Book Review: Last of the Dragorn (The Echoes Saga, #8) by Philip C. Quaintrell
Cover art illustrated by: Chris McGrath
Last of the Dragorn by Philip C. Quaintrell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Series: The Echoes Saga (Book #8 of 9)
Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy
Pages: 590 pages (Kindle Edition)
Published: 21st September 2020 by Quaintrell Publishing (Self-Published)
It is with a heart full of ache that I say this. Last of the Dragorn is my least favorite book in The Echoes Saga series.
“Life is about choice. Every branch in our path can lead to a new and different future if we but take it. There is no fate. Knowing your future allows you to rewrite it before it happens – that is all. In all my time, I’ve found nothing but false gods and tyrants who would declare themselves as gods.”
For the past seven books in The Echoes Saga series by Philip C. Quaintrell, I’ve been mentioning that one of the most memorable things about the series was how consistently good it was. I gave every book in the series from Rise of the Ranger up to the previous installment, The Knights of Erador, nothing lower than a 4 out of 5 stars rating. And The Knights of Erador remain strong as my favorite book in the series so far. I fully expect Last of the Dragorn, the penultimate installment to this nine-book epic fantasy series, would top The Knights of Erador in quality. But unfortunately, for the first time in the series, I will have to give a rating lower than 4 stars.
“No man has ever been able to stand up and tell the people that he is their king – even if his sword is on fire. That man must have supporters, champions, loyal men and women around him to lift him up. The throne is more than the person who sits beneath the crown. It is the people around it who believe.”
Last of the Dragorn felt like a book that would’ve worked so much better for me IF it was not the penultimate installment of the series. Except for the final quarter portion, almost everything in this volume was inconsequential and unnecessarily long. Every plotline in Last of the Dragorn revolves around the main characters being separated from each other doing their own fetch sidequest. In the meantime, the main villain lets his underlings kindly kill civilians and waits for the main characters to finish doing their sidequest. I’m not joking. “We have to find a character to find Vighon and then we have to find Vighon’s sword!” As for the other characters not involved in this sword’s retrieval quest, they have to find another missing character! And it’s not like the one flaming sword could do anything other than the burn itself. That’s pretty much almost 75% of the book. Vighon is one of my favorite characters in the series. He still is, and I loved reading about his character development. However, having almost the entire penultimate volume dedicated to him being depressed and other characters finding his sword was just… underwhelming. Especially after the super exciting previous installment that raised the stake of the series while being imbued with engaging twists and turns. These lengthy portions of the narrative dedicated to the fetch and retrieval quests felt like they belonged in a spin-off installment instead.
“You’ll have my support when you’ve earned it… I’ve heard all about your past deeds – most books refer to you as a warrior-king. For that you have my respect. But I see nothing of that man before me. It’s easy to find your courage when you’re surrounded by allies, and powerful ones at that. Wait until you’re alone, the odds are against you, and you have everything to lose. Stand up then and I will rise with you…”
The pacing issue and unnecessary content aside, the other thing that bothered me so much was how insanely stupid some characters were. And these, in my opinion, did not fit their background and personality. Last of the Dragorn employ one of my most disliked tropes (if you can call it that) in storytelling. And that is the reliance on infuriatingly and stupidly leaving a villain alive as a plot device. I am thankful that the next book is the last series because otherwise, I would’ve easily said the series has overstayed its welcome for me. I swear, the main villain is one of the most loved people in the history of fiction. Judging from what happened in The Knights of Erador and Last of the Dragorn, the main villain could unleash a genocide (which he did), killing countless people and robbing lives from a myriad of families because of his self-righteousness (which he did), or maybe even destroy five planets (he did not do this), really, AND still, some of the main characters would forgive and give him a chance at redemption. It was absolutely insane to me. Adilandra was one of the strongest women in the series in both prowess and mentality, and she has been reduced to an idiot here. Look, I understood her action. I understood why she wanted the villain to have a chance at redemption. It still doesn’t make her less stupid, especially for someone in such a high position of leadership. And let’s not even get started on how all the characters did not even bother to look for Gideon Thorn for 8 years even though he’s only a few days of travel away.
“It takes greater magnitudes of strength to forgive than it does to hate… Do not let that love turn to dust.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t all bad. As I mentioned earlier, when the story finally moved forward in the final 25% of the book, Last of the Dragorn became something exciting to read again. I loved Quaintrell’s action scenes, and that never changed here. Undead dragons and soldiers, telekinetic blasts, balls of fire, spears of ice, and waves of lightning were poured. And Adilandra aside, every other character did develop wonderfully. The theme of decisions was handled well, even if I disagree with many of their placement and results. At the end of the day, though, what I loved most about Last of the Dragorn is how the last quarter of the book prepared the stage for the big and epic conclusion to come in A Clash of Fates.
Last of the Dragorn has the best cover art in the entire series, in my opinion, anyway. And even though I have ranted a lot on this review, I need to emphasize that most of these issues stem from the fact I don’t think it is right to put these seeming filler contents in the penultimate installment of the series. Not because they weren’t well-written. The Knights of Erador would’ve made a much more significantly intense and compelling penultimate volume compared to Last of the Dragorn, which ultimately felt like it’s plagued with infamous middle book syndrome where so little monumental events transpired. With the final quarter, once again, being the exception. And this exception, including the prologue, certainly succeeds at making me still excited for the last book of the series. In the grander scope of the entire series, Last of the Dragorn is the only disappointment of the series, and now that we’re at the final stage, I’m confident A Clash of Fates will bring out the best storytelling that Quaintrell has to offer.
You can order this book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US
I also have a Booktube channel
Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!
My Patrons: Alfred, Andrew, Andrew W, Annabeth, Barbara, Casey, Diana, Dylan, Edward, Elias, Ellen, Ellis, Gary, Hamad, Helen, Jesse, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Kristina, Lana, Leigh, Luis, Lufi, Melinda, Meryl, Michael, Miracle, Nanette, Neeraja, Nicholas, Radiah, Reno, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah, Scott, Shawn, Xero, Wendy, Wick, Zoe.