Above Oakenfall fireworks light the night sky celebrating one hundred years since the end of the vicious war that lasted for generations. Against all odds, Oakenfall had managed to free themselves from their dragon overlords. However, with the dragons gone, a band of barbarians unite in the north and seize control of Oakenfall’s sister city, Northholm.
As the invading army marches south, the King is running out of options and turns to Darcy Dean, the son of a great war hero. But Darcy is more used to bookkeeping than holding a sword. Will he live up to be half the man his father was and step forward as the saviour of the city he calls home?
Within the castle of Oakenfall whispers fill the throne room. There is talk of consorting with demons, an ancient relic of untold power, and the return of the scaled beasts of old. Darcy has no clue of the hardships about to befall him and the fellowship he is forced to gather.
Damien Tiller was born in Portsmouth, UK, to working class parents. A chequered childhood with less than perfect parents and absence from schooling, combined with spending his teen years living in a squat in Boscombe should have meant that a career in writing seemed far-fetched. However, Damien found comfort in escapism and used writing to escape his own demons, leading to his first novel, "A Winter's Child", gaining some accolades in 2004. This was followed up with "Dragon's Blight" in 2013 and saw this dyslexic author carry out his first book signing in Blue Town, Kent.
Oakenfall achieved Amazon bestseller status in August 2020
Tiller has brought to life a fascinating world that feels tangible featuring characters you want to dive into the adventure with! The dialogue is so witty and is the book's strong point. If you're a fan of Tolkien and epic fantasy adventure, you'll enjoy Dragon's Blight and Tiller's classic writing style.
Tiller manages to fit a lot into this novel. Introducing us the races and colonies of his Oakenfall world, but not giving enough of each one to fully understand them.
This could easily have been a tome, with more history of the world, and more back story of the characters and more said that was unsaid and left to the readers imagination. The gaps for the reader to fill are large in some places and my hope is that future books explore these gaps.
The final chapters felt rushed, but still provided an ending that could be traced through the narrative and provides hope, something Tiller clearly needed at the time of writing.
There are some downplayed shocks and some big leaps, but overall, a good novel. I look forward to the next one in the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Great fantasy adventure story that takes you on a journey all over Northern Neeska with a host of characters of all different races and classes. Story moved a tiny bit faster in some places than I would have liked, but adventure waits for no-one! Easy reading that sucks you straight into the story and keeps you guessing what's going to happen next. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
The story is good, but this first book in the series doesn't quite take-off. A plethora of characters were introduced, but they felt undeveloped. Their arcs crested too soon.
The story ended on a cliff-hanger. I'm holding out hope that the pieces start to come together in Book 2 as there are characters who have the potential to really come alive.
This was an intriguing read. The idea of a war that wipes out a the dragon Lords & the dragons. Then the new breed of barbarians make their move. They are savages and will stop at nothing to get what they want. The king sends Darcy on a mission to save the kingdom.Poor Darcy is not a man who handles a sword. He goes on the mission & when the Demon enters the fight things become interesting. Great characters, some strong and some plain evil. The narrator did an awesome job with the voices which was great. A page turner for sure.
The story is not bad, but the writing is atrocious. Really needed some proofreading, at times I had to read a sentence two or three times to figure out what it meant. There would be words left out or put in the wrong place, commas misused, wrong words used, ugh!
A war ravaged kingdom on the brink, a desperate mission to save it, and a large cast of different characters. Damien Tiller combines a Tolkienesque amount of character background and a Martinesque level of political turns of fortune in this adventure story.
The plot works well, and there is some wonderfully sketched scenery. I enjoyed the twists and turns, but I wasn't a fan of his use of language. Tiller's whimsical similes either work for you... or they don't. Unfortunately, I found them jarring. But it's a voice preference that others might enjoy more than I did.