Dragon Outcast

“Come for the dragons, stay for the... wait, no, the bats scared me off.”

This installment follows the third and, in my opinion, most interesting of the dragon siblings. I was looking forward to his story, and while parts of it delivered, the book overall didn’t quite land for me.

There were just so many names—places, characters, species—it got a bit overwhelming and hard to follow at times. The bats were especially irritating; I get they had a role to play, but they just grated on me. While I appreciated the unique take on dragon culture and the deeper dive into this sibling’s arc, it wasn’t enough to keep me invested in the series. I won’t be continuing from here.

It is the occasional book like this that keeps me reading series in hopes that it will get better.

I enjoyed [b:Dragon Champion|632579|Dragon Champion|E.E. Knight|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309209466s/632579.jpg|618882] and even [b:Dragon Avenger|271356|Dragon Avenger|E.E. Knight|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309200719s/271356.jpg|263072], but both of them were heavy on the hopelessness of the situation and left me feeling rather blah.

This book I went into expecting to hate the main character and for him to be a villainous terror for the whole book. So imagine my surprise when I feel sorry for him from the get-go!

And it just gets better. Sure, RuGaard has some very tough times. But he is ALWAYS looking for ways to better show more himself and help those around him. And in the end, he [spoiler] becomes king of a clan of dragons[/spoiler] and is working with humans and other species.

Hope the rest of the series stays on this level. show less

One thing I have especially enjoyed about the Age of Fire series is that you could pick up any of the novels and start with it. You could easily read Dragon Outcast without having read Dragon Champion or Dragon Avenger and still enjoy it completely as a stand-alone novel. Yet if you have been fortunate enough to read the other books, then this it only increases the depth and breadth of the one you took off the shelf.

Knight continues to be a wonderful writer. He has taken dragons and made them both more and less than what the fairy tales had given. Many stories of dragons make them majestic and helpful, or split them into “good” and “evil” dragons usually dependent on scale color. But Knight’s dragons are all of a whole, and show more color has nothing to do with personality. Good and evil designations are dependent on the nature of the dragon in question. The Copper is our hero, and anyone who has ever felt marginalized by the society in which they live will find they are very able to identify with the Copper’s struggles for recognition. I highly recommend you read Dragon Outcast.

Full Review at Grasping for the Wind show less

Strong entry. The war between the races continues. The world of the Dragons is changing -- differently in different places. A story of how the physically weakest can become the strongest.......

Auron and Wistala's outcast brother the copper drake's story. From hatchling to his own confrontations, learning how to adapt with his injuries, finding quasi friends and a new family, as well as wars and survival. Okay read but it seemed to go on and on.

loved it! i wondered what happened to the Copper.