This review of Dragon Mound, by Richard A Knaak, contains zero calories, zero trans fats, and is completely spoiler free.
Dragon Mound begins with one of the lead characters, Evan Wytherling, traveling through forests outside of the town known as Pretor’s Hill. Evan is a knight on a quest to Pretor’s Hill to investigate the area and its people, for the citizens do not realize that the land the forefathers had built upon was once the great site of a terrible and bloody battle.
During his investigation of the town, we are introduced to another main character, Mardina Sinclair. Mardi (as she prefers to be called) is a young woman with her head constantly in her books, so when she first sees Evan, she is reminded of her stories of brave and gallant knights; unaware of Evans dark, and haunting past. Even though Evan does his best to avoid the girl for her own protection, she constantly pesters the knight.
As fate brings the two together, they are slowly enveloped by the inevitable growing darkness that threatens to swallow not only them, but the entire region of Rundin as well.
The story is seen through the two; jumping back and forth between Mardi and Evan. Evan Wytherling is the grizzled war veteran of a war long past, but still is constantly plagued by nightmares and visions of the battles he fought. Though in the beginning he seems to be heartless and extremely paranoid, one soon learns that he has every right to be.
Mardi, however, is fascinated by him, and seems to be the only person in the town that welcomes Evan. As the story continues, she herself finds that something also is gnawing at her, bringing out a side of Mardi that she never knew she had.
Dragon Mound features a dark story-line, that in the beginning feels very familiar, but eventually takes its own turn in surprising you with interesting plot twists, and even more dark revelations.
If you’re looking for a story that has a lot of action and combat in it, then I would say that this is the book for a fair amount of that. The combat in the book always does something to further the plot, and help uncover more of the mystery that surrounds the people of Pretor’s hill. Although the book may seem a bit wordy (Editor’s Note: Like all of Knaak’s writing), I realize that Dragon Mound is the first of the Knight in Shadow trilogy, and it makes the reader feel as if something greater is coming; and it makes me really excited for it.
Fans of some of Knaaks earlier books such as, War of the Ancients or Stormrage, will enjoy this dark fantasy adventure that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.
Richard A. Knaak is a bestselling author, and for good reason. With over 40 different novels under his belt, he has honed his amazing writing skill, and it certainly manifests itself of the culmination of finesse in Dragon Mound.
I am already looking forward to the next installment of this great trilogy, and recommend Dragon Mound to anybody who enjoys a good fantasy epic for this one has an amazing story-line, deep characters, and crazier plot twists.
If this review has piqued your interest in devouring all that is contained in Dragon Mound, it will be released tomorrow on October 25th available for us Lore Hounds to eagerly acquire. The hard cover edition is priced at $16.89 (USD), where the paperback has not been announced yet.