Child of the Daystar

I don't remember when I bought this book or why for any other reason than I liked the cover. I know, that's not a good reason to buy a book but I'm a sucker for pretty cover art.Raz is a very interesting, delightfully complicated character and I enjoyed watching him grown and change through heartbreak and triumph. Syrah is equally interesting and so very different. I'm really looking forward to seeing how these two meet again and the journey this series takes them on.Usually, I'm not a fan of snippets at the beginning of chapters from books about the ongoing story or other references from a time in the future about the current times. Often, it annoys me because it's not well done. These were actually interesting and very well done, contributing to the story as if flowed.I really like Bryce O'Connor's writing style a great deal. He has a lovely flow if both informative and story telling that blends together smoothly. I found myself just as interested in the world he was building as the story he was telling me.I'm off to start the next book on this adventure!

The Wings of War is an excellent series. The story flows, drawing the reader to turn the next page. It reminded me of Tolkien, RA Salvatore and many other fantasy writers.Raz is now one of my favorite characters as is too many others to name.

This book has several key elements I like to read in a book. An anthropomorphic main character, adoption, and a main character that is not focused on romance as his initial goal in life.With that out of the way, this book had wonderful character development, very descriptive emotional moments that enlightened one about either side of good and evil, but yet, made you hate the bad guys with a passion. So much so, you wanted to become Raz, himself, and skewer them with his iconic weapon! I can't tell you how many times I was even the least bit disappointed he didn't slice someone well deserving of his wrath, because they were just distasteful in character. Either way, the author had my attention, the entire time and I hate and loved characters at the same time for how devious they were or for how good-hearted they were. Its a controversial thing when one rather finds a villain charming, yet they know, they are not in the right with their methods and you still find them favorable in some ways. In the end though, the author managed to make the characters realistic in appearance and made them practical for their alliances. The bad guys might be deceptively attractive, but when they are in their natural environment, you wrinkle your nose at their disgusting lifestyles. There is no eye-candy, in this book. It's as brutal as life gets and I like that. Movies, these days are too sugar coated. This book can put them all to shame. That is it's charm. Humanity at it's core and it's pretty vicious, folks.Time is progressed in a realistic and just-right manner. Not too fast, not too slow. The book was well paced and I finished it within about two days of reading. Faster than I thought. Before I knew it, I was at the author's note! I actually thought I had clicked on the page by accident in my kindle app and went backward to come to the page, again, once I went forwards. I cannot wait for the new book to be released. I, now, have a new favorite book series.This book has the subject matter of adoption, which you don't see in a lot of everyday life, nor in books. I appreciate this aspect, because I, myself, am adopted. I know its a tiny little thing to take to heart, but it means the world to see it in a story with the main character, especially with as extreme of a blood and species barrier as is presented in the book. The fact that he calls a human, "Mama" is absolutely precious to me. Very adorable.This book shows how sad it really is when family can go astray or can't come to accept an individual that is taken in and made family that is not blood. I can relate to the prejudices of family because I am an african-american daughter with an all white family. My dad's side of the family was very bigoted towards blacks and did not appreciate their son adopting a black baby, regardless of gender. The ultimately sad thing was, I was, more or less, a status symbol for him, which, after I was well grown and in my twenties, my mother got a divorce from him. You don't know your family as well as you think and some things you do not even see coming. Losing family from prejudices can send other family into a treacherous betrayal or disowning and that hurts worse than someone dying. I would have rathered that man died or walked out on us, than to stay with him that long and not know his true intentions until it was too late.With that said, this book hits home for me, but I absolutely enjoyed it. I know how Raz feels when it comes down to it and I have bonded with him in such a deep manner because of this.

Not since Goodkind's "Sword of truth", my first foray into the fantasy genre, and GRRMs "Game of Thrones" which solidified my love for epic fantasy, has a book ensnared and captured and sustained my attention since the first opening sentence!I have read so many fantasy novels they have started to blur together for me. I've even read the occasional romantic fantasy just to break up the monotony of the books the genre seems to have a plethora of while waiting on GRRMs "Winds of Winter". That being said, I bought this book because of a certain winged lizard (I am obsessed with dragons and anything remotely resembling them) but I didn't get around to reading it until about 2 months after purchasing it. And I could not have been more blown away by this book!It starts in a burning desert, as a child atherian (lizard-people that seem to be mini dragons that can walk on two legs and talk) is fighting for his freedom from slavers that have captured him and others. He doesn't have a name but he's special because he has wings; rare for his people. He's left for dead after an altercation with the slavers and was found by a traveling trading family called the Arros, akin to nomadic gypsies if you will. The family takes in the lizard child whom they later name Raz.This book is the story of Raz. The horrors of his early years. The healing he undergoes as a foster child of the Arros. The humanity he learns as becomes a son, brother, cousin, and nephew to the Arros family. His growing pains because of course he's not human yet is being raised by humans. The terrible tragedy that befalls him and his family and how he spends his life trying to cope with that tragedy.And while all of this is happening to Raz, there is another character with an equally important story happening tangent to Raz's but only converging once. And as fate would have it, their meeting, though fleeting, causes ripples that are felt throughout the story afterwards. Syrah, is a young albino child that was taken in by Priests of the Laor faith who believe in nonviolence. Her story isn't has detailed as Raz's but it isn't suppose to be. Yet the impact her meeting with Raz has on the story is Profound to say the least.It's a story of overcoming prejudices, of overcoming fears, tragedy, and heartache. Of survival in its truest sense! Of losing yourself and finding yourself. Of betrayal and hurt. Of intrigue and subterfuge. And plenty of action! There wasn't a single "boring" part of this book. The story continued like smooth creating waves or rolling hills and valleys. You had a riveting beginning, the slow but by no means tedious middle as we watch Raz grow up and the action packed sections of when he becomes a fearsome adult. All while other characters have their moments to shine with their individual stories but you never feel like you're reading about too many other people because everyone has an integral part in the story.Please buy this book! It'll be one of the best books you've em read in a long time if you're an avid fantasy reader like me. You come across these books so rarely that when you do (and I've never heard of this author before stumbling on this gem while searching for books with dragons go figure haha) you want to savor them and want to read them all over again when you're done! It was a beautifully written, vivid in detail and description, masterfully told story of a young man trying to find his way in a cruel world! Amazing book!

Damn that was fantastic and a beautifully written Dark Fantasy novel, awesome worldbuilding, the characters are brilliant, and the author shows us a horrible side of humanity, that are easily led to hate and be very prejudice against being's who are different to them, I love when authors use a protagonist who is not human, you will love the world the author has created for us readers to to get lost in for awhile, the book is focused on the journey and personal growth of a very unique Dragon humanoid character called Raz, a sort of antihero, he earns a living being a mercenary, hunting all sinister characters, rapists, slavers and murderers, there are also internal and external conflicts involved that add depth to this cracking story, and this is why this book is so good, It’s just not about Raz’s ferocious fighting skills, it’s about his inner struggles too, absolutle great read, can't wait to check out the rest of the books in the series, the narration by Mikael Naramore is excellent, I highly recommend..😁🐲⚔

I won’t lie. Despite the raving reviews I put off reading this book for a long time because the protagonist was a lizardman. I jumped to all sorts of conclusions and thought the book wouldn’t be for me but I was wrong and I’m glad I was wrong. This book is a must-read for fantasy lovers even if the protagonist doesn’t like look your typical fantasy hero - I promise you, he’s much better. What can I say, I love Raz and can’t wait to see where his story goes!

Excellent read . I was originally put off by the preview and idea of giant lizard. But I advise anyone to try this book. It is well written and very engaging. A novel idea and new twist. This competes with the best of fantasy authors and I can only congratulate the author on producing what promises to be a compelling series. Please continue to write as I want to find out more about this world and its believable charcters

Really enjoyed this story with my only complaint being the use at top of each chapter of writings supposedly from many years after the event. I found them annoying and sometimes they were spoilers for what was coming! That aside I raced through the book in couple of days which speaks to its enjoyment. Can't wait for next book, as I feel there's a lot more to come from some of the main characters.

I enjoyed this book , it has a rhythm to it flowing easily from chapter to chapter . The story starts with a young slave from a dragon like species, it carries on with his young life after his adoption by a nomadic tribe where he learns the values that see him into manhood . His human story is a hard one and he faces many trials . I am looking forward to learning more of his life