Fantasy Book Club Series discussion

Have you finished reading The Fall of Dragons, book 5 in The Traitor Son Cycle? What did you think, both of this book in particular and the whole series?

*spoilers allowed*

Wow! Reading this book was exhausting—nonstop tension and action!

About this book:
As I have come to expect in this series, this book had finely crafted battles of all types. The author does a great job weaving archers, cavalry, foot soldiers, magisters, and cannons/guns into the battle. War is not glorious, although there are moments of intense satisfaction. Mostly war is shown to be messy, tiring, unpredictable, and deadly.

I am still not quite clear on the various rulers at the end of the book—what kingdoms are “independent” and which are part of the Empire, and who rules where and what.

I did a pretty good job of tracking who died, but I was sure No Head had died in the battle with the “salamanders”, but he reappeared later, so I must have confused him with someone else. But Aeneas!! I was so sad when he died. And then, at least in my book, he was not even listed in the cast of characters at the end (which, by the way, contained some little nuggets of info).

About the series as a whole:
The author does a masterful job of building the complexity of the plot bit by bit (but never in a tedious way). In some cases, the characters know more than the reader, and in other cases, the characters are removing the peels of the onion along with the readers.

The concept of good vs. evil is fluid through the series. Seeming allies betray their comrades; former enemies become allies. The great magisters (Mortimer, Harmodius) subsume their defeated enemies. Yes, there are some ultimate villains—the Odine, Ash—but the lines of good and evil are repeatedly blurred, as they often are in “real life”.

The “romance” storylines are so touching because they provide moments of beauty in the midst of the squalor of war. Same with the humor, sometimes unexpected in the moment, yet perfectly placed.

Kudos to the author for his inclusiveness. Many races/species are shown, and they are on both sides of the conflict. There are characters on a spectrum of sexuality and gender identification.

A few niggling dissatisfactions:
The maps—did we need a detailed map of Liviapolis in the final book? But a larger view of Nova Terra would have been welcome, like previous books had. I was grateful for the map of Terra Antica.

The sheer number of characters—important, yes. But no cast of characters (even an abbreviated one with no spoilers) in any books till the last book really made it hard for me to keep track of who was who, especially the characters with multiple names.

That’s it for now, except to say this series was a wonderful, satisfying surprise to me!

Oh, one more comment—several characters promoted the idea of needing to destroy all the dragons, not just Ruhn and Ash. But, in the end, Lot is allowed to continue his existence, weakened as he (temporarily) is. I was glad and relieved, because I mostly liked Lot, but not sure that was a good idea. Was it done because Lot seemed to respect Man, because he had long plotted/seeded the ascendancy of magisters in Nova Terra?

Oops, and one more—in my mind, Nova Terra was the British Isles, only bigger. Yet the nuggets of info in the cast of characters imply it is more akin to North America. Totally changes my view and perspective!

Kathi - knew you'd love this one! So did I. Tremendous read, great finale, and as you mentioned, gorgeous handling of diverse views and races.

I was particularly amazed at the handling of the women; the importance of sewing and laundry - wow - you never see male authors take note of this at all, far less make it crucial to the story.

These details, alongside the details of the fights, the armor, the tactics - it is a very comprehensive achievement.

Just finished. I want another book in the series!!!
At least I still have many books by the author I can read, mostly in historical fiction though.
One of my favorite authors now.

Kevin wrote: "Just finished. I want another book in the series!!!
At least I still have many books by the author I can read, mostly in historical fiction though.
One of my favorite authors now."

I felt exactly the same way - damn, wanted more!

The author has got a serial historical he's been writing in lockdown, and it is offered for FREE....I think on his facebook - I don't use that platform much...but look for Authors Without Borders, there are several historical writers doing this. I think the title for (Christian Cameron is his historical name) is Flight of the Raven. Saw the updates on Twitter if you follow him, he's phokion1

Janny wrote: "The author has got a serial historical he's been writing in lockdown, and it is offered for FREE....I think on his facebook - I don't use that platform much...but look for Authors Without Borders, there are several historical writers doing this. I think the title for (Christian Cameron is his historical name) is Flight of the Raven. Saw the updates on Twitter if you follow him, he's phokion1 ."

Yes, I've seen these (although I can't recall which platform). He is co-writing with another author.

Here is the website for Authors Without Borders:
https://authorswithoutborders.org/

At least I still have many books by the author I can read, mostly in historical fiction though.
One of my favorite authors now."

Dang, I don't have a Facebook but now I would have a good reason to make one.

I did just buy the other series he's written, haven't gotten to it yet. Still have to finish a couple of books for online book clubs here this month. Right now I'm reading



(can you tell I love historical/fantasy/fiction?)

then moving on to the book of the month for this group , and hopefully I can start


I am able to read his facebook without creating one (just checked). Is that the only area to read the book?

BTW THANK YOU for letting me know about authorswithoutborders. Now that's awesome.

Celeste wrote: "BTW THANK YOU for letting me know about authorswithoutborders. Now that's awesome."

You are most welcome! :-)

Celeste wrote: "
At least I still have many books by the author I can read, mostly in historical fiction though.
One of my favorite authors now."

Dang, I don't have a Facebook but now I would have a good reason t..."
I think you will enjoy his other fantasy series! He is now one of my favorite authors and I am planning on reading his historical fiction as well.