Embers at Galdrilene

Dragon’s Call, Book #1

By A.D. Trosper

ISBN # 9780615730950

Author’s Website: http://adtrosper.wordpress.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Caro

*Beware of  Spoilers!*

Synopsis:

“A ray of light, a stain of shadow, shall endure to breathe life and death into the future”

The war between the Guardians and the Shadow Riders ended in total devastation. The final battle killed all the dragons and left nothing but fields of ash. A small clutch of dragon eggs was all that remained to provide hope for the future. Five hundred years later, the ability to use magic is a death sentence and dragons are remembered as a curse. But the unhatched dragons sing for their riders…and soon six lives will be changed forever. The elements of magic are drawn together as the dragons’ call leads them on an epic and dangerous journey of discovery. They soon learn everything they’ve been taught to believe about magic and dragons is wrong. With the last of the dragons and the world at stake, they will risk everything to heed the call.

But an evil from the past soon threatens their discovery and new found joy. Shadow Dragons ride the dawn once more…

Review:

The story starts off with a deadly battle taking place between the Dragon Riders, which accompany magical dragons of beautiful bright colors, and the Shadow Riders, that have given half of their souls to awaken black as night colored dragons that only seek distraction. As the war takes its death tolls, there are no more dragons or Riders to stand and fight for the magical land of Galdrilene. Only one couple, Emallya and Bardeck, barely survive with one injured dragon, protecting the last remaining unhatched eggs.

Hundreds of years later in a time where using magic is seen as dangerous, new Riders are being summoned by the Dragon’s Call or song, that only those who are meant to ride and have the magic, can hear it. During this first part of the book, the author introduces the reader to the new six Riders that have to safely find their way to Galdrilene, with the help of Emallya, once a Spirit Rider. Along this road trip, we first meet Vaddok a Boder Guard, Serena an ex-healer apprentice and her friend the Lord of Thieves Kellinar.

At this point, I was still waiting for the story to fully catch my attention, the pace of the book was quite suitable but it took me a while to come across that certain moment in the story line that would really get me into the plot. Since the moment I read the synopsis for this book I had high hopes and I didn’t want it to let me down. Everything was well described, which is something that I just love because it helps me to get a better visual of the plot and its characters. This is what I like about a book, being able to picture the scenes in my mind as if it were my own personal movie 😉 and I’m thankful that author A.D. Trosper did a good job.

When the first three Riders finally come across Kirynn a strong female warrior, Maleena a petit lonely woman and McKale a stranger she recently met, they can now start hatching theirs eggs. The road trip, up until now, ends with the group arriving to Galdrilene after being attacked by deadly evil creatures called Kojen. I liked how each character was described before they all came together, each one of them had an interesting background with different positions and families. As they developed throughout their journey, there were two characters that I was really interested in so far and one, unexpectedly, bloomed more than the other, yet without leaving the other one behind. Making me desperately wanted to get to the end to read how it would all conclude.

Something interesting in this story is, the bond mate theme. The riders can only have a mate if their dragons find a mate for themselves, which would automatically make that dragon’s Rider his or her mate. In some way, I liked how the bond between mates and dragons was described and used in the plot. It gives the story that romance factor that it needs, especially when you know there will be fight scenes involved and you’re hoping that the couples don’t get hurt or worse killed. Let me use the ship term for a moment and just add that my ship of Kellinar and Serena sank. I might have gotten my conclusions, too early, but I really thought that Serena and Kellinar would end up bond mates. Since McKale and Maleena were bonded together, even before their eggs hatched, I assumed that the next couples would be Kirynn with Vaddoc and Serena with Kellinar, which didn’t happen and then it just took a very radical twist and Kellinar ended up with more than he could handle, or so I think.

Now, at this point, the story really starts to unravel and when you think that author A.D. Trosper is done introducing her characters, she gives you another handful to get to know but this time from the bad side, just what we need. For those who thought Cinderella was always the good character, you were wrong. We’re introduced to a Shadow Rider similar to a Cinderella type but evil, whom without hesitation kills one of her step-sisters, giving her the right to hatch a black egg. Author A.D. Trosper, lets us know that the riders and mages have the magic and it is up to them how they use it and which side they choose to go to. I am really curious as to what Sadira will do with her power in the next book, Tears of War.

Another aspect, which I liked about the Riders, was their ability to jump or slide between one place and the other with the help of their dragons. I just enjoy a good use of magical abilities. One of my favorite scenes was when Maleena accidently slides, while trying to think of a way to save Taela and Paki, to where they were. Her emotions and a clear vision activated the jump by accident. At this point I am fully in love with the book. This was my favorite rescue/fight scene of all the book. It definitely didn’t let me down.

This is definitely a great Fantasy/Dragon book to read. If you’re a fan of dragons and magic this is a book for you and even if you’re not, still give it a try. The characters will win you over with their hidden cards and by the end of the book you’ll wish you too had a dragon by your side. I wish I could tell you more about this story but I’m afraid I’d give it all away, if I haven’t yet. This will be one of my favorite books of the year. Author A.D. Trosper did an amazing job delivering a magical story just the way she wanted it to be and at the same time winning herself some fans in the process. All I have to do now is wait for the second book, which hopefully will be ready for us to read later this year. Finally, hear the song and let it guide you to your egg.