What do you think?
Rate this book
Age of Fire #4
Dragon Strike
The author of the national bestselling Vampire Earth series continues the saga of the world?s last dragons.
Three dragon siblings are among the last of a dying breed, and the final hope for their species? survival. AuRon, Wistala, and Copper find themselves at odds over the coming human war. AuRon thinks dragons should have no part in the affairs of humans. Wistala believes dragons and man can peacefully co-exist. And Copper has designs of his own on the world.
And the civilized humans who have turned to Copper for assistance against their savage enemies have just given him the perfect opportunity to fulfill his plans?
Three dragon siblings are among the last of a dying breed, and the final hope for their species? survival. AuRon, Wistala, and Copper find themselves at odds over the coming human war. AuRon thinks dragons should have no part in the affairs of humans. Wistala believes dragons and man can peacefully co-exist. And Copper has designs of his own on the world.
And the civilized humans who have turned to Copper for assistance against their savage enemies have just given him the perfect opportunity to fulfill his plans?
368 pages, Paperback
First published December 2, 2008
56 people are currently reading
1537 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
January 23, 2010
Dragon Strike is E. E. Knight's sequel to Blah Blah Blah, Age of Fire. In this book, the three siblings, AuRon, Wistala and The Copper FINALLY meet each other. The build-up to the meeting took up almost three quarters of the book, and was SO anticlimactic. For three and three quarters books you are WAITING for this moment, and when it finally comes, it's like 'no one was there for me' (Copper), 'I'm a forgiving soul, so I forgive you' (Wistala), and 'Huh, I'm not as mad as I thought' (AuRon), and then they just move onto the next stupid thing! SERIOUSLY, the description of this big meeting was only TWO pages and I feel kind of cheated. There should have been long drawn out family drama and all this stuff going on for the rest of the book and then left open ended so I would want to read the next book (yes, there is another one). It's like waiting your whole entire childhood to go to Disney World and meet Mickey Mouse and then when it finally happens, you find out that it's just some dude in a costume, you take one picture, and then you're shuffled out and onto the next stupid ride that's not as good. This book should have been called Dragon Disappointment.
November 16, 2011
This book has a few setbacks when compared to the previous.
I found the few typos distracted me from the story. And at one point, I'm pretty sure that instead of saying "AuRon" the author accidentally says "the copper" which left me very confused.
The last 100 pages felt forced, I didn't enjoy reading it, and i feel ripped off cause there was a massive build up towards the final battle. And it all cheaps out at the end.
Also there's actual magic being used by the red queen. The previous books had no such thing, and it was all rumors within the story. This meant that you needed something as interesting as magic within realistic terms for the story, where as now because the author did use magic, it feels like a deus ex machina.
The crystal that the queen gave auron allowed her to control him, but when the copper placed it in his bad eye he was fine, which i didn't understand.
There were parts I enjoyed, though not as many or as deep as the previous three books. The meeting point between the three siblings is well built up towards and explained, but they don't quite talk much more after that,
The siblings each had their moments of glory, and they stayed within character, AuRon being a sleek fighter and a good diplomat, Wistala being knowledgeable about Hypat and such, The copper Tyr being a fairly wise leader. Though i didn't feel any significance from any hominid characters other than the queen.
Anyway, i was not impressed with this book, and it left me skeptical of the next two. We'll see...
I found the few typos distracted me from the story. And at one point, I'm pretty sure that instead of saying "AuRon" the author accidentally says "the copper" which left me very confused.
The last 100 pages felt forced, I didn't enjoy reading it, and i feel ripped off cause there was a massive build up towards the final battle. And it all cheaps out at the end.
Also there's actual magic being used by the red queen. The previous books had no such thing, and it was all rumors within the story. This meant that you needed something as interesting as magic within realistic terms for the story, where as now because the author did use magic, it feels like a deus ex machina.
The crystal that the queen gave auron allowed her to control him, but when the copper placed it in his bad eye he was fine, which i didn't understand.
There were parts I enjoyed, though not as many or as deep as the previous three books. The meeting point between the three siblings is well built up towards and explained, but they don't quite talk much more after that,
The siblings each had their moments of glory, and they stayed within character, AuRon being a sleek fighter and a good diplomat, Wistala being knowledgeable about Hypat and such, The copper Tyr being a fairly wise leader. Though i didn't feel any significance from any hominid characters other than the queen.
Anyway, i was not impressed with this book, and it left me skeptical of the next two. We'll see...
February 11, 2015
I had been waiting for the dramatic meeting between the siblings since the moment I opened Age of Fire #2, and chills ran down my spine upon realizing that all of the siblings were going to have their own first book. I suffered through the horrors, plot holes, and the Mary Sue main character of Age of Fire #3. I re-read over the confusing and unexplained developments in the first part of this book. Then it happened, the fated meeting of the siblings approached, I felt giddy with anticipation.
The highly anticipated meeting took two pages. Instead of meeting as equals, the lead characters of the fantastic first two books literally bowed down to their brother and forgot decades of resentment, or family ties to each other.
The next line is a 'spoiler', but I can't bear to leave it out, so you've now been warned:
During this fated meeting, AuRon, the silver dragon, hero of the first book, is abruptly MAGICALLY POSSESSED with no warning, no reason, no foreshadowing, no consequences, and scarcely more than a hint out of folklore that magic has ever even possibly existed in this universe.
All the dragons in the entire world, without question, discussion, or second thought, follow the copper dragon, their vampire god-king, invincibly into war.
I literally used this book as kindling for my fireplace.
The highly anticipated meeting took two pages. Instead of meeting as equals, the lead characters of the fantastic first two books literally bowed down to their brother and forgot decades of resentment, or family ties to each other.
The next line is a 'spoiler', but I can't bear to leave it out, so you've now been warned:
During this fated meeting, AuRon, the silver dragon, hero of the first book, is abruptly MAGICALLY POSSESSED with no warning, no reason, no foreshadowing, no consequences, and scarcely more than a hint out of folklore that magic has ever even possibly existed in this universe.
All the dragons in the entire world, without question, discussion, or second thought, follow the copper dragon, their vampire god-king, invincibly into war.
I literally used this book as kindling for my fireplace.
April 11, 2023
This was quite an exciting book for me. After finishing the first three, I was so very curious to see how the fates of the three hatchlings (now fully grown dragons) intertwine and come together in this, and I must say, I'd was fantastic. The plot that slowly brought AuRon, Wistala and the Copper together was super interesting, and full of cliffhanger chapters that had me glued to the book wanting to read more just to find out how that first meeting goes, after the long setup of the first three books.
Everything leading up to that moment was absolutely great, even though that moment kinda left me scratching my head in confusion regarding a choice or two made by a specific character. Regardless, I really liked it, and the book continued off strong, although it kinda started to lose traction towards the end, which is why I'm giving it 4 stars (even though, at this point with the series, it feels more like 4.5 stars.. The ending felt kinda disjointed in terms of the events that happened, and very rushed in certain segments. A lot of interesting plot lines were.. kind of concluded, but not really, because the conclusions only raised more questions than answers. I felt like Knight tried to cram a lot of events and plot and characters into the ending in just a few chapters, even though it would've been more beneficial to write the ending out in a couple more, longer chapters. All in all, I liked the ending, but it definitely would've benefitted from slower pacing and more concise explanations.
As a side note, I have to give praise to the characters. AuRon, who I didn't like in the first book, was so much more interesting to read about in this book. Wistala, who I liked quite a bit in book two, really felt like she settled into her own motivations and goals. I honestly thought all three of the fated dragons had very interesting stories in this book, and they all kept me equally engaged, despite a few odd choices that the characters make here and there. Also, again, I have to point out the world building. Somehow, Knight manages to add even more world building here, and manages to flesh out whole nations, and does it in ways that don't feel as overwhelming as they sometimes did in previous books.
Yet again, I'm excited to continue this series and see where it goes, even more so now because I ended up loving this book, despite reading everywhere that this book is where the series nosedives in terms of quality. I personally haven't had that negative experience (even though I can see what the critique is about), and I'm really hoping that stays (mostly) true for the remaining two books!
Everything leading up to that moment was absolutely great, even though that moment kinda left me scratching my head in confusion regarding a choice or two made by a specific character. Regardless, I really liked it, and the book continued off strong, although it kinda started to lose traction towards the end, which is why I'm giving it 4 stars (even though, at this point with the series, it feels more like 4.5 stars.. The ending felt kinda disjointed in terms of the events that happened, and very rushed in certain segments. A lot of interesting plot lines were.. kind of concluded, but not really, because the conclusions only raised more questions than answers. I felt like Knight tried to cram a lot of events and plot and characters into the ending in just a few chapters, even though it would've been more beneficial to write the ending out in a couple more, longer chapters. All in all, I liked the ending, but it definitely would've benefitted from slower pacing and more concise explanations.
As a side note, I have to give praise to the characters. AuRon, who I didn't like in the first book, was so much more interesting to read about in this book. Wistala, who I liked quite a bit in book two, really felt like she settled into her own motivations and goals. I honestly thought all three of the fated dragons had very interesting stories in this book, and they all kept me equally engaged, despite a few odd choices that the characters make here and there. Also, again, I have to point out the world building. Somehow, Knight manages to add even more world building here, and manages to flesh out whole nations, and does it in ways that don't feel as overwhelming as they sometimes did in previous books.
Yet again, I'm excited to continue this series and see where it goes, even more so now because I ended up loving this book, despite reading everywhere that this book is where the series nosedives in terms of quality. I personally haven't had that negative experience (even though I can see what the critique is about), and I'm really hoping that stays (mostly) true for the remaining two books!
October 29, 2011
Dragon Strike is the fourth book in the series and like the others it is a solid read. I personally like the third one better but this one is quite different. I was wondering what Knight would do now that all the dragon siblings have been accounted for in each of the first three books. Well he starts writing the story in all of their perspectives, alternating from AuRon to Wistala to the nameless copper. It works very well and varies the plot even more so than the other books due to it's broad POV range of all three of the siblings. The big encounter when all three of them meet is quite possibly my favorite part of the whole book. It does not happen until three quarters of the way through the book but when it does ( no spoilers ) it is quite an exciting scene in the book I assure you. Overall a solid read. Love dragons? Fantasy novels? The previous books of the series? Pick this up and give it a read. A very well done book and finely crafted series thus far. Although I strongly reccomend picking up the other books before Dragon Strike to get the most out of the story.
July 5, 2017
Having reread the book in preparation for reading the 5th one fresh off the shelf, I will say that this one is not quite as good as the first three. Gone is the focus on a single character in this book, and instead the story focuses on all three of our main characters plus a couple of others on occasion. The good news in this book is that some loose ends are tied up, some worldbuilding present since the beginning of this foray is being explored in further depth, and we get to see our Copper hero from book 3 make good on his promise.
All in all, it's a pretty decent sequel. Far from perfect - there are moments where the writing slips a little as the story attempts to advance along at a slightly more hurried pace - but it's a good followup. I'm looking forward to Dragon Rule.
All in all, it's a pretty decent sequel. Far from perfect - there are moments where the writing slips a little as the story attempts to advance along at a slightly more hurried pace - but it's a good followup. I'm looking forward to Dragon Rule.
May 27, 2023
Not quite as good as the first 3 books. The storyline got a bit bogged down through the middle, and the scene where the siblings finally come back together was a bit of let down after so much time was devoted to building up anticipation for that crucial moment. But overall, this was still an enjoyable read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 10, 2024
Just okay.
April 8, 2023
I thought I remembered from my 2012 read of these books that I really started to love this series when the three dragon siblings were finally reunited.
I'm not 100% sure that that's true. Still, the book was entertaining enough, and I'm still liking it enough to continue the series.
I'm not 100% sure that that's true. Still, the book was entertaining enough, and I'm still liking it enough to continue the series.
June 20, 2012
I really enjoyed it! There were errors, of course, like name swapping, some confusing writing, scenes where I had trouble figuring out who was saying certain lines of dialogue--one scene during the climax was really bad in this area. And characters seem to be in multiple places at once, and I don't mean a character with another character's name.
Having said all that, however, the book isn't as bad as others seem to make it. Most complaints I've seen seem to be about the siblings meeting--too late in the book and too anti-climatic. Really, though, something like this cannot be forced, which it probably would be if Knight had the meeting earlier. As for being too anti-climatic, do people really expect AuRon and Wistala to pounce on RuGaard the minute they see him? Not only would such an action throw their development back, but it would have ended the whole Age of Fire story a bit prematurely--there is no way AuRon and Wistala could have gotten out of there before they would have been shredded to pieces.
I think Knight handled the encounter excellently. I really love the relationship between the siblings. Especially between AuRon and RuGaard--not friends, but not exactly enemies.
Having said all that, however, the book isn't as bad as others seem to make it. Most complaints I've seen seem to be about the siblings meeting--too late in the book and too anti-climatic. Really, though, something like this cannot be forced, which it probably would be if Knight had the meeting earlier. As for being too anti-climatic, do people really expect AuRon and Wistala to pounce on RuGaard the minute they see him? Not only would such an action throw their development back, but it would have ended the whole Age of Fire story a bit prematurely--there is no way AuRon and Wistala could have gotten out of there before they would have been shredded to pieces.
I think Knight handled the encounter excellently. I really love the relationship between the siblings. Especially between AuRon and RuGaard--not friends, but not exactly enemies.
May 20, 2018
This whole set has great potential but sadly doesn’t quite get there...
A good read but no meat on the bones.
So far all have started well and then seem to rush to an end, almost like the author has somewhere better to be and suddenly realised the late hour of the day and caps it off with a quick ending. Build, build, build and then ‘blink’ and miss it.
This book, as all the others, starts and builds well, all are lacking in character building but this was promising.... but the end! Oh my! The end deserves a 1 star.... blink and you miss it.... dragons rah rah! Fly, hide, fight, die, victory, the end! E.E Knight has shown he can do better and this was very poor.... :(
A good read but no meat on the bones.
So far all have started well and then seem to rush to an end, almost like the author has somewhere better to be and suddenly realised the late hour of the day and caps it off with a quick ending. Build, build, build and then ‘blink’ and miss it.
This book, as all the others, starts and builds well, all are lacking in character building but this was promising.... but the end! Oh my! The end deserves a 1 star.... blink and you miss it.... dragons rah rah! Fly, hide, fight, die, victory, the end! E.E Knight has shown he can do better and this was very poor.... :(
February 26, 2009
This book was the worst in the series. The story was too short and Knight glossed over many of the finer points. The conflict with the Ghioz is not explained. The reader is supposed to assume that men are evil and greedy and that is why there is war. The conflict between the dragon siblings is also brushed under the rug. The "climax" happens too quickly with little deteail and build up. Overall this book was not good and will probably be the last in the series I read.
December 4, 2014
While I enjoyed this fourth book I found it somewhat slow at times or perhaps less interesting than the previous books.
Can't help but feel the three siblings are being set up to fight against each other and dragonkind will again be in danger as they seem to lack understanding on how to forge a long lasting relation with the humans and other hominids.
Also what of the dragons in sadda-vale and all those trolls "guarding" them....
Can't help but feel the three siblings are being set up to fight against each other and dragonkind will again be in danger as they seem to lack understanding on how to forge a long lasting relation with the humans and other hominids.
Also what of the dragons in sadda-vale and all those trolls "guarding" them....
January 18, 2015
Another great read from E.E. Knight.
I felt that at some points of the novel the pacing was a little off - the first half too slow, the second half too fast, but ultimately a well-crafted tale. The characters as always were amazing - Copper being my favourite so far.
Unsure where the series will go from here, as pretty much everything seems to have wrapped up.
I felt that at some points of the novel the pacing was a little off - the first half too slow, the second half too fast, but ultimately a well-crafted tale. The characters as always were amazing - Copper being my favourite so far.
Unsure where the series will go from here, as pretty much everything seems to have wrapped up.
August 7, 2015
Expected a lot based on the books 1 and 2, but the book suffered from poor editing - plot and consistency just absolutely fell apart towards the end of the book. I frankly lost interest in the series because of this poor installment after the less interesting book 3.
August 25, 2021
Closer to 1.5 Stars
I wanted to enjoy this book. The previous three in the series were likeable despite their flaws, and I hoped that I'd feel the same about Dragon Strike. Unfortunately, I didn't. Whereas the other books were still mostly entertaining, this one was a complete slog with the titular strike taking place in only the final handful of chapters.
The majority of this novel was just dry drudgery where even things which should have been exciting and interesting came across at a snail's pace with all the excitement of watching paint dry. Even the long-awaited meeting between the three dragon siblings was a disappointing and somewhat disgenuine (at least one of them felt completely out of character) affair which lasted three pages or less and then sputtered out into other things where they just coexisted. Where was the bitter fighting? What of the betrayal being avenged? No time for that, we have to bring in a Deus Ex of magical nature to propel the barely-there plot! Quite a disappointment, to say the least.
The main villain is also not particularly interesting. The concept itself is intriguing: an evil ruler who never shows her face, is rumoured to be immortal, and uses a creepy mask which she spins around on a stick to indicate whether she's happy or sad. The execution is laughably cringe-worthy and, toward the end, just plain confusing. I don't mind magic being added late-series to prove that the rumours of it existing were real; I'm always a big fan of magic in fantasy and have yet to find a video game in the genre where I don't immediately gravitate toward playing a mage. Even in Vampire: the Masquerade, I always gravitate toward the more mystical of clans. That's my jam! It just... was kind of molded jam that had been left in the fridge for too long, as far as the utilization in Dragon Strike is concerned.
It doesn't help that the chapters jump around from dragon to dragon in point of view, yet some chapters include more than one of the siblings' viewpoint. This is not an enjoyable storytelling method, though I'm not entirely sure how the author could have expressed all three stories without hopping around some. Perhaps I'd have found it slightly less jarring if the chapters were better-spaced and perhaps I'd have tolerated it better if so many of the best side characters (a disproportionate amount of which were female) didn't get killed off or horribly maimed for the sake of creating dramatic scenes. But alas, as with all the novels in the Age of Fire series, the last few chapters on the final few pages had to be packed full of action, intrigue, and things-actually-happening to make up for the slow climb up a boring hill. I will say that the hill didn't seem so boring in the other three books I read, but it was almost insufferable this time and reading Dragon Strike often felt like a chore.
I think the main difference may be in readability, though. Overall, it seems the same quality of storytelling with a far worse quality of editing went into this book. There are many typos, ranging from simple and forgivable to egregious. To name a few of the latter, there are some missing words and grammar issues which make comprehension difficult; a page where three sentences all begin with lowercase letters instead of uppercase (not as a stylistic thing, but at random); more than one instance where an incorrect character is named in a scene, one of which leads to a dragonelle being in two places at once; and even a couple factual errors such as Rainfall being referred to erroneously as Lada's father on one page then accurately as her grandfather within the next page or two. I also wonder about Ragwrist and Dsossa suddenly being married, because either I overlooked that development in Dragon Avenger or it's never properly explained. All I can recall is that Rainfall and Dsossa seemed very attached to one another in the second book, mentioned as having a "special understanding" with one another and touching hands together frequently. It definitely left me confused for a moment.
Overall, I'm mostly just glad this book is over. Were it not for already owning the next two books in the series and officially being 2/3 finished with the Age of Fire, I'd probably give up by now. I hear things only get worse in terms of writing quality and entertainment value, so I can't honestly say I look forward to knowing what happens next anymore. I just hope that it doesn't involve quite so much densely packed combat which doesn't leave room to picture it accurately in the imagination. And maybe the dragon names will get less... odd. It's hard to keep track of characters by name when there's no clue how to pronounce those names and they look more like alphabet soup; I basically just go by how the name looks and make up an internal voice sound to go with the names, which does draw me out of the experience quite a bit. And gets troublesome when it occurs that two characters have similar-looking names (same prefix, similar suffix, similar letters, etc). It gets tiring, for sure.
But it looks like I'm in this for the long haul, so onward to the next instalment I'll go soon... Wish me luck!
I wanted to enjoy this book. The previous three in the series were likeable despite their flaws, and I hoped that I'd feel the same about Dragon Strike. Unfortunately, I didn't. Whereas the other books were still mostly entertaining, this one was a complete slog with the titular strike taking place in only the final handful of chapters.
The majority of this novel was just dry drudgery where even things which should have been exciting and interesting came across at a snail's pace with all the excitement of watching paint dry. Even the long-awaited meeting between the three dragon siblings was a disappointing and somewhat disgenuine (at least one of them felt completely out of character) affair which lasted three pages or less and then sputtered out into other things where they just coexisted. Where was the bitter fighting? What of the betrayal being avenged? No time for that, we have to bring in a Deus Ex of magical nature to propel the barely-there plot! Quite a disappointment, to say the least.
The main villain is also not particularly interesting. The concept itself is intriguing: an evil ruler who never shows her face, is rumoured to be immortal, and uses a creepy mask which she spins around on a stick to indicate whether she's happy or sad. The execution is laughably cringe-worthy and, toward the end, just plain confusing. I don't mind magic being added late-series to prove that the rumours of it existing were real; I'm always a big fan of magic in fantasy and have yet to find a video game in the genre where I don't immediately gravitate toward playing a mage. Even in Vampire: the Masquerade, I always gravitate toward the more mystical of clans. That's my jam! It just... was kind of molded jam that had been left in the fridge for too long, as far as the utilization in Dragon Strike is concerned.
It doesn't help that the chapters jump around from dragon to dragon in point of view, yet some chapters include more than one of the siblings' viewpoint. This is not an enjoyable storytelling method, though I'm not entirely sure how the author could have expressed all three stories without hopping around some. Perhaps I'd have found it slightly less jarring if the chapters were better-spaced and perhaps I'd have tolerated it better if so many of the best side characters (a disproportionate amount of which were female) didn't get killed off or horribly maimed for the sake of creating dramatic scenes. But alas, as with all the novels in the Age of Fire series, the last few chapters on the final few pages had to be packed full of action, intrigue, and things-actually-happening to make up for the slow climb up a boring hill. I will say that the hill didn't seem so boring in the other three books I read, but it was almost insufferable this time and reading Dragon Strike often felt like a chore.
I think the main difference may be in readability, though. Overall, it seems the same quality of storytelling with a far worse quality of editing went into this book. There are many typos, ranging from simple and forgivable to egregious. To name a few of the latter, there are some missing words and grammar issues which make comprehension difficult; a page where three sentences all begin with lowercase letters instead of uppercase (not as a stylistic thing, but at random); more than one instance where an incorrect character is named in a scene, one of which leads to a dragonelle being in two places at once; and even a couple factual errors such as Rainfall being referred to erroneously as Lada's father on one page then accurately as her grandfather within the next page or two. I also wonder about Ragwrist and Dsossa suddenly being married, because either I overlooked that development in Dragon Avenger or it's never properly explained. All I can recall is that Rainfall and Dsossa seemed very attached to one another in the second book, mentioned as having a "special understanding" with one another and touching hands together frequently. It definitely left me confused for a moment.
Overall, I'm mostly just glad this book is over. Were it not for already owning the next two books in the series and officially being 2/3 finished with the Age of Fire, I'd probably give up by now. I hear things only get worse in terms of writing quality and entertainment value, so I can't honestly say I look forward to knowing what happens next anymore. I just hope that it doesn't involve quite so much densely packed combat which doesn't leave room to picture it accurately in the imagination. And maybe the dragon names will get less... odd. It's hard to keep track of characters by name when there's no clue how to pronounce those names and they look more like alphabet soup; I basically just go by how the name looks and make up an internal voice sound to go with the names, which does draw me out of the experience quite a bit. And gets troublesome when it occurs that two characters have similar-looking names (same prefix, similar suffix, similar letters, etc). It gets tiring, for sure.
But it looks like I'm in this for the long haul, so onward to the next instalment I'll go soon... Wish me luck!
December 3, 2014
I forgot to write a good review when this was freshly read. It was exciting to see how this brought different characters together.
May 20, 2016
First book of the "second half" of the series with multiple characters point of view. Good in my opinion, even if not like the third one.
November 30, 2016
It's interesting to see the siblings back together, but in the process Knight seems unable to bring out the rich characterization that made following their journey worthwhile.
April 5, 2019
I didn't actually finish the book. I ended up giving up about halfway through due to lack of interest.
August 13, 2025
Dragon Strike would've worked a lot better for me had it not been over a year since I read the first and second books in this cycle. Backtracking frustrations aside, this book worked as an exciting escalation from the first three of the series and felt like a complete package outside of the very end presenting an in-universe philosophical question. Hallmarks of Knight's writing are still present here, which both help and hinder the novel as a whole.
Rather than focusing on the perspective of one of the three hatchlings, this book switches between all three of them, and it highlights the strengths of some and the weaknesses of others. The Copper and Wistala's chapters are exciting and act as the earliest collisions of stories from previous books. Though it takes time for Wistala's story to be interesting (especially if you forgot about DharSii's contributions to the story), eventually she becomes the most interesting of the three hatchlings with her admission into the firemaids. The Copper's chapters leave the reader wondering whether he is meant to be regarded as a hero or a villain as his influence over the Lavadome grows, and his agents become even stronger as the plot builds.
AuRon is the clear weak perspective as an isolationist who inherently wants nothing to do with the plot he is a part of. The chapters he does not spend lamenting his involvement with the war are spent on characters that I struggled to remember given the time since reading the first book, which made the losses of the ending (that were meant to be stinging) carry less weight. AuRon still gets to witness the most important events of the novel, and I fear the series is setting up to frame his actions and lack of involvement in the Lavadome as the objectively correct decisions despite his degrees of separation from the narrative as a whole.
Each of the hatchlings takes a viewpoint on how dragonkind and mankind should interact; the Copper believes dragons should have dominion over man, Wistala believes the two groups should coexist, and AuRon is an isolationist. These ideological clashes are the forefront of the story outside of the spectacular battles that occur between the armies of Ghioz and Hypatia (aided by the Lavadome dragons). Setting up AuRon as the most important of the three siblings as the one to witness the Red Queen's strange magic and to have all the worldly connections that he gained in the first book feels like a detriment to the series, and I can only hope the next books will do more with his character.
The ending is rushed (as always) and other than a few sentences pertaining to the red queen and AuRon's lack of trust in the new future, this could've acted as a fine resolution to the series. The magic is genuinely interesting and it was a joy to see many of these characters again (especially those from Wistala's story) after reminding myself of their roles in previous books. Aside from my distaste toward one of the three protagonists, this book was enjoyable and ended up being a quick read because of how interested I was in seeing the three main stories intersect into one great war.
6.5/10, would likely have had a better time if I didn't need to basically re-read Dragon Avenger to understand what was going on.
Rather than focusing on the perspective of one of the three hatchlings, this book switches between all three of them, and it highlights the strengths of some and the weaknesses of others. The Copper and Wistala's chapters are exciting and act as the earliest collisions of stories from previous books. Though it takes time for Wistala's story to be interesting (especially if you forgot about DharSii's contributions to the story), eventually she becomes the most interesting of the three hatchlings with her admission into the firemaids. The Copper's chapters leave the reader wondering whether he is meant to be regarded as a hero or a villain as his influence over the Lavadome grows, and his agents become even stronger as the plot builds.
AuRon is the clear weak perspective as an isolationist who inherently wants nothing to do with the plot he is a part of. The chapters he does not spend lamenting his involvement with the war are spent on characters that I struggled to remember given the time since reading the first book, which made the losses of the ending (that were meant to be stinging) carry less weight. AuRon still gets to witness the most important events of the novel, and I fear the series is setting up to frame his actions and lack of involvement in the Lavadome as the objectively correct decisions despite his degrees of separation from the narrative as a whole.
Each of the hatchlings takes a viewpoint on how dragonkind and mankind should interact; the Copper believes dragons should have dominion over man, Wistala believes the two groups should coexist, and AuRon is an isolationist. These ideological clashes are the forefront of the story outside of the spectacular battles that occur between the armies of Ghioz and Hypatia (aided by the Lavadome dragons). Setting up AuRon as the most important of the three siblings as the one to witness the Red Queen's strange magic and to have all the worldly connections that he gained in the first book feels like a detriment to the series, and I can only hope the next books will do more with his character.
The ending is rushed (as always) and other than a few sentences pertaining to the red queen and AuRon's lack of trust in the new future, this could've acted as a fine resolution to the series. The magic is genuinely interesting and it was a joy to see many of these characters again (especially those from Wistala's story) after reminding myself of their roles in previous books. Aside from my distaste toward one of the three protagonists, this book was enjoyable and ended up being a quick read because of how interested I was in seeing the three main stories intersect into one great war.
6.5/10, would likely have had a better time if I didn't need to basically re-read Dragon Avenger to understand what was going on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 7, 2023
As much as I enjoyed the books leading up to this one, and was eagerly awaiting AuRon, Wistala, and the Copper to be reunited, I couldn't help but agree with other reviewers: their reunion was a letdown. The book felt rather disjointed, and bouncing between the three points of view I felt that I looked forward to the Copper and Wistala's chapters more than AuRon's. The attempts to tie together everything that had happened in the previous three books into a single narrative, I will admit, probably would feel more cohesive if I had read the first two more recently, but going directly from the third book to this one made the Copper's plotline feel far more familiar, and to be honest, I think the Copper's as well as Wistala's plots felt more fleshed out. AuRon had already faced his challenges and came out on top and was happy to be out on his own little island with his hatchlings, it was odd that he would go back out into the world to adventure. Contrasting that, the Copper is the leader of the dragons and has to deal with the problems his kingdom faces. Wistala never settled (as far as I remember) at the end of her book, so again, it makes sense she would still be out and about.
The standout chapters to me was probably when Wistala and the Firemaidens fought in the pass. It was my favorite part in this book.
I still really enjoyed Dragon Strike, but not as much as the books proceeding it.
The standout chapters to me was probably when Wistala and the Firemaidens fought in the pass. It was my favorite part in this book.
I still really enjoyed Dragon Strike, but not as much as the books proceeding it.
September 29, 2018
*Warning there might be spoilers*
Three siblings who have once separated during their hatchling years reunite once again as grown dragons and drgonelle as the war between dragon kind and humans begin. However, each sibling has their own ideas and thoughts when it comes to humans. One believing that dragons should not have any affairs with humans and another believing that dragons and humans can live together in peace. The final sibling has his own ideas for the world and to bring dragon kind out of hiding from within the Lower World.
The beginning of the book was a bit slow and I wanted to stop reading it at times, but once I started a new chapter I couldn't stop reading. The book could get a bit confusing sometimes making you reread a section to understand it, but I believe all books are like that having to reread to understand. I like how Knight switches perspective to one of the three siblings showing what they're going through and thinking instead of focusing on one sibling throughout the entire book. It did get boring in some parts of the book, and I feel like it wasn't as thought-provoking as the 3rd book which is currently my favorite book of the series.
Three siblings who have once separated during their hatchling years reunite once again as grown dragons and drgonelle as the war between dragon kind and humans begin. However, each sibling has their own ideas and thoughts when it comes to humans. One believing that dragons should not have any affairs with humans and another believing that dragons and humans can live together in peace. The final sibling has his own ideas for the world and to bring dragon kind out of hiding from within the Lower World.
The beginning of the book was a bit slow and I wanted to stop reading it at times, but once I started a new chapter I couldn't stop reading. The book could get a bit confusing sometimes making you reread a section to understand it, but I believe all books are like that having to reread to understand. I like how Knight switches perspective to one of the three siblings showing what they're going through and thinking instead of focusing on one sibling throughout the entire book. It did get boring in some parts of the book, and I feel like it wasn't as thought-provoking as the 3rd book which is currently my favorite book of the series.
September 22, 2020
The saga of three unlikely siblings begins to truly unfold. Though the plot is sometimes conducted with nativity, Knight has lost nothing of his sense for beauty, wonder and affection for the magical and fantastic. Most of all I enjoy how very different all the cultures involved are, how convincing their conflicts about which he does not get lost in complexity, and how strong emotions are delivered by his style of storytelling.
March 19, 2022
I struggled to get started on this book. However when I had time to sit and read I was able to really get into the story. I found the siblings meeting again was down played. I expected more of a fight either physically or more words. The confrontation started out the way I expected but just like other scene where there was a building to what should of been a climax never really reached the climax but just suddenly die.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2019
Love seeing through the eyes of these dragons. E.E.Knight's 'The Age Of Fire' books are a delight. I really enjoyed how the 3 first books are from the different perspectives of each baby dragon. I really enjoyed the viewpoint of their politics in this world, humanoid, dragon, dwarf...et cetera, all uniquely their own. It is beautiful.
September 28, 2017
Fourth installment, and the story gets more intense. 3 dragons, all raised in different ways, after their separation as hatchlings, finding each other, in strange circumstances. Powerful story, told very exceptionally.
October 5, 2020
Another great addition to the series. I really enjoyed getting to know the three dragon siblings better and learning more about the world of the story. I will definitely read this book again in the future.
July 3, 2018
Published 2008. Stronger book in the series.
February 19, 2019
Finally, the stories of the three dragons come together. Fun read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews