The Dread Wyrm (The Traitor Son Cycle)

Miles (or Christian) Cameron has vaulted quickly to the top of my list of favorite authors. This third book in the "Traitor Son" cycle is, in my opinion, his best yet.

What other author captures feudal/medieval society, roman culture, gaelich lore, new world tribal society, chivalric values, real-world tactics/strategy/combat, and blends it all into a seamless fantasy story. Miles Cameron has done so brilliantly.

Two days ago my kindle app notified me that "The Dread Wyrm" was now available from my pre-purchase. To my great concern, I also noticed that the first (and at that time only) review was a three-star review and was concerned - was Miles Cameron slipping? So many authors burn out, or in the middle of a 5 book series load in a filler book to make the publisher happy.

I am pleased to announce that within 5 minutes of reading "The Dread Wyrm" I was smiling and physically nodding my head - no worries here; Miles Cameron is better than ever.

Please buy this book and support this author who clearly is passionate about this story and his craft as an author (that way he will continue to provide high quality material for ME!!!). If you have not had the pleasure of reading Miles Cameron or Christian Cameron's works prior to reading this review, please do yourself a favor and give some of his books a try. I can also tell you that this is the author that converted me (with no regrets) from Lord of the Rings style fantasy epics to what I am now calling "researched historical fiction". The depth of this author's research I'll let you figure out for yourself (hint: his blog shows a frightening level of commitment to re-enactment).

This was the first kindle book I have ever pre-purchased. I think I have purchased all of his books and serials penned under the names Miles Cameron and Christian Cameron now. I cannot rate any of them less than 5 stars, and have no regrets as to the value received for the amount paid.

My thanks to you, Mr. Cameron. Please continue in your craft, I (and I am sure many others) will be there as your "patrons".

Let me preface this with saying unequivically that I loved the first two books.This third installment really let me down.

My first and foremost complaint about the writing style, is how disjointed it is. Chapters lack focus. Within one chapter, the PoV changes rapidly and often not with any reasonable focus. And it's not just chapters, occasionally one paragraph to the next doesn't seem to meld. And the point that a few characters have several names/monikers interchanged willy nilly gets annoying.and can often result in the reading pulse to stumble.

Then there's the way the story has been put together. Nothing peeves me more than a story where the antagonists require zero effort to acheive their goals, and then the reader is stuck with hundreds of pages in hopes the protagonist can recover. Only to see the protagonist beat down once again within one or two pages of weak storytellling in favor of the antagonist. This gets old very quickly. Make the antagonists work hard too dammit!

The first two books I read each within a day or three. This one took me well over a week. I just couldn't get into it.

This is slightly disappointing. Ser Gabriel as Sauce mentions is more Gabriel than Captain. The aspect of captainess, I think is what most drew me into the series. In addition, the involvement of the Wyrm is slightly disconcerting, as well as Gabriels "on and off" invincibility. I will give the author credit, I had no idea where in the hell this story was going. I can be about as descriptive as Gabriel when telling his story in a bar. In "Fell Sword", we have hints about Gabriel killing his biological father, the king. In truth, the events surrounding the King were unclear, and made little sense. We are given multiple stipulations as to how he may be acting, but I'm not aware of any confirmation on any single cause.

The notion that EVERYONE underestimated Thorn is also confusing. Thorn's actions seem to fit only Ser John Crayford's calculous. Considering that the protagonists KNOW Thorn has human allies, they KNOW he's being backed OVERTLY by a being of the Wyrms powers, that they KNOW from the first book that Thorn will learn to fight. Hells. We are told on multiple occasions in this and the first installment that the Wild is learning how to fight men. With all of this information, the meeting at Albinkerk seems almost trivial.

What I especially don't understand is how the archbishop and the Du/De Rohan have so much power. Especially towards the end. The author notes that many of the knights are loyal Albons. Okay, so why are they taking orders from the archbishop hand to mouth when he is robbed, and he has angry crowds everywhere throwing dung and clods of dirt at him. This is Alba, this distinction is also made. The people do have rights. I'd like to think that the knights may be influenced by public opinion just a little bit.

Surprisingly, this reading experience felt like a "middle" book in a trilogy than an "ending" book. All in all, I thought that this was an okay read. Not to many typos, there's flow, fair battles, and a ride that goes in all sorts of directions.

This is an excellent series, with magic, faith, medieval knights & gentry, dragons, etc. This book starts in a good way, and just keeps getting better. Sit back and enjoy the ride. If you like political skulduggery, then try to unravel what's going on without reading further. A damn good book.

I've been reading Swords and Sorcery books for over 50 years. This trilogy was a fun fast read. Complex story, good characters, great action by Miles Cameron who is a serious Medieval arms reenactor. My only complaint with the books is I finished them.

Love this author's work. Excellent story. Excellent strategist. You'll care for the characters and wish for more to the series. Start with the beginning of the series. If you like The Iron Druid Series, you will like this too.

Great read. Better than the first two in my opinion. More action (as always, Mr. Cameron's fighting scenes are the best), scores of aetheric duels and more time with the Red Knight and The Company. I thoroughly enjoyed and, consequently, I want to join the troops in shouting "Ave, Imperator!"

First half is best of the series so far. Politics, the fight for Harndon. Different powers taking shots. The last half is ok.

The fight scenes in these books are interesting- there is a ton of detail at the micro level which tends to make fights exciting. But after the fifth/sixth fight the micro becomes slightly tedious. There are only so many ways to say 'he swung his sword'. What is lacking is the setup, and a more macro view. It is obvious that the author has planned out the battles but not enough time is given to explain the battlefield, unit deployments, and troop movements.

So the reader is left with a confusing slightly amorphous blob of blood/gore and fighting. I would be shocked if a casual reader could draw up a map of troop movements of the final battle- it is just not laid out well. Reasons are fewer and farther in between as well. Why fight there? etc etc.