Had this been the very first epic fantasy that I had ever read, I would likely be telling you the following, if you had not already been inundated with it: "this kicks ass, buy this book, best I've ever read, etc". That's probably what someone would tell you - if it were the only fantasy that they'd ever read. However, this is not my case. As I glance from my monitor to my immediate left, I would estimate 200 fantasy novels stare back at me. I'm not a fantasy "beast" - I'm only 18, in college, etc. But my fair bit of experience qualifies me to point out a few things to a potential reader - because really, you don't want to trust someone for whom this was their first.
"Dragon Prince" has a ton going for it. The characters act like real people might for the most part (unlike Terry Goodkind, where everything is meant to enrage or appall us), and the magic system of Sunrunners is about as original as it can be considering the voluminous amount of stuff that has preceded it. Political stuff is here too, and just at the right quantity and complication (though I do wish there were less passing mentions of unnecesarry and never-to-be-seen-again nobles and such. On the flip side, there is the occasional cheese-convo, for example Rohan trying to come to grips with his power in the last stages of the book, in a conversation with his brother Chay. Rohan's been the strongest personality up until this point, and then just starts whining about what he's going to do, he's not fit to rule, yadda yadda, and you can't help but roll your eyes at the contrivance of it all. Furthermore, I was a bit confused as to the size of the world. It really didn't seem to make intuitive sense. Battles in a "war" that involved nearly the entire world had mentions of soldiers in the "hundreds", never mention was ever made of a thousand people, for example. Rohan's battle against Roelstra at the end was about 600 on 900 respectively. Such figures irk me, because in a world where kingdoms are important and are ruled by lords, etc., and travel across this world takes quite a while, the popluation seems to be unrealistically low. Nitpicking perhaps, but these are points where reality and fantasy do have to be somewhat parallel, or so I would argue.
All in all though - still an enjoyable read. It's not the best (though I have not proceeded to the next 5 books), that honor I would bestow upon Mr. Robert Jordan. Although his series is excrutiatingly long, you have to admit: you want to know how that puppy ends perhaps more than any ending to any story in any form ever. This series was fun, but let's say I could never find a copy of any subsequent book in the series. I would be disappointed for a few moments, but I get over it. The Wheel of Time in that situation - it would bother me for a long long time. For me, that is the mark of truly great and involving fantasy.
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