Duncan M HamiltonReseñas

If you took one of Bernard Cornwell's alternate history books and added some (not a lot of) "real" magic (as opposed to Cornwell's stories where you're never sure if there's magic or not), and took out 80% of the shield walls, you have the Wolf of the North series. That's definitely a complement because I love Bernard Cornwell's books and I like "real" magic.

For about the first half of this one I was thinking, this is kind of basic, maybe getting boring, then things got more and more complicated and the magic became more of a focus, I started caring about the characters more. So now I'm excited to read the finale.

It also helps that Simon Vance is reading these and I have a kind of bromance crush on his cool style of narrating.

A fitting ending to a really good trilogy

Picked this up as part of a trilogy deal on Audible. The story is pretty straight forward Norse kind of stuff, though it isn't set on Earth, and no references are made to any real countries or known religions. There's a little magic, but it's pretty subtle and there aren't really any monsters or other humanoid races, other than some wild animals that aren't real animals from Earth.

The main story is narrated by a man in a tavern telling the story, with breaks between chapters where the narrator's current story plays out (though not much has happened there). I like the format of it, you get some story details from people in the crowd asking about the story.

There are some bad people in the story and some good people and the author does a good job of making you like the good people and hate the bad people. The story ends at a good spot, but you're left feeling you definitely need to read the 2nd book to find out what happens. At only about 10 hours that's not too daunting though.

Simon Vance is the Audible narrator and he's one of my favorites (I sometimes try to imitate his style when reading to my wife), so that makes it an even more enjoyable experience.

This was a weird one for me. I expected to like it but it just felt very flat and boring. If I had to sum it up in one word it would be generic. I honestly can't pinpoint why but I couldn't connect or care for any of the characters in the slightest and combining that with a so-so plot just makes me completely disinterested in the story. Gorgeous cover art though I will say that.

There are super mega SPOILERS HERE… I must start by saying that I love fantasy books. Also, I rarely if ever leave a review of a tree star or bellow. However, this story has so much potential I would be remiss not to give a few words. Duncan, you are a great storyteller. I read your book almost in one sitting. I was until 2:00 AM last night trying to get to know what happened to Gill and Sólene. You did an excellent job showing me the PTSD of Gill. However, these are things I found that made me want to slap you.

The story starts with a dragon that out of nowhere and for no explained reason it appears. The Dragons are supposed to be extinct, so where this one dragon has been hiding? There was no obvious explanation. Why then the Dragon comes back? We don’t know. My issue with this, how in the world such a massive thing could be hiding for so many years? It is a fantasy, so I am assuming magic. Okay, I buy that, although I am not made aware of it.
The story continues until the dragon is dead. In the first book, Gill kills the dragon, and old fart of a man, a drunk that has not had much training in the last years suddenly gets up and kills a dragon. I am a veteran, and when you are low in energy and not well trained, you can’t even take on a kitten. But this is a fantasy; I am willing to go with it.
The hero (Gill) is going from ZERO to a hero in a flash. He is a man with PTSD to a warrior. Again, once a Soldier always a Soldier, that part is right.
He used to be some type of noble a Baron or barennet or baronet, a swordsman at the service of the king. Again, a noble as a personal guard is a little bit low in the totem pole, but I am willing to go with it. But the stretch is, I don’t get the reasons why he has lost everything? Come on, Duncan, throw me a bone. You are expecting me to believe too much just by faith.
So, the man tries to live with the loss of his wife and son by turning into a drunk, (Duncan, if you want me to feel empathy for Gill give me something because it is not clear what happened to them).
Now, Gill is supposed to be the last of the Chevalier of the Silver Circle which were supposed to hunt and slay dragons. What happened to the others?
If the Prince Bishop hates Gill so much why bring him back? The man is a drunkard. Feed him more Alcohol, and he will die with liver failure. Oh, but Prince Bishop needs Gill to kill the dragon, got it.
If Magic is forbidden, then why Prince Bishop is the ruler of a new magical order which will replace the Chevaliers of the Silver Circle. Why not have them kill the Dragon?
But now we have Sólene, a mighty mage woman; Gill saved from being killed. But she doesn’t know she has that much power, but out of the blue and without any training she kills enemies with her magic,
And how she learns to give Gill stamina to slay the dragon It is a mystery. Either she knows how to use the magic or not. You must pick one.

Do not get me wrong I read the story in two days, and that does not happen often. And I will be looking for the next book in the series, to see if some of these questions get some answers. But there are some gaping holes in the story, or maybe they are intended mini-cliffhangers. Writers do these little tricks and unanswered questions to leave us guessing, and wow am I guessing with this story. BUT the guessing was way too much for me. Duncan, please eyes on the details because I found a few lingering issues. I did enjoy the story a lot. Hurry with the second book.

P.S.
After reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, I decided to reread Dragonslayer. I have to increase my rating for this book. My level of enjoyment of this book was far greater than The Blade Itself. Again, I want to know what happened to Gill so that is a good thing. I do not care even to finish The Blade Itself.

I just finished reading the Society of the Sword trilogy by Duncan M. Hamilton and need to share my thoughts while they're fresh. The series is available in one unit in audiobook form on Audible, which is what this review is based upon.

Duncan M. Hamilton is the author of The Wolf in the North series which is set in the same world as Society of the Sword and follows it. I've given much better ratings to those books and as a TL;DR I recommend you go read them instead of these.

I felt that this trilogy missed the mark for many of the same reasons that Brandon Sanderson's early work, Elantris, also fell flat. It comes down to 3 elements:

- The action is told and not shown.
- The main characters do not drive the action
- The characters to not evolve

In the case of Society of the Sword I could also add some extras:

- It feels like 1/3rd of the scenes end with the main character falling unconscious
- The entire second book seems to have forgotten that the love interest and main character fell out with one another (and that pesky prostitution thing)

Ultimately it's the top failings that kept everything at arms length. Our hero struggled for a year at war in the eastern lands, of which we saw his first two days and a summary paragraph. So much of his time there supposedly influenced his character and made him grow (we are told) but we never see the fruits of it nor do we witness it. Did he make friends? Did he learn to lead men? Instead, the character was left at a distance and described almost in outline fashion as having moved from one place to another, gaining such-and-such skill or reputation. These don't seem to have much effect on anything later on except in the most basic of terms (a rank carried forward, or noticing a soldier's bearing). The cloak collected through a harrowing experience in book one never matters again, despite its legendary status and the world-recognizable tale that accompanies it.

The Soren of book three is the Soren of book one, but with more listable accomplishments, money, and titles. His attitudes to those around him are not changed through exposure to various cultures and friends made from afar. He is single-minded in his purpose at all times...

Which makes it utterly remarkable that he doesn't actually make any decisions for the vast majority of the series. He moves from one emergency to another, pulled along by shipwrecks and piracy. The very moment he will wrap up one task introduces another that hijacks his actions and pushes him along. This stands out clearly as a sign of early Brandon Sanderson as well, and something that he learned from and fixed in his later books to great effect.

Duncan M. Hamilton is a good writer. His Wolf in the North series shows that. Not a lot of time has passed from this book to those, but he has shown tremendous growth in that time. It would be very interesting to see him come back now and rewrite scenes and selections missing from this story. I'm sure he could humanize Soren more, give him living and changing hopes and dreams, and so on. I think this chapter is closed, though, and it's probably for the best. He has more stories to tell of this world and I'm eager to read them.

This is a fantastic execution of the familiar story of a protagonist growing from chubby useless kid to powerful warrior.

Not as strong as the first book. Pacing was odd in places and there's a bit to much exposition. Overall it's still a good read

A strong finish to the trilogy.

See my review of [b:The Tattered Banner|17557803|The Tattered Banner (Society of the Sword, #1)|Duncan M. Hamilton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1362480716s/17557803.jpg|24484894]

See my review of [b:The Tattered Banner|17557803|The Tattered Banner (Society of the Sword, #1)|Duncan M. Hamilton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1362480716s/17557803.jpg|24484894]

This was a great finale to an amazing series! One character, Boudain, really surprised me. He stepped up and at least tried, instead of acting like a young, spoiled royal. It's clear he has the potential to be a great ruler. Another character I really liked died in this book too. I understand the necessity, in terms of the storyline, but dang. It really hit me hard. I'm not naming names as it would be a big spoiler.

I am sad to leave Gil's company. He was definitely a character I fell in love with. Each major character really changed over the course of the series. For Gil, I hope the changes stick, and he doesn't go back to what is familiar and easy. He deserves better. I'd love to see the future of the female dragonling, and if other dragons are still out there somewhere. It seems open for another story with some of the same characters due to the arrival of the ghul/vampire like creatures. As for this story arc, and its characters, things felt pretty well wrapped up. The perfect series for any dragon fan! Highly recommended.

Where the 17 year old boy from the streets gets a sponsor and attends the elite training academy. The sponsor becomes the enemy and the now older boy/man embarks on a mission of revenge.

This was a medieval fantasy, set in its own world, that I didn’t get too many details from if it weren’t for the map at the front of the book. But those details didn’t seem pertinent so it didn’t bother me until I was retelling to a friend.
It’s been while since I’ve read a dragon narrator so this was a welcome addition.
I really enjoyed the plot and went in knowing this was the debut of a new trilogy, so I have high expectations of what is to follow.
It was a little but if a slow build but the characters and plot was introduced really well and built the anticipation for what was to come.

The writing style was easy to digest and not too wordy or hard to pronounce. I believe the world was quite European based so the names of people and places were not difficult to pronounce.

I’m not sure if this works was entirely new or if the authors other work are set in the same place, I would be interested to find out.

One of the main characters, Gill, struggled with alcohol addiction, but it never felt like a touchy topic to me and more like you expect to see in characters like pirates, retired knights and cowboys- coming with the territory.

I enjoyed this book and the plot- it didn’t blow me away but was a solid fantasy novel to get into!

A fairly well-written book, although I feel the conceit of the book (storyteller telling a story from the past) is a but ripped of from Pat Rothfuss.

Could not have been a more disappointing ending to the series.

Knight of the Silver Circle by Duncan Hamilton is second in the Dragonslayer trilogy. Alpheratz the Black has been defeated. Gill doesn't get the chance to rest for long though. Long dormant eggs clutched by Alpheratz' mate have unexpectedly hatched, and now three more dragons are terrorising the land. With none to shepherd their growth, mental or physical, these juveniles are potentially far more dangerous than their da. Learning the secret of the Chevalier protection ceremony from Solene, Guillot must recruit new dragonslayers to meet the threat. There's more than meets the eye with these dragons though. Things that will change the way humanity regards the ancient creatures. Dragon memory is long, and human memory a mere mayfly flicker.

Gill continues to be my absolute favourite. I can't get it out of my head now that he looks like an era appropriate Hopper (from Stranger Things). It's because their background is so similar, with loss and how they handle it, and how true crisis shows them they are still good people, and there are still things worth fighting for. Also, a similar sarcastic sense of humour. I felt so bad for Gill in the aftermath of his recruitment efforts. Sure they took out two of the dragons, but at what cost? And the betrayal before the hunt for the third was heart-rending.

I enjoyed following Solene's story as it diverged from Gill's, only to rejoin again unexpectedly. In his increasing hunger for power, Amaury has sent Solene to find the Temple of the Enlightened. I guessed the secret of the enlightened early on, and was pleased to see I was correct. Also, her search and success greatly appealed to the anthropologist in me! I wish we had gotten to explore more ruins with her. Maybe next book. I wanted to hug her too, so much. She suffers a terrible loss, in the form of my favourite tertiary character. I won't give it away, but I hope Solene or Solene and Gill together can fill the gap this person has left in the opposition against Amaury. I think the Prince Bishop's intentions are (mostly) well-meant, but he's going about it all the wrong way. Especially in trying to force magic on a populace taught to fear it. You can't so completely overturn centuries of thought to the contrary all at once. Small, in-between steps of compromise are needed, but he doesn't want to wait for that.

I loved Pharadon! I know we will see more of him in the final book, which will hopefully take Gill and Solene away from the crazy political machinations for awhile, as the search for more vessels of enlightenment. Although, they know exactly where the stolen one is headed so maybe they can get it back before Amaury gets it. I know the golden dragon is still about, but I'm hoping that we get to see even more. It seems Alpheratz couldn't sense the dormant ones, so maybe there are other sleepers that will waken. It seems the more the Fount refills the land, the more likely nearby dragons will waken, and we know from Alpheratz, and the ones here, that they are not merely beasts, but a self-aware species more advanced than humans in many ways.

And now I'm going to go crazy til the next book comes out!! I have to be choosy as to which books I get as hardcopy lately, thanks to space. This is one of two series that have earned those spots! (The Mia Scalisi series by Meredith Allison is the other, and if you enjoy Prohibition era historical fiction, be sure to check them out.)

***Many thanks to the Netgalley & Macmillan Tor/Forge for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Reviewed for JBN Tours.

An expedition deep in the mountains, searching for a mysterious artefact, finds far more than they expect. They find this world's last living dragon, waking him from his centuries long slumber. In the time he has slept, humans turned their backs on magic, and are only now returning to its use. The last that Alpheratz remembers is humans hunting down his kind and butchering them. So he responds with aggression at these new invaders. Once he learns he is the last of his kind, he vows vengeance, and begins attacking human settlements.

To deal with the new threat, once renowned, now disgraced master swordsman Guillot dal Villerauvais, last of the Chevaliers of the Silver Circle, is sent after it. But Gill has had more practise lifting a wine bottle than a sword these past five years, and though the original Chevaliers were the dragonslayers of old, they were imbued with magic long since forbidden. What hope does Gill possibly have against a creature out of legend?

Guillot is an excellent antihero. The kind I always fall for. He's not a bad man. He's broken and hurting still over the loss of his family, and a deep betrayal. I just want to hug him, to stuck the broken pieces back together. Once a master swordsman, Gill has lost much of his skill thanks to turning to wine in an effort to numb the intense emotional pain. That all changes when a beast not seen for a millenium wakens and begins terrorising the countryside. As the last Chevalier of the Silver Circle, Gill is charged with killing the creature.

After Gill, or equal to, Alpheratz is my favourite character. He, too, is suffering from intense pain, and the loss of his family. For centuries on end, he slept after being wounded in battle. When meddling humans accidentally awaken Alpheratz, he kills them. His last memory is of humans attacking him. Fully awake, the great dragon goes to find his mate, or any of his kin. Find her he does, in her mountain cave. A pile of bone stripped of scales, horns, teeth, and claws. Desecrated. And beyond her body, the remains of their egg clutch, all destroyed.

This was soooooo sad! I wanted to soothe Alpheratz too! And his story made me loathe the humans in this book in general. Reflecting our own world, these humans found a source of energy/power they just had to use and abuse. They used magic willy-nilly, and drained it from areas, killing trees, plants, etc, in the places they drew heavily upon. They started invading the dragons' territories, slaughtering those defending their lands, using magic to do so. It sickened my heart that these humans just took what they wanted, butchering the indigenous beings who objected to this theft. These humans committed genocide, pure and simple.

I adored the French influences in the story. From people and place names, to even some of the dragon mythology. I can't wait for the next book! If you love stories of dragons, be sure to check this awesome read out!

***Many thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing a hardcopy in exchange for a fair and honest review. Also reviewed via Netgalley. Reviewed for JBN Book Tours.

"Dragonslayer" is an epic adventure fantasy series. A dragon appears from nowhere after they believed they were extinct. Gill, a drunk old man, who hasn't trained in years is now faced with having to go kill the dragon or does he?

Hamilton created some relatable characters. "Dragonslayer" mainly focuses on Guillot (Gill) a banneret who had previously been one of the greatest swordsmen of the kingdom and champion of the king. He is a retired king's personal guard. He suffers from PTSD. He retired because of the death of his wife and son, his ex-friendship with the Prince Bishop. After retiring he turned to alcohol. We see him struggle with alcoholism. is one lazy drunk who can be very rude and stubborn. It isn't explained why he lost everything. Gill is supposed to be the last of the Chevalier of the Silver Circle which are people who hunt and slay dragons. Don't know why he is the only one left.

When a dragon rampages through the kingdom Gill pulls himself together to help his king and kingdom. Prince Bishop is the ruler of a new magical order which is replacing the Chevaliers of the Silver Circle. He needs Gill to kill the dragon.

Gill ends up saving Solene, a strong, confident, and charismatic woman who has no clue she has a lot of magical powers. She has magic and his being looked at like a witch. In this medieval timeframe, magic was illegal. Gill calls out the villagers, shaming them for their deeds and raising a few questions in his rescue of the young woman. Solene shrugs off this horrid event. She not only returns the favor in saving Gil's life but in demanding her place in his quest. Gill has huge growth in the book unlike a lot of the other characters in the story.

Hamilton does a great job in inserting his mysterious tragic backstory. Hamilton's writing at times doesn't explain the characters in depth or their memories. It is hard to understand why the characters are the way they are because of not much depth. He humanized the dragons by giving them purpose and emotion. He allows us to develop sympathy from cheering on the deaths of these monsters to mourning the loss of these magnificent beasts.

There is a map included on the inside of the book. It was sort of helpful, but I still had a hard time understanding the world they live in. didn't know much about the country and towns.

His writing style had some great twists and snappy dialogue. The pacing moves pretty well. There were a couple of spots at the beginning that moved a little on the slower side. The book has many unanswered questions. I am looking forward to the second book of this series in hopes of getting some of the questions I have answered. Sometimes I find authors leave gaps in the story to get the reader to get the next book. This is a story about redeeming oneself and taking responsibility to make things better. Self-pity isn't the answer it will just make everything worse. I really enjoyed this medieval fantasy story. It was a lot of fun to read. I am looking forward to the second book in his series.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from Jean Nerd Book all opinions are my own.

If you're looking for a book that's just plain fun, then Dragonslayer is definitely right for you! Gill is the fantasy embodiment of dad bod Spiderman from "Into the Spiderverse" - he's been out of the game for a while after life struck him with personal tragedy and professional disgrace, but a newly awoken dragon isn't waiting around for him to get back in shape. The Prince Bishop, his formal rival, isn't exactly keen that Gill, the last surviving member of a once-legendary brotherhood of dragonslayers, is quite possibly Mirabaya's best chance at surviving the beast's inferno. The mutual disdain between the duo leads to many moments of dry wit and a pervasive undercurrent of humor. For his part, Gill devotes a highly entertaining amount of thought to spending as much of the Prince Bishop's money as possible. If he's going to be called back into action and possibly flambéed, he's going to eat a lot of good food and stay in some swanky inns before that happens. Add in Solène, whose possesses a potent amount of untested, untrained magic, and things are poised to either vault to a higher level of possibilities, or simply unleash chaos. Dragonslayer also adds in a unique twist I haven't seen before - a few chapters are delivered from the point of view of the dragon itself. We are led to develop a touch of sympathy for the beast, woken after many years asleep to find everything he's ever known destroyed by mankind. However, it's not so much sympathy that we don't still side with Gill on his quest to stop the dragon's unchecked revenge against innocents. Dragonslayer is in a good position to appeal to a wide age range of readers. It's an adult fantasy, but it would certainly be suitable for an advanced younger reader, as it does not contain mature content in terms of sex, gore or excessive language. Plus, if you like to read series book in quick succession, all three of the trilogy are poised to publish within twelve months!