I will admit that it took me entirely too long to revisit the world of the Dragon’s Blade. Not by any fault of its own… I just got busy with a pile of other stuff. You know how it is. It was very patient with me though, staying on my kindle and looking pretty until I got to it (seriously, look how pretty it is!). Thanks, Dragon’s Blade. ❤
Also, I was given a copy of this book by the author in exchange for my honest review, and here we go!
Rectar has always had his sights set on conquering the human lands. His demonic invasion of the west is gaining momentum – an unrelenting horde unhindered by food or sleep. Now, only the undermanned Splintering Isles lie between the demons and the human kingdom of Brevia. If the islands fall, the rest of Tenalp will soon follow.
The Three Races must work together if they are to survive, but they have another problem – Castallan. The traitorous wizard has raised a deadly rebellion and declared himself King of Humans. He believes himself safe in the bowels of his impenetrable Bastion fortress, but Darnuir, now King of Dragons, intends to break those walls at all costs.
To face these threats, all dragons, humans and fairies must truly unite; yet old prejudices may undermine Darnuir’s efforts once again. And as the true intentions of all are revealed, so too is a secret that may change the entire world.
“I’m not sure I was ever cut out to lead armies and play nice in negotiations.”
“But Darnuir, Dragon King, chose you,” Ochnic said. Pel giggled.
“What?” Garon asked in mock indignation. “Think I was a bad choice?”
“A hunter with no experience of large scale command?” Pel asked. “You were the perfect choice.”
One of the things that I loved the most about the first book in this series was a character introduced near the end. His name is Ochnic, and he’s a frost troll.
He’s a frost troll that sounds sort of…. ehhh we’ll go with Rastafarian. Imagine that for a sec….. Seriously. Go on. Have a good think about it. I’ll wait.
…
…
…
I know, right?! It’s pretty great. Pretty fucking great. Even when he’s being serious or sad or otherwise, he’s a wonderful light among the greater darkness of the events of the rest of the book, just by being himself. Go Ochnic go! ❤
Anyway, Ochnic is back with everyone else from book one to continue the adventures of dragons who are humanoid (because reasons), fairies who are blue (because they just are), and humans who are… rather woefully human, actually (but hey, they’re fighting to prove that they aren’t weak!).
We see things from several points of view in this one, both protagonists and antagonists (and a little in between as well, actually), and I enjoyed that. I liked Garon’s POV a lot, not only because it was the one in which Ochnic featured, but also because Garon is just a likable character for me. Brackendon’s POV was usually full of magical shenanigans, with a little bit of romance in it (and Kymethra is another character that I really like). We get to know characters a lot better, overall. Castallan and his side of the story and the reason for his crusade come into light a bit more in this volume, and we see more of Dukoona’s situation with his Trusted spectres. Finally, Darnuir’s worsening addiction to the Cascade magic is becoming more apparent as well, not to mention his previous life’s memories are still coming back to him and turning him into his prior self… a typically prejudiced and assholish dragon. That’s happening less and less, but the need for magic is growing and growing. More of the big picture is revealed through all these points of view (as are many of the Veiled Intentions) and I thought that it was rather well put together in that regard.
The ending was truly satisfying in a way in some of the points of view, but actually rather devastating in others. I don’t want to give away too much, but suffice to say that one character in particular has their fate left hanging (but not in too cliffhangery a way) and I really hope that they make it. Because I really, really like that character.
All told, I thought this one was really well thought out and well executed. The story was well paced and didn’t drag along. There was usually something exciting happening, and it was hard to put down once I got started on a good reading session. I started caring about characters that I didn’t really get a chance to know too well in book one, and I’m more hopeful for the continued survival of others. I’m excited to find out where this adventure goes! 4/5 stars!
superstardrifter 
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