Title: The Dragonkin Legacy: The Last War & Dragon Guardians
Author: Ian E.S. Adler
Publisher: Winds’ Home Press
ASIN: B0F2SD32D1
Pages: 776
Genre: Coming of Age Fantasy
Reviewer: Anthony Avina
The past is never truly dead. While much of the past and its history are often written by the victors – ancient relics, forgotten cities, and hidden legacies often find a way of unveiling themselves as the sands of time blow away little by little. Sometimes by looking to the past and learning from those who came before, a person or group of people can gain insight and foresight to face challenges that can change the course of an entire civilization.
Author Ian E.S. Adler thoughtfully explores this through a fantasy-driven epic novel known as The Dragonkin Legacy: The Last War & Dragon Guardians. The book is a powerful collection of books one and two in the Dragonkin Legacy series and follows a small group of heroes brought together by fate. Long after the first human mages conquered the now long gone Dragonkin on the continent of Cynnahu, the descendants of those human mages are now under threat from the snake-folk of Nag Isle, and five unwitting heroes will either save or doom humanity by finding the last magics of the dormant Dragonkin. Discovering an ancient riddle connected to an ancient prophecy, these five individuals will rise together to face the growing threat of a coming war on both land and sea which will change the fate of the world.
Immediately readers are thrust into a world of magic, war, and visceral imagery. The world-building the author utilized in this omnibus was phenomenal, making each and every chapter and setting feel rich with history and the characters alive on the page. The author expertly weaves mystery and suspense into the story to make the world feel richer and more alluring, with each chapter unveiling a new aspect of the land of Cynnahu’s political power structure and the ways in which the mages use magic, making this world feel both fantastic and wondrous and yet incredibly dangerous as the Snake-Folk and their connection to the ancient Dragonkin are unveiled.
Fans of high-fantasy based storytelling and epic fantasy novels with a coming-of-age infusion will love this omnibus. The character-driven narrative was incredibly strong, from the father and son dynamic that delves into questions of legacy and living up to it between Myrriden and Emrys, to the dangerous and emotional path of vengeance that drives Sakura after losing her family and her entire people in the first bloody conflict of the series. The exploration of grief and how it motivates people in the wake of great tragedy was a great way to add more depth to her character arc and engage in a more grounded aspect of such a powerfully magical narrative. A story filled with twists and turns, epic world building full of history that feels ancient as the reader devours the book, and a memorable prose in the author’s writing style that really makes the reader feel rooted in the world made this blend of politics, war, and fantasy a must-read.
