Book 1, The Last Dragon Slayer: Deathsworn Arc

If you like epic journeys (like Bored of the Rings), this could be the book for you. I don't, so take this review for what it's worth.

The story is well-written and the characters are very well fleshed out. Like most epic journey stories, this one plods from one minor incident to another as the heroes make their way to their goal of battling a "noble dragon" (as opposed to a lesser dragon). We have the usual mix of humans, elf, dwarf, and a "dark" elf, each with his/her particular talents.

Like the Ring series, I was interested enough to read it through, but I'm not likely to read it again (nor have I re-read Tolkien's works).

The book could have benefited from a copy edit. There are several typos and other errors, but not enough to distract the average reader.

Well written with imaginative use of standard characters, elves that are more than your standard pretty girl or tiny warrior, dwarf without attitude and with intelligence, heroes with flaws and not every ending is a happy one or every encounter works out for the best. And a dragon that is both morally superior and evil at the same time, reflecting a measure of humanity and the moral ambiguities we face. One has to wonder about the mindset the author comes from.

Martin Stanley has an amazing grasp of proper grammar, which is very refreshing. However, his characters and story were far too preachy. I felt like the author was trying to sway me to his beliefs on morality and ethics via his characters.

Simple characters.simple cliche attitudes. Refrain from meat. We shouldn't kill bad guys sometimes because they are a product of their environment ect,ect . Reads like a dungeon crawl. 6th grade reading level and concepts. Your very young teen may enjoy it but I like darker more gritty fantasy such as gotrek and Felix and Brunner by the black library.

Almost half way through the book, still no dragon. No story line, just a whole lot of pseudo philosophy. Story (what story?) wanders aimlessly, with all sorts of diversions. Stopped halfway, deleted from my kindle.

Martyn Stanley is a talented new voice in the fantasy genre, and his book, "Deathsworn: the Last Dragon Slayer" Surprised and delighted me. Just when I thought there was no more room for yet another book about slaying a dragon, came this one--and it made me think twice about that judgement.

Here is what I loved about this book:

First of all, the main character is not your average,"I shall succeed at everything except keeping my ego in check" type of hero. This was important to me as I have seen this in far too many books. I liked that this character had faults and wasn't perfect. It allowed me to feel closer to him and to identify with his purpose and plight that much more.

I applaud the dynamic between the characters in this book, in particular the relationships between the members of the group that ended up travelling together. I enjoyed wondering what would happen between a burgeoning love interest and two people that could have either become friends or ended up at odds. The author has a talent for creating tension between his characters and keeping the reader engaged for the duration of the story.

The battles scenes are well placed and strategic and reminded me somewhat of a movie. Martyn Stanley is good at anticipating the desires of the reader and fulfilling them in such a way that keeps you wanting to get to the next page.I never felt the pace drop in this story and it kept me reading even late into the night.

I also liked that the reader was introduced to the characters without miles and miles of pointless back story. You come into the novel where the characters are at in their current life and get to know them via their life from that point forward, rather than wading through the early lives and times of said characters. This was a nice angle for a fantasy author to use.

One of the more exceptional portions of this book, was the language that this author gave to the elves. I liked the original dialect and felt it helped them to stand out from the other characters in the book. I was transported to another world, rather than just reading about it second-hand.

I think this book is evident that Mr. Stanley is an author to watch--a promising new talent with a bright future ahead of him. I am greatly looking forward to his next book.

Overall, this was a wonderfully refreshing fantasy novel with lots of surprises and reasons to love it. I would recommend this to anyone who is tired of the basic formula and is looking for something that has not been done before. Great book.

"The Last Dragon Slayer (Deathsworn Arc) is the first in a series of fantasy adventures by author Martyn Stanley with Jack Pedley (Editor), Isis Sousa (Illustrator). This Kindle e-book was approximately 200 printed pages and sold for $2.99 at the time of writing this review.

Please Note: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

General theme <spoilers>

The Empress Jade summons Saul Karza to gather a group of adventurers and go in search of and kill a 'Noble Dragon'; a dragon reportedly rumored to be terrorizing the northern part of the realm. Saul and his mercenary group find themselves embroiled in several escapades before reaching their ultimate goal. A few new friends and several enemies are unexpectedly met along the way. As well, some strange information is revealed about their quest.

Some thoughts on "The Last Dragon Slayer"...

The Pros:
1.) there were several new and interesting ideas put forth in this D & D type of adventure

2.) various classes make up our party of adventurers. Humans, a dwarf, an elf and a dark elf. A party with some unique skills when it comes to defending themselves or attempting to attain their goal.

3.) map... there is a good map giving a sense of direction, distance and topography.

4.) dramatis personae... there is a listing of characters (with an illustrations) and some of their history.

5.) cover art... attractive and eye-catching.

The Cons:
1.) writing concerns; repetitious word use. Many words like 'Humph' or 'smirk' (and a few others) were use several times throughout this book. Giving the writing a decidedly amateurish feel.

2.) characters... although there was a good assortment of classes for this quest, my concern here was that their personalities and conversations seemed to me to be very wooden and stiff. I felt there was limited character development in this first book. But in fairness, this was a group of new people just recently thrown together for a dangerous quest. They'd be naturally wary of revealing too much of their personal thoughts to strangers. However, I suspect the aftermath of the final battle will change this attitude cnsiderably.

3.) chapter titles... there were a couple of chapter titles that acted as spoilers for what was to come.

4.) the 'teaching' relationship between Vishna (elf) and Korhan (human) was to me, something unrealistic as well as unbelievable (unbelievable even within the context of a fantasy setting). You need to be your own judge on this one.

Impressions:
A book, despite its having a fairly common fantasy adventure quest (kill a dragon) had some thrilling moments and I felt had the potential for many intriguing future installments.
I came away feeling this author has the potential to write good novels. However he needs to hone his skills to improve the final product. A good editor and/or some honest Beta readers might be able to help significantly.

As it is... 3 1/2 Stars.

Ray Nicholson
[email protected]
@ralannicholson

The Last Dragon Slayer is high end fantasy and is the first book in the Deathsworn Arc series. It is about a quest to kill a Noble Dragon.

Saul Karza is a wizard and he is travelling with two men from the North, and a dwarf. They have been sent by the Empress Jade to put down a dragon. They are travelling through the land of Torea in search of Silus Mendelson, the last know dragon slayer in the hope he can help them and will join them. The Empress had no warriors, archers or mages to send with Saul instead he must rely on mercenaries.

They find Silus in the village of Trest, sadly he no longer leads the life of a respected hero, but with little else to do each day he reluctantly agrees to join the band. As they leave Trest, they rescue a Gravian or dark Elf who was just about to be be-headed. Dashing from the scene they hope to have escaped but they are followed and face the angry Berger and his men.

There future looks bleak until they are saved by Vashni an elf and a thief. She has magical skills and can whisper into minds when needed. She's also a remarkable fighter. She decides to ride with the band and meet the dragon they must slay.

Together the band travel to Brunwelt to face the mighty dragon, they've become friends and a team whilst travelling and face the danger together. Just when they thought it over Saul tells them they must collect the dragon heart stones, powerful objects which will lead them on to their next adventure.

This is a well written book, with very good character descriptions and dialogue. Vashni quickly became the lead character with her lessons she taught Korhan. I would have liked to have seen more from Saul because he opened the book and was the leader. A couple of points became repetitive Kirkfell was the place everyone hoped to go in the afterlife, too many characters had the same line to say about it and I felt Vashni's two attempts to decipher Braels' curse were just a repeat of words the second time, there was a missed opportunity to drip feed us some more information about it.

This book was purchased from the store.co.uk.

The Last Dragon Slayer by Martyn Stanley is the tale of a quest, book one of the Deathsworn Arc series. I’ll confess I do like fantasy, along the lines of The Game of Thrones (I’ve read every volume), The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
This story has the some of the same basic elements of Lord of the Rings:: a quest, in this case given by the Empress of the land, to slay a Noble Dragon which threatens the northern border of her kingdom, in return for a reward of gold. The band of questers include Saul Karza, a wizard, whose pointed hat doesn’t emerge until facing the dragon; Korhan, son of Brian, a sellsword (sword for hire, if you are not into fantasy); Harald, son of Korvak, another a sellsword; a dwarf, Vortex, who is homeless, having been unable to reenter his home beneath the earth because of magic; Silus Mendelson, an old soldier who was the last man to slay a dragon; a dark elf called Brael the Truthseeker, who was bound by magic not to tell the truth; and the Lady Vashni, a mysterious elf who joins them on their way to the dragon’s lair.
The cover of this book is very evocative, and there are lovely illustrations at the end of the book of the characters, with a brief description of each. I would suggest placing them at the beginning to help the reader identify them.
The story begins rather slowly, and I must admit it took me a bit before I got into the read, largely through the descriptions of the country as the band began its journey. There are the usual roadblocks along the way and you eventually get to know the characters, who are well limned. What changed the story for me was the appearance of Vashni, who has the ability to whisper, that is, to change the mind of the person to whom she whispers. Korhan finds himself enthralled with her beauty and her abilities, and agrees to be her Risine (here I use an s for an elvish rune; the author explains how to pronounce it). A Risine is the cross between an abject slave and a student, and Korhan finds himself not only serving her but being made to do demeaning things such as kissing her boot, while she teaches him how to strengthen his mind and improve his swordsmanship. It’s an interesting relationship, especially when she blinds and deafens him for period and then turns him into a vegetarian! Their relationship is strange and wondrous.
You do learn more about each character during the course of their journey, and their confrontation with the noble dragon is quite exciting. And there’s a twist at the end: did the Empress want them to slay the dragon just because it threatened the kingdom or is something else at play? Of course there is a sequel.
If there was one problem I found with the book, and I know this sounds picky, it was the lack of punctuation. I found myself having to reread sentences because I couldn’t figure out where one ended and the next began, if they did, or where to take a breath. Anytime I have to stop in a read for something like this, it takes me out of time and place.
In any event, it became a rollicking tale with enough swordplay and magic to keep younger readers enthralled. I did enjoy it, and I think this book will have wide appeal and develop a good following with the subsequent books.

This story is an enjoyable fantasy, well-written with a great cast of characters.

A wizard has been tasked with a quest, to kill the dragon menace, so with a diverse group, he begins the journey.

I think the story becomes really interesting with the introduction of Veshni, an intriguing elf, who is 'on the run'. I loved the ensuing relationship with her 'trainee'.

These characters make the story extremely good, whilst the plot, although not original, has all the right ingredients for an entertaining read.

Very well done.

Recommended.

I love a good fantasy novel - especially ones with elves and dragons! - and "Deathsworn Arc: The Last Dragon Slayer" definitely hits the spot.
There's some pretty good re-imagining of elves here which really caught my attention (I can't say more without giving it away!), and the character illustrations at the end of the eBook are amazing.
(Note to Martyn Stanley: Brilliant move to have those illustrations at the end - was good to see how close my mental pictures came to "real thing".)
There's some dodgy punctuation (more, the further through the book you go), a handful of typos, etc. which was infuriating... but that's me.
Any fan of fantasy should give this a go.

This is a fun read for fantasy book lovers. Great world building with incredibly realistic characters. A wizard, a dwarf, two mercenaries, a dark elf and an elf go on a quest to slay the evil dragon. Throughout the story is told through the eyes of the different characters. So you get each point of view an how each sees the situations they encounter differently. An enjoyable read for for all.
I received a copy of this book from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review.

Some books are written, some grow fed with passion… and for the writer this is obviously one of the latter.
The book opens, as you can see on the the store preview, in a novel way with colourful character sketches of the main protagonists. It is a nice idea, but one which may have the effect of making you wonder if you have picked up a game book of some description. There is, I have to say, a strong element of that kind of magical fantasy about the whole book… and in my opinion that is a good thing as you are transported to the author’s world in an immediate way.
Mr Stanley has crafted characters and landscape with well observed detail, making them believable and readily imaginable; one of the most important factors for me in any fantasy. The story, though obviously one where potential readers might be forgiven for thinking it is simply another dragon slaying book, comes from a slightly different angle that draws the reader down a very particular path of thought and into some surprising speculations for fantasy. A well crafted book, with the obvious potential for unfolding a series.

When I started reading this book, I was struck by the resemblance to the Inn of the Prancing Pony scene in Lord of the Rings, where the hobbits are hoping to meet up with Gandalf.

And, to be frank, this book almost has the feel of fan fiction about it. Certainly very readable, and I enjoyed the distraction it provided, but neither the characters nor the storyline felt memorable to me. Additionally, despite the scenarios that the group found themselves in, I didn't have any real sense of peril or looming danger.

Overall, an adequate, but not dazzling, story.

The Last Dragon Slayer is my return to High Fantasy novels, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Martyn Stanley's style of writing appeals to me in it's directness and non-usage of "typical" High Fantasy flowery type language. The characters were interesting. Their interactions and relationships that developed were entertaining, especially the female elf Vashni and the male human Korhan. I also enjoyed and appreciated the ethical and moral decisions that the characters made. It was nice to see characters that didn't just go around maiming and stabbing things all willy-nilly. While I felt the fight scene with the Dragon could have been a little longer (it is supposed to be an extremely difficult to kill creature right?), it was written well. All in all The Last Dragon Slayer has accomplished in way fewer pages what most take hundreds to achieve. A very likable, and good read. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.

I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review. I enjoyed this fantasy book and slaying a Dragon. Would be very interested in finding what happens in the sequel.

I was given this book free from storycartel.com for my honest review.

A magician, two warriors, a dark elf, a dwrf, and an Elf find each other, on the way to kill a Noble Dragon; NOT a swamp dragon. There is much soul searching and a few adventures along the way. The dragon is eventually killed and they harvest the heart stones. At this point we are left waiting for the second book.

This was an interesting read, but I will forgo the second book.

Well put together story, though at times it felt I was reading from an AD&D adventure campaign. Aside from that, the progression was well paced, and didn't veer off on wild tangents of obscure information. Descriptions were direct and to the point. Nothing extra needed, nor given. All and all, a really good story.

To the author: Writing a story and having it published, whether by yourself or through a known publisher, is an admirable thing, and it takes a lot of courage to do so. Please take the following as constructive criticism. Who am I, you ask? Nobody, really. Why should my opinion mean anything? I'm just a fan of the fantasy genre who enjoys a good read every now and then. So take this criticism to heart, or blow it off completely. I don't care either way, but after seeing all the five-star reviews for this book, I had to wonder if they and I were reading the same story.

I don't think that having a book self-published should excuse the author for the amount of grammatical errors found throughout the story. Having trained myself to spot things like this in my own work, coming across misspellings, too many unneeded commas in a sentence or not enough being used, quotations missing, and even characters' names in one paragraph capitalized and in the next not takes the reader completely out of the story and throws them back into the reality at which they are trying to imagine themselves out of. At least show your readers the courtesy of proofreading multiple times before presenting it. None of us are perfect, but there were just way too many errors for me to even begin to enjoy this book.

The story itself plays on the all-too familiar fantasy setting featuring cave-dwelling dwarves, mystical elves, and magic, among other things. While I will admit the author had a few interesting ideas, "Whispering" for one, nothing else really set it apart from the many fantasy stories out there. The constantly-repeated dialogue became exhausting. I don't think I could care to read through another book where every character says "Hmmph" over and over or "Well, well, what have we here?" It didn't feel like there was enough character development to begin with either. We start out with a story involving a group on their way to slay a dragon, and suddenly the book becomes the Vashni story. What about Votrex? What about Brael or Saul? Why am I supposed to care if they succeed in their quest or not? The characters are there in the background, waiting, but Vashni has taken center stage and interrupts every time one of them goes to speak. The second half of the book seemed rushed. It's not very interesting to read how the characters go into a town and a complete stranger suddenly explains the plot through dialogue without any prompting.

While The Last Dragon Slayer did end in a cliffhanger, it just wasn't enough to bring me back.