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Rayna the Dragonslayer
She was a warrior forged from flame, a slayer of mighty dragons
, until one final quest changed everything
Rayna had been hunting dragons since the day one burned her family to ash. Her skills, enhanced by a massive broadsword, made her a legendary dragonslayer. Marred by a mysterious stigmata labeled “the dragon’s curse” she was both revered and feared as she hunted down the dragons across Atharia.
Rayna thought she'd slain them all. But when the royal house sought the slayer they told her of another. One more dragon plagued the land...the very same beast which burned Rayna's home years before. Fueled by vengeance Rayna takes up the quest to fulfill her life’s purpose and purge the beasts from the world. But as she gets closer to the kill, Rayna learns a bitter truth that will drastically alter her path and turn the hunter into the hunted.
Painful, pivotal memories surface as Rayna races to find the culprit behind the mayhem, recover a lost child, and get to the real target to set things right.
Rayna the Dragonslayer is the first in an exciting dragon fantasy adventure series A Time of Dragons . It's a symphony of sword & sorcery, high fantasy, and a heroic quest that is like The Mandalorian merging with Game of Thrones .
Rayna had been hunting dragons since the day one burned her family to ash. Her skills, enhanced by a massive broadsword, made her a legendary dragonslayer. Marred by a mysterious stigmata labeled “the dragon’s curse” she was both revered and feared as she hunted down the dragons across Atharia.
Rayna thought she'd slain them all. But when the royal house sought the slayer they told her of another. One more dragon plagued the land...the very same beast which burned Rayna's home years before. Fueled by vengeance Rayna takes up the quest to fulfill her life’s purpose and purge the beasts from the world. But as she gets closer to the kill, Rayna learns a bitter truth that will drastically alter her path and turn the hunter into the hunted.
Painful, pivotal memories surface as Rayna races to find the culprit behind the mayhem, recover a lost child, and get to the real target to set things right.
Rayna the Dragonslayer is the first in an exciting dragon fantasy adventure series A Time of Dragons . It's a symphony of sword & sorcery, high fantasy, and a heroic quest that is like The Mandalorian merging with Game of Thrones .
352 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 7, 2023
43 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Cynthia Vespia
40 books113 followers"Original Cyn" Cynthia Vespia is a multi-award nominated author. She writes fantasy novels with bite including urban fantasy vigilantes and heroic adventure fantasy. Her books have featured a secret group of superhero renegades; the dark underbelly of Las Vegas; and a duo of demon hunters fighting supernatural beings. Cyn's latest is an exciting new fantasy adventure series about a slayer of dragons who has a change of heart.
Rayna the Dragonslayer was a Top 5 Finalist in The Next Generation Indie Book Awards and ranked #1 in Amazon’s fantasy adventure fiction category. She’s previously received a "Best Series" nomination for her fantasy trilogy Demon Hunter. Her novel Karma ranked #1 on Amazon twice in several distinct categories including superhero urban fantasy, science fiction adventure, paranormal & urban fantasy. She has been published in anthologies such as Skelos Press and Dark Eclipse.
Cyn's characters are outcasts and anti-heroes with depth and real vulnerabilities. The worlds Cyn creates are a gritty mix of fantasy, magic, and the supernatural while exploring the theme of “success through struggle. Every plot is designed to give heroes a challenge and villains a purpose. It's escapism entertainment at its best keeping pages turning and hearts pounding.
Cyn has also written content for Microsoft, UFC, WWE, HBO, Netflix, and more. As a former fitness competitor she still enjoys keep active through training but can also be found getting lost in a good story. Cynthia is available for conventions, interviews and workshops.
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cynthiavespia.com/free-story
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Rayna the Dragonslayer was a Top 5 Finalist in The Next Generation Indie Book Awards and ranked #1 in Amazon’s fantasy adventure fiction category. She’s previously received a "Best Series" nomination for her fantasy trilogy Demon Hunter. Her novel Karma ranked #1 on Amazon twice in several distinct categories including superhero urban fantasy, science fiction adventure, paranormal & urban fantasy. She has been published in anthologies such as Skelos Press and Dark Eclipse.
Cyn's characters are outcasts and anti-heroes with depth and real vulnerabilities. The worlds Cyn creates are a gritty mix of fantasy, magic, and the supernatural while exploring the theme of “success through struggle. Every plot is designed to give heroes a challenge and villains a purpose. It's escapism entertainment at its best keeping pages turning and hearts pounding.
Cyn has also written content for Microsoft, UFC, WWE, HBO, Netflix, and more. As a former fitness competitor she still enjoys keep active through training but can also be found getting lost in a good story. Cynthia is available for conventions, interviews and workshops.
Sign up for the newsletter and receive a FREE e-book:
cynthiavespia.com/free-story
Follow on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cynth...
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 21, 2024
Interesting but
Needs editing! I could not stop laughing at usage of pheasant instead of peasant. Also taught for taut. Guess I'm prudish because this story didn't need the sex scenes. Then every male the protagonist took to bed was killed. I won't read more.
Needs editing! I could not stop laughing at usage of pheasant instead of peasant. Also taught for taut. Guess I'm prudish because this story didn't need the sex scenes. Then every male the protagonist took to bed was killed. I won't read more.
November 2, 2023
Excellent character driven fantasy. Rayna is a feisty female warrior bent on eradicating all dragons, especially the one that cursed her eye and destroyed her home and parents. This novel is a thrill ride of epic proportions with enough suspense and action to rival any of Conan's adventures. Highly recommended!
March 10, 2023
Vespia balances adherence to fantasy tropes with fresh details, creating an engaging tale of warriors and dragons that is neither slavish homage nor exercise in moral relativism.
Cursed before she was even born and orphaned by dragonfire, Rayna devoted her life to slaying dragons until it seemed there were none left. However, when an elite unit of the king’s guard are slain while following rumours that one remains, the king sends Prince Falkon to bring Rayna out of retirement. For Rayna, this could be the chance to finally face the dragon who cursed and then killed her family. But for Falkon defeating the dragon is a chance to finally earn his father’s respect and he isn’t going to let some commoner take that from him.
The plot starts as a classic fantasy quest to slay the monster that menaces the kingdom before becoming more complex and nuanced as Vespia reveals that people are trying to manipulate both Rayna and the wider situation. However, while the King and his dynasty are not shining beacons of purity and the supposed monsters are not unalloyed beings of darkness, this is at its heart a book about a heroic protagonist facing evil rather than a world entirely of shades of moral grey.
Vespia’s world is a number of familiar tropes without becoming stereotypical. Thus the technological level is ‘generic medieval’ but food and many other matters vary much more between neighbouring counties and social strata than many classic fantasy settings. Similarly, while magic is viewed as bad, there is no immensely powerful pseudo-Catholic religion preaching about it being the tool of pseudo-Satan. This produces an engaging balance of the familiar and the fresh.
While seeded by the commandment of a king and featuring a prince as one of the leading characters, the novel contains little international or even inter-provincial politics, instead unfolding through a mix of fast-paced action and interpersonal conflicts. After a number of reversals and revelations that might be surprising but are not unfeasible in context, the major personal and setting arcs have been brought to either a conclusion or a clear milestone. Thus it is definitely a complete book; however, enough of the plot remains unresolved or only brought to temporary relief that it is clearly the first volume of a series rather than a stand-alone work.
Vespia’s narration is pleasingly free of Fantasy Name Syndrome, with names and terms that are not common real-world ones being both easy to pronounce and clear from context. However, in contrast to many fantasy novels, Vespia’s deriving of a mediaeval-esque tone to fit the setting has clear signs of being rooted in a modern American dialect; while there is obviously no correct grammar, syntax, or even language for a world that does not exist, readers who unconsciously assume that classic fantasy will be told in some flavour of British might find some of the word choices or phrasings feel slightly strange or wrong.
Rayna is a well-crafted protagonist, the fact she is a woman neither being her key defining feature nor having no meaningful impact on her character and experiences. The curse she bears manifests as an unnatural looking eye and flickers of fury, but also allows her to wreath her sword in flame; thus, rather than a simple binary, it creates a complex web of stigma and advantage. While very definitely cast in the heroic mould, she is realistically flawed and the character traits and abilities that allow her to overcome some challenges also blind her to opportunities to avoid others. Thus, while a protagonist who is female and strong, she is not a simplistic Strong Female Protagonist.
The supporting cast are pleasingly nuanced, acting as one expects in classic fantasy but having individual drives and biases that cause them to each have a differing mix of perspectives on Rayna’s social status, sex, skill, and curse, and each display differing levels of selfishness or loyalty.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I recommend it to readers seeking a fantasy tale that is neither a stale copy of classic fantasy tales nor a subversion of the archetypal struggle of hero vs monster.
I received a free copy from the author with a request for a fair review.
Cursed before she was even born and orphaned by dragonfire, Rayna devoted her life to slaying dragons until it seemed there were none left. However, when an elite unit of the king’s guard are slain while following rumours that one remains, the king sends Prince Falkon to bring Rayna out of retirement. For Rayna, this could be the chance to finally face the dragon who cursed and then killed her family. But for Falkon defeating the dragon is a chance to finally earn his father’s respect and he isn’t going to let some commoner take that from him.
The plot starts as a classic fantasy quest to slay the monster that menaces the kingdom before becoming more complex and nuanced as Vespia reveals that people are trying to manipulate both Rayna and the wider situation. However, while the King and his dynasty are not shining beacons of purity and the supposed monsters are not unalloyed beings of darkness, this is at its heart a book about a heroic protagonist facing evil rather than a world entirely of shades of moral grey.
Vespia’s world is a number of familiar tropes without becoming stereotypical. Thus the technological level is ‘generic medieval’ but food and many other matters vary much more between neighbouring counties and social strata than many classic fantasy settings. Similarly, while magic is viewed as bad, there is no immensely powerful pseudo-Catholic religion preaching about it being the tool of pseudo-Satan. This produces an engaging balance of the familiar and the fresh.
While seeded by the commandment of a king and featuring a prince as one of the leading characters, the novel contains little international or even inter-provincial politics, instead unfolding through a mix of fast-paced action and interpersonal conflicts. After a number of reversals and revelations that might be surprising but are not unfeasible in context, the major personal and setting arcs have been brought to either a conclusion or a clear milestone. Thus it is definitely a complete book; however, enough of the plot remains unresolved or only brought to temporary relief that it is clearly the first volume of a series rather than a stand-alone work.
Vespia’s narration is pleasingly free of Fantasy Name Syndrome, with names and terms that are not common real-world ones being both easy to pronounce and clear from context. However, in contrast to many fantasy novels, Vespia’s deriving of a mediaeval-esque tone to fit the setting has clear signs of being rooted in a modern American dialect; while there is obviously no correct grammar, syntax, or even language for a world that does not exist, readers who unconsciously assume that classic fantasy will be told in some flavour of British might find some of the word choices or phrasings feel slightly strange or wrong.
Rayna is a well-crafted protagonist, the fact she is a woman neither being her key defining feature nor having no meaningful impact on her character and experiences. The curse she bears manifests as an unnatural looking eye and flickers of fury, but also allows her to wreath her sword in flame; thus, rather than a simple binary, it creates a complex web of stigma and advantage. While very definitely cast in the heroic mould, she is realistically flawed and the character traits and abilities that allow her to overcome some challenges also blind her to opportunities to avoid others. Thus, while a protagonist who is female and strong, she is not a simplistic Strong Female Protagonist.
The supporting cast are pleasingly nuanced, acting as one expects in classic fantasy but having individual drives and biases that cause them to each have a differing mix of perspectives on Rayna’s social status, sex, skill, and curse, and each display differing levels of selfishness or loyalty.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I recommend it to readers seeking a fantasy tale that is neither a stale copy of classic fantasy tales nor a subversion of the archetypal struggle of hero vs monster.
I received a free copy from the author with a request for a fair review.
June 4, 2023
A tough female protagonist is what drew me to pick up Rayna, by Cynthia Vespia. (Plus, it has a kick butt cover.) I’ve talked a bit about making strong female protagonists believable and relatable, and Ms. Vespia did not disappoint. Rayna is strong, agile and tough enough to slay dragons, which I hear can be rather tricky. She is portrayed as being physically and mentally strong, yet still emotionally vulnerable, which makes her relatable for just about everyone. Though tough and hard, Rayna also reveals a side that is very human, one perhaps even she didn’t know was there. Rayna is one heroine who I look forward to reading more about.
Dragon slaying in a land of castles and Kings, with lots of sword play and a bit of magic thrown in makes this tale a must for high fantasy lovers.
Dragon slaying in a land of castles and Kings, with lots of sword play and a bit of magic thrown in makes this tale a must for high fantasy lovers.
December 27, 2023
Rayna Dragonslayer.
Wow! What a cool little story. Since I love dragons and this book is filled with several it makes sense that I would give it 5 stars. Story is fast paced and the characters are very well written
I am soooo looking forward to reading book 2 in this series. ❤️
Wow! What a cool little story. Since I love dragons and this book is filled with several it makes sense that I would give it 5 stars. Story is fast paced and the characters are very well written
I am soooo looking forward to reading book 2 in this series. ❤️
September 19, 2024
Rayna Dragonslayer
Fascinating tale of Dragons, Black Magic, Alliances, betrayal and Quests. This first part of the story ended much too soon.
Several editing errors that frequently interfered with the story dropped the stars to a 4.
Fascinating tale of Dragons, Black Magic, Alliances, betrayal and Quests. This first part of the story ended much too soon.
Several editing errors that frequently interfered with the story dropped the stars to a 4.
October 2, 2023
Great book
Love the character development. Watching Rayna grow and evolve was masterfully done. The bond between her and Ryu is remarkable.
Love the character development. Watching Rayna grow and evolve was masterfully done. The bond between her and Ryu is remarkable.
November 29, 2024
Dragons forever
What a great storyline. Very well written. Feel sorry for the men in this book, but you know how it goes. I'm so glad I have all 3 books!!! Onto book two!!!!!
What a great storyline. Very well written. Feel sorry for the men in this book, but you know how it goes. I'm so glad I have all 3 books!!! Onto book two!!!!!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews