Bound in Black

By: Steven De Luca

Narrated by: Benjamin Kara

Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Galdor the Green, great and powerful leader of the Lifting Plateau dragons, finds himself magically incarcerated - without means of escape - deep within an underground cavern. Deceived by the dragon, Blaze, once friend and ally, a black scaled, black-hearted liar, and master of deception.

A lot can happen to a dragon in a hundred years and the constant emotional turmoil, and starvation, weigh heavy on his heart. Now, close to the brink of insanity, Galdor is plagued with nightmares over the havoc the deceitful Blaze will inflict upon his lost colony.

Yet, there is hope. They key to his return, lies in his past...with a human sorcerer. And another black dragon.

With his rival safely out of the way, Blaze the usurper is free to advance his coup unchecked. Dragons have become soft under Galdor’s complacent rule. It is up to him to restore his species to their rightful place, using his new found magic to strengthen his position and teach dragons how to really behave.

As his magic grows, so does his ambition, and with it an unknown influence of unstoppable power, never before seen on his world.

Once fully ensconced as Galdor’s replacement, he will deal with the hateful humans, and by fang and flame, he will teach them the way of the dragon.

Skies will burn. Dragons will clash. Enemies, old and new, will die.

©2020 Steven De Luca (P)2021 Steven De Luca

Overall a 2.5 out of 5. Story could have been shortened and the narrator leaves much to desire.

This was not the sequel I was hoping for. The pacing in Bound in Black is inconsistent (the book was unnecessarily long and is rushed at the end). Bound in Scales. Another issue with this prequel/sequel is its narrator. Kara tends to have a clunky speech pattern; putting way too much dramatic emphasis during his reading and in all the wrong places. For a good portion of the book, it felt like every 5th word regardless of what was being said was given dramatic emphasis which 8 out of 10 times, was inappropriate for the moment in the narrative. Overall, it took away from the experience and was a contributing factor that made it such a chore to get through this book. After reading it, I think I understand why the original narrator for Bound in Scales did not narrate this sequel, I suspect they refused to after reading some of the content from this book (more details in the spoilers section).
In conclusion this audiobook is a 2.5 out of 5 stars at best.


Spoilers:


The major issue with the writing in this book is that over half the book is in the point of view of the villain. Not Galdour or Alduce/Nightstar, but Blaze. While I enjoy a good villain, De Luca over did it with building him up (it was like reading Macbeth, but everything goes right for him in the play). The author goes into excessive detail of Blaze's cruelties, manipulations and psyche. At times, it is concerning as to why there is such hyper fixation on these aspects in the plot. For almost all of Blaze's segments, it reads as if you're in the mind of a fascist who's writing their manifesto. As one can imagine, it becomes very tiresome and difficult to read about a "nazi" dragon's rationale and exploits.

If the book had been shortened to act 1 and 3, removing act 2, where the Blaze writing is at its most intolerable, this would be a much better reading experience. Part 1 of the novel does a good job building up Blaze's villainy and setting the stage for the time skip where Gladour returns and subsequently Nightstar/Sunburst are introduced into the plot. The gorey details of the second act of this book are unnecessary and detracts from the story.

However, if One is able to endure part 1 and 2, they will be let down on the build up of Blaze's downfall. De Luca introduces a last minute plot twist revealing the "true" villain is a trapped Jinn/demon (which hates humans like Blaze) that manipulated and took control over the black dragon. Its an attempt to redeem Blaze and make him a martyr. This is an absolutely ridiculous notion after having to endure part 2, where on his own free volition was evil and destructive. There is practically no allusion to Blaze "not being in control" or being destined to become the Jinn's puppet until the end of this story.

The final nail in the coffin for this story is the underwhelming ending. After the Jinn/Blaze is defeated and a literal magic nuke goes off, the author rushes through an ending. Our heros part ways in a speedy fashion and there is no closure for Alduce/Nightstar and Sunburst's world, they simply part ways without any form of epilogue for the series.