Spoiler Free Summary: Dragon Avenger by E.E. Knight is the second story in the Age of Fire series. It’s the story of a hatchling whose family is murdered, and now she must find her own way in the world. When the dragon hunter who killed her family returns, she seeks vengeance.
Character: Wistala is Auron’s sister. I hated her in a good way in the beginning. She was a pampered daughter who expected everything to come easy. That allowed her arc to shine. Who she is at the beginning of the story is nothing compared to who she becomes, and it’s very cool to see. Some readers dislike female characters who start out pampered, and I can understand that. I just don’t think it’s as overdone as some may feel. Then again, I wrote Sojourn, which has a similar character.
Exposition: I read this book right after the first book, which was still years ago. But based on the fact that I burned right through the whole series, I have to think the story is too compelling and fast-paced to have bad exposition.
Worldbuilding: So this is where the saga will get polarizing for some. The first third of this book contains the same events as the first. The difference is the reader sees the events through Wistala’s point of view. I personally found this fascinating. Sure, I knew what was going to happen, but it was interesting to see how other characters perceived the events. The other important thing to note is while a third of the book is old data, it’s only a third. The rest of the story takes us from when Wistala and Auron are separated to see what happened to her. I think more stories could follow this example, but I wouldn’t want to see everyone do it.
Dialogue: This is where the creativity of the worldbuilding described above shines brighter. Wistala is very different from her brothers. That shows in the dialogue. Knight develops the characters by crafting their dialogue to show their habits, thoughts, and tone.
Description: As with the first story, I was perfectly happy with the description in this book, but others who are more energized by elaborate description will probably be left wanting. .
Overall: This was the story that showed me the potential this saga has. It took a pretty darn good stand alone story and expanded what it could be. Where some authors would have written a million-page story switching from character to character, this approach gave us qualities tories in smaller chunks, and that was awesome!
Thanks for reading
Matt
M.L.S. Weech 