"D" IS FOR DRAGONFATE: a new favorite

I have a new favorite Indie Author!

Dragonfate: Dragon's Gold by Alexis Steinhauer (how did I forget to put the title AND author name in this post?!?!?) Also, this is the first book in a completed trilogy.

Synopsis:

Enter a world where a dragon can be held captive by the debt he owes. A land where a dragon is kept alive by the fire coursing from his heart through his veins. A world that has been torn apart by war between these same dragons.

Meet Kyaza, a human-dragon hybrid who was forced to fight in the wars, forced to kill, forced to commit atrocities. All he wants is to be left alone, or perhaps to die at the hands of his current captors.

When he is unexpectedly rescued, Kyaza finds himself once again a slave to another dragon, and he has been commanded to do the one thing he swore he would never do again: kill.

Pros:

From the first line until I closed the book, this story absolutely captivated me. It romps along at a pace that is not too fast, not too slow. The story is elegantly woven, leading the reader on a highly satisfying quest. The book ends on a note that is just gratifying enough for the reader to be fine with the book ending (no cliff-hangers or open-ended story), but with enough lee-way that a sequel or two wouldn’t be out of place. There’s plenty left to learn about this world and these characters, and I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

The characters are believable and well-written and you will just fall in love with the main character, Kyaza. Although Gael is perhaps my favorite character, and I earnestly hope to learn more about her in the subsequent books of the trilogy.

There’s just enough mystery to be tantalizing. I did not figure out what the bad guys were up to beforehand, which is always a plus.

It is absolutely unbelievable that this story was written by a 16-year old. Move over, Chris Paolini!

Cons:

In the paper version there are some distracting formatting issues. For example, the text is not justified, as most books are. There are no page numbers. And the chapters begin wherever they fall, which was more commonly practiced a few decades ago, but nowadays chapters generally get to start on their own page. These things were mildly distracting as I read, but once I got into the story I really stopped noticing.

There was one kind of major plot hole near the beginning of the story, but I overlooked it, as... much like Tolkien’s absent-minded forgetting of the eagles being possible transport at least as far as Gondor.... without this plot hole there would have been no story.

Overall, I give this 4/5 stars (or whatever unit of measurement you wish to use... I know I should come up with something unique, but who has time for that?)

So tell me, dear reader, what are some of your favorite books about dragons?