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The Shadow Of Black Wings (2012)

by James Calbraith(Favorite Author)

3.64 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Flying Squid

series

The Year of the Dragon

review 1: James pens "The Shadow of Black Wings" the first in 'The Year of the Dragon' series in a well written, captivating, magickal fantasy filled plot. His characters are well developed, relate-able and interesting...such as dragons. The only problem I found is that it started out to slow, but eventually did pick up and kept me turning the pages. A must read for all fantasy lovers.This review is based on a complimentary copy from the author which was provided for an honest review.
review 2: I really enjoyed reading this book, so much in fact, that I ordered the next book before I finished the first. I love the fantasy elements and the exploratory nature of the first half of the story. The world is based on our own, but it has enough differences that it feels brand ne... morew, but with the depth of our own history, making it a rich, complex story world. The varying magics are interesting and apparently well thought out, and each of the characters has some degree of control over one of the magicks, so you get to see a lot of it in action. The characters are engaging and sympathetic. I'm invested in their stories, and I want to see where the story takes them in the rest of the stories. This story has dragons--both Western and Eastern style--and though they aren't a huge factor in the story (since they're mostly domesticated), I liked their presence. I hope there will be more of them in the future. The political nature of the book is fascinating to me, and I can't wait to see what happens as a result of Bran's trek across the world into unknown and forbidden territories. I will admit, reading the book as a whole, the first chapters seem a little tacked on, because the story doesn't really get going until the third chapter or so. There are some elements of the first chapters that never show up again in the first book, mostly magical elements that I thought were really interesting, but I wonder if maybe they'll come up again in the rest of the series. Also, the first chapters are somewhat awkwardly written. I can't really place my finger on it, but that stood out to me. Anyway once Bran finally leaves home, the story really picks up, and I was totally engrossed in everything that was going on. The writing goes from somewhat awkward to absolutely phenomenal.There are a few formatting issues in the first chapters and last few chapters. Mostly typographical errors--quotes in the wrong place, inconsistent punctuation, and a few non-standard or incorrect uses of dialogue punctuation. That said, it only tripped me up a few times, and the story was so interesting, that I didn't really care about the errors.I highly recommend this book for fans of fantasy and Far Eastern history and culture.The only reason it gets four stars instead of five is because of the awkwardness of the first chapters and the seemingly forgotten threads that are presented there. I think had those first chapters been stronger and the story had really kicked off right away, I would have given this five stars. less

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