Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn
This book was first published in 1988…and it shows. Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn is an old school medieval fantasy book and the start of a trilogy. The writing style is clunky and long winded and I didn’t love it, but I think I enjoyed it? Before I tell you why I’m so conflicted let me tell you a little about the story.
Rohan is a quiet academic by nature. A far cry from his warrior father who has a legacy of slaying dragons. Rohan is content to spend the rest of his days reading rather than learning his father’s ways. That is, until his father is brutally killed by a dragon and now Rohan must lead the kingdom and kill that very same dragon.
This is just the first 40 pages of plot. The book is nearly 600 pages and it changes POV about every other chapter. Certainly, a lot happens, but because the end is revealed to us at the very beginning the stakes don’t really feel that high, and a lack of tension causes the reader to feel unmotivated to read on.
I like the idea of this book. The plot really intrigued me, and I thought the magic system of sunrunners was really unique. But like most of the book we are constantly being told what’s happing rather than being shown. I would have loved to get more descriptive moments of people using the magic. Overall, I think a lack of description really damages this book.
The locations are cool and the characters have potential, but I didn’t feel like I resonated with the characters or their decisions because I was just being told that’s what they were going to do and it meant this thing or that thing. Melanie Rawn likes to tell you why a character needs to do something instead of having us realize why they need to do something as we get to know them.
When I looked up the initial publishing year of this book I wasn’t surprised. A lot of the vocabulary used is just simply outdated and hard to understand.
So there. That’s what I think. Would I recommend it? Um, maybe if you’re going on a long flight this could be an interesting read, or if you’re someone who enjoys vintage fantasy. Would I read it again? Nope.
Genre: Medieval Fantasy
Rating: Adult
My Score: 2/5