The Summer Dragon

Pros: great characters, interesting plot, immersive storytelling

Cons:

Maia’s always wanted her own bonded dragon to raise, and this year’s larger than usual clutches have given her hope that her time has come. But a northern aerie has been decimated by the Harodh and their unnatural horrors, its qits killed or taken, and the Dragonry’s needs for new dragons to fight the menace trump a young woman’s.

The appearance of the fabled Summer Dragon, witnessed by Maia and her brother, puts them at the center of a power struggle between their aerie, the Dragonry, and the Temple. Because Maia’s getting her dragon this year, one way or another.

With the exception of two prequel scenes, the novel’s told from Maia’s point of view. show more Maia’s a fascinating character. She wants a lot from life but she’s willing to put the work and effort into earning things for herself. She courageous in the face of horrors, and determined to do what’s right. She’s a character who speaks her mind and tells truths the adults around her are too tactful, or scared, to say.

There are a fair number of twists to the plot, especially towards the end of the book. The pacing is great, with some time to get to know the principle characters followed by several tense chapters, then some down time to learn about new characters before things get tense and dangerous again.

The storytelling is descriptive enough to draw a picture of the location and action, but not so detailed so as to bog down the narrative. When the action is on, reading this is more like watching a film, incredibly immersive.

I loved learning about dragon raising and riding. Lockwood introduced the necessary terms along with their meanings so there’s no sense of feeling lost, unaware of what’s going on. There’s also no unnecessary exposition. We learn with Maia and the qits.

The focus of the book is on a fairly small area. There’s a map that shows the wider world, and a few times events happening elsewhere are recounted. People and dragons with various colourations are mentioned, along with which geographic area they come from. The religion is cribbed from aspects of Christianity, though it’s not a direct representation.

There’s an overwhelming sense of hope in this book - that hard work, courage, and determination can overcome all obstacles. This made it feel like the fantasy novels that came out in the 80s, rather than the grim dark currently popular. It’s got a freshness to it that I enjoyed. Having said that, there are some very dark moments and I could not believe some of the revelations.

Todd Lockwood is one of the best fantasy artists ever, so it should come as no surprise that he’s drawn his own cover, map, aerie schematic, and section illustrations. The interior artwork is all black and white sketches, but they are gorgeous.

The only negative I found, is that while I got to know the protagonists really well, I didn’t feel much connection to the supporting cast. One character in particular I would have liked to know more about, and events with them during the climax didn’t hit me with the emotional punch they might have, had that connection been deeper.

I’ve long admired Lockwood’s artwork and now I admire his impressive writing skills too. This is a fantastic debut, one that’s perfect as an introduction to the genre as well as for long time dragon lovers. show less

Todd Lockwood is one of my favorite fantasy/science-fiction illustrators, and I especially love the covers that he did for the Memoirs of Lady Trent series (which are all about dragons!) When I found out that he was writing a new fantasy series featuring dragons, I was pretty excited to read it.

Growing up on a dragon aerie, Maia has long looked forward to having a dragon of her own, and this might be the year. She’s old enough to start training a dragon, and there are more dragons qits than are needed to fill the usual government quota – even if they are at war. The routine yearly visit from the Dragonry to pick up their qits gets complicated when Maia sees the Summer Dragon, a symbol of an ancient faith suppressed by the empire. show more And to make things worse, the empire’s enemies are targeting aeries, so Maia’s home has suddenly become a dangerous place to be.

It took me a while to get into this book (as with most books written from a first-person perspective), but I ended up liking it quite a bit. Maia is a terrific protagonist, she’s smart, stubborn, and brave. Her stubbornness drives much of the story, and sometimes it makes her a little bit insufferable, but that’s okay because most people are. We see all the other characters from her perspective so they’re not as developed as her, but they’re still fairly nuanced. Some characters seem like standard archetypes at first but end up surprising you later.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding, there are layers of history that all interact with each other in a realistic way, and that makes the world feel lived in, rather than just being there to support the story. There’s a lot of political intrigue, which I love in fantasy, and I thought it was well done here. The plot is mostly predictable, but there are a couple of interesting turns that I didn’t see coming. One of the things I appreciated was that even though the book featured a teenage protagonist growing up in an isolated area of the world, Maia didn’t actually have to leave home or go on a long journey to find adventure, she did it while having her home and family nearby. Oh, and of course I have to mention the illustrations, there are several of them and they’re by the author, so they’re fantastic.

I’m looking forward to reading further books in the series. I hope the next book comes out soon! show less

I thought this was a good start to a new fantasy series, with a somewhat unique feel to it. Out on the edges of civilization, a group of dragon riders/tenders are clinging to the remains of their civilization as an evil force looms. At times it had a bit of a Pern feel or an Eragon feel, but even so, I thought there were good characters and the plot was good. Looking forward to the next one.

Likeable (or hateable) characters, Dragons, a rich world in the best tradition of fantasy novels, Dragons, political intrigue and did i mentioned Dragons? ;)
I started reading fantasy with McCaffrey's Pern and therefore stories of humans bonding with dragons will always have a place in my heart. Here the humans are in the middle of the story and i like how Todd Lockwood gives them strength and weaknesses, let us feel with them and also how they grow on their tasks.
The pace of the story is good. You don't have the usual long boring chapter at the beginning to lay out the world. The society and their environment descriptions are weaved into the story so you learn more and more about it while you follow the characters. There are fast paced show more action sequences as well as slower interesting discussions about this worlds religion. As you may have not expected from a world famous illustrator he really can describe a scene in words as well as he does in graphic. The book offers emotional moments as well as surprises in the plot.
I really enjoyed the this and cannot wait to get the next one in hands.
And by the way - the book is full of wonderful illustrations by the artist that are a great addition to the story. show less

This was a really really good book and I was quite surprised to note that this is apparently the author's debut novel.

Now I love dragons and dragon-human amicable relationships, so this was a pretty easy book for me to like as that is basically the fundamental premise of the story. But the author has also done a very good job about setting up an engrossing world populated by interesting characters.

The worldbuilding in this book is excellent. There are epic fantasy levels of mythology and a nice air of mystery/lost history to it which make the gradual reveals enticing.

The characters, especially the female protagonist are all quite interesting, though there are some traces of unevenness in character development.

The storytelling itself show more is great as the author excels in building up suspense and is pretty good at descriptions. I would like to point out though that there is something slightly wrong with the pacing/structure of the story as the first half reads like a complete book in itself.

The parts of the book that really appealed to me are the dragon/human bonding/training/interactions. I would love to get more of this.

The enemy is in my opinion the weak point - they are too generically evil - dark magic, undead, necromancy - this is standard fantasy Dark Lord stuff - some multi-dimensionality here would be useful, though the mythological Big Bad does seem to hold more promise show less

Review from Tenacious Reader: Review: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2016/05/09/7081/


The Summer Dragon is a wonderful tale full of dragons and mystery. The author, Todd Lockwood, is an established illustrator, and it shows with all of the wonderful illustrations included through out the book. Not to mention the absolutely gorgeous cover. I was immediately quite taken with the protagonist, Maia. She is a determined young woman, set on getting a dragon of her own. Her family runs a dragonry, so she has been raised with dragons and understands them. The special thing about dragons is they form a unique bond with one human, their rider. This bond is developed when the dragons are still young (called qits). This year, their dragonry has more show more qits than normal and both Maia and her brother are hoping to get one each, so they can then raise a new breeding pair (the dragons also bond with their mate at a young age). It seems the perfect plan, they are both of a good age to bond with a dragon, and a new breeding pair will help ensure dragon production in the future.

Dragon raising is a political business. Most of the qits are reserved for the war, to be handed over to the military. It’s a sad thing really. To see these wonderful dragons hatched and grow to send them off to an atmosphere where they are used as weapons, and most likely will not survive. When the convoy shows to get the new qits, things start to get interesting. Maia and her brother spot The Summer Dragon. This is a dragon that they believed was more myth than something real. The size and majesty of it makes the most impressive dragons they’ve known seem small and ordinary.

From this sighting, everything changes for Maia. What follows is a story full of mystery, suspense and intrigue. Along the way, Maia encounters many adversaries, human and unnatural. Horrors are unnatural beings made from pieces of people and dragons and the resulting creatures are extemely hard to kill. Kind of like zombies in dragon and rider form, the riders are actually melded to the dragons. They are terrifying and vicious. There is also another unnatural foe. One that is able to enter Maia’s mind and wage a battle that is fueled by her own fears and nightmares. And when Maia is not worried about these, there is also an invading army near by as well as people that are trying to overtake her family’s dragonry. There is so much going on an Maia is constantly at the center of it. I love her attitude and personality, she is a strong person who is determined to fight for what she believes is right.

The powers of deceit are ancient and prosper in the shadow of ignorance

The book also features a religious struggle for some of the characters. The accepted religion does not seem to accommodate some of the facts they have recently observed. The church wants to quiet and reports that would be contradictory to their beliefs, but trying to make something quiet doesn’t mean it goes away.

Lockwood proves he is able to create a vivid picture as strong with words as he can with pencils and paints. His illustrations through out the novel are a wonderful addition to the story. I guess it should not be surprising that Lockwood’s style of story telling is also quite visual, proving he can use words to shape pictures as well. He also gave some of the dragons (one in particular) wonderful personalities. I loved how dragons were portrayed as intelligent and able to communicate with their riders.

Overall, this was definitely an impressive debut, one that puts the sequel firmly on my to read list. If you are a fan of dragons and strong female protagonists, you can’t miss this one. show less

Enjoyed this story and Lockwood's drawings. Maia is a great heroine, learning to deploy her own special talent with dragons. My one reservation (and it got more pronounced as I progressed) is that Lockwood desperately needs a better editor. Fully a third of the book was repetition or restatement of what we already knew. The action scenes in particular got bogged down by clumsy stage-managing. Malik, for instance, a father-dragon attempting to defend his dragon baby, took FOREVER to die. He was always just on the point of expiring then came back and killed lots of attackers. Darian and Maia's dialogue is about half repeating what they've already said, dragging down the story.