A discovery of the source of Rob’s essence leads him home.
Now that Rob has progressed to dragon heart, he’s called upon to help the artic cats find their leader. The journey leads him deeper into a dangerous land, where he must find a way to stop the ice king and his servants.
There he discovers the way to protect those he cares about is to head back to where he first learned of essence.
What he learns is the true danger hidden until now—and the source of the Spread—but it might already be too late to stop it.
Overall this series has a good story line and Im enjoying it. There are a great many grammer and sentence errors that somewhat impact the ability to understand the authors meaning. Overall, I really like this authors style and Im sure the sentence structure and grammer will come with experience, or a better proofreader😏. Id still recommend this series.
Dragon Mind is the fifth book in the Blood of the Ancients Series by Dan Michaelson & D.K. Holmberg - it is an epic fantasy, with a coming-of-age adventure, and high-stakes heroism. We follow Rob, a young man who, unlike most of his people, is not transformed by the mystical “firewater” meant to strengthen warriors against the valley’s deadly threats. This twist sets him on a path of self-discovery, resilience, and unexpected power. The authors craft a vivid setting filled with dangerous creatures, ancient mysteries, and a tangible sense of history. The lore surrounding the “dragon forged” and the valley’s threats is original, intriguing, and quite richly detailed. Each book builds momentum, balancing action with quieter, emotional moments. The stakes escalate naturally, keeping me invested the whole way through. The series leans into familiar fantasy tropes, so seasoned readers might predict some plot threads – but they still deliver an engrossing read. Happy Reading…
The characters really haven't developed, or evolved, other their quest to gain more powers. We finally learn a little bit more about the main character 5 books in, but it isn't much.
The dialogue is still trite and redundant in most places with the characters do too much talking without saying much of anything.
A conversation about nothing can take a full chapter, and then an "epic" fight scene with 5 ogres and giant cats is won in a paragraph.
Our main character (yes I know he is supposed to the hero) is traveling with 2-4 other characters who have spent their entire lives training and learning skills on how to fight and survive.. Yet, during every battle is is him somehow miraculously finding the way to save them all with no training at all.
The series premise overall isn't bad, and the story itself is okay, but where it was improving I think it takes a step back in this book towards the monotonous slog it started with in the first book.
I love the story line. It keeps me intrigued and reading, in spite of all the grammatical errors. It's pretty clear that very little editing was done, if any. Words left out, incomplete sentences, dropped thoughts, errors in names as part of a conversation, redundancy, and Rob never seems to learn anything. He supposedly learns enough to advance but the questions he asks himself and others are the same questions as when he started his journey. He needs to grow with his understanding at least a little and his thought processes don't seem to match his level of progress. Nevertheless, the story has me hooked and I will continue to follow the series.
Rob continues his learning how to us his ice essence from Ashmond. After Rob heals some ogres, they lead him, Ashmond and Yoral into the Desrit Mountains searching for a way to find and rescue the arctic cat’s Nelah and to stop the Ice King and the Spread. He learns enough to advance to Dragon Mind.
Footnote: 1) Some of the edit errors: Chap 2: ‘a blanket of heavy snow covered vast…’ (no punctuation needed). Chap 13: ‘And your essence better counters what they can do better than mine’ (doubled word).
Fave scenes: Rob riding Yoral, the essence map, questioning the captive girl and Serina & the Spread.
Maggie and Rob had to grow in order to survive, but will it be enough? They face a powerful enemy, an enemy to all people. Great series, but there are a lot of grammar errors unlike other D.K.Holmberg books. This is definitely not interfering with how good this is.
Congratulations to D.K. Holmberg and Dan Michaelson for this amazing series. Ibt’s extremely hard to find such interesting and exciting authors who not only write intelligently but also provide top rated plots, characters and excitement in the stories. I’m really looking forward to the next book!
Finally, something to look forward to, still Book 5 and whatever Rob's essence or ability, it is still a mystery, actually a lot of his ability is a mystery, even how he uses his essence.
At least, there is a story....and the "world-building" is slowly but surely shaping up...
SO many typos and grammar issues, so many confusing sentences and repeated text... did this book go through an editing process at all? I want to love it, the characters are interesting and the world has so much potential, but it honestly reads like it was written by AI sometimes.
A good series fast paced and entertaining. However you need to get a new proof reader as the amount of missing words, wrong words, half words and grammatical errors is shocking for a published book.