Father of Dragons
Categories: Advanced Readers, Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags: Animals, Bears, Binding of the Blade, Dragons, L. B. Graham, Long Read, Monsters, Tigers
Our rating: 
Once again, spoiler alert. With the by now familiar cliffhanger endings, this next-to-last book in the series is full of revelations and battles, all moving toward the final book, All My Holy Mountain, coming in April.
After his capture in Shadow in the Deep, Benjiah is still in the custody of his father’s murderer. The remaining Kirthanin army is fleeing before the unending pressure of Malek’s hosts. Aljeron and a few of his band have reached the base of Harak Andunin, despite terrible odds. A surprise awaits them in the form of Valzaan, the prophet. Yes, I said Valzaan. Alive. He joins them in their trek up the mountain and into the gyre of the Father of Dragons, Sulmandir. Thankfully, Sulmandir is alive and, after some debate, agrees to help them by awakening his children. Benjiah’s prophecy of the “four races” is on its way to fulfillment with the union of the Great Bear, Men, and Dragons. Aljeron prepares to lead his remaining followers across the Zaros mountains, where they will join the retreating army of Kirthanin in a final, desperate stand.
This book kept me on the edge of my chair. I kept wondering how the goodguys could possibly get into a worse predicament, and then a new disaster would take place. Wylla gets captured, Benjiah’s under a death sentence, a couple of goodguys get killed, (goodguys who have been with us since the first book), Malek has been revealed, and, trust me, who he’s been masquerading as is a bit of a shock, and on top of it all the goodguy armies are forced to surrender! Everything seems hopeless, then Aljeron finds the mysterious “fourth race,” Sulmandir arrives and . . . the end. Sorry, you’ll have to wait until April to find out.
content rss
cson said:
The fourth book in the Binding of the Blade series opens to the dreary continent of Kirthanin, after the constant rains induced by the Bringer of Storms have finally ceased. After going on for half the book trying desperately to portray the feelings of each individual character (there are many), meeting an annoying old man in search for his family, moping a bit about how Benjiah is going to be killed, and walking half across the country, all your favorite characters are killed in a large and dull battle. Meanwhile, Aljernon succeeds in awakening the Father of Dragons and trudge slowly back across the mountains just in time to miss the huge battle that kills half their friends. A supposedly heart-warming ending while Benjiah is about to be hung dooms this book to the basement forever. A grand, time-consuming waste of time action lovers will do good to stay away from.