Age of Fire Series Primer

Overview:

E.E. Knight's, Age of Fire Series consists of six novels and a short story starting with Dragon Champion, published in 2005. However, each of the first three books is dedicated to one of three dragon siblings, Auron, Wistala, and their nameless Copper brother. Then switches between them for the rest of the series. So the first three are stand alones, making the fourth book the first sequel.

Knight says he was inspired by books like Watership Down and Raptor Red, stories from the viewpoint of animals, to write a fantasy from the perspective of a family of dragons.

It is a world similar to what you'd find in Tolkien. There are elves, but they are not immortal, just long living people with relation to trees. There are dwarves who commonly live above ground as traders or mercenaries, but still have a fascination with mining for riches. There are Daemons, what you could consider to be Orc-like but more civilized, and talking animals. And of course, there are dragons. Unlike Smaug, however, the dragons are the protagonists and could almost be considered victims to the slaughter of the elves, dwarves, and men, if they weren't so often pushing their luck.

One major difference between Age of Fire and Lord of the Rings is the lack of magic on Knight's part. He's broken dragons down to a science, explaining why they desire gold and how they breath fire, and leaves little to be explained by mystical forces. There is magic, but a more reserved and mythical sort that is only hinted at until later books.

The Dragons

This has all the dragons you could want, especially once you reach Book Three, Dragon Outcast. Until then you just have an endless supply of AuRon and Wistala and a few minor dragon characters. These dragons are an interesting blend of intelligent beast. Or perhaps not beasts, but inhuman intellgence.

First some dragon trivia:

1) Dragons hoard and eat metal so they can make scales out of them.

2) When dragons hatch, the males instinctively try to kill each other.

3) Dragons in Age of Fire are capable of Mind Speech. A limited form of telepathy with other dragons, which works best with relatives.

4) They only get their wings at maturity, ten years old or so. Until then they are big lizards.

5) When dragons hit maturity and get their wings, the second constant in a male dragon's name becomes empathized. Auron becomes AuRon for example.

6) Males can have red, blue, black, white, silver, or copper scales, but females mostly have green.

Characters

Auron is the protagonist of Dragon Champion. He is a scale-less dragon, not a genetic flaw but a rare breed of dragon. He is the victor of his hatchling battle for the nest, but only injured his copper brother before he escaped and hid. When their cave is invaded by dragon hunters, he flees with his sister, Wistala, before being captured and sold to a wizard...of sorts.

Wistala is protagonist of Dragon Avenger. After fleeing dragon hunters with her brother, Auron, she is separated and decides to go looking for their father. She becomes determined to avenge the ruination of her family, hence the book's name.

The Copper is the protagonist of Dragon Outcast. After being maimed and chased from the nest, he betrays his siblings to the dragon hunters, but is also betrayed. He wanders broken and alone, before stumbling upon an underground society of dragons and tries to reforge his life and forget his past.

(Art: Isvoc)

Content Rating:

There is also a more mature nature to these than Tolkien's stories. Not that the Lord of the Rings series was light-hearted, but Knight is direct and doesn't hold back at times.

His dragons act like predators. They kill people, with their teeth, claws, and fire. Adults and children. Even dragons that are honorable or good, do things we consider cruel. So there will be blood.

Slavery is a common theme for both men and dragons. Dragons enslave humans, humans enslave humans, humans enslave dragons and both treat the other like animals. There's a man who raises dragons, training the males to fight and obey. While the females are kept locked up and serve only as breeding stock for the victorious dragons. The less than impressive males lose that... moving on.

To be short, there is suggested sex, violence, gore, potty humor, and the occasional awkward scene. Not sure about language.

Main Series Book Order

1) Dragon Champion

2) Dragon Avenger

3) Dragon Outcast

4) Dragon Strike

5) Dragon Rule

6) Dragon Fate

Age of Fire Short Stories

1) Dragon Search (eBook Only)

Final Thoughts

I was once a huge fan of these books in their first years and am in the process of rereading the series. I enjoy them as much now as I did then.

The final two books are a bit rocky, but the first three books were wonderful standalone novels and the series remains some of the only books I've found with dragons protagonists with agendas detached from human desires. The Age of Fire Series is certainly one of the major inspirations of my own works.