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A review by hyrulebalverine
Marked by the Dragon by Richard Fierce
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I hadn't read the Marked by the Dragon series prior to obtaining this omnibus edition from Kickstarter, so went into this story blind. I'm actually glad that I started with the omnibus as the way each of the books incorporated into this omnibus ends is very reminiscent of how Stephen King broke The Green Mile up into 6 smaller parts and released each part on a monthly basis.
The first four books of the series were released between July and December of 2021, and tell a fast paced and easily resolved story, where nearly every character seemingly exists solely to push the plot forward, with very few there to flesh out or expand upon the world itself. The story itself is decent and entertaining, if someone simplistic, but the conflicts of the story are resolved with virtually no effort from the protagonists.
While the story could have easily ended at the end of the fourth book, there were a couple of plot points that could have had a stronger or more detailed resolution, which brings us to the 5th book, which was released 2 years after the original book in the series. This serves to tie up those dangling threads and end the series on a somewhat happier note, but again, seems to end with minimal effort or action from the protagonist, and does little to explain the reasoning as to why the character that caused the resolution did what they did, which seems very counter to their nature.
The last book written in this series was the prequel, which fleshes out the backstory of the main character, and, being a short 15-page story, acts as a prologue to the first book. I do appreciate that the events that set this story into motion are not some big prophesized moment or some grand design, but rather just a simple accident that forced our main character into a situation that nobody could have predicted.
With that said, while this is probably not going to be your favorite book, and is nowhere near as complex as series such as Shannara, the Cosmere, the Wheel of Time, etc., it is a fun ride. Don't set your expectations too high and enjoy this palette cleanser story.
The first four books of the series were released between July and December of 2021, and tell a fast paced and easily resolved story, where nearly every character seemingly exists solely to push the plot forward, with very few there to flesh out or expand upon the world itself. The story itself is decent and entertaining, if someone simplistic, but the conflicts of the story are resolved with virtually no effort from the protagonists.
While the story could have easily ended at the end of the fourth book, there were a couple of plot points that could have had a stronger or more detailed resolution, which brings us to the 5th book, which was released 2 years after the original book in the series. This serves to tie up those dangling threads and end the series on a somewhat happier note, but again, seems to end with minimal effort or action from the protagonist, and does little to explain the reasoning as to why the character that caused the resolution did what they did, which seems very counter to their nature.
The last book written in this series was the prequel, which fleshes out the backstory of the main character, and, being a short 15-page story, acts as a prologue to the first book. I do appreciate that the events that set this story into motion are not some big prophesized moment or some grand design, but rather just a simple accident that forced our main character into a situation that nobody could have predicted.
With that said, while this is probably not going to be your favorite book, and is nowhere near as complex as series such as Shannara, the Cosmere, the Wheel of Time, etc., it is a fun ride. Don't set your expectations too high and enjoy this palette cleanser story.