Review of The Dragon of Illenwell
Posted: 15 Oct 2023, 13:34
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Dragon of Illenwell" by Philip Brice.]
The Dragon of Illenwell: Testament of Wielders by Philip Brice, is a book that houses all manner of emotions ranging from love, hate, deceit, mischief, magic, the supernatural, war, and what have you. Lord Baylor of the Urlon kingdom goes to a meeting to enter a treaty with Lord Laiaden of Illenwell, and the attack of the dragon makes him lose the orb of his kingdom and almost his life. This makes his kingdom an auction state, which shall be granted by the Zoarian council to anyone who first recovers the orb from the dragon. Lord Krhan is desperate to be the first to recover the orb and lay claim to Urlon. The crafty Lord of Lavenden will do everything mischievously to lay claim to the kingdom.
On the other hand, Nolan Hammer, the aging wielder of the golden sword, comes to the aid of the Urlon kingdom. Lord Laiaden of Illenwell wants to protect the mountain at all costs to avoid any intrusion, particularly from thieves, that will lead to the annoyance of the dragon, and the lord will eliminate any intruder who comes into the mountain. So, Nolan will first overcome the blockade by Lord Laiaden before he can recover the orb. The distractions, conspiracies, and manipulations will make this journey near-impossible.
There are a few positive aspects of the book. First, the descriptive nature and diction employed by the author make the book appealing in a lot of ways. Readers can feel the emotions in the book and can conjure mental images of the happenings in the book. Philip also employed suspense and plot twists in the book. Any reader will reasonably be kept in suspense as to whether the men sent by Lord Krhan to recover the orb will fight off all oppositions and take the orb to him. I equally like how intriguing this book is; any reader will also be intrigued by the mission of the black dragon, fondly called Pet.
The least favorite thing about this book is that some words were not defined. I think the author should have explicitly given the meaning and features of some words after their first usage in order to help any reader better appreciate them. For example, when the author made use of the term 'auction state,' he clearly provided the meaning and the effect of a state becoming an auction state. This enabled me to understand the dangers that the kingdom of Urlon was facing. However, it is only in the reading of the book that any reader will be able to infer that saurotillians, for example, are lizard-like.
In addition to the issue above, there were a lot of errors in the book, and this made effective comprehension of the book difficult; the book was not professionally edited. Based on this and the negatives identified above, I will be deducting a star and rating the book 4 out of 5 stars. I did not deduct any other stars because the book was intriguing overall, not minding the negatives. I will be recommending this book to lovers of fantasy fiction.
******
The Dragon of Illenwell
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The Dragon of Illenwell: Testament of Wielders by Philip Brice, is a book that houses all manner of emotions ranging from love, hate, deceit, mischief, magic, the supernatural, war, and what have you. Lord Baylor of the Urlon kingdom goes to a meeting to enter a treaty with Lord Laiaden of Illenwell, and the attack of the dragon makes him lose the orb of his kingdom and almost his life. This makes his kingdom an auction state, which shall be granted by the Zoarian council to anyone who first recovers the orb from the dragon. Lord Krhan is desperate to be the first to recover the orb and lay claim to Urlon. The crafty Lord of Lavenden will do everything mischievously to lay claim to the kingdom.
On the other hand, Nolan Hammer, the aging wielder of the golden sword, comes to the aid of the Urlon kingdom. Lord Laiaden of Illenwell wants to protect the mountain at all costs to avoid any intrusion, particularly from thieves, that will lead to the annoyance of the dragon, and the lord will eliminate any intruder who comes into the mountain. So, Nolan will first overcome the blockade by Lord Laiaden before he can recover the orb. The distractions, conspiracies, and manipulations will make this journey near-impossible.
There are a few positive aspects of the book. First, the descriptive nature and diction employed by the author make the book appealing in a lot of ways. Readers can feel the emotions in the book and can conjure mental images of the happenings in the book. Philip also employed suspense and plot twists in the book. Any reader will reasonably be kept in suspense as to whether the men sent by Lord Krhan to recover the orb will fight off all oppositions and take the orb to him. I equally like how intriguing this book is; any reader will also be intrigued by the mission of the black dragon, fondly called Pet.
The least favorite thing about this book is that some words were not defined. I think the author should have explicitly given the meaning and features of some words after their first usage in order to help any reader better appreciate them. For example, when the author made use of the term 'auction state,' he clearly provided the meaning and the effect of a state becoming an auction state. This enabled me to understand the dangers that the kingdom of Urlon was facing. However, it is only in the reading of the book that any reader will be able to infer that saurotillians, for example, are lizard-like.
In addition to the issue above, there were a lot of errors in the book, and this made effective comprehension of the book difficult; the book was not professionally edited. Based on this and the negatives identified above, I will be deducting a star and rating the book 4 out of 5 stars. I did not deduct any other stars because the book was intriguing overall, not minding the negatives. I will be recommending this book to lovers of fantasy fiction.
******
The Dragon of Illenwell
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Thanks again for your insight.