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The Sword of the Dragon #1
Swords of the Six (The Sword of the Dragon)
In ancient times a band of warriors escorted a young prince homeward. Only one warrior remained true. He watched helplessly as the others slew their young charge. Death seemed to claim him as well. But he awoke one thousand years later, brought back by the prophets of God to serve them once again as an invisible guardian. One of the prophets, an albino dragon, hatched human daughters out of eggs by giving them the life in his blood. The daughters sought out the traitor to bring him to repentance. Out of remorse for his sins, the traitor slew himself on a sword. Upon the daughters’ return their dragon father sent them to live in a far off forest. The youngest daughter fell in love and wed. But upon giving birth to a beautiful baby girl she gave up the life in her blood and died; making the ultimate sacrifice to bring a child of promise into the world.
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 2009
114 people are currently reading
483 people want to read
About the author
Scott Appleton
18 books58 followersScott Appleton is the author of the novels The Sword of the Dragon series, and The Neverqueen Saga, which are widely read by adults and younger readers.
Besides these, Scott has also published a collection of short speculative fiction (By Sword By Right) which runs the gamut of science-fiction, fantasy, allegory, romance, poetry, and biblical.
Driven by a love of storytelling and an appreciation for the craft, Scott has spoken extensively at events across the United States. His specialization in fiction editing and writing has garnered praise from some prominent writers.
Scott was born in Connecticut and grew up there. He actively pursued astronomy through his teen years, built ships-in-bottles and, throughout his life, read and wrote extensively. Besides his writing he works in sales.
Currently Scott lives in Greenville, South Carolina with his wife, Kelley, and their five children. His activities of choice are reading with his kids, watching fantasy and science-fiction movies, reading, and playing the occasional Star Wars video game. You can find him at AuthorAppleton.com and facebook.com/scottappleton.fans
Besides these, Scott has also published a collection of short speculative fiction (By Sword By Right) which runs the gamut of science-fiction, fantasy, allegory, romance, poetry, and biblical.
Driven by a love of storytelling and an appreciation for the craft, Scott has spoken extensively at events across the United States. His specialization in fiction editing and writing has garnered praise from some prominent writers.
Scott was born in Connecticut and grew up there. He actively pursued astronomy through his teen years, built ships-in-bottles and, throughout his life, read and wrote extensively. Besides his writing he works in sales.
Currently Scott lives in Greenville, South Carolina with his wife, Kelley, and their five children. His activities of choice are reading with his kids, watching fantasy and science-fiction movies, reading, and playing the occasional Star Wars video game. You can find him at AuthorAppleton.com and facebook.com/scottappleton.fans
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
August 12, 2011
Anything with a dragon on the cover is sure to catch my attention, and Swords of the Six was no exception. With dragons, witches, mermaids, battles for good and evil, and half dragon children, the draw of this book was too great for me to resist.
The sword of the six starts in the past where the White Dragon had a group of six men whom he trusted above all others. Unfortunately, five of them had their hearts darkened and turned, leaving only one faithful to the White Dragon. Soon, none were left who were true to the side of good, for the evil has won that battle.
The White Dragon was not to be stopped. His six may have been flawed, but the new plan will not fail. he has 5 eggs that are getting ready to hatch, and one of these eggs holds a very special...person. Yes, a person, or at least...a part-person. And that isn't the only unusual thing about this being. Usually, you would expect this type of extraordinary person to be the savior of all man/dragon kind, but she (AHEM...YES another big surprise) is not the only key to this plan.
This book started off exciting, action-packed, heavy, and a tad bit confusing. Parts of this book seem to have been written differently than other parts. Some of it felt like a typical action/adventure story, and other times, it felt like it was written in a very heavy hand. It did take me a bit to really get into the flow of this book, but once I did, it was fairly easy to stay in the story.
There are quite a few characters in the books that you need to keep track of. There are 5 sisters, then a slew of other characters. It may seem a bit daunting, trying to keep up with them all, but if you are paying attention, you shouldn't have any problems keeping them all straight. Some of the characters I am hoping to see more of in the second book because I felt like I didn't get to learn about them as much as I would have liked. You get to see some of the characters really grow, change, and develop in the story, and you want to stay with them to see what happens to them.
This is a great book for anyone looking for some adventure without all of the stuff that many authors think is necessary to include these days. The sex, language and random killing is not in this book. The author stressed the value of life and preserving it whenever possible, even if that life belonged to someone who had just tried to take yours. It is a different take than what most people are used to, but it was a nice view.
The sword of the six starts in the past where the White Dragon had a group of six men whom he trusted above all others. Unfortunately, five of them had their hearts darkened and turned, leaving only one faithful to the White Dragon. Soon, none were left who were true to the side of good, for the evil has won that battle.
The White Dragon was not to be stopped. His six may have been flawed, but the new plan will not fail. he has 5 eggs that are getting ready to hatch, and one of these eggs holds a very special...person. Yes, a person, or at least...a part-person. And that isn't the only unusual thing about this being. Usually, you would expect this type of extraordinary person to be the savior of all man/dragon kind, but she (AHEM...YES another big surprise) is not the only key to this plan.
This book started off exciting, action-packed, heavy, and a tad bit confusing. Parts of this book seem to have been written differently than other parts. Some of it felt like a typical action/adventure story, and other times, it felt like it was written in a very heavy hand. It did take me a bit to really get into the flow of this book, but once I did, it was fairly easy to stay in the story.
There are quite a few characters in the books that you need to keep track of. There are 5 sisters, then a slew of other characters. It may seem a bit daunting, trying to keep up with them all, but if you are paying attention, you shouldn't have any problems keeping them all straight. Some of the characters I am hoping to see more of in the second book because I felt like I didn't get to learn about them as much as I would have liked. You get to see some of the characters really grow, change, and develop in the story, and you want to stay with them to see what happens to them.
This is a great book for anyone looking for some adventure without all of the stuff that many authors think is necessary to include these days. The sex, language and random killing is not in this book. The author stressed the value of life and preserving it whenever possible, even if that life belonged to someone who had just tried to take yours. It is a different take than what most people are used to, but it was a nice view.
May 30, 2017
Bookworm Speaks!
Swords of the Six
by Scott Appleton
****
Acquired: Amazon.com
Series: The Sword of the Dragon Book 1
Paperback: 320 Pages
Publisher: Living Ink Books; first edition (March 1, 2011)
Language: English
Subject: Fiction
****
The Story: In ancient times a band of warriors escorted a young prince homeward. Only one warrior remained true. He watched helplessly as the others slew their young charge. Death seemed to claim him as well. But he awoke one thousand years later, brought back by the prophets of God to serve them once again as an invisible guardian. One of the prophets, an albino dragon, hatched human daughters out of eggs by giving them the life in his blood. The daughters sought out the traitor to bring him to repentance. Out of remorse for his sins, the traitor slew himself on a sword. Upon the daughters’ return their dragon father sent them to live in a far off forest. The youngest daughter fell in love and wed. But upon giving birth to a beautiful baby girl she gave up the life in her blood and died; making the ultimate sacrifice to bring a child of promise into the world.
The Review:
The character of the white dragon Albino is something off a mixed bag. In fact…mixed bag applies almost to the entire book. For starters…it is a rarely encountered portrayal of a single father in fiction. Albino is the father to the human daughters, although it is never truly explained how he was able to do that. Bookworm’s best guess is that it was some kind of immaculate conception device, playing off the religious theme of the text. He is a loving, supportive father and not afraid to be stern, a rather heartwarming and refreshing take on such a matter. His girls can also be partly put into the pro column in several parts of the text. As the story progresses, the daughters manage to remain strong, female protagonists without losing their femininity and not falling to macho stereotypes. For some readers, this is very important.
When the book starts out, the daughters actually act like realistic children. That is a very tricky thing to do in the world of fiction. Oftentimes, children in fiction just act like miniature adults. Teenagers in fiction are even worse offenders. The author also gives the book time to let the children be children. The stories that are told in the opening chapters are very innocent and childlike. Unfortunately, perhaps the author does it a little too well because Bookworm found the first chapters to be rather slow. It took a while for the plot to get going. When the story finally does get going, the ‘realistic’ children fall away and are replaced with tried and true fantasy protagonists. At the same time, we are introduced to the tried and true fantasy setting. Swords and Sorcery, Castles and Peasants and everything else readers have seen a million times before.
This may sound like nitpicking but having a white dragon named Albino is just really lazy. It would be the same as calling a black dragon Ebony. If a character’s name is going to symbolize something, put some creativity into it. Another guilty strike, is the Grim Reaper character, who is an exact replica of the popular culture image of it.
The previous paragraph really sums up the main issue with the entirety of this novel. Bookworm would not say that this book is poorly written but rather simplistically written. At first glance, this seems like a book for adults. It’s sequel was found in that part of the bookstore after all. Upon reading it, the story felt more like it was aimed toward children. Complete with simplistic ideals.
This book seems to borrow a lot from the famous, Chronicles of Narnia series. The author is described as a devout Christian and its publisher, Living Ink Books is a Christian publishing arm. The allegory of said religion are clear throughout this book. Albino the dragon is meant to serve as some sort Aslan parabolic for Jesus or the Holy Spirit and at times, other symbols appear and they can get in the reader’s face. The shepherd character that appears later on in the story is a blatant culprit. Overall, the books seems to present an idealized Christian ideal that can get rather preachy at times.
There is a male lead, other than the dragon, later on, and he does not do much better. He fits the ‘chosen one’ cliche almost to a t. There has been a lot of backlash to that trope lately and it is easy to see why. It doesn’t help that he is a total Gary Stu, who does not seem to suffer much aside from his origin story.
The biggest culprit though is one part in particular. It is where the male lead encounters one of the Dragon’s daughters for the expected romance. The scene is one of the most saccharine, cliched, Disney movie-esque, white breaded scene Bookworm has ever read. While Bookworm will not give too much away, it is complete with white birds, songbirds, and love at first sight. If this scene was in a movie, it would most likely have the beam of light and the angelic choir chorus. It is so cornball that Bookworm rolled his eyes after reading it.
Melodrama is constant throughout this book.
Finally, there is ending. No spoilers but it as rather bittersweet ending. Bookworm has no real objections to such endings but in this case, it does not feel consistent with the tone of the rest of the book. Considering the circumstances that led up to it, it really came out of nowhere. It would appear that the author tacked in on in order add some requisite drama to the book.
Final Verdict: This book has been described as ‘good clean fiction’ by other reviewers. To Bookworm though…’good’ and ‘clean’ translates into cliched and boring.
Two White Dragons out of Five
thecultureworm.blogspot.com
Swords of the Six
by Scott Appleton
****
Acquired: Amazon.com
Series: The Sword of the Dragon Book 1
Paperback: 320 Pages
Publisher: Living Ink Books; first edition (March 1, 2011)
Language: English
Subject: Fiction
****
The Story: In ancient times a band of warriors escorted a young prince homeward. Only one warrior remained true. He watched helplessly as the others slew their young charge. Death seemed to claim him as well. But he awoke one thousand years later, brought back by the prophets of God to serve them once again as an invisible guardian. One of the prophets, an albino dragon, hatched human daughters out of eggs by giving them the life in his blood. The daughters sought out the traitor to bring him to repentance. Out of remorse for his sins, the traitor slew himself on a sword. Upon the daughters’ return their dragon father sent them to live in a far off forest. The youngest daughter fell in love and wed. But upon giving birth to a beautiful baby girl she gave up the life in her blood and died; making the ultimate sacrifice to bring a child of promise into the world.
The Review:
The character of the white dragon Albino is something off a mixed bag. In fact…mixed bag applies almost to the entire book. For starters…it is a rarely encountered portrayal of a single father in fiction. Albino is the father to the human daughters, although it is never truly explained how he was able to do that. Bookworm’s best guess is that it was some kind of immaculate conception device, playing off the religious theme of the text. He is a loving, supportive father and not afraid to be stern, a rather heartwarming and refreshing take on such a matter. His girls can also be partly put into the pro column in several parts of the text. As the story progresses, the daughters manage to remain strong, female protagonists without losing their femininity and not falling to macho stereotypes. For some readers, this is very important.
When the book starts out, the daughters actually act like realistic children. That is a very tricky thing to do in the world of fiction. Oftentimes, children in fiction just act like miniature adults. Teenagers in fiction are even worse offenders. The author also gives the book time to let the children be children. The stories that are told in the opening chapters are very innocent and childlike. Unfortunately, perhaps the author does it a little too well because Bookworm found the first chapters to be rather slow. It took a while for the plot to get going. When the story finally does get going, the ‘realistic’ children fall away and are replaced with tried and true fantasy protagonists. At the same time, we are introduced to the tried and true fantasy setting. Swords and Sorcery, Castles and Peasants and everything else readers have seen a million times before.
This may sound like nitpicking but having a white dragon named Albino is just really lazy. It would be the same as calling a black dragon Ebony. If a character’s name is going to symbolize something, put some creativity into it. Another guilty strike, is the Grim Reaper character, who is an exact replica of the popular culture image of it.
The previous paragraph really sums up the main issue with the entirety of this novel. Bookworm would not say that this book is poorly written but rather simplistically written. At first glance, this seems like a book for adults. It’s sequel was found in that part of the bookstore after all. Upon reading it, the story felt more like it was aimed toward children. Complete with simplistic ideals.
This book seems to borrow a lot from the famous, Chronicles of Narnia series. The author is described as a devout Christian and its publisher, Living Ink Books is a Christian publishing arm. The allegory of said religion are clear throughout this book. Albino the dragon is meant to serve as some sort Aslan parabolic for Jesus or the Holy Spirit and at times, other symbols appear and they can get in the reader’s face. The shepherd character that appears later on in the story is a blatant culprit. Overall, the books seems to present an idealized Christian ideal that can get rather preachy at times.
There is a male lead, other than the dragon, later on, and he does not do much better. He fits the ‘chosen one’ cliche almost to a t. There has been a lot of backlash to that trope lately and it is easy to see why. It doesn’t help that he is a total Gary Stu, who does not seem to suffer much aside from his origin story.
The biggest culprit though is one part in particular. It is where the male lead encounters one of the Dragon’s daughters for the expected romance. The scene is one of the most saccharine, cliched, Disney movie-esque, white breaded scene Bookworm has ever read. While Bookworm will not give too much away, it is complete with white birds, songbirds, and love at first sight. If this scene was in a movie, it would most likely have the beam of light and the angelic choir chorus. It is so cornball that Bookworm rolled his eyes after reading it.
Melodrama is constant throughout this book.
Finally, there is ending. No spoilers but it as rather bittersweet ending. Bookworm has no real objections to such endings but in this case, it does not feel consistent with the tone of the rest of the book. Considering the circumstances that led up to it, it really came out of nowhere. It would appear that the author tacked in on in order add some requisite drama to the book.
Final Verdict: This book has been described as ‘good clean fiction’ by other reviewers. To Bookworm though…’good’ and ‘clean’ translates into cliched and boring.
Two White Dragons out of Five
thecultureworm.blogspot.com
March 28, 2013
Originally posted at The BiblioSanctum:
I wanted a good old fashioned sword and sorcery and dragons fantasy novel and was immediately drawn to this, the first in The Sword of the Dragon series. I was intrigued by the idea of a dragon fathering six daughters in human form to avenge the innocent blood spilled a thousand years ago by the dragon's chosen. I was instantly swept up in the opening battle where mighty warriors clashed with sword and soul. I was impressed by the depth of emotion the original Six showed, even daring to shed heavy tears on the battle field over those lost and those betrayed.
I tend to be lenient on epic tales like this one because I know a lot goes into threading together the world, characters and lore. It's not easy to pull it all together and sometimes, the first book in the series can be overwhelmed by the amount of information it has to cover. Unfortunately, after the birth of the six daughters of the dragon, the story began to wane, mainly because, I felt, not enough went into the development of these elements.
I didn't quite grasp the realm this story takes place in or its history and mythology or religion. A few details were dropped here and there, but nothing to formulate a comprehensive sketch. God and the Creator were mentioned, but the theology was never touched on beyond characters occasionally calling out to it. I assumed a monotheistic society, but then, about two thirds through the book, the sun started to be referenced as Yimshi in a distinctly divine manner.
A few interesting characters appeared, including Specter of the mysterious past. But since his mysterious past was quickly made obvious, I soon lost interest in his purpose as an agent of the great white dragon.
Speaking of purpose, the whole idea of the daughters was that the dragon needed them to cleanse the Swords of the Six by hunting down the three remaining traitors. The sisters found one of them, but we never get a clear indication of his motivations in the original betrayal, his current situation, and his ultimate act of redemption. I'm not sure if the swords are or ever will be cleansed, especially when a new prophetic sword is later introduced, while the big bad, Letrias, is only spoken of here and there, but never makes a menacing appearance. Not that I needed him to appear. But I would have liked to feel that he actually was menacing and could have appeared at any time.
The daughters themselves were the biggest disappointment. Six was clearly too many when only one was meant to be important. Singled out by her father's choosing, various events and greater dragon blood powers, Dantress left her sisters well behind, not only in ability and face time, but in personality. The other five characters were given no opportunity to define themselves beyond Caritha occasionally stepping up to fulfill her role as the leader of the group, though she often deferred to Dantress' greater skill and insight. On their first mission, half the girls were removed from battle and I thought it would give at least Caritha and Rose'el some time to define themselves, but I was wrong. Not to mention the other sisters showed up part way through the battle, only to be quickly knocked out, leaving me to wonder why they even bother to show up at all.
I expected the sisters to end up turning against Dantress because of her differences, but hoped to be pleasantly surprised, but there really wasn't much to the sisters until the end when the provided one brief moment of conflict and a promise to hopefully serve greater purpose in the sequel.
The last part of the book involved the prophecy of Dantress' love life. This was where Dantress laid down her sword and took up the role of a Disney princess who fell in love with a handsome dream prince. This section came complete with talking animals and flowery fields and trickling brooks, but sadly, no one broke into song and dance.
I really wanted to like this book. I loved the idea of the dragon as a main character and did enjoy the author's descriptions of him, but, I just didn't feel the book lived up to its promise. Or rather, by the end of the book, I'm not sure what its promise actually was. I will give it an A for effort though. As I said, pulling together an epic fantasy world is no easy feat. Hopefully the future books in the series learn a little something along the way.
I wanted a good old fashioned sword and sorcery and dragons fantasy novel and was immediately drawn to this, the first in The Sword of the Dragon series. I was intrigued by the idea of a dragon fathering six daughters in human form to avenge the innocent blood spilled a thousand years ago by the dragon's chosen. I was instantly swept up in the opening battle where mighty warriors clashed with sword and soul. I was impressed by the depth of emotion the original Six showed, even daring to shed heavy tears on the battle field over those lost and those betrayed.
I tend to be lenient on epic tales like this one because I know a lot goes into threading together the world, characters and lore. It's not easy to pull it all together and sometimes, the first book in the series can be overwhelmed by the amount of information it has to cover. Unfortunately, after the birth of the six daughters of the dragon, the story began to wane, mainly because, I felt, not enough went into the development of these elements.
I didn't quite grasp the realm this story takes place in or its history and mythology or religion. A few details were dropped here and there, but nothing to formulate a comprehensive sketch. God and the Creator were mentioned, but the theology was never touched on beyond characters occasionally calling out to it. I assumed a monotheistic society, but then, about two thirds through the book, the sun started to be referenced as Yimshi in a distinctly divine manner.
A few interesting characters appeared, including Specter of the mysterious past. But since his mysterious past was quickly made obvious, I soon lost interest in his purpose as an agent of the great white dragon.
Speaking of purpose, the whole idea of the daughters was that the dragon needed them to cleanse the Swords of the Six by hunting down the three remaining traitors. The sisters found one of them, but we never get a clear indication of his motivations in the original betrayal, his current situation, and his ultimate act of redemption. I'm not sure if the swords are or ever will be cleansed, especially when a new prophetic sword is later introduced, while the big bad, Letrias, is only spoken of here and there, but never makes a menacing appearance. Not that I needed him to appear. But I would have liked to feel that he actually was menacing and could have appeared at any time.
The daughters themselves were the biggest disappointment. Six was clearly too many when only one was meant to be important. Singled out by her father's choosing, various events and greater dragon blood powers, Dantress left her sisters well behind, not only in ability and face time, but in personality. The other five characters were given no opportunity to define themselves beyond Caritha occasionally stepping up to fulfill her role as the leader of the group, though she often deferred to Dantress' greater skill and insight. On their first mission, half the girls were removed from battle and I thought it would give at least Caritha and Rose'el some time to define themselves, but I was wrong. Not to mention the other sisters showed up part way through the battle, only to be quickly knocked out, leaving me to wonder why they even bother to show up at all.
I expected the sisters to end up turning against Dantress because of her differences, but hoped to be pleasantly surprised, but there really wasn't much to the sisters until the end when the provided one brief moment of conflict and a promise to hopefully serve greater purpose in the sequel.
The last part of the book involved the prophecy of Dantress' love life. This was where Dantress laid down her sword and took up the role of a Disney princess who fell in love with a handsome dream prince. This section came complete with talking animals and flowery fields and trickling brooks, but sadly, no one broke into song and dance.I really wanted to like this book. I loved the idea of the dragon as a main character and did enjoy the author's descriptions of him, but, I just didn't feel the book lived up to its promise. Or rather, by the end of the book, I'm not sure what its promise actually was. I will give it an A for effort though. As I said, pulling together an epic fantasy world is no easy feat. Hopefully the future books in the series learn a little something along the way.
February 19, 2012
I really liked this book, and am still in need of the rest in the series. Anyone who has read Eragon would enjoy this. Fantastic for Appleton's first published story! I can't wait to read more from him.
October 10, 2024
For me, the book picked up the further in I got. I enjoyed following Dantriss, and the interplay of her virtues versus the heartbreaking truth that, because of who she is, she must choose between a great love and its cost to herself. I am sure she has a bigger role yet to play, maybe more than even her sisters. The values on display in this book are strongly Christian, and that is a good thing. I thought this laid the ground work for a much longer tale to follow, one in which the swords of the six must go down a new road and learn to be something greater than themselves as they make room for things--well, readers should discover this for themselves ;) If I had any fault with the story at all, it is that it felt a little like the story before the story, and the stuff that comes after is where the conflict comes to them all.
As a stand alone tale, it has a something to say about love and courage and sacrifice, as the beginning to a much longer tale, I am interested to see what becomes of the sisters and world after what has been set up.
As a stand alone tale, it has a something to say about love and courage and sacrifice, as the beginning to a much longer tale, I am interested to see what becomes of the sisters and world after what has been set up.
May 28, 2012
Premise
The great Dragon Prophet's choicest warriors have turned their back on him, choosing the side of evil and slaying innocents. Now, a thousand years later, the blades are rusty from feeding on blood of innocent men. The Dragon Prophet senses evil is back, so he makes children, who are of dragon blood, but are in human form, to purify the swords and bring justice to the traitors.
Review
Want a good christian fantasy? This book is exactly that. Appleton's book shows great examples of self-sacrifice, honor, fighting temptation, and true love. A great break from heroes with wanton sexual desires, and slaying everything that moves for just the sake of bloodshed.
The heroes don't fight back, unless they are attacked first. There is blood and guts as you'd find in the Bible, but it's not a blood soaked hack n' slash romp.
There is no “good” magic as you'd see in Harry Potter or LOTR, the magic is evil. The good guys in contrast have “gifts” from God.
Religion wise, the religion is a lot like Christianity, unlike usual polytheistic fare you normally see in fantasy novels today. And of course there is an evil Dark-lord you'd usually see in fantasy.
Even though the book is considered Christian, the characters are not without their faults. Like in the Bible, Moses and the whole lot of Biblical characters had problems with temptation. But always in the end, the main characters find the error of their ways, and are punished in some way, like in life.
Every once in a while in the book, it's kind of slow, but keep reading, because it'll suck you back in, and you will probably finish it in a day or two.
Overall this book is an amazing book by a first-time writer, I'd recommend it to you in a heartbeat! Kudos to the author! I give it 5 stars out of 5!
The great Dragon Prophet's choicest warriors have turned their back on him, choosing the side of evil and slaying innocents. Now, a thousand years later, the blades are rusty from feeding on blood of innocent men. The Dragon Prophet senses evil is back, so he makes children, who are of dragon blood, but are in human form, to purify the swords and bring justice to the traitors.
Review
Want a good christian fantasy? This book is exactly that. Appleton's book shows great examples of self-sacrifice, honor, fighting temptation, and true love. A great break from heroes with wanton sexual desires, and slaying everything that moves for just the sake of bloodshed.
The heroes don't fight back, unless they are attacked first. There is blood and guts as you'd find in the Bible, but it's not a blood soaked hack n' slash romp.
There is no “good” magic as you'd see in Harry Potter or LOTR, the magic is evil. The good guys in contrast have “gifts” from God.
Religion wise, the religion is a lot like Christianity, unlike usual polytheistic fare you normally see in fantasy novels today. And of course there is an evil Dark-lord you'd usually see in fantasy.
Even though the book is considered Christian, the characters are not without their faults. Like in the Bible, Moses and the whole lot of Biblical characters had problems with temptation. But always in the end, the main characters find the error of their ways, and are punished in some way, like in life.
Every once in a while in the book, it's kind of slow, but keep reading, because it'll suck you back in, and you will probably finish it in a day or two.
Overall this book is an amazing book by a first-time writer, I'd recommend it to you in a heartbeat! Kudos to the author! I give it 5 stars out of 5!
March 20, 2010
I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. Many people try to write a novel like Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and really they don't succeed. While I know that wasn't the inspiration from it there is the same feeling to this book.
Appleton has a lot of talent. He writes so elegantly that it really surprised me how much I was into the story.
While this is considered "religious fantasy" I really think with the exception of a few areas that it really doesn't have that feeling. It's not pushing the whole religion on you. As I said it reminds me of how some people assume the LLW is religious fantasy.
There are some areas that seemed a little wordy and draggy but overall I enjoyed the characters they weren't too developed but I think it was the whole developing a great story that made you feel good and think.
It was a nice change of pace from the heavy fantasy that I read and there were a few surprises and good feelings.
I'd read more of Appleton given the chance. Swords of Six is a great start to what might be a wonderful series.
Appleton has a lot of talent. He writes so elegantly that it really surprised me how much I was into the story.
While this is considered "religious fantasy" I really think with the exception of a few areas that it really doesn't have that feeling. It's not pushing the whole religion on you. As I said it reminds me of how some people assume the LLW is religious fantasy.
There are some areas that seemed a little wordy and draggy but overall I enjoyed the characters they weren't too developed but I think it was the whole developing a great story that made you feel good and think.
It was a nice change of pace from the heavy fantasy that I read and there were a few surprises and good feelings.
I'd read more of Appleton given the chance. Swords of Six is a great start to what might be a wonderful series.
October 29, 2013
I got this on Netgalley a while ago in exchange for an honest review. (Can you tell I'm trying to catch up?) I was a bit dubious about it from the start -- mostly I agreed to review it so I could tell my sister if it was any good: she loves anything involving dragons. But it's pretty much all that's bad about epic fantasy: overwritten, full of epic battle scenes that convey little plot and less emotion (because you haven't got to know the characters first).
It's not too rife with mistakes of a grammatical nature (though some of the attempts at "ye olde English" didn't read right), but it's just... not my thing. Too simplistic. It's like the author knew that he needed a hook, and figured a huge battle scene with epic displays of courage and loyalty would do that. Well, yes, maybe, if I'd known who the characters were, what the stakes were, what was going on at all.
Not something I'd pick up by choice if I got to pick it up in a bookshop and flick through.
It's not too rife with mistakes of a grammatical nature (though some of the attempts at "ye olde English" didn't read right), but it's just... not my thing. Too simplistic. It's like the author knew that he needed a hook, and figured a huge battle scene with epic displays of courage and loyalty would do that. Well, yes, maybe, if I'd known who the characters were, what the stakes were, what was going on at all.
Not something I'd pick up by choice if I got to pick it up in a bookshop and flick through.
December 9, 2012
Interesting idea....? I feel bad criticizing an initial effort...but this REALLY felt like an initial effort. A lot of it was sort of painful to read. But, the idea, and the story helped me pull through. The analogies and 'lessons' were so contrived and blatant. And the dialogue was hard to feel. And, well, all in all, I just couldn't recommend it.
September 6, 2018
Great book! Interesting and engaging. Each person or creature grows with the story and comes alive with the book. Shows fatherly love, and romance for those who want some. Has some cute creatures in it.
March 4, 2022
Slow, slow, slow. After 200 pages very little has happened, the author is still world building and setting up plots. After 200 pages the reader still has little understanding of the world and characters. The story has promise but the writing falls flat. A disappointment.
November 5, 2014
I'll admit I didn't finish the book. I was just so very turned off by the deus ex machina, poor character development, excessive characters, and poor plot line.
August 6, 2022
Swords of the Six by Scott Appleton
512 Pages
Publisher: AMG Publishers, Living Ink Books
Release Date: February 17, 2011
Fiction, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Dragons, Faeries, Wizards, Witches
Xavion was one of six swordsmen. When a traitor takes lives, the swords are kept by the Albino, the white dragon for his six daughters. Xavion is brought back to life and given the name Specter with the ability to cloak himself. Albino gives him the task of watching over his daughters to keep them safe.
Each of Albino’s daughters has a curse. If they become pregnant, they must give their life for the life of the child. Even though they have dragon blood, the girls appear to be human. Dantress is the youngest of the daughters and his favorite. He knows her fate in life will be different than her sisters.
The book is long, but it has a steady pace. The characters are somewhat developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. It does tend to jump from different characters which could be confusing at times. It kept my interest and I enjoyed reading about young women fighting with swords which is so different than traditional dragon slaying and young men. If you like dragon stories with strong female characters, you will enjoy this book.
512 Pages
Publisher: AMG Publishers, Living Ink Books
Release Date: February 17, 2011
Fiction, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Dragons, Faeries, Wizards, Witches
Xavion was one of six swordsmen. When a traitor takes lives, the swords are kept by the Albino, the white dragon for his six daughters. Xavion is brought back to life and given the name Specter with the ability to cloak himself. Albino gives him the task of watching over his daughters to keep them safe.
Each of Albino’s daughters has a curse. If they become pregnant, they must give their life for the life of the child. Even though they have dragon blood, the girls appear to be human. Dantress is the youngest of the daughters and his favorite. He knows her fate in life will be different than her sisters.
The book is long, but it has a steady pace. The characters are somewhat developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. It does tend to jump from different characters which could be confusing at times. It kept my interest and I enjoyed reading about young women fighting with swords which is so different than traditional dragon slaying and young men. If you like dragon stories with strong female characters, you will enjoy this book.
August 15, 2017
The story of The Sword of the Six is this; a white dragon, the leader of the land entrusted six people with powerful swords to help him reign and maintain justice, but they all turned to evil except for one. The dragon then had six eggs which were human looking, dragon blood having girls, they had the dragon's powers and were meant to save humanity from the spread of evil that the original six started. One of the daughters in particular was named Dantress and was the youngest but most powerful of them, and was meant to be the main savior.
The daughters got the swords of the original six men that their father had trusted first, and went to save and forgive one of the six that was still alive, but failed. They were later taken to a forest where Dantress fulfilled her prophecy and the book ends.
All in all, this book had a very interesting story that kept me wanting to get back to it, but still left a lot of things unknown to the reader until they read the second and third books in the series.
The daughters got the swords of the original six men that their father had trusted first, and went to save and forgive one of the six that was still alive, but failed. They were later taken to a forest where Dantress fulfilled her prophecy and the book ends.
All in all, this book had a very interesting story that kept me wanting to get back to it, but still left a lot of things unknown to the reader until they read the second and third books in the series.
September 1, 2025
This book was wonderful! I got to meet the author and he signed the book for me! It was a great story and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. For parents wondering if their kids can read this, there is nothing inappropriate in this book, and I believe the author has said something along the lines of "If you're fine with your kids reading the bible cover to cover it's fine." I'm an avid reader, but I don't want to read any open door romance, and it's hard to find good fantasy series without anything inappropriate, or lacking depth of story. This book however meets both qualifications, it's a great story, and nothing inappropriate happens. I look forward to see what happens in the next books.
Thank you Scott Appleton for sharing such a wonderful story with the world.
Thank you Scott Appleton for sharing such a wonderful story with the world.
January 12, 2024
This book is an extremely action packed novel that I couldn’t wait to see what happened on the next page and chapter. A dragon saga of good verse evil with a twist of fantasy that will grasp you the whole way through. A dragon prophet has his daughters destined for greatness but with that comes trials and tribulations. And what they experience will change their lives forever. I’m looking so forward to reading the whole series because I know it’s going to be amazing. If you like a good fast paced dragon saga, you’ll love this book. I highly recommend it.
April 20, 2020
If you are looking for a great Christian/Fantasy story, look no further. "The Sword of the Dragon" series is a perfect depiction of sacrifice, love, and adventure. I immediately fell in love with the characters and their roles throughout the story. I am beyond impressed with this author's creative work!
July 9, 2020
I didnt enjoy this book at all. I guess it would make a good YA novel... but it is almost like the author used a thesaurus for every sentence. The language felt forced. Not sure about the plot either.... Perhaps others will enjoy this book more.
December 18, 2021
I was unable to finish this book (I skipped to last chapter); it made me spiritually uncomfortable. I am all for allegorical Christian fantasy, but I think he took things a little too far and dark for my taste. His writing style is very engaging though.
October 19, 2024
A Beautiful Journey Begins
This book is well written by a masterful writer . The world he has created is beautiful and inspirational. The characters are
ones which you will come to love as I have. It is some great journey I have begun . Read and enjoy my friends .
This book is well written by a masterful writer . The world he has created is beautiful and inspirational. The characters are
ones which you will come to love as I have. It is some great journey I have begun . Read and enjoy my friends .
March 30, 2022
Probably leaning toward a 3.5 or so. I may at some point try the following books and see how it goes
January 17, 2023
Not a fan, a book that literally could have been a short story. I have no drive to read the rest of the series.
October 13, 2024
This is a great story for fans of fantasy who like intelligent dragons, monster, magic weapons, heroes and heroines fighting evil.
January 5, 2025
3,5 ⭐️
I read this book because of The Storygraph challenge! This is the first book of the series and its a little harder to read because of world building events but I liked it.
I read this book because of The Storygraph challenge! This is the first book of the series and its a little harder to read because of world building events but I liked it.
August 20, 2012
This book showed promise. It had a fairly interesting storyline and I almost hated to rate it so low because I'm drawn to fantasy. I adore dragons, mermaids and other mythical creatures so this book appealed to me on that aspect. However, I can't rate this book any higher due to the poor editing and mistakes that filled the pages. Book titles should not be spelled out like a middle school girl's My Space page. Writing like "tHis" does not make a cool title for a chapter header. There were also issues with grammar and incorrect use of commonly used idioms -- "prim and proper" is one that comes to mind but was misused as "primp and proper," which I felt should have been picked up by the editor. Often, I had to reread a paragraph for what appeared to be contradictions due to how the sentence read. It needed better editing to fix these simple mistakes.
In terms of the story...very interesting. The author seemed to bite off more than he could chew though. The story of six sisters who are all presented as main characters and all had unique names made it very hard to remember all of them and it also made it hard to connect with them individually. I started to connect with Dantress towards the end of the story, when she became the sole focus...but I felt cheated, like I was finally getting to know her too late. The character I felt drawn to the most, Specter, was very interesting and I would have liked to have known more about him, simply because he was presented as unique and as an individual rather than lumping him into a group the way the sisters were.
I think this author shows promise but needs to find a better editor to fix commonly missed mistakes that should have never made it into publication. I also think that he needs to focus more on giving us a character we can really fall in love with and connect with rather than a multitude of characters we can barely get to know. Overall -- fantastic idea for a story but poor delivery.
I received this book free from AMG Publishers through netgalley.com. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
In terms of the story...very interesting. The author seemed to bite off more than he could chew though. The story of six sisters who are all presented as main characters and all had unique names made it very hard to remember all of them and it also made it hard to connect with them individually. I started to connect with Dantress towards the end of the story, when she became the sole focus...but I felt cheated, like I was finally getting to know her too late. The character I felt drawn to the most, Specter, was very interesting and I would have liked to have known more about him, simply because he was presented as unique and as an individual rather than lumping him into a group the way the sisters were.
I think this author shows promise but needs to find a better editor to fix commonly missed mistakes that should have never made it into publication. I also think that he needs to focus more on giving us a character we can really fall in love with and connect with rather than a multitude of characters we can barely get to know. Overall -- fantastic idea for a story but poor delivery.
I received this book free from AMG Publishers through netgalley.com. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
February 3, 2013
The beginning and end of this novel were EPIC! I loved them. The imagery is amazing and so easy to picture, just as it is through out the novel. There was just something great about the prologue especially.
That is where my praise ends. I don't know it was simply the draft I read and it was edited once more before publication, but things were just wrong. Certain things were repeated to where it was annoying, such as the location of the sisters' scabbards. Also, things would be referred to as 'the' when they had never been mentioned before or there were many of them.
I was also confused as to Albino's role. He seemed to be all knowing, as God would, but then not be. Most of the sisters, as well, confused me. They had to be there, but then did not do much of anything. There were also some other unexplained things.
At the beginning, the Appleton had a note that said that this book is sort of a prologue to the rest. In that case, the next books will probably make a lot more sense as they are the true story. If the book went through another draft, I could see this book being a 4, possibly even 5, stared book. As is, it is only a 3.
To see the books I back, visit my blog at: http://backingbooks.blogspot.com/
That is where my praise ends. I don't know it was simply the draft I read and it was edited once more before publication, but things were just wrong. Certain things were repeated to where it was annoying, such as the location of the sisters' scabbards. Also, things would be referred to as 'the' when they had never been mentioned before or there were many of them.
I was also confused as to Albino's role. He seemed to be all knowing, as God would, but then not be. Most of the sisters, as well, confused me. They had to be there, but then did not do much of anything. There were also some other unexplained things.
At the beginning, the Appleton had a note that said that this book is sort of a prologue to the rest. In that case, the next books will probably make a lot more sense as they are the true story. If the book went through another draft, I could see this book being a 4, possibly even 5, stared book. As is, it is only a 3.
To see the books I back, visit my blog at: http://backingbooks.blogspot.com/
April 4, 2016
Great read. I am reading this book and others, looking for good reading books for our summer reading program for our teens.
In ancient times a band of warriors escorted a young prince homeward. Only one warrior remained true. He watched helplessly as the others slew their young charge. Death seemed to claim him as well. But he awoke one thousand years later, brought back by the prophets of God to serve them once again as an invisible guardian. One of the prophets, an albino dragon, hatched human daughters out of eggs by giving them the life in his blood. The daughters sought out the traitor to bring him to repentance. Out of remorse for his sins, the traitor slew himself on a sword. Upon the daughters 19 return their dragon father sent them to live in a far off forest. The youngest daughter fell in love and wed. But upon giving birth to a beautiful baby girl she gave up the life in her blood and died; making the ultimate sacrifice to bring a child of promise into the world.
In ancient times a band of warriors escorted a young prince homeward. Only one warrior remained true. He watched helplessly as the others slew their young charge. Death seemed to claim him as well. But he awoke one thousand years later, brought back by the prophets of God to serve them once again as an invisible guardian. One of the prophets, an albino dragon, hatched human daughters out of eggs by giving them the life in his blood. The daughters sought out the traitor to bring him to repentance. Out of remorse for his sins, the traitor slew himself on a sword. Upon the daughters 19 return their dragon father sent them to live in a far off forest. The youngest daughter fell in love and wed. But upon giving birth to a beautiful baby girl she gave up the life in her blood and died; making the ultimate sacrifice to bring a child of promise into the world.
November 12, 2012
I read this book when I was 12, and it was all the rage because the author lived in my town.
Nothing really special happens in our corner of Connecticut.
Although, looking back at it now, I don't think this book was directed for the younger pre-teen audience, and that might be why I couldn't fathom the book. I remember I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the book, with its sword fights and dragons. It was like the Avengers in the before time!
I think that I'm going to scavenge my bookshelf for this once more. Hopefully, now that I am more mature, I will receive a new perspective on this novel. I plan on uncovering instances of ethos, pathos, and logos, and all of that literature junk.
Wish me luck! :)
Nothing really special happens in our corner of Connecticut.
Although, looking back at it now, I don't think this book was directed for the younger pre-teen audience, and that might be why I couldn't fathom the book. I remember I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the book, with its sword fights and dragons. It was like the Avengers in the before time!
I think that I'm going to scavenge my bookshelf for this once more. Hopefully, now that I am more mature, I will receive a new perspective on this novel. I plan on uncovering instances of ethos, pathos, and logos, and all of that literature junk.
Wish me luck! :)
April 1, 2017
3.5 out of 5
Now comes my review...and honestly I'm very conflicted about this book. The very beginning was epic, and the very end was exciting and has me wanting more, but the entire part 1 was horrible in my opinion (basically the first 70% of the book)
Dantriss was a good character but I really disliked the other sisters, Mivere, Albino and pretty much most of the other characters in part 1. I did like Specter and really like Ilfedo.
To me this book was literally "a tale of two halves". Part 1 was hard to get through, and Part 2 was fun and interesting.
I will continue reading the series because the end was exactly what I was looking for throughout the entire book.
Now comes my review...and honestly I'm very conflicted about this book. The very beginning was epic, and the very end was exciting and has me wanting more, but the entire part 1 was horrible in my opinion (basically the first 70% of the book)
Dantriss was a good character but I really disliked the other sisters, Mivere, Albino and pretty much most of the other characters in part 1. I did like Specter and really like Ilfedo.
To me this book was literally "a tale of two halves". Part 1 was hard to get through, and Part 2 was fun and interesting.
I will continue reading the series because the end was exactly what I was looking for throughout the entire book.
April 20, 2009
I was very pleased with this book. Not quite in the category of LOTR, but very good, especially since it is this young author's first work. I hope to see more from him and look forward to reading the next book in the series. Similar in style to Andrew Lang's fairy tales, but much more detailed.
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