Golden Flames

Dragonblood Assassin, Book 4

De: Jaime Castle, Andy Peloquin

Narrado por: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading

The battle grows dire. The death toll rises. The end is nigh.

Natisse, believing Kullen has fallen to a traitor’s blade, fights on to honor his memory and to complete his final mission: to save their Empire from the enemy fleet threatening destruction. Together with Golgoth, she must stand before the very fires of Hell to protect the city and people she has come to love.

Kullen, gravely wounded, finds himself dragged back from the brink of death. But if the gods are kind, he might just find allies to aid in his battle to avenge the dead and hold the chaos-gripped city together in the most unexpected of places.

United by common purpose, they and all of Dimvein must stand strong—or face total annihilation at the hands of a power older and crueler than even the dragons they command.

Golden Flames is the final installment in Dragonblood Assassin from number one Audible and Washington Post best seller Jaime Castle and epic fantasy legend Andy Peloquin, perfect for fans of the Forgotten Realms, Joe Abercrombie, David Dalglish, and Kel Kade.

Castle and Peloquin will return with a brand-new series in the Dragonblood World in 2024.

©2023 Aethon Books (P)2024 Audible Inc.

Fantastic

I LOVED the Dragonblood Assassin series. Reminded me of Brandon Sanderson’s story telling.
I would definitely recommend them to anyone who loves fantasy with dragons, bad-a** characters and of course read by the wonderful Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Loved it!

a time of dragons

the whole series was engaging and fun, if i had the power i would make this a whole mmorpg and make it to where the player had to join an elite band of talons under kullen hence the mmo part, such a great world and story deserves a game

Surprising Gem!

Wonderful world building and fantastically relatable characters! I hope there are more to come! Definitely was not expecting to enjoy it so much, but this story has a great flow that keeps you connected to the characters and story for the duration!

An absolute delight- HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

I was coming off of reading all of Robin Hobbs’ books & then all of Brandon Sanderson’s books (for the 5th time), and I was just trying to find something that wasn’t a letdown after such brilliance. I stumbled onto this series & I have to say that it fit right in with Hobbs & Sanderson! What a fantastic series! I can’t wait for these authors to come out with their new series:) Of course, you can’t beat Kate Reading & Michael Kramer either!

Underwhelming

I'm 7 hours in - or just under 1/3 of the book. So far, I'm a bit disappointed.

In books #1-#3, Natisse and Kullen are murder machines. Assassins. But so far they have killed exactly 0 people directly. Kullen even walked away from a situation where he likely could have done some good by killing 5 men who were out to prey on ordinary citizens. I'm starting to wonder if the authors' intentions are to do a 180° and give the two characters a new purpose in society.

The world building continues to suffer because the enemies are effectively nameless hordes showing up en masse. I get the feeling that we'll be seeing wave after wave of "unbeatable" odds that get "defeated" by one brazen idea after another. Some of it feels like the authors are making up new rules as they go, or that they didn't do enough setup work to inform the reader of what each person / dragon's capabilities are. If the reader doesn't know the rules, then the stakes are unknown and the actions & outcomes feel arbitrary.

I will likely finish the book because I care about the protagonists. I'm starting to care less and less about Dimvein, though. It can burn for all I care. After all, we don't really know what might happen if the city falls. For all we know, the attackers might actually be good people. Maybe their methods have been mis-characterized? The authors haven't given us enough of a chance to get to know the enemy. Only rumors, gossip, legends, and fear.

Update: I am ~10 hours in now, and surprised by how boring most of the events have been so far. Kullen has finally done some murdering, but not much. I think my biggest issue with the story so far is how few mysteries exist at the moment. I am curious about prince Jaylen's true motivations, but other than that there are no puzzles for my brain to solve as I am reading the story. The only thing for the reader to do is to wait and see whatever arbitrary action the authors decided should happen next in the story. Neither Natisse nor Kullen have any kind of elaborate strategy beyond "I need to complete the task that's immediately before me". I wish that at the very least there'd be a character who has to explore a new power set or something.

Natisse's isn't learning anything new about her dragon powers anymore, despite acknowledging that there likely is much she doesn't know. As usual her inner thought process is overly verbose and repetitive. Her thoughts could be conveyed more effectively in fewer words. It's extra frustrating when her inner monologue interrupts a tense action sequence, as if she had all the time in the world to reminisce about the past while making split-second decisions. I get the sense that she is being set up as the next ruler of the empire. Various characters are dropping vague hints that point in that direction, but she doesn't know what their words mean. I assume it will be revealed that she comes from a royal bloodline, and that's why her parents were murdered all those years ago. And if she ascends to the throne, Kullen will likely serve by her side - doubly-loyal as both life partner and her Black Talon. That is my prediction, anyway.

Update: I am ~15 hours into the story now (~8 hours left). The story has finally gotten exciting. Things are actually happening. Still no major mysteries for my mind to unravel, but at least there is plenty of action happening in parallel. And at last, one of the protagonists is driving the story forward with his own will instead of purely under the direction and urging of others.

Update: I have finished the book. And I am a bit disappointed. The "end state" of the protagonists was predictable. Prince Jaylen's motivations felt a bit lame / lazy / tired. In this story, Jaylen is an annoying fly, buzzing about when you least want him around.

I wish the "epilogue" had been longer.

The emotional payoff at the end is minimal. I wanted the protagonists to bask in joy - together. But mostly it was about the tedious aspects of their new life - alone. And in the moments when they ARE together, they spend 50% of the time fighting, angry, or upset in some way. :( For all the gazillion words that this book likes to waste on all sorts of unimportant details, we never get to experience Golgoth's reaction to the final (predictable) "twist". We never get to experience Kullen's initial internal reaction to it either - how did his shock express itself internally? We'll never know. I feel let down by how little time Kullen and Natisse get to spend in each other's company in this book. And I wish we'd have gotten to experience the lead-up to them heading to bed for the first time together. Was Kullen apprehensive of this step, or excited / eager? Are they married? Did Natisse propose?

Given how quickly I finished the book, it can't have been that bad. Worth a listen once. But overall I'd tell myself not to listen to it again. Too many words are used to describe most scenes. I'd rather listen to something else.

Update: A day later, what also irritates me is to what extent Kullen has turned into Natisse's boy toy by the end. The power dynamics have changed. In many ways, she is in full control of his life now. He has few choices of his own. They are in an unequal relationship. And maybe that's why in the epilogue we don't get ANY scenes of them together, from HIS perspective. Kullen's feelings are secondary, at least in relation to Natisse. The authors decided that he has served his purpose, he primarily is a stud now. Regardless of Natisse's insistence that nothing has changed in regard to his job as the Black Talon, in the very last moments of the story he is told NOT to go on a mission - that others are better suited for it. He is NOT given an alternative mission, as he might have been earlier on in the series. There is just some vague mention that there will be other work *eventually*. He is a driven guy who is used to nonstop action or at least back-to-back missions. And now he is without a real job. Sad. :(

It seems like the authors wanted to establish Natisse as a powerhouse who is in control, despite her fears. It doesn't feel entirely believable or natural. She should have more visible growing pains and SOME visible mistakes early on. Many potential interpersonal conflicts are glossed over (or rather Natisse "solves" them by yelling and making demands of people). It feels like the transition into their new lives should have been its own book. Not a short collection of hastily written stories in the epilogue.

I'm not a fan of how the series ended.

Fantastic ending!

What a fantastic, epic, bloody, sweet, wonderful ending! This story was absolutely incredible, and I loved the super long epilogue. Just absolutely fantastic!

Pretty awesome conclusion

The story was good, action was there and the narrators captured the characters well. Over all an excellent conclusion to the series

Engrossing

Love it. Definitely reading it from the beginning again. Hopefully won't have to wait long for the next trilogy.

character depth

you guys did an awesome job having all 4 books flow so effortlessly . great job. look forward to more

Narration and story

As always, the narration by Michael Keating and Kate Redding is superb. Combined with the story and characters, with Scott a five star review. It looks. Series has ended, but it shouldn’t have as there’s still more story to be told.