The Last Dragon Lord

The Complete Series

By: Michael La Ronn

Narrated by: Miles Meili

Contains the Complete Series: Books 1-3.

He's a supreme dragon lord at the height of his power, but there's a conspiracy brewing.

Old Dark is a viperous dragon lord who rules the world with brute force. For 200 years, he and his dragons have terrorized humanity, forcing it to pay tribute or die.

Dark's palace of blood and bone sits on caverns of treasure. He's stockpiled all the world's magic for his own personal use, making him akin to a god.

There is another dragon in Dark's inner circle who wants Dark's power and fortune for himself. And if Dark doesn't stop his own overthrow, he'll suffer a fate far worse than death.

But Dark won't fall easily. There's a reason the ancients called him Dark the Wicked....

This is a different kind of dark fantasy, told through the eyes of a blood-thirsty dragon. Listeners who like antiheroes, the Age of Fire series, and Smaug from Lord of the Rings will love this heart-pounding story of power, revenge, and true evil.

©2016 Michael La Ronn (P)2019 Michael La Ronn

Lazy Ending-Don’t start Book 1

Imagine writing 3 stories, all flow well, depth, characters, etc.
Then at the very end of it all you simple say “The End.” That’s what it felt like. Not the typical cliff hanger or intrigue or anything like that, but a ending that leaves you going “what just happened” and you’re not even wondering what happens just with the story. You’re left wondering what happens to characters that their arcs were started in book 2, built in book 3, and then never finished.

Honestly if I’d known this was the ending then I wouldn’t of read the rest or let alone let myself become invested in this story. The ending is that much of a disappointment to me that it tarnishes the rest of the story.

If the author wants to do a re-write on that ending I say let ‘em.
“20 years later and that’s the end of it....”

A solid piece of urban fantasy/magical realism

Obligatory disclaimer: I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author/publisher, and am choosing to leave this honest and unbiased review.

First, Miles Meili gives us a solid 4-star performance. Although I don't personally feel the dragon voices have enough power to them, that actually kind of fits with how dragons are presented in these books. Miles has a good assortment of voices and does reasonably well with the female voices. His vocal inflections are good, as is his control of tempo.

Now, the story.
Based on the concept as it appeared in the description, I really wanted to love this book. It's an idea that near and dear to my heart (dragons, of course!).

The opening chapters that take place in the past were awesome. I loved the presentation of events and characterization. The world fascinates me.

However, we quickly flash forward to a world that I would call closer to urban fantasy or magical realism. Even though it is a secondary world, it's basically the real world (with modern technology) but with elves, dragons, and magic.

I do not believe it was the author/publisher's intent, but I feel misled. I was not expecting an urban fantasy/magical realism story. I was expecting a medieval epic fantasy. Anyone who's been following my reading tastes will know that I'm not generally a fan.

Now, on account of feeling certain it was not an intentional deceit, I will endeavor not to allow it to affect my review.

For all that I don't like some of them, the characters are well drawn and feel like real (if stupid and arrogant) people.

Oddly, my favorite character is actually Old Dark himself. Although he's definitely not "likable" in the traditional sense, he's complex enough and proactive enough to make a great character.

In general though, I had some trouble with the presentment of the dragons. Very little is said about specifically how big the dragons are, but in the beginning it makes them out to be massive and completely unassailable my humans except by the most devious means.

But later in the book the dragons actually seem quite squishy and defeatable.

That aside, however, the author has told a good story with some interesting things going on.

Even though I'm not overly fond of the moderness of it, the author has built a fascinating world with some really cool aspects. I feel like he missed a golden opportunity for ley lines to make perfect sense, but I'm really intrigued by the aquifer and the magic system. I'm particularly impressed with the idea of Abstraction and all the potential ramifications of it.

There are some nice growth arcs that take place over the course of the story and especially later in the story there is some impressive action and the various threads are tied together quite nicely.

Although the individual books end on some serious cliffhangers, having them collected in one volume makes for a satisfying ending that I have to admit was pretty epic and came together beautifully.

I definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy magical realism or are frustrated with the constant "badass protagonists" that dominate urban fantasy.

Captivating Storytelling

This audiobook is a really fun listen! The writer and narrator both do an excellent job of bringing this world of ancient dragon lords and political power struggle to life. Very rich story and characters. Well done.

Nah.

This book was a hard one. I feel like the ending of this story was done pretty thoughtlessly towards the listener. it felt like there was probably too many options that were explored before just ending this story with something a little bit more discrete.
there was an attempt I believe that exploring too many surprise options and it distracted from the basis of the story.

original story

the setting is definitely the strength of this book if you're looking for something original this would be a good series to check out. the full trilogy for 1 credit is a good deal.

What a thrilling surprise!

Really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. Production is great --high quality sound! The story telling and voice-acting were riveting. Loved tuning into the vivid descriptions in this audiobook with the narrator.

Very Enjoyable!

A very enjoyable listen and an entertaining story. A must for any fan of dragon tales and other medieval fantasy books. Looking forward to reading / listening to the rest of the series!

enjoyed

enjoyed listening to this collection (talk about waking up to find everything has changed) looking forward to either listening to or read more from this author.

Good read

This was one of the more fun books I had listened to. The story was good and entertaining. I continued to feel bad for the main character

Good from the prelude to the end.

** I received a free copy of this book for review purposes, my review is voluntary and unbiased **

This book gets your interest and holds onto it. There weren't any periods in the book where I felt there story was dragging, the lore of the world is built organically as the story unfolds, there was very little in the way of exposition dumping and when there was it felt like a natural part of a conversation and not like you are being lectured.

The story is really about two major themes. First it follows Old Dark who was essentially the king of the dragons and giant jerk during the dark ages. There was coup, he ends up in a magical coma for a thousand years. He's out to settle a score or three but when he wakes up he is kidnapped and imprisoned by a politician that thinks he may be able to exploit Old Dark's return for his own aspirations...

Second society and technology have advanced in Dark's absence, the humans and elves that have become the dominant species on the planet have abused the worlds resources and magic is being depleted at an alarming rate. It's clearly analogous to deforestation, fossil fuel use, and climate change. It's rare to see a fantasy series take environmental concerns so seriously and then to do it in a way that doesn't feel out of place and forced is nearly miraculous.

The characters where all interesting, even if half of them were assholes. There are very few "good guys" in this book. Most of the characters are self serving and somewhat short sighted, but it never seemed like they were acting out of character,

Miles Meili Did an excellent job. He's a relatively new narrator as far as I can tell, but I expect that he will become one the more well known narrators in the near future.