In the Hall of the Dragon King

The Dragon King Trilogy, Book 1

By: Stephen Lawhead

Narrated by: Tim Gregory

Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

A kingdom hangs in the balance...and a young boy answers the call.

Carrying a sealed message from the war-hero Dragon King to the queen, Quentin and his outlaw companion, Theido, plunge headlong into a fantastic odyssey and mystic quest. Danger lurks everywhere in the brutal terrain, and particularly in the threats from merciless creatures, both human and not-so-human.

While at the castle, the wicked Prince Jaspin schemes to secure the crown for himself, and an evil sorcerer concocts his own monstrous plan. A plan that Quentin and Theido could never imagine.

In the youth's valiant efforts to save the kingdom and fulfill his unique destiny, he will cross strange and wondrous lands; encounter brave knights, beautiful maidens, and a mysterious hermit; and battle a giant, deadly serpent.

In this first book of the Dragon King Trilogy, Stephen R. Lawhead has deftly woven a timeless epic of war, adventure, fantasy, and political intrigue.

©1982, 1996, 2002, 2007 Stephen Lawhead (P)2021 Thomas Nelson

A Diversion At Best -- Wants To Be Too Many Things

This title wants to be too many things at once: particularly Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The strong narrative performance makes the 13 hour length bearable. That's aided by the author's inclination to shift character focus throughout the chapters (though the time frame of how and when chapters fit together seems muddled). The underlying advocacy of Christian-esque monotheism in contrast to fantasy polytheism is heavy-handed. The pace of the plot is uneven, things come too easily to the hero, and the villians go out with a whimper rather than a bang. This is a movie-of-the week homage to better fantasy blockbusters -- and it's enjoyable if one is prepared to recognize what it is without longing for what it might have been.

This seemed like a book written for children

After having listened to other works by Lawhead, this one was a bit of a disappointment. With that being said, I think it would be excellent for older children. I like the way Lawhead weaves the one true God into these stories while also meeting the expectations of fantasy. This one made me think of C. S. Lewis’s Narnia or Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

The plot was more predictable than his other works and there weren’t really any surprises.

Worth the Credit

While this was released on Audible in 2021, the original copyright date was 1982, so this must be an early work. I found the writing as well as the story not nearly as well written as some of his other works, which is to be expected I guess. You would think an author would get a lot better after 30 or 40 years.

This was an interesting story, but it was pretty predictable and I did not find myself enthralled with the plot as it reached the end. Some of his other books kept me more engaged. This book just seemed to be missing something.

One issue might have been the narrator. He did a fairly decent job, but his voice just didn't seem well suited for this story. His interpretation of the evil wizard was especially cringeworthy. He was much more suited for Ted Dekker's "The Complete Circle Series". He did ok on that series.

If this is your first Lawhead book, don't stop here, explore some more of his writings. I would recommend, "Byzantium", "Song of Albion", "The Eirlandia Series" and the "Bright Empires Series". All of them are excellent. Bright Empires is also quite a value since it includes all five books for one credit.

Really bad narrator…

I can’t tell if the cringeworthy aspects of this book are the writing or the narration or both. The narration is particularly bad.
If this is one of your first lawhead books, please keep looking: every other Lawhead book I’ve read has been worth the read or listen.

Wonderful

Great story and great reader! This is a wonderful story of heroism and bravery and adventure. The reader does the voices well and make the story come even more to life.