The Rage of Dragons (The Burning, #1)

by Evan Winter

'A captivating epic fantasy from a major new talent' Anthony Ryan, author of Blood Song

'Intense, inventive and action-packed from beginning to end - a relentlessly gripping, brilliant read' James Islington, author of The Shadow of What Was Lost

The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable war for generations. The lucky ones are born gifted: some have the power to call down dragons, others can be magically transformed into bigger, stronger, faster killing machines.

Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Tau Tafari wants more than this, but his plans of escape are destroyed when those closest to him are brutally murdered.

With too few gifted left the Omehi are facing genocide, but Tau cares only for revenge. Following an unthinkable path, he will strive to become the greatest swordsman to ever live, willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill three of his own people.

THE RAGE OF DRAGONS LAUNCHES AN UNMISSABLE EPIC FANTASY SERIES ABOUT A WORLD CAUGHT IN AN ENDLESS WAR AND THE YOUNG MAN WHO WILL BECOME HIS PEOPLE'S ONLY HOPE FOR SURVIVAL

'Utter and complete perfection. Winter has created an absolute masterpiece of a novel' The Bookbag

'Intense, vivid and brilliantly realized - a necessary read' Anna Smith Spark, author of The Court of Broken Knives

'Stunning debut fantasy' Publishers Weekly

'Fans of Anthony Ryan's Blood Song will love this' Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names

'A Xhosa-inspired world complete with magic, dragons, demons and curses, The Rage of Dragons takes classic fantasy and imbues it with a fresh and exciting twist' Anna Stephens, author of Godblind

'A gripping tale . . . with one of the most enthralling hero's journeys I've read' S. A. Chakraborty, author of City of Brass

• ISBN10: 0356512940
• ISBN13: 9780356512945
• Publish Date: 18 July 2019 (first published 12 February 2019)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Orbit
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 544
• Language: English

Reviews

[Melanie]

Review originally posted at BooksOfMyHeart.net.

This was a new-to-me author in Evan Winter and narrator in Prentice Onayemi. I decided to try something new. I needed a fresh voice in this crazy world we’re currently living in. Boy did I get it. I had a great time with this world.

Tau Tafari, an Omehi commoner, is the main character of this story. He lives in a world where he is a low caste. The nobles are larger, faster and more athletic than the lessers, like Tau. But lessers still fight, but often die in the war. They are the fodder and sent out to die in large numbers. The nobles fight too, but it isn’t as much of a death sentence. Even the women fight, but in a different way. Some women have the ability to tap into the powers of the goddess. Not only can some control dragons, others are able to pour power into a select few of the nobles to make them something akin to a colossus.

Tau is a lesser who has nothing but vengeance on his mind. He doesn’t care if he is a lesser. He is willing to put in the work to overcome the fact he is smaller, slower and less athletic than the nobles he wants to kill in revenge for the betrayal he feels.

I’m not usually a huge fan of war stories, but this book, which starts out at a slower pace than I normally read, but I was still unable to stop listening. I just loved Tau and his passion to be a better warrior. I also really enjoyed his friendship with the other trainees. I also like his relationship with a powerful gifted girl from his town, Zuri.

I’m very eager to get to the next book, which the book is out now, but I have to wait for the audiobook. I’ve never read a book that was an African fantasy. It does make me want to see how much is based on African mythology. It was a very fun epic fantasy that should be bigger than it currently is. I hope that more people give this book a chance. It was a really fun ride.

Narration (5 stars)
Not only was Even Winter a new-to-me author, but Prentice Onayemi was a new-to-me narrator. He too, did not disappoint with his narration of this story. I really enjoyed the cast of voices he creates for each of these characters. There isn’t a large cast of women in this book, but he does a good job with the voices of women that he tackles. There is a much larger cast of men and they all have unique voices that truly match each character’s personality. I look forward to listening to more from this narrator.

[moraa]

Life is nothing more than moments in time. To achieve greatness, you have to give up those moments. You have to give your life to your goal.

16 October 2020: 4.5 stars
(rounding upwards for the first time in my life! what is this feeling)
frantically waiting for November 10th

11 June 2020: 5 stars
Such a stunning world with absolutely compelling characters, a hard-hitting premise and a fast-paced plot.

Oh, and let’s not forget the dragons.



The Rage of Dragons has been on my TBR since it came out in 2019 and... you guessed it, I SHOULD HAVE READ IT SOONER. I always say this but I don’t think I'll ever regret it as deeply as I did with this one.

After a DNF in 2019, I decided to give it a second chance.

REASONS YOU WILL LOVE THIS:

1. MAGIC SYSTEM
-the detail
-the caste system places the nobles on top and they’re the ones more likely to become Ingoyama or Indlovu (aka the realm’s best fighters which comes with power and prestige and anything else those two can get you)
-the Gifted comprise only of women and can basically pour power into a warrior and give them strength, speed and agility - they're highly prized for their abilities
-the two classes above can team up to do cool things or do cool things on their own because… privilege (obviously)
-the Lesser may become Ihashe who are basically foot soldiers (better known as the men you can afford to spend in your wars… yikes)

2. CHARACTERS
-IT’S AFRICAN-INSPIRED
-also, Tau Solarin is a stupid boy but I love him (and he’s such fun to follow around)

“How do you strengthen your gift?”
“It doesn’t… You’re born with your gift. It’s always the same.”
“You can’t improve it? Train it? Why are you at the citadel? For the stories?”

that salty-ass mf

I can't imagine a world where the man holding a sword does not have the last say over the man without one.

…right, you probably want to explore different options

-Zuri my sweet, sweet, brave, little girl (ughhh, I love you)
-while we’re on the matter, I’d like to give an honorary mention to Themba, comic relief is always welcome in such stories, which leads me to the next point

3. PLOT
-what’s that? You like revenge plots with characters willing to push themselves to breaking point just for a chance to rain down hell on their enemies?
-look no further:

from the training sessions

He was not the strongest, the quickest, or the most talented, not by any measure. He knew this and knew he could not control this. However, he could control his effort, the work he put in, and there he would not be beaten.

to the battle cries

“Abasi Odili!” Tau yelled from twenty strides away. They turned to face him. “You murdered my father and destroyed my life. I am here to balance the scales.”

to some well-written showdowns

“Get up, Kellan Okar,” the impossibility standing over him said. “Time to die.”

4. WORLD BUILDING
-spectacular
-top-tier stuff right here

5. WRITING STYLE
-fast-paced scenes are actually fast-paced (see the point above about having the wind knocked out of you)
-the slower scenes serve their purpose as well: giving the reader a chance to recover, get some closure or consolidate information and theorise
-also, there are minimal info dumps and may the goddess be praised for that

REASONS YOU MIGHT DISLIKE THIS:
-not enough female MC rep

Executive summary: read it, just read it and have a good time, okay? We can square up later if you don’t like it.

postscript:
The audiobook narration really had me on my knees. First, I'd like to say that it was a good performance but the pronunciation was something else:

1. Taifa
Swahili word that translates to ‘nation’
-correct pronunciation: ta-EE-fa
-what the narrator said: TAY-fa
-big yikes

2. Odhiambo
Luo masculine name (may be used as a first, middle or last name)
-correct pronunciation: o-DHI-a-mbo ("dh" like in "the")
-what the narrator said: o-DI-ha-mbo
-massive yikes

[cornerfolds]

I bought The Rage of Dragons earlier this year and patiently waited to find myself in the mood to read a 500+ page adult fantasy about a man obsessed with revenge. Alas, that mood has struck and I devoured this book and immediately preordered the next! It was THAT good.

The Rage of Dragons begins in Tau's small village (after a brief, dragon-filled prologue). We meet Tau and learn that he has no desire to fight in an army, that he has a plan to get out of it. Although this was only the beginning of the book, I sympathized with Tau immediately because of my own vaguely similar experiences.

I've seen a lot of criticism for Tau as an impulsive hothead, which he is, but his rage is understandable. His actions don't always make sense, but then I remember that he's a teenager who is grieving and I can forgive it. My favorite thing about this story is that, once the revenge plot begins, Tau isn't handed his power or strength - he works for it every step of the way. He's knocked down several pegs multiple times, but he always gets back up and tries harder.

The world building is another place where this book shines. I've never read a fantasy inspired by African cultures and it's rare to read one that's inspired by a pre-medieval world. This was a truly unique world and the magical system was so good! Admittedly, I was confused from time to time, trying to understand how the Guardians worked and how the Gifted used their power, but not enough to detract from my enjoyment.

Fair warning, this book is extremely violent and quite dark. The majority of it is combat training and actual combat, but I was enthralled from page one. Perhaps because of the almost constant action, this was one of the quicker adult fantasy books I've read. The writing definitely kept me hooked! I am counting down the days until book two arrives in my mailbox. If you're in the mood for an action-packed adult fantasy, pick this one up!

[sa090]

I haven’t written a collection of thoughts in a very long time, but after reading this book, I feel like I have to get it all off my chest.

───────────────────

I asked on Reddit for tournament heavy books and this was one of the recommendations, I have also coincidentally added it to my TBR right before I asked that question, so reading it was a no brainer. Thankfully, I did, because Evan Winter is one of the much much better debut authors I have had the pleasure of reading through their debut novel.

I really enjoyed the way he made up the world, it was confusing at first with so so many new terms being thrown around in quick succession, but thankfully, a glossary was added to make the beginning parts of the book easier to get a feel of before I proceeded with the story. Later on, and especially because the terms continue to be used constantly, they stuck in my mind much easier than I initially expected. Granted, only a few were actually explored in bigger details, but given that it’s the first book in a planned series of 4, I’m not too worried about it, although I may have wanted to see other factions up close while reading.

The fighting and the magic system took precedence in this one as we follow Tau and his quest for revenge, this was where the book shined in a way, but it was also where it sort of shows the flaw in some of the elements incorporated by Evan Winter. Specifically the power scaling in the book. The fact that Tau follows the anime abundant shounen protagonist motto of “hard work beats all” was interesting, however, the speed of that growth is where I drew back a bit. What is seemingly going to be taking the 3-6 years or cycles of hard work was mushed together for Tau in less than a year. This created a problem for me as a reader, because of the plot conveniences to the main character.

I would not consider that in itself to be a a felony made by Winter because, let’s face it, everyone does that to a some degree in the “Chosen One” stories. No, I would hold it against this series for one other reason, it makes everyone around Tau so bloody useless and pathetic. If none of the instances of the book is believed to do that, then I urge anyone to reread the mini chapter titled Daaso Headtaker in chapter 14. That chapter solidified for me that every single attempt by Winter to bring in a powerful opponent anywhere, is squashed to bits and pieces when they provide zero struggles to the main character who wasn’t even training for that long for one, and he even had a life altering injury that should have made that leap into greatness much harder still. This leads to another potential problem with the series moving forward.

When you start off a book series with someone so overpowered, it makes me wary of the upcoming opponents. Ridiculous can only be countered by being even more ridiculous and as proven by the very recent and catastrophic dip in quality in a Japanese manga series called Nanatsu no Taizai, it wouldn’t be an easy hole to crawl out of. Obviously, I could be surprised of what the author has in store for me, but I still think that it’s going to be a very hard thing to do.

On the plus sides, the writing of the book is extremely easy to get through. Yes, it took me a while to get through it, I just couldn’t read in earnest until I identified my bigger issues of the book before getting more invested. I’ll say that the second half of the book was more gripping to me, and it took me two sittings to get through it in comparison to the earlier part. It picked up the pace, which I don’t think was an issue to begin with, until the very end where all hell broke loose.

The fighting scenes and how many instances there were of them were appreciated, I of course love my magic so I hoped for more of that side as well, but there is surprising lack of female characters in the spotlight for battle oriented scenes (only women are Gifted, basically magic users), but in the brief spotlights they do have, it’s not hard to see how any of them could actually end up as a very interesting addition to the series later on. Especially with what I later learned about their abilities, the hidden darkness of their Queendom and the outside threat against them. That outside threat, The Hedeni, were interesting to see or learn more about as well, and I’m really looking forward to see what he has in store in regards to them.

That being said though, the characters could use some work. As Tau was the one I spent the majority of my time in this world with, I can start with him and he’s by far the most selfish and self centered prick I have ever read about in recent memory. I have no idea how anyone would ever consider him as a significant other, how anyone would continue vouching for him, how his mind even works when he continues to make the same exact mistakes that led him into the vengeful path to begin with and it’s a shame that someone’s entire existence in this series ended up being his comfort without much purpose. I don’t know about any one else, but once the relationship between Champions and Queen was mentioned, it was easy to see the progression of this story in that regard from a mile away for me and that obviously meant that a character’s status needed to be updated.

Regardless of my personal disgust of that type of relationships between sovereigns and anyone below that explicit rank, it saddened me a bit to see how under utilized some characters in the series were. In addition, in the very end at the epilogue, there was a clear indication of something between the young queen and our protagonist that I’m honestly somewhat not sure how well Winter can write a female character. Again, I’m just shooting it out there as he may very well surprise me, but we’ll see. I hope for a much better conclusion than the one I’m envisioning so here’s to that.

Lastly, I’d like to talk about the society the author made up in this series. The oppression and how rising up against the system might change that, is not a new concept by any means, but I liked how it was portrayed in this series. For instance, despite our protagonist being a part of the “good” guys, learning more about the history of the world and the history of their nation, really has me thinking of what exactly is the good we’re taking about here. And I love that. I like it grey, pure white and pure black is such a boring concept at times and if your history is just as interesting as this one then PLEASE be as grey as you possibly can.

I enjoyed this book in the end, maybe not as much as I would’ve because the main character was terrible in my opinion, and I need a character to care about to care more about the story, I do think that there is room to win me over completely though and I’ll definitely be looking forward see where this goes in the Fire of Vengeance.

I expected way too much of this book due to the hype. It was just not as good as people say it was. It is a pretty basic revenge story with an unlikable main character. Ok, that's not fair. He is likable but frustrating and you probably won't agree with anything he does. But this book does nothing groundbreakingly new. Personally I would say that this is the fantasy YA version of Red Rising with gore and a lot of detailed fighting. The plot twists were almost non-existent because they have been done before. And I know this book isn't YA. I would personally say that it falls into the same category as A Darker Shade of Magic and other adult books that are really accessible for YA readers due to a simpler writing style. Of course, there are exceptions, but generally speaking. And this is honestly a good thing.
Evan Winter writes simple but powerful. I didn't want to put this book down. Not because of the story (which is also good but not that special), but because of the way he writes.
While I wasn't a huge fan of this book, I will definitely read the second installment when it comes out and won't give up on this series.

[Kate (Blogging with Dragons)]

I can honestly say I’ve never read encountered a world in a fantasy novel quite like the one in The Rage of Dragons. I stumbled upon this novel in a Barnes and Noble, and was immediately attracted by the cover, but mostly the description of the world:

 

“The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for a hundred thousand years. Their society has been built around war and only war. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine. Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war.”

 

Any book that promises women’s ability to call upon dragons is an immediate must-read to me.I was really disappointed that a book titled The Rage of Dragons did not actually offer much interaction with these promised dragons, and that what small appearances the mythical beasts did make were unfortunately ones of servitude. But ultimately, the true shining part of the novel is not the dragons, but the interesting and truly unique world-building and the caste-system that main character Tau Solarin rages against.

 

“I can't imagine a world where the man holding a sword does not have the last say over the man without one.”

 

Set in an African-inspired world, main character Tau grows up in a society that revolves entirely around war. Divided into Lessers and Nobles, all of the Omehi must fight in a war against savage Hedenis that has transpired for centuries. Sadly for Tau, a Lesser, the highest he can climb in the caste system is as part of the Ilhashe, the elite fighters and soldiers of the Lesser castes. At worst, he can refuse to join the war and end up a Drudge, or a casteless servant. Either way, his society dictates that Tau must fight in their losing war or face the consequences. Born weaker and smaller than the Nobles of the Omehi, Lessers can never hope to overturn or to join the ranks of the Indlovu, the elite fighters and soldiers of the Noble castes. But in his quest for revenge, Tau challenges everything his society his society has ever known before.

 

Though Rage of Dragons creates a rich and believable world divided not only by class, but also by war, I really struggled with reading the endless battle descriptions and skin deep character development--much of which took place on the battlefield in between descriptions of moves. Honestly, the novel is 90% battles and training. It got very tedious to me, but other readers may find these same battles exciting. I, however, never really was able to doubt Tau’s ability to succeed in these battles, and as a result, felt that they lacked suspense or climax. Often, I found myself skimming through the majority of these battles, to when he undoubtedly won and everyone told him how great he was at fighting, but what a stupid, risk-taker with a heart of gold he truly was. 

 

And it’s not just Tau that feels like a character we’ve met before--every character in the book feels ripped straight from an archetype. As such, I regularly felt detached from the events and the characters, because I felt like I had already experienced what was happening before. It was redundant to see Tau tirelessly train, to never give up despite the odds, and to continue to ignore the very sound advice of everyone around him. I sighed at his countless rash actions that threatened his battle brothers, love interest, and leaders. He never really changes or grows as a person, despite growing physically stronger. If Tau had been a female character, he would have undoubtedly been dubbed a “Mary Sue.” He is the first Lesser, who lacks any and all supernatural powers due to his birth, to enter the Ishiogo, the demon-world, of his own volition. He enters this world in order to fight and to die repeatedly to demons in order to become supernaturally strong in his incessant quest for revenge. This allows him to repeatedly defy societal norms and to conquer Nobles in battle that he should not be able to stand a chance against.

 

This also applies to Tau’s backstory, which felt like something I had seen time and time again. Tau is brought up by his father, the sword trainer of the Petty Nobles of the village and the inkokeli, or leader of the Ilhashe scale, as well. Tau is raised by his father, the archetype of a selfless soldier who sweats and bleeds discipline and honor. As training partner to a Petty Noble his father is training, Tau grows up seeing a Petty Noble as his best friend and equal. This typical rivalry between the childhood friends instils the unfairness of the caste system, but also the sense that Tau can somehow overcome the injustice of it all and stand on equal footing the his friend and the rest of the Nobles. When his father is killed in his place for Tau’s disrespect to a Noble it is then that Tau, a kid from a small town in the middle of nowhere, sets out for the big city on his path for vengeance and gets help from his enemies, who of course, turn into allies and later friends.

 

Though much of The Rage of Dragons makes it difficult to feel attached to its characters or events, I, frankly, loved everything in the novel having to do with the truly unique Ishiogo, or demon world, and the Gifted women. These women harness the powers of Ishiogo not only to call down dragons, but to also create super-powered noble fighters called Ingonyamas, to battle against their enemies, and to bind men to their will, or to simply drag them to hell as well. These women rank higher than any other Nobles, which creates an interesting, but also tried-and-true star-crossed lover component when Tau’s girlfriend, Zuri, joins the ranks of the Gifted. Unfortunately, like Tau and the other cast of characters, Zuri falls victim to the same mediocre character development that plagues the novel. 

 

Zuri’s main purposes are being beautiful and kind, Tau’s girlfriend, and the explainer of all things supernatural. Sure, we are told she is powerful, but we never experience her point-of-view or training, and she remains a plot device to Tau on his quest to become the best Lesser fighter ever. Ultimately, I was left unmoved by Zuri’s romance with Tau, which falls flat as Zuri never felt like anything closely resembling a real person, and if anything, felt more like a convenience for the plot. Similarly, her sacrifice and death left me unaffected as she never contributed much to the story other than to reveal things to Tau that he couldn’t have known otherwise in what feels like the novel’s relentless goal to make Tau slightly more tortured, heroic, and more special than everyone else. I simply could not feel Tau’s losses or disappointments, as they are dealt with so quickly and buried in descriptions of the battlefield, and continually feel like mere bumps in Tau’s road to get where he is going.

 

Despite the novel's major flaws in character development, I still somehow remained invested in The Rage of Dragons, largely in part to its unique and strong world building. I feel that a lot of The Rage of Dragons was simply build up for the next novel. With the childhood love interest dead and Tau set to be the Queen’s champion I’m cautiously excited to see where the series goes next--especially with the glimpses of power the Queen showed in the Prologue of the story. If the next novel sticks to its strengths of world-building and the interesting supernatural aspects, and works to make its characters more multidimensional rather than archetypes, readers will certainly be in for a treat. 

 


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