Hello Fellow Journeyers,
The next book we have is one I've taken too long to finish, but finish I did and it was well worth the effort. Dragon Mage is a self-published book by author ML Spencer and I have lots to say. Let's get started!
What's the story about: Dragon Mage is classic epic fantasy about a young boy discovering his magical abilities and divine powers with an ancient war of dragons, mages, and evil going on, all with a modern take.
Rarely do you come across books that simply sweep away your attention entirely and don't let go until the very end. And I'm not talking about writing tricks that require you "to know what happens next." But a real sense of needing to know what happens to the characters because you're instantly engaged and smitten by them. Dragon Mage reminded me of stories as a child that you read and didn't realize you were reading, you were simply enjoying a fantastic story. It evokes vibes of The Hobbit, Eragon, and The Chronicles of Narnia among so many others that were written exactly how you needed them to be written in order to get swept up by them.
To begin with, the pair of Aram and Markus may be one of the most fun and also most refreshing main characters to lead a coming of age fantasy story I've ever read. Aram, in modern times would be considered autistic, and this makes him one of the most endearing and fascinating characters to watch grow, and grow he most certainly does. And Markus is the buddy to this duo that you love to read about. To decide who has the rougher path is hard to say, but Spencer seamlessly switches between their perspectives so flawlessly that you'd be convinced that either could be the primary protagonist without a doubt. The story belongs to Aram, but without Markus as a loving best friend and companion, the story would be sorely lacking. Sergan, the "main" antagonist, is one of the first villains I've read recently that I "hated to love." He's an absolute trash bag and yet you can't help but be drawn to his motives, even if all the other villains and "bad guys" are all mostly one-dimensional. Sergan breaths life into the dark aspects of the story and is told with a lot of intrigue and wonder. But that's not to say the rest aren't memorable. Every character is well communicated and explained that you care about all of them without doubt.
Now getting to the detractors: one of the main problems to this story, even if it isn't a big one, is the length. This story was one that I had to take in two month-long stretches. During the first stretch I raced through until the 60% mark. Then took a long hiatus of a few months before ultimately returning to finish it; I'm so glad I didn't let it go unfinished. I really loved most of this story, but battle after battle and training session a plenty plague the middle section and drags it down to a slow grind. (Which is probably my biggest complaint to huge epic fantasy books in general, but I recognize this as a subjective opinion.) I think the main problem with this is because the character work gets stalled for the plot work. There's a lot to be told in terms of plot and because of this, the characters are stilted.
The other main problem with the story is the bigger of the two: the first half and the second half differ in terms of storytelling gravity. While the first half uses the fantasy tropes that you're familiar with and turns them on their head, the second half unfortunately falls prey to them in typical fashion. While it isn't bad per say, there are less ideas that are as fresh and intuitive as the first half. It's like after having such a strong beginning with keeping the reader wondering how things will work out, Spencer either lost her way or thought that she should course correct in order to make the story fit into readers' perceptions of what should happen. While it doesn't ruin the story by any means, it just loses some of the weight and ingenuity that the first half expresses to an endless degree.
Now that I got that out of the way, I want to get back to mostly gushing. While reading this story, I continually noticed how accessible and comfortable it was. I've focused on these two aspects a lot in the books I've been reading recently and this is because without them, it is much harder to jump into a story and enjoy it. I love when a story can be completely engrossing but doesn't require you to have to think deeply while you read to understand it. It's complicated in its ideas, not its telling. That's what makes Dragon Mage a story for all ages which I believe this one is. (Besides the occasional cursing that I found within which keeps it from being for a particularly young audience.) This story is about loyalty, love, facing your fears, embracing hardship, and acting in spite of your weaknesses that is truly inspirational and touching.
★★★★★ 4.5 Stars - Dragon Mage is classic epic fantasy at it's best and yet none too cliché. ML Spencer must love fantasy, or simply wanted to pay tribute to the authors who established the genre, because she does so with the utmost care and aplomb in her story. It works to a splendid degree. It's up there with the other great "dragon tales" and should be much more popular than it currently is. While the first half strikes truer and resonates hard with the reader, the second half dips from what is absolutely perfect storytelling. And while the story does tend to tread on for an overly long time, it has a lot that is worth saying. With those things considered, it doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the story. I couldn't say enough good things other than it is another comfortable read that is worth taking the time and investing in. Definitely Essential Reading!
Let me hear from you! If you like what you read, want to hear more thoughts on this book, other reviews, or talk book recommendations and Essential Reading, leave a comment below.
Rating system:
★★★★★ 5 Stars: It was amazing; I loved it. Read this book; it is definitely Essential Reading!
★★★★★* 4.5 Stars: It was nearly perfect. I really loved almost every aspect of it, but a few things kept it from being amazing.
★★★★ 4 Stars: It was very worth reading and satisfying; highly recommend.
★★★★* 3.5 Stars: I thoroughly enjoyed this story, but it was lacking in certain crucial areas.
★★★ 3 Stars: It was good, but could've been better or improved upon significantly.
★★★* 2.5 Stars: I wanted to enjoy it. Certain aspects were good, it was worth finishing, but many issues.
★★ 2 Stars: It was okay, I didn't feel strongly about it.
★★* 1.5 Stars: I finished it, but it was a chore to get through.
★ 1 Star: I did not like it. It was not worth finishing or I did not finish it.
*I round up based on the system on Goodreads.