The Rage of Dragons

By: Evan Winter

Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi

Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Game of Thrones meets Gladiator in this debut epic fantasy about a world caught in an eternal war and the young man who will become his people's only hope for survival.

The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for almost 200 years. Their society has been built around war and only war. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every 2,000 women has the power to call down dragons. One in every 100 men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine. Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war.

Young, giftless Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He's going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn't get the chance. 

Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He'll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die 100,000 times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.

The Rage of Dragons launches a stunning and powerful debut epic-fantasy series.

©2017 Evan Winter (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"A refreshingly brutal and imaginative tale of survival and revenge. Evan Winter's battles are visceral, bloody masterpieces, and Tau's climb from exiled Lesser to legendary warrior is earned in a way few writers could hope to match." (David Dalglish, author of the Shadowdance Series)

"Winter's debut will draw strong comparisons to George R.R. Martin and Brandon Sanderson, and the strong African influences and ties create a singular, exciting epic with intriguing characters and culture. Readers will be clamoring for the next installment." (Library Journal, starred review) 

"Wow. This book hits the ground with stunning action and danger, and it barely lets up as the pages fly by. I loved the African-influence culture, the unique use of dragons and demons, the complex martial and class hierarchy, and it has a magic system unlike anything I've seen before. What a terrific set up for a series!" (David Anthony Durham, author of The Acacia Trilogy)

It's... almost really good.

The originality of the setting goes a long way towards distracting you from the fact that this is essentially just another coming-of-age / revenge / youth-discovers-great-power story that would not stand out at all of it were set in a medieval European analog culture like most sword and sorcery books. That wasn't my main issue with the book though, longtime readers of fantasy tend to see the same tropes over and over so if you notice the base story sounds a lot like Red Rising except set in tribal Africa with some magic and dragons, that's ok, it doesn't ruin the book, you'll stick around to see how good the reinterpretation is. For me that depends a lot on how well I like and/or identify with the characters and that's where this book is sadly lacking. The main character is just an angry asshole, there is very little depth to him and his "special power" is just being so mad he is supernaturally determined. Its boring. An MC with only one emotion is boring. Where this book shines in the first half is the swordplay and action that distract from the confusion of unfamiliar African words. By the second half I was bored by the overload, its almost nonstop sword duels, no exaggeration. Great potential but the pieces didn't quite come together, its just not a fun read, so overall, like I said: Almost good.

Just couldn’t fall in love here

I’ve been reading science fiction and fantasy since I was 12 or 13. I’ve read thousands of different books and authors. I purchased this book because I saw all these great reviews here. I was disappointed that I was not drawn into to the story and couldn’t not fall in love with the characters. There’s a lack of depth everywhere. The book begins in mid-step and them proceeds to run through everything. Never giving the reader a full understanding of how magic works here or how they even ended up where they now are. Nothing is fully developed. At least not for me.

I don't write reviews.

I have listened to 100s of audio books over the years. I like things I know I can't experience in reality. This writer has it, I couldn't stop listening. Keep up the great work.

Superb!

This is something special. I've been reading fantasy for nearly 40 years, and I've never come across anything like this.

Best Debut Novel Ever

I post most of my reviews on goodreads since that will get the widest distribution considering it covers books as well as audiobooks, but I was so impressed with this book that I thought I better write a review here.

If you read the description and you are at all interested, then you will love this book. It is THAT good. I can't begin to express how moved I was at multiple points in the book. A very rare, five star book for me. I read over 100 books a year, from popular fiction authors like Lee Child, David Baldacci, John Sandford, and Bernard Cornwell, to not as popular sci-fi and fantasy authors like Joe Abercrombie, Jack Campbell, Dennis E. Taylor, Olan Thorensen, and Kevin Hearne, and of course, unknown authors like this one. As a novel it is quite a feat. As a debut novel, it is truly astonishing.

Tau lives in a caste system, where he will always be less than a nobel. He is called a lesser, like his father. But when he and those he loves are wronged in the worst way, Tau has it in his mind to become a warrior never seen before; Tau will become a swordsman so great no one had even thought it possible of a nobel, let alone a lesser. Like much of life, Tau will face injustice and unfairness on his journey, but he will not lose heart, and he will fight back even stronger.

On par with Brandon Sanderson and Joe Abercrombie.

I absolutely loved this book. If you are a fan of anything by Brandon Sanderson or Joe Abercrombie, this will quickly become one of your favorites.

Sixteen Hour Training Montage

Do you like training montages? When watching the Rocky films, do you wish Rocky just punched frozen meat, trudged through snow, and ran the Philly steps for sixteen hours? You are in luck! This is the book for you.

Other than being an interminable description of training, the book also has the advantage of one dimensional characters that never quite break through. Generally, the begining of an epic gives you a ray of hope or a satisfying kernel to latch on to and cary you on to the next book. This book does not have that. It has a truly impressive quantity of disappointment and sadness.

The writing itself is not as bad as the plot might have you believe and the performance by Prentice is terrific. It would be unfair to say it is a bad book. It's not bad. It just doesn't feel worth the time and emotional investment.

wow.

This was a great book. It started a little slow, but it's to be expected in developing the story. Really excited for more.

WOW!! JUST WOW!!

This book is easily in my top 5 fantasy novels. Took me a minute to get use to the names but once I did the rest fell in place. All I can say is this is a must read for the fantasy enthusiast out there.

So good

This is simply spectacular. Truly epic fantasy. This book is sorta like Blood Song meets red rising and is equal in quality, and oh man that closing sentence is just so good

Epic

Fantastic. Nice to have a new author to look out for. Can't wait for book 2.

Superb Narration

Prentice does an excellent job, and I will be looking for more of his work. This story had me gripped and I'm eagerly awaiting book two.

A good book found here....

A totally fantastic book, exceptional narrator. Can't wait for the next instalment.
A well crafted book, worth a listen or read.

incredible story and narrator!

I found it getting better and better, in the end i couldn't put it down.

Action-packed book with great narrator

Action-packed book, with a compelling main character and a lot of interesting stuff around magic, combat and the world that set it apart.

I really enjoy seeing characters change as things happen to them and seeing the consequences of difficult choices they make, and I really enjoy learning sequences in fantasy books. This book gave me brilliant versions of both.

The narrator is excellent as well.

Outstanding

It was only just over a week ago that I was raving about reading another book and hailing it as my favourite of the year.
Then Evan Winter came along with The Rage of Dragons and blew me away.
I love fantasy. Just when I think all the fresh ideas have been used another book comes along with something new. Don't let the book title fool you. This isn't just another sword and sorcery book with Dragons. The Dragons only play an occasional yet devastating bit part. This book is beautifully written. It features a magic system that takes elements from other books but gives them a twist to keep them original. Great characters, the injustice of a caste system, heartache, political intrigue, brutal violence, demons, and much more.
It also feels fresh due to its distinctly African feel. makes a change from the standard medieval Europe that sets the scene for many a fantasy novel. I'd love to see more examples of this in the genre and I cannot wait for the rest of the series.

It's also beautifully read Prentice Onayemi who adds a perfect voice to the characters.

Great first book.

I'm quite harsh on books if I review them, but I liked this one a lot. Certainly as a debut novel this is way better than I expected it to be and I'm looking forward to further books in the series.

I won't summarise the story overly, as that is done well enough above. I will say that it's good. A people displaced from their homeland and fighting to stay in the land they fled to, leading to a war that has lasted for 200 years. Due to this all men must do a military service to fight the enemy for a term of six years. The story follows the exploits of a lesser-commoner as he joins the military to gain the skills he needs to revenge himself against those that caused him harm just before his military testing.

In this background to this you have political and social issues that slowly boil up throughout the book that explode in the final quarter of the book. Add in the war and what is happening there and you have a lot going on and plenty of scope for at last a trilogy of books here. Really good, well-thought-out three-dimensional characters too.

If I had any issue it was that the main character came across as a little too blindly fixated on his revenge that he cared little for the living or the words of friends at times Really small issue though and a book that is definitely worth a read if you love your epic fantasy fiction. Oh, and I found the narrator to be really good too.

Could not put it down. This is one to watch

Evan Winter’s "The Rage of Dragons" is the kind of book that once it has its teeth in you, it won’t let go until you are finished with it, or perhaps more appropriately, it has finished with you. Brutally paced, I felt that the author threw me right in the deep end expecting me to swim and follow along in the story’s wake or sink. It worked. If you want blistering action, it has it, an obsessive main character that starts from zero and turns into a badass, it has it, romance, heartache, magic, secrets, training in an African inspired fantasy setting, layered worldbuilding and political intrigue, it... well, you get the idea. The superb narration by Prentice Onayemi, gave the characters life as well as enhance their emotional depth, I find it incredibly impressive that though all characters for the most part shared the same accent, each sounded distinct and I had no problem differentiating one from the other. This is a story of revenge, pain and how our choices define us, this story will leave its teeth marks in you, make no mistake. This was a 4.5 stars for me. I really liked it and then some. If you enjoyed some of David Gemmell’s or John Gwynne’s work, I guaranty you’ll love this.