Dragon Hero

Riders of Fire, Book Two - A Dragons' Realm Novel

By: Eileen Mueller

Narrated by: Caitlin Davies

Tomaaz doesn’t believe in dragons, until the dragon queen abducts his twin sister, Ezaara. When she goes missing, his parents reveal dangerous family secrets. That night, his father is wrongly imprisoned while his mother heads deep into Death Valley to atone for a dreadful crime.

To make things worse, an army of bestial tharuks attacks his village. No one is prepared. Torn, Tomaaz doesn’t know whom to save. Should he rescue Pa from prison, help the villagers, or follow Ma into enemy territory? Or should he save Lovina, the abused daughter of a traveling merchant?

Tomaaz has to act fast, because Commander Zens and his clone armies are marching through Dragon’s Realm.

Fans of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Riders of Pern and Christopher Paolini’s The Inheritance Cycle will love Riders of Fire.

©2018 Eileen Mueller (P)2019 Audible Australia Pty Ltd.

Even better than the first, and I loved that one

I really enjoyed the first book in the series, Ezaara. My only complaint there was that it started just too darn quickly. Things that other authors would spread out over multiple chapters just seemed to happen over the course of a few paragraphs. This second book, Dragon Hero, fills in some of the gaps, but not all of them. This makes this book even more satisfying. I think it would be possible to start with book 2, but I am not sure. There will definitely be a few spoilers if you go that way, but not too many. If anyone reads or listens in that order, I would love to hear what they think. It really feels like the two books were meant to be read at the same time, like they were written together, but turned out to be so big that the author had to go through the painful process of splitting them apart. I sent an email to the author about this (I love that you can communicate with authors before they are famous, and they write back). She said that was basically the case...started as one story that got too big. Personally, I would love to hear the story as it was originally envisioned. I have now joined her fan club so I can read more of the back story and learn about her other books...I enjoyed everything that much.

The events of the two books take place essentially simultaneously, but from the perspective of different characters. Neither story quite stands on its own, but together the combination is great. Now I want even more.

The narration fit in well with the story, although the bad guys don't quite sound like I imagined...I don't know why I expect the bad guys to have more of a deep male voice, but maybe that is just my imagination being a little sexist. But the reading was top notch..

I was given a free copy of this book at my request (After Ezaara, I begged for a chance to listen to and review Dragon Hero) in exchange for a fair review. Now I will be asking for a chance to review all of the future books as well.

Ended to soon

A lot happened to the people in Ezaara's life during her start at the hold. This was wonderfully told and written. I can't wait for more.

This narrator was born to do Dragon Books!

Another great book in the series! I mean, dragon riders? What's not to love!
So, this adventure takes place around the same time as book 1, except instead of following Ezaara, it follows her brother in the events he faces while she's off on her own adventure. It eventually connects and has them both on the same timeline. But the world building, and characters are brilliant in this series. I loved the story line, the personalities, and the dragons of this world! I am definitely now a fan of the author, and as always, the narrator did a fantastic job! How could she not? She also did the Dragon Blood series. I can't wait to check out the rest of this series!

More, and better, than the first book!

It's not all that often that you see a second in series that improves on the first, but this one manages it easily! It takes all the structures established in book one, builds on them, improves them, and brings depth and sense to almost everything that was problematic in the first book!

As before, Caitlin Davies gives us an excellent performance. She has a great assortment of voices with excellent vocal inflections and solid tempo shifts throughout. My one complaint (apart from not liking her choices for the Dragon voices) is that one of the character voices is not consistent. Or, more specifically, her accent is not consistent. She goes back and forth between neutral (US) and Irish accent, which was a bit jarring.

Now, clearly these two books were originally meant as a single book, as many of the events depicted here happen concurrently with book one.

I can't help thinking it would have made a much more compelling and satisfying experience if read as a single volume. But as it is, I would say that no reader should stop after book one. This one is such an intrinsic part of the story that is difficult to understand book one without this one for context.

That said, this book gives us a deep dive into the characters we met in book one that disappeared right at the start. I actually find myself liking these characters (and storyline) quite a bit more than those in Ezaara.

Much like the first book, we have a strong coming of age arc complete with a romance subplot that turns out to be far different from what was expected.

Although this romance is almost as fast as that in book one, I actually enjoyed this one a lot more. I think it's in the particulars of how it all happens, that this one just feels a lot more believable. It has a much realer feel to it.

There are definitely some weighty topics being dealt with and at times this book get very dark. It almost brought me to tears more than once, yet had me laughing out loud at others.

There are a few elements that are a touch on the predictable side and the abruptness of the POV switches are sometimes a bit jarring, but elsewise the writing is absolutely fantastic.

The final climax is tense, suspenseful, and exciting, and left me feeling thoroughly satisfied. This is the kind of emotional response I expect from an awesome book!

At this point, I can't recommend this series strongly enough! Now I'm off to read book three.

Coming of age!

This heart-warming dragon adventure splits into multiple plotlines. The first volume was about Ezaara. This volume revolves around her twin brother Tomaaz with sub-plots concerning his father, mother, and Lovina. Tomaaz and his father Haanz must prepare Lush Valley for the coming tharuk attack. Tomaaz befriends Lovina, a village girl who has been abused by her guardian; igniting new feelings in Tomaaz. Tomaaz’s mother Marlise has been quested to save the dragon queen’s son in an effort to repay her debt to the queen. The evil Commander Zens and his army of tharuks continue to threaten Dragon’s Realm. Several twists and turns add to the excitement and expand the story. It’s a wonderful tale that holds your attention throughout. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Increasing Danger in Dragon's Realm

Starting in the same place and time as Ezaara, the first book in the Riders of Fire series, Dragon Hero follows the journeys of Tomaaz (Ezaara's brother) and Hans and Marlies (Ezaara's parents). We finally get to hear the backstories of Hans and Marlies, as well as meet some of the people and dragons that were a part of their previous lives as dragon riders. Tomaaz is a complex, wonderful character. He has so much heart and an incredibly strong moral compass. While Ezaara explored Dragon's Hold and ventured outside to the Wastelands briefly, Dragon's Hold gives us a much closer look at Lush Valley as well as the journey to and life in Death Valley.

The thing is, while Ezaara has my heart, Dragon Hero dug so much deeper into the story and the lore of Dragon's Realm. After failing to reach Ezaara before she set off with Zaarusha, Marlies sets off on her own quest for the Dragon Queen, to rescue the queen's son in Death Valley or die trying. Along the way, she meets up with some old friends from her dragon rider days and attempts to subvert tharuk trackers and mind readers and ultimately Zens himself. In the meantime, Lush Valley is under attack, Hans is falsely imprisoned, and Tomaaz is thrown into the the midst of a world he has never known before. Those he once thought were friends turn against him; those he rarely thought of became the most significant people in his world.

Great bravery is required of Tomaaz, but kindness is not. Still, he consistently makes choices that show compassion toward any and all in need. He is a remarkable young man, so much more than the typical male teen hero. And his compassion causes even more suffering to both him and those he loves, and yet shows he is willing to make morally right choices, regardless of the personal consequences.

A special thanks to Eileen Mueller for gifting me a free copy of this audiobook. I have reviewed it of my own accord because it's amazing and I couldn't not.

Kept me on the tips of my talons!

There is so much going on in this story, yet none of it gets lost. I followed the POV of multiple characters, some major, some minor (or are they? hmmm) seamlessly as it was written brilliantly! Narrator is passionate throughout the story and does some awesome "bad guy" voices!

Another Fantastic Story

I'll begin by warning that if you just finished devouring the first book in the series, then the first few chapters are going to be boring as the book begins in the same place only in a different point of view. The way the story begins you could probably start with this book, though you will miss out on all the hints, backstory, and other tidbits... likely making the story much less satisfying and making book one lose much of its suspense when you backtrack to pick up that thread of the story.

That said, Caitlin Davies is quickly climbing the ranks of my favorite narrators and the same can be said for the author, Eileen Mueller. The way they weave the points of view and tap into the essence of the characters is very nice and keeps you on your toes. So if you are looking for an action packed story full of family, friendship, and love, then this is most definitely something you should give a shot.

Loved It

Another great story from a new favorite author. This is an amazing series so far. Ezaara gets taken by a dragon and then things begin to unravel. Tomasz sees his father almost burned at the stake. His mother heads to Death Valley to rescue the queen dragons son. He also saves Loving from mean & nasty Bill. Tharuks attack and the villagers are sadly unprepared. Then the dragons come. Tomasz never believed in dragons but he would soon discover they are very real. As if all that wasn't enough he then had to rescue his mother from the thanks. His experience in death valley was very traumatic but what he finds in the end will make the tragedy worth it. I love the characters & the book sucked me right in. I listened to the audiobook and LOVE the narrator. I am now hooked.

My New Favorite Dragon Series!

So, this series is now a favorite! This one is a little reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings crossed with a dragon rider story. I definitely recommend reading the first book before this one, not because you'll be lost but because both stories overlap beautifully. The first story is primarily about Ezaara and this book is about her twin Tomaaz. After Ezaara is taken away to become the new Queen's Rider Tomaaz and his parents are left behind to prepare the town for a tharuk attack and adventures of their own. The tharuks remind me a bit of the orcs from The Lord of the Rings just hairier. There was more questing to this story with loads of action/adventure and a little bit romance.

Caitlyn Davies does a fantastic job with the narration and I can't wait to listen to more by her.

As a parent reviewer I really don't have any complaints, there's no bad language or sex. The only caution I have is there is a lot of violence in this book, it shows brutal human slavery (beatings, being druged, tortured and killed) probably PG13ish to R if it was made a movie depending on how graphic the director would make it. I would also caution that this could be a trigger for those who are sensitive to abuse, there is an abusive father and daughter relationship in this series so be mindful of that. I would say it's written for older middle school aged readers, YA and up... adults will absolutely love it! Please make these into movies!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.