Dragon Killer by Rob May Series: Kal Moonheart Series #1
on 2013-05-01
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 175
Goodreads
Author Website
Dragon Killer is the first in a series of fantasy thrillers featuring Kalina Moonheart—adventurer, gambler and thief. Kal teams up with a young guard captain to hunt down a dragon that has made its nest on a tropical island, but an unexpected sequence of events leaves her in an impossible situation. She must summon every ounce of skill, cunning and strength in order to survive.
Honestly, I can’t find much to fault in this book. For me, it just didn’t grab me. I think a lot of people will like this book. As I said, there’s nothing glaringly wrong with it.
This was a short book full of action and traveling. I finished it quickly, even though I set it down a few times. It was a bit straining on my eyes because single quotation marks were used instead of double. It made me read slower since the dialog quotations don’t stand out. Small complaint, but one that bothered me nonetheless.
I must say Kal is a strong female character. She’s independent, tough, and isn’t afraid of a little challenge. Rafe starts out kinda prissy and haughty for a guy, but still came off likable and grew into a character I enjoyed. All the characters were done well, and I had no issues visualizing them and the settings they ended up in. For me, I kinda like a more troubled character. Sure, Kal has a past, but it just didn’t grab me enough.
The world has some interesting stories of old and I think it was a great setup for future books. I don’t think there was anything crazy unique about it, but what we were given was delivered quickly and cleanly.
Which brings me to another point: This book moved. It felt like something was happening even when it wasn’t. Sometimes it felt a hair too fast, but since I wasn’t completely engrossed, I rather liked that it moved. Even the flashbacks had stuff happening. However, I think the flashbacks were a bit too many and I didn’t like that they were handled as a dream. Kal isn’t some crazy mage or someone with a unique gift, so I didn’t feel dreams were believable (no one dreams events exactly as they happened). Just musing about her past would have done a lot more for me. Furthermore, there was one paragraph where we find out she’s telling a story to someone which just really put me off. It came out of nowhere in relation to the other flashbacks.
As you can see, most of my issues are small. For me, I just couldn’t get myself into the story. Might be because I was coming off a really heavy read, one that I absolutely loved, and wasn’t prepared to move on from it yet. If you’re looking for a light, fast read, I’d suggest giving this one a try. There’s a lot of reviews out there that rave about it.
About Rob May
Rob May studied English at Lancaster University and is the illustrator for Super Maths World and Super Science World. He is the author of Dragon Killer and Roll the Bones, the first two books in a series of fantasy thrillers featuring Kal Moonheart – adventurer, gambler and thief.
Rob is currently working on the third Kal Moonheart adventure, Sirensbane. He is also planning Lethal Planet, the final part of the Alien Disaster trilogy, as well as writing and releasing episodes of LJ, a modern thriller. Rob always previews his new work on Wattpad, the world’s largest writing community, and welcomes comments and suggestions from readers.
