's too late? Or will the battle they've been waiting for render secrets irrelevant?
This author is far better than this. A blend of Germanic language (for no real reason), characters with no real plot to follow, and a story that is so obviously unfinished that it makes me wonder why people buy into this "my book will be released in 4 parts just to be cute" routine... Just give me the 600 page novel and be done with it...
Paul
ARH
Rutger has always been a bit different. Wanting more than his current provincial life holds, he practices swordfighting, ensuring he's ready for ... he's not quite sure what. Until he meets Swanhild, an enigmatic young woman who knows exactly what she's training for - war. The two meet every day in the forest to practice magic and Rutger feels like he finally belongs somewhere. But Swanhild is hiding something. Will Rugter find out her secret before it's too late? Or will the battle they've been waiting for render secrets irrelevant?
This author is far better than this. A blend of Germanic language (for no real reason), characters with no real plot to follow, and a story that is so obviously unfinished that it makes me wonder why people buy into this "my book will be released in 4 parts just to be cute" routine... Just give me the 600 page novel and be done with it...
Paul
ARH
March 12, 2021
Something seems to be bubbling under the surface of this fairytale feel adventure and I am intrigued to read on.
February 27, 2023
3.5 Stars. This was a good introduction to the fantasy world and characters. It did lack momentum at times which detracted from the concept and storyline development.
June 30, 2015
Drachengott: Wind by KJ Taylor is the first book in a new fantasy series which I believe is being released only digitally. But on the up side, the four instalments are being released one a month, so by the time you read this book 3 will already be in the wild. And if the first book is anything to go by, they're pretty short instalments, by fantasy book standards. Perhaps in another time, they would have been published as parts one through four of the one printed book (although that's not how the author wrote it, as she mentions in this interview from last year).
Wind starts with a few chapters of what is, structurally, a prolonged prologue. We're introduced to a confused dragon who doesn't really know what's going on or why, but whose story turns out to be quite important to the over arching plot of the series. We also get our first glimpse of Rutger, the main protagonist. The main story, however, starts several years later with Rutger determined to avenge his brother, who died in the prologue, but lacking direction. He trains for war but has no immediate battles to fight. That is until he meets Swanhild, who introduces him to the world of magic.
Swanhild was probably a more interesting character than Rutger (not that there was anything wrong with Rutger) with her mysterious past and unknown motivations. She propels the plot along and Rutger through it. Basically, nothing much would have happened in the book if it were not for her, but she's not the main character. From the ending (no spoilers) I get the feeling the next book will have a different main character but that Swanhild will still make an appearance.
I am interested to see how the overall structure of the series plays out. Being much shorter than what I would normally call Big Fat Fantasy (BFF), Wind nevertheless shares some characteristics with those sorts of books. Although Wind told a complete story, the overarching plot is only just beginning and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes in the following books. On the other, being quite short for a fantasy book it does have a little bit less depth (and only the one main character whose point of view we don't stray from after the very beginning). The worldbuilding, however, is sufficiently present to paint a picture of the world. It's Germanic, with some obvious differences to our world like the existence of dragons and magic, and also deer as the primary mounts. (Maybe the dragons ate all the horses? ;-p ) Also giant spiders in the forest, which really had me questioning why anyone ever went into the forest if person-eating spiders were a thing they could run into. (If you're arachnophobic, don't worry, they only appear briefly.)
Anyway, Wind was a short read that had me wanting to know what happens next. I look forward to continuing the series in the near future. I would recommend it to fans of fantasy after a quick fix and/or something that they won't spend days lost in (because of the short length). Fans of Taylor's other work will find a less complex story, but still, in my opinion, an enjoyable one.
4 / 5 stars
Read more reviews on my blog.
Wind starts with a few chapters of what is, structurally, a prolonged prologue. We're introduced to a confused dragon who doesn't really know what's going on or why, but whose story turns out to be quite important to the over arching plot of the series. We also get our first glimpse of Rutger, the main protagonist. The main story, however, starts several years later with Rutger determined to avenge his brother, who died in the prologue, but lacking direction. He trains for war but has no immediate battles to fight. That is until he meets Swanhild, who introduces him to the world of magic.
Swanhild was probably a more interesting character than Rutger (not that there was anything wrong with Rutger) with her mysterious past and unknown motivations. She propels the plot along and Rutger through it. Basically, nothing much would have happened in the book if it were not for her, but she's not the main character. From the ending (no spoilers) I get the feeling the next book will have a different main character but that Swanhild will still make an appearance.
I am interested to see how the overall structure of the series plays out. Being much shorter than what I would normally call Big Fat Fantasy (BFF), Wind nevertheless shares some characteristics with those sorts of books. Although Wind told a complete story, the overarching plot is only just beginning and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes in the following books. On the other, being quite short for a fantasy book it does have a little bit less depth (and only the one main character whose point of view we don't stray from after the very beginning). The worldbuilding, however, is sufficiently present to paint a picture of the world. It's Germanic, with some obvious differences to our world like the existence of dragons and magic, and also deer as the primary mounts. (Maybe the dragons ate all the horses? ;-p ) Also giant spiders in the forest, which really had me questioning why anyone ever went into the forest if person-eating spiders were a thing they could run into. (If you're arachnophobic, don't worry, they only appear briefly.)
Anyway, Wind was a short read that had me wanting to know what happens next. I look forward to continuing the series in the near future. I would recommend it to fans of fantasy after a quick fix and/or something that they won't spend days lost in (because of the short length). Fans of Taylor's other work will find a less complex story, but still, in my opinion, an enjoyable one.
4 / 5 stars
Read more reviews on my blog.
April 27, 2015
2.5
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Publish Date: 1st May 2015
Full review can also be found on: Paein and Ms4Tune’s Book Blog
Despite this having a simple and easily worked out plot I did enjoy this book. It stated out well, but didn't pick up in complexity like I expected it to. I know that this is only book 1 of what I assume to be 4, but even for an introduction it wasn't particularly complex which makes me feel like it's for a younger audience.
The premise was really interesting and I can't wait to find out more in the other books, maybe Swanhild will be able to save more of her people from slavery! And really, Rugter was a bit of an idiot, he didn't figure anything out, bless him. There's a war brewing and he's going to be at the centre, it's kind of a shame that he's going to have to fumble through alone but if given forewarning, does it take away choice?
My English teacher at secondary school once told me that there was such a thing as too much dialogue. I never believed her, this is only the second book I've ever read that has made me realise she might have been on to something. While it doesn't have TOO MUCH it certainly has, what seems to me, needless confirming sentences, but perhaps they were there to confirm what was going on for the younger readers instead of assuming that they understand.
I look forward to seeing what happens with the rest of this story, though perhaps I'll collect them all and read them together.
July 4, 2015
I picked this book up on Netgalley because I am always down for new dragon lit and I am always pleased to give an honest opinion. However, I have to say I did not particularly enjoy this book. The writing style was fine and I appreciated the fact that it featured a lot of Swedish/Norwegian/that-area-ish cultural influence, which is pretty rare, but it fell pretty flat in terms of characters, plot, and pacing. Rutger, the lead, is fairly bland. The only thing that stands out about him is his anger and determination to avenge his family, but when that is all there is to a character it makes them pretty unlikeable. Swanhilde, the female lead, is the archetypal mysterious and super confident mage lady, which can be interesting when pulled off well. However, due to the pacing in the book, there is nothing of substance to her in order to make her adequately developed.
On top of that, the weird pacing means that stuff you don't care about seems to drag, and then what should be the interesting parts about magic and long journeys of training and discovery are suddenly skipped over in two paragraphs. Frankly, it seemed to me like the majority of the story I wanted to be reading was missing between the lines and I was left with the less-satisfying filler. And what might almost be worse than that, the way that the scenes are set up, the plot becomes pretty predictable pretty early on. I found myself calling plot-points as I went and counting down the pages to the unshocking reveal.
Overall, I very much wanted to enjoy this book. I like dragons and I liked the cultural influences and details found in the setting, but the rest of it fell just a bit too flat for me to honestly say that I liked reading it.
On top of that, the weird pacing means that stuff you don't care about seems to drag, and then what should be the interesting parts about magic and long journeys of training and discovery are suddenly skipped over in two paragraphs. Frankly, it seemed to me like the majority of the story I wanted to be reading was missing between the lines and I was left with the less-satisfying filler. And what might almost be worse than that, the way that the scenes are set up, the plot becomes pretty predictable pretty early on. I found myself calling plot-points as I went and counting down the pages to the unshocking reveal.
Overall, I very much wanted to enjoy this book. I like dragons and I liked the cultural influences and details found in the setting, but the rest of it fell just a bit too flat for me to honestly say that I liked reading it.
June 30, 2015
This book is much shorter than what I usually read and while it is listed as adult fiction I feel that some mature middle school age children could read and definitely the YA readers. While I enjoyed this I feel that I would have enjoyed it more if I had read all the installments at once for these reasons; I read so much that it is hard for me to remember to look for the new installment next month and secondly I prefer longer, meatier books.
Syn, is a young female dragon that seems to be experiencing some “coming of age issues”. When the human servants of The Drachengott, who the dragons believe are traitors. call her to be a servant she seeks to avoid this fate. To circumvent this she tries to find the only one who can destroy the Drachengott, but there is a reason that he may not help her.
I thought it a well written story about small pockets human rebels trying to avoid being enslaved by the dragons that control their world. They must survive without technology or the he magic that dragons possess. Their weapons are crossbows and sword. They face the problems that everyone else face; how to earn enough money to survive, a place to live and food. The story flows smoothly and it is an easy read.
3.75/5 STARS**I want to thank the author and/or publisher for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are mine.**
Syn, is a young female dragon that seems to be experiencing some “coming of age issues”. When the human servants of The Drachengott, who the dragons believe are traitors. call her to be a servant she seeks to avoid this fate. To circumvent this she tries to find the only one who can destroy the Drachengott, but there is a reason that he may not help her.
I thought it a well written story about small pockets human rebels trying to avoid being enslaved by the dragons that control their world. They must survive without technology or the he magic that dragons possess. Their weapons are crossbows and sword. They face the problems that everyone else face; how to earn enough money to survive, a place to live and food. The story flows smoothly and it is an easy read.
3.75/5 STARS**I want to thank the author and/or publisher for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are mine.**
May 4, 2015
I have read some of this author's work, particularly the Dark Griffin trilogy, so was expecting some very dark very complex characters. This wasn't anything like that so I expect the target audience for this series is much younger than the previous ones she has written. Having said that, despite the simplicity of the plot, I found this very readable. It doesn't take long (about 3-4 hours for a fast reader) and the pace was pretty consistent throughout, but I found the ending to be a little disappointing. To me it felt like it just finished mid-action. I wonder with the next one if it will go to a completely different main character that will interact with Syn or does she keep with Rutger?
I enjoyed the world but felt it could do with a little more building. I craved more description and interaction. I think perhaps because I had expectations, I didn't enjoy this as much as the Dark Griffin books, but I can recommend this as a YA fantasy (certainly not middle school as there were definitely some dark moments)
I enjoyed the world but felt it could do with a little more building. I craved more description and interaction. I think perhaps because I had expectations, I didn't enjoy this as much as the Dark Griffin books, but I can recommend this as a YA fantasy (certainly not middle school as there were definitely some dark moments)
June 5, 2015
I just want to thank the publisher on Netgalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.
Firstly, I liked the book well enough. It was easy to follow along, and the plot was pretty simple. I definitely like the point of reading from a dragon's perspective. That was different. And it didn't take long to finish reading the book, either.
One of the real issues that grated on my nerves, though, was the dialogue tags. There was too much "he said" "she said", when it would have flowed better without those at times. Especially when it's just two characters talking.
Firstly, I liked the book well enough. It was easy to follow along, and the plot was pretty simple. I definitely like the point of reading from a dragon's perspective. That was different. And it didn't take long to finish reading the book, either.
One of the real issues that grated on my nerves, though, was the dialogue tags. There was too much "he said" "she said", when it would have flowed better without those at times. Especially when it's just two characters talking.
May 16, 2015
Drachengott: Wind by KJ Taylor is caught in something of an identity crisis. It wants to be a dark book dealing in dark things like revenge and cold blooded murder, but the prose and plot are so simplistic you might think this book was written specifically for primary / elementary school kids.
It is a somewhat interesting story, and I'll probably get the second book / episode (whole story seems to be a serial with four monthly installments), but overall I'm disappointed. Taylor is an awesome author, a much better author than what shes dished up here. I hope she figure out what she wants this story to be and makes appropriate adjustments.
It is a somewhat interesting story, and I'll probably get the second book / episode (whole story seems to be a serial with four monthly installments), but overall I'm disappointed. Taylor is an awesome author, a much better author than what shes dished up here. I hope she figure out what she wants this story to be and makes appropriate adjustments.
April 28, 2015
This book was wonderful, absolutely fantastic! I loved it!
I went into this book thinking "oh, this seems like it will be a nice story."
The story line of The Wind: Drachengott was marvelously done. It was well-paced and revealed secrets slowly. There are quite a few surprises in store that had me gasping in shock. The ending was perfect. It left me in amuzement.
Wind: Drachengott Darkness is a fantastic book. I can't put into words how much I loved it. If you love Sci Fi, Wind: Drachengott.
5/5
and Thanks to Netgalley for a copy!
I went into this book thinking "oh, this seems like it will be a nice story."
The story line of The Wind: Drachengott was marvelously done. It was well-paced and revealed secrets slowly. There are quite a few surprises in store that had me gasping in shock. The ending was perfect. It left me in amuzement.
Wind: Drachengott Darkness is a fantastic book. I can't put into words how much I loved it. If you love Sci Fi, Wind: Drachengott.
5/5
and Thanks to Netgalley for a copy!
June 2, 2015
I received this book free in exchange for a honest review.
I give this book 3.5 stars.
This book was actually pretty good. It had some entertaining ideas, such as following a young female dragon almost as a coming of age story. Good framework, that would have benefited greatly from some fleshing out and more story development. The book could have been twice as long easily.
But still was a fun quick read for an evening.
I give this book 3.5 stars.
This book was actually pretty good. It had some entertaining ideas, such as following a young female dragon almost as a coming of age story. Good framework, that would have benefited greatly from some fleshing out and more story development. The book could have been twice as long easily.
But still was a fun quick read for an evening.
January 15, 2017
Thought this was a pretty standard fantasy. Won a digital copy of this and read it in two short sittings. Guy decides to avenge his dead brother and learns magic (almost overnight) and is the best ever at it. Mysterious woman who teaches him has a secret that was blindingly obvious immediately.
February 15, 2017
Not great but not horrible. Full review over here: https://rickusbookshelf.wordpress.com...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews