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Axtara - Armies and Accounting
Everyone’s favorite dragon banker soars again with the third installment to the best-selling Axtara series!
For Axtara, life has never been better. Business at her bank is booming, her best friend can turn into a dragon, and her home has comfortably weathered another winter. The Kingdom of Elnacier is thriving, its people celebrating the arrival of spring as they look forward to the coming summer.
But when a foreign prince arrives on the kingdom’s shores bearing the banner of war, fortunes turn, and all of Elnacier finds itself caught in a desperate defense against a ruthless foe. No mere scheming minister or shadow-skulking confidence man, Prince Perigeen seeks nothing less than the crown of Elnacier’s king to call his own, and has come with the forces needed to claim it. If he succeeds, all in the kingdom—Axtara’s bank included—will be seized.
Now facing a foe unlike any she has ever encountered before, and with everything she has built in Elnacier hanging in the balance, Axtara will need her every skill and more to put a stop to Prince Perigeen’s conquest as she sets out on an epic quest that will take her to the edges of the frontier kingdoms … and beyond.
For Axtara, life has never been better. Business at her bank is booming, her best friend can turn into a dragon, and her home has comfortably weathered another winter. The Kingdom of Elnacier is thriving, its people celebrating the arrival of spring as they look forward to the coming summer.
But when a foreign prince arrives on the kingdom’s shores bearing the banner of war, fortunes turn, and all of Elnacier finds itself caught in a desperate defense against a ruthless foe. No mere scheming minister or shadow-skulking confidence man, Prince Perigeen seeks nothing less than the crown of Elnacier’s king to call his own, and has come with the forces needed to claim it. If he succeeds, all in the kingdom—Axtara’s bank included—will be seized.
Now facing a foe unlike any she has ever encountered before, and with everything she has built in Elnacier hanging in the balance, Axtara will need her every skill and more to put a stop to Prince Perigeen’s conquest as she sets out on an epic quest that will take her to the edges of the frontier kingdoms … and beyond.
667 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 28, 2026
About the author
Max Florschutz
15 books29 followersMax Florschutz was born and raised in the wilds of southeast Alaska, on a little island that boasted both a large, lumber-based economy and one of the highest rainfalls to ever not be desired by humanity. In 2004 he began attending college at Brigham Young University Provo, taking a two-year break to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Upon his return, he continued to attend BYU Provo and began to delve heavily into English courses (among other things), including creative writing classes taught by authors such as Brandon Sanderson. Transferring out to BYU Hawaii to keep a promise, Max finished his degree, graduating in 2011 with more credits than most students would know what to do with and a 3.96 GPA.
After a year or so of the graduated life, the writing bug bit him again and he began to spend his free time writing once more. After a few months of making sure he still hadn’t lost his touch and some dedicated practice, he sat down and wrote his first publishable book: One Drink. Emboldened by the success of that release, he pushed forward, and has continued writing to this day.
After a year or so of the graduated life, the writing bug bit him again and he began to spend his free time writing once more. After a few months of making sure he still hadn’t lost his touch and some dedicated practice, he sat down and wrote his first publishable book: One Drink. Emboldened by the success of that release, he pushed forward, and has continued writing to this day.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 4, 2026
My banker is so lame, compared to Axtara...
I'm both impressed and pleased to see how Axtara grows. She already was a very likable character in the first book, but she becomes more and more fleshed as the series progresses.
Cosy adventure, as I see the series advertised, tends to under-sell it. Yes it's pleasing to read, but not only that.
While the premise is quite straightforward, it serves as a foundation to build a many folded plot that kept me hooked all along.
That, and being cosy doesn't mean that there are no tense moments other than the action which is mainly at the end, and a bit at the beginning when the invasion begins. Expectations built and neatly played upon, in short, lots of tease also around the protagonists and their relations.
The villain here is quite a jerk whose personality reminds me of GoT's Jeoffrey Baratheon in many regards, but I can't help wondering about the environment that created him and their peculiar mentality, and the implications of that conflict in a longer timeline.
To spoil nothing, the consistency and editing are excellent. The story shows what it needs to of the world while it expands the view, keeping it both realistic and solid.
More of it ! (Yeah, I know it's work...)
I'm both impressed and pleased to see how Axtara grows. She already was a very likable character in the first book, but she becomes more and more fleshed as the series progresses.
Cosy adventure, as I see the series advertised, tends to under-sell it. Yes it's pleasing to read, but not only that.
While the premise is quite straightforward, it serves as a foundation to build a many folded plot that kept me hooked all along.
That, and being cosy doesn't mean that there are no tense moments other than the action which is mainly at the end, and a bit at the beginning when the invasion begins. Expectations built and neatly played upon, in short, lots of tease also around the protagonists and their relations.
The villain here is quite a jerk whose personality reminds me of GoT's Jeoffrey Baratheon in many regards, but I can't help wondering about the environment that created him and their peculiar mentality, and the implications of that conflict in a longer timeline.
To spoil nothing, the consistency and editing are excellent. The story shows what it needs to of the world while it expands the view, keeping it both realistic and solid.
More of it ! (Yeah, I know it's work...)
August 1, 2026
A fun travel story in which Axtara needs to cross the continent back and forth on a quest to try to save the kingdom of Elnacier from certain doom.
We finally meet a lot of characters that were only briefly mentioned in previous books, and we get a good look at the rest of the world of Axtara. There's magic and adventure! But despite the premise, this is still a fairly laid back story, with most of the action concentrated at the very end like in previous books. Axtara is not a warrior or an adventurer, after all.
If you liked the previous two books, I think you will very much like this one as well :)
We finally meet a lot of characters that were only briefly mentioned in previous books, and we get a good look at the rest of the world of Axtara. There's magic and adventure! But despite the premise, this is still a fairly laid back story, with most of the action concentrated at the very end like in previous books. Axtara is not a warrior or an adventurer, after all.
If you liked the previous two books, I think you will very much like this one as well :)
August 8, 2026
Alright, so this has been a nice week of reading, finished off with an all nighter for the last quarter to third because I needed to get into a night shift rhythm. Also, mostly spoilers until the latter part. It's marked again in the text. If you don't want to get spoilered at all, read the first sentence and add 'If you haven't, look up the first book?'.
So the short version of this is, if you liked the first two books, you'll like this one as well. It's a lot more Axtara than the first two, that quickly spirals into a strange blend of cosy story and epic adventure, with a lot more of the latter than the the previous two books. For most of the time though, it works surprisingly well. It's a refreshing take on what, if one's needlessly cynical, boils down to a fetch quest, yet the author uses it introduce more of the world and its workings. As someone who really likes world building and reading about it (as well as the time period Axtara's world is set in) I really enjoyed it and despite this monster easily being the biggest entry of the series, I felt like only a hand full of things were merely included for the sake of just being included. In almost every case it feels like whatever information is given about the world comes up naturally and is picked up on by the characters. That is however in part due to Axtara's travel companion.
The pacing also is really good easing you back into the world you might have last visited when the second book had come out, sprinkling in some foreshadowing here, before then setting the stage for the main threat and antagonist. As one can read from the summery, this time it's something much more palpable than a blossoming business venture or a drastic change of perspective and from this point on it looms like a shadow over the journey everyone's favourite banker has to undergo, which often time is broken whenever she needs a sometimes more sometimes less voluntary breaks, always, changing the scene quick enough before the previous one got stale, be it from talking to local, hunting, even fighting, meeting with new and old associates and a whole lot of eating, while Axtara navigates into the more civilised world. Amongst all of that, I think only the fighting scene is one that could potentially be cut out without missing much on the narratively, as well as potentially two scenes shortly after arriving in new places, though those do add a lot of flavour.
Where it staggers a bit is the later ends of the of the book, but there is no real way to talk about that without spoilers. The spoiler free version is; pacing goes a little up and down with especially the last bit being terribly compressed. Things lining up too well, before a very tense and satisfying climax, that ends however on a note that's rather rather tasteless? Unnessearily comedic? Stinking? Something of the sorts.
Though one thing I actually do want to address is my main gripe with the previous book. The foreshadowing in Axtara-Magic and Mischief felt, for me, really heavy handed. For me, it made the book predictable beyond the point that was probably aimed for. This one however throws so many things into the hat and playing with expectations well enough to make it harder to anticipate within reason. After the first deeper conversation, I actually thought that would be the prince's approach so I was actually shocked when it was much more direct.
If you managed to get here without knowing whether the book is something for you, I don't really know what to do.
Also, and I'm probably alone with this, but I feel like it would have helped the Encyclopedia to be sorted further by Elnacians, non Elnacians, places and other things cause it feels a bit excessive to flip through 16 out 26 pages to get from Abi to Mia. Just my 2 cents.
More spoilers from here on out.
Final part and that is primarily for you Max, I'm gonna take a shot at writing the trimaran story, or at least what could have inspired such race in a distant future.
So the short version of this is, if you liked the first two books, you'll like this one as well. It's a lot more Axtara than the first two, that quickly spirals into a strange blend of cosy story and epic adventure, with a lot more of the latter than the the previous two books. For most of the time though, it works surprisingly well. It's a refreshing take on what, if one's needlessly cynical, boils down to a fetch quest, yet the author uses it introduce more of the world and its workings. As someone who really likes world building and reading about it (as well as the time period Axtara's world is set in) I really enjoyed it and despite this monster easily being the biggest entry of the series, I felt like only a hand full of things were merely included for the sake of just being included. In almost every case it feels like whatever information is given about the world comes up naturally and is picked up on by the characters. That is however in part due to Axtara's travel companion.
The pacing also is really good easing you back into the world you might have last visited when the second book had come out, sprinkling in some foreshadowing here, before then setting the stage for the main threat and antagonist. As one can read from the summery, this time it's something much more palpable than a blossoming business venture or a drastic change of perspective and from this point on it looms like a shadow over the journey everyone's favourite banker has to undergo, which often time is broken whenever she needs a sometimes more sometimes less voluntary breaks, always, changing the scene quick enough before the previous one got stale, be it from talking to local, hunting, even fighting, meeting with new and old associates and a whole lot of eating, while Axtara navigates into the more civilised world. Amongst all of that, I think only the fighting scene is one that could potentially be cut out without missing much on the narratively, as well as potentially two scenes shortly after arriving in new places, though those do add a lot of flavour.
Where it staggers a bit is the later ends of the of the book, but there is no real way to talk about that without spoilers. The spoiler free version is; pacing goes a little up and down with especially the last bit being terribly compressed. Things lining up too well, before a very tense and satisfying climax, that ends however on a note that's rather rather tasteless? Unnessearily comedic? Stinking? Something of the sorts.
Though one thing I actually do want to address is my main gripe with the previous book. The foreshadowing in Axtara-Magic and Mischief felt, for me, really heavy handed. For me, it made the book predictable beyond the point that was probably aimed for. This one however throws so many things into the hat and playing with expectations well enough to make it harder to anticipate within reason. After the first deeper conversation, I actually thought that would be the prince's approach so I was actually shocked when it was much more direct.
If you managed to get here without knowing whether the book is something for you, I don't really know what to do.
Also, and I'm probably alone with this, but I feel like it would have helped the Encyclopedia to be sorted further by Elnacians, non Elnacians, places and other things cause it feels a bit excessive to flip through 16 out 26 pages to get from Abi to Mia. Just my 2 cents.
More spoilers from here on out.
Final part and that is primarily for you Max, I'm gonna take a shot at writing the trimaran story, or at least what could have inspired such race in a distant future.
August 2, 2026
Another excellent entry in the ever-growing Axtara series, the longest and most exciting adventure yet. Highly recommended for fantasy and dragon fans, the third Axtara book does give sufficent recap that it can stand on its own without reading the first two books, but I would still suggest reading the trilogy in order. Substantially more world-building than in the first two books, as the protagonists travel a considerable distance on their quest and visit many well described and interesting locations. References characters and events first introduced in related short stories, but it's not necessary to have read those either. I thoroughly enjoyed this and look forward to other forthcoming novels in the same world.
August 19, 2026
Another fun one, and the best so far!
I loved learning more about Axtara’s world. Prince Perigeen is convincing villain. Despite its being longer than the previous Axtara books, this one is paced just right. Although the Afterward says it will be a while, I’m already looking forward to Axtara 4!
I loved learning more about Axtara’s world. Prince Perigeen is convincing villain. Despite its being longer than the previous Axtara books, this one is paced just right. Although the Afterward says it will be a while, I’m already looking forward to Axtara 4!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews