The Cavaliers Dragon tome1, Mercy - Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett

Summary : With the squadron Draco the Vosltov is about to win his war against secular neighbor Ke-Han.Unruly rascals that drive mechanical dragons powered magic are the ultimate weapon of Volstov.But one of them is at the center of a scandal likely to change the camp of victory. To neutralize this threat and save the kingdom, four very different heroes must come together: a magician in exile, a provincial naive, a young student, and the unpredictable virtuoso pilot who rides the most fearsome dragon of the city: Mercy.But on the eve of the great battle, these four brave will face a risk likely to hesitate the most formidable warriors, weaken the most powerful magicians, and associate in the same quest four characters disparate.

Edition : Eclipse

My Opinion : I must say that I have long been intrigued by this novel that I found the coverage achieved by Kekai Kotaki which one can find the making of here , simply sublime. In addition I must say that the principle of metallic dragon tempted me well, so when Livraddcit proposed a partnership for this book I have therefore proposed and it is with pleasure that I was selected. I want to thank first Livraddict and Eclipse editions for me to share this novel. I also wanted to highlight the futility of the map, I'm not a fan of cards but when there are so many to use it, but here the map is so imprecise that it does not serve.

I must say I was a little surprised by this book, after reading the summary I expected the fantasy very focused on action and on war with metallic dragons in the fray, and yet the novel is much more complex than we might think. Indeed the story is much more than a war between two peoples, the authors based on four different characters petmet offer an interesting perspective panel and especially diving into complex characters.

But now, despite all that I have to say that the plot itself is slow to develop, in fact we begin to really talk about the conspiracy after more than 200 pages, the previous pages primarily used to put basis of relations between the various protagonists.Furthermore the plot, although it is more complex than what I expected, still remains very classic a Fantasy perspective and evil actually rise without being bad.

Only original themes such famous metallic dragons and male homosexuality that bring a certain freshness to the story, although we would have liked to see more of these dragons. Other minor complaints much of the final action not involving the protagonists, or once a selection of authors, some of the weapons of war facts is off-screen, as if they wanted to devote themselves fully to the relationship characters by putting a little intrigue aside.

The characters, precisely, are the great strength of this book, perfectly crafted and put in places of great complexity and I have to say that there are easy to attach to them and understand them. I regret, against the few female perspective (a shame when you consider that both authors are women ^^) that could counterbalance the strongly macho perspective Rook hero, but also some more than caricatures reactions especially sometimes repetitive.

Regarding the pen of authors I have to say it is beautifully written with a certain claim in the narrative making fluid and interesting read and it feels especially the enthusiasm and intelligence that the authors wanted to share with us. The universe created and its mythology is interesting, complex and dense but that the fact that the novel is broken out between the four protagonists in the first person that we only see flanges what frustrates some readers especially as there is plenty to do both on geography, magic or architecture. I do not understand why the authors have not used their heroes to describe a little of what they see.

I must say that in the end I found the sympathetic reading even if it is far from great fantasy books, but now writing full of enthusiasm and especially the great potential that, in my opinion, seems to give me reading want to read the second volume. Also be aware that this book is the first novel of two young authors a barely twenty years.

In Summary : A fantastic book with interesting characters, dense writing one feels enthusiastic, dynamic and above all intelligent. Then of course the book is far from perfect, defects appear there but the universe is so rich and ambitious I think this novel deserves a chance. So I read the second volume with pleasure.

My rating : 7/10