Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Dragon Magic
AUTHOR: Megan Derr
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 440 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2018
BLURB:
Four strangers. A shared moment long forgotten. A bond forged in desperation.
On the first day of the Festival of Counting, the beginning of the royal census that takes place every ten years, the royal city is filled to overflowing. Everyone is happy, excited, and proud to be counted amongst those who live in the glorious kingdom of Orhanis.
Then a demon strikes, killing thousands in mere seconds and leveling the city. As the royal castle burns, only four men remain to drive the demon away—and in their desperation, accidentally bind themselves together in a legendary Oath, unable to part ways until they find and kill the demon once and for all.
Mahzan, the King’s Jester, an orphan who clawed his way to the top and hides a fearsome magic… Sule, the notorious North Captain, who sacrificed everything to live as a strong, capable, highly respected man… Cemal, a priest who traveled the continent bent on revenge and now lives lost… and Binhadi, the mercurial shadow mage with a dark history and bloody ties to the throne…
Four men used to standing apart, standing alone, who must learn to stand together if they hope to save themselves and all of Orhanis.
REVIEW:
I seriously didn’t know I needed this story until I read it, and it was so good! Four men brought together by accident (or maybe providence) find themselves bound together by an ancient oath in order to kill the demon that destroyed their home and eliminate the threat to their country. All four men were so very different from one another; different professions, backgrounds and attitudes, but they come together when its needed most to do what no one else can and reading about it was glorious.
Each chapter is told from a different perspective so you get the chance to know each of the main characters really well, which I appreciated, and it didn’t feel as though anyone was shortchanged over the course of the book. There was also a nice, natural progression towards the men truly working as a team rather than individuals but it doesn’t happen so easily as to be unbelievable. There are plenty of problems between the men, some more than others, and it takes more than just having the same purpose in order for them to get over that. One of the best things about the book was watching the relationship between the main characters change and evolve even as they themselves did the same.
The story itself progressed at a really good pace and while there are some time skips due to the length of time the events take place over, they were done well and it didn’t feel as though I was missing anything important by it suddenly being a couple of months farther along in the timeline. The romantic aspects of the story were also introduced gradually (with copious amusing amounts of ust) and nothing between any of the men felt disingenuous or forced. I honestly have no complaints about the book at all except maybe the sleep I missed out on because I didn’t want to stop reading!
The book was just fantastic and just what I needed without even knowing it. If you enjoy fantasy books at all I would highly recommend giving this one a try!
RATING: 
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