Although there's a coming of age element that I didn't find particularly enthralling this was an otherwise enjoyable read. There's dragons , elves, dwarfs and plenty of creatures and characters to make this a pretty decent fantasy epic.
The central character is an eighteen years old who is pretty clueless. He is inclined to take a negative approach to most things i.e. When he sees a city for the first time with towering structures which old tales claim were built with landing places for dragons. He rubbishes that even though he's seen a dragon being born, is bonded with it and it's sitting right next to him. His reaction to almost any new situation is to feel sick and overwhelmed. Despite that he somehow carries on which is courageous, but he's barely wised up by the end of the book. There's signs that the next book will see him buck up a bit.
He also has a sister who is hardly any more clued in but provides another thread to the tale that doesn't end in the best of situations for her, but of course, she hasn't a clue of the danger she is in which is not entirely her fault as she eloped with her sweetheart and missed events back home. Mind you if I turned up at a city far from home and imperial troops were looking for me by name and the said sweetheart gets killed by them, I'd be thinking something is going on here and might act with a hint of caution.
I will give the next book a go as all in all it's a good read.
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![Of Blood And Fire (The Bound and The Broken Book 1) by [Ryan Cahill]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51-j6WvnwGL._SY346_.jpg)
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SynopsisSince The Order fell, the Lorian Empire has tightened its grip on Epheria over the centuries. The Order’s dragon-riding draleids have long been replaced by the Dragonguard; traitors behind The Fall.When Calen Bryer undertook the Proving, a rigorous trial to mark the passage from boyhood to adulthood, he never expected to soon become the centre of a centuries-old conflict.Unfortunately for Calen, there are no prophecies foretelling his coming and he’s not really a hero yet, but there are many powerful foes who are now coming for him.ReviewThere are many things to love about this first instalment of Ryan Cahill’s The Bound and the Broken series. Topping that list is Cahill’s prose, which glides between brutally epic and elegant, with a playful tone that at times reads like a sassy John Gwynne. It is a series being crafted by someone who loves the fantasy genre and is fully adept at making it sing.The illustrations and overall make-up of the book are stunning. As this is an indie title you can see the attention to detail in the production, editing and typesetting in realising Cahill’s vision for the book. It elevated this above many other books in my collection as a result.I realised that I was hooked around the time I was gritting my teeth through the Proving scene early on, which set up main character Calen and his companions Dann (fave character) and Rist. Their experience is harsh and it’s unfair (damn you, Fritz!) but it’s incredibly well-told.Right from the start, what I enjoyed most about this book was the constant underlying threat the characters faced while on their journeys. Matt Colville recorded a video in his “Running the Game” YouTube series where he talked about using the tactic of ‘Orcs attack!’ to keep up the pace of a story. Cahill adopts this approach to storytelling in OB&F which means his characters never seem safe whether they’re camping in a forest or touring an impenetrable dwarven-built city. It makes for perfect pacing and a high stakes feel at all times.The magic system is a steady aspect of the world. Pulling threads of magic from the Spark has a nice D&D meets Avatar: The Last Airbender feel to it with Cahill’s familiar but still fresh approach. I also liked the draleids, those soul-bound with dragons, and felt Calen’s dragon Viserys grow in power over the course of the plot in a believable way. It’s this element that understandably draws Eragon comparisons but I think Of Blood and Fire does more than enough not to suffer these. I enjoyed the book’s prequel of sorts, The Fall, and while there are nods to the events of the novella, those who haven’t read it will still get a good feel for the lore and world of Epheria.To summarise, Of Blood and Fire is seriously bloody good. It’s a deep and nostalgic page turner and with book two of the series mooted for a late December release, it’s the perfect time for picking up this title.
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