What I Liked
*The world building: For instance! Dragon Lords have an interesting origin, as related by the world's bards, and the fact that they deliberately obfuscate their own lore to keep "truehumans" in the dark is a further interesting wrinkle. Yeah, "truehumans" are actual humans and "truedragons" are actual dragons. Dragon Lords are were-dragons.
*Sensory detail: The author is fantastic at laying out a scene on paper, whether it is riding out a storm in trade boat, riding through a town market, or flying over the countryside.
*The use of rotating perspectives: the reader gets a sense for the sprawling intrigue of this regency crisis when they can see how many interested parties are doing stuff outside the council scenes, which would be difficult to convey from a more limited perspective.
*The relationship between the leads. I was afraid that this would be one of those "dancing around each other until the final page" sort of things, particularly with the love triangle. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn't the case.
*the ending: No cliffhanger or last-minute "got-cha". It is a satisfying resolution.
What I didn't like
*The pacing: It takes forever for this book to get anywhere. About 100 pages pass before the two leads met face-to-face, and that was a "didn't recognize/get their name" sort of meeting.
*The rotating perspectives: So many perspectives switching so quickly, and each one introduces more characters, often new characters that might not show up again until much later, it's hard to keep them all straight. I often found myself thinking "Who is this guy, and what is his deal again?" It also contributes to the very slow pacing.
*The climax (not the ending): A lot of Drama-Preserving Handicaps being thrown around in an attempt to maintain tension. At one point, I had to roll my eyes at a particularly egregious one.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Last Dragonlord" a B+
Click here for my previous book review: PathFinder - First Edition - Core Rulebook
Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
New book up! Catalyst for Glorious Change!
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