David Burrows (1)Critiques

I find the premise entertaining, but the beginning was too hard to get into and much of it clichéd. There's talent in the book, but I think it would benefit from someone (probably another author or voracious reader) going through it and doing some cutting down to give the opening a little more oomph. Personally, I couldn’t get past it’s slow pace.

What I liked. The pace continues to be fast but steady for most of the story. There were a few twists I didn't see coming and one I expected but never saw. Ummm, how do I explain that without a spoiler. Well, lets just say that there was possibly an easier way out of the Demon problem only David Burrows did not take it. And I respect him all the more for that. All too often a writer introduced a "convenient" magical solution which solves everything and takes the believability of the tale and tosses it out the nearest window.

Not this time. Every time our heroes got a foot up, David Burrows knocked them back down, dusted them off and then shoved them under the closest bus. It was truly fun to watch and I enjoyed every tension filled minute of it.

What didn't I like. The pace escalated to the point where it felt rushed towards the end. This happens all too often in third books where all of the layers need to be tied up in a set number of pages. In reality it can leave you breathless. This war has to be won or lost, that magical side effect needs to be dealt with, lesser but still uncompleted quests must be resolved. It can get overwhelming as you zig zag back and forth. Not a deal breaker by any means but you do need to really pay attention. There were also a couple of storylines that did not get resolved. More like offshoots of the main story that might have gone somewhere if there had been less going on in the foreground.

My Conclusion. The story ended better than I had hoped without quite being happily ever after. The heroes who remain finish the story with a much brighter future than they started with but all carry the pain of loss and sport the scars of sacrifice. All in all the ending felt just right.

Full Review @ Dragons, Heroes and Wizards

Forget the "show don't tell" rules for writing. Forget emotionally engaging with the characters. Instead imagine yourself sitting around a bonfire with a group of your friends, relaxing and listening to a really great story. That is how it feels to read this book.

What I liked. David Burrows' narrative style results in a much more intense story in terms of action and pace. Instead of exploring the world from inside the mind of one or more characters, you are pretty much told everything you need to know and the focus then becomes solely on what will happen next. And next. And next. This book, like the first, is only 176 pages and yet it tells more story than some 600 page novels I've read. I also want to note that it does not suffer from middle book syndrome. If anything it is much faster than book one because there is more focus on action now that the worldbuilding is done. You will also witness more development of the characters as challenges are faced and tension escalates. Heck, even the static scenes are tense. The characters might be wearily trudging along, traveling from point A to point B, exhausted from their last conflict, but you remain on edge because at any minute, something evil is likely to crash the party.

What I didn't like. Normally this is where I write about what I don't like. Not this time. Having accepted this story for what it is, instead of judging it by industry standards, I am not finding anything to complain about.

Conclusion The best way I can think of to sum up this book is with one simple word. Fun. Sometimes all a really good story needs to be is simply a really good story.

Full Review @ Dragons, Heroes and Wizards

What I liked. As a first book in a trilogy, this novel took a traditional route. And boy was there plenty to cover in 170 pages. The major players in this book had to slowly come together, form a group, and set off on a quest. The mythology, various landscapes plus other bits and pieces of worldbuilding needed to take place so the reader could acclimate to this new world. An abundance of familiar tropes were used but unlike some, tropes used intelligently do not bother me in the slightest. But then I still read and reread all of David Eddings' early books and they don't come any tropier. (Is that a word? If not it should be...) All in all I was impressed with how much story took place.

What I did not like. In my opinion, this book suffered a bit from too much "telling". The narrator tells us everything that the protagonist does. We see nothing through the eyes or thoughts of the character himself. Hard to feel anything for him unless we feel what he feels and experience how he sees things.

Now please don't get me wrong. I am not saying there is no showing. I did get a good feel for the individual natures of the characters. I am just saying that I think the story would have been deeper and more personal if there had been less telling and more showing.

My Conclusion. Not bad. Definitely interesting enough to make me want to continue. There was only a hint of dragons but enough of one to lead me to believe there will be much more. Overall a good setup for what I am hoping will be a good old fashioned fantasy romp.

Full Review @Dragons, Heroes and Wizards

Prophecy of Kings: The Trilogy got added to the To Be Read list after seeing a 'Please Review My Book' thread on Amazon. I read the first chapter, it looked good, and onto the list it went.

Months later (because I'm not setting any speed records for book reviewing) I picked it back up again.

I didn't finish the trilogy.

I read all the way through the first book, Legacy of Eldric, and it's okay. There's nothing terribly wrong with the story or the plot. But it's not great, and the characters didn't do much for me. It's a very basic, generic high fantasy: A Young Prince With A Destiny teams up with the Recovering Alcoholic Warrior. They both get roped into a dubious quest by The Dark Mage. Eventually they're befriended by The Good Elf. There's an overarching plot involving the return of Great Evil and a lesser quest plot to see about Finding The Good That Can Save Us From Great Evil. Mostly though, book one sets the scene and introduces characters.

If that plot and those character types are your idea of a good time, grab a copy of this, you'll like it.

As for me, I'm a fan of character driven plot. And I like my characters smart. They can start off innocent and trusting (stupid), but they've got to have a pretty quick learning curve. It absolutely kills me to watch characters make the same mistakes over and over and over.

Which is part of why I drug through this book, reading a page or two at a time and feeling no compelling need to keep going. Kaplyn, The Prince With A Destiny, doesn't ever seem to learn anything. Now, by the end of Legacy of the Eldrich (Book One) that slow learning curve has bitten him, badly. So my hope is that in Dragon Riders (Book Two) he's finally learning. But I wasn't hopeful enough to do more than skim the first few chapters of Dragon Riders.

The world building is okay. Not great, not terrible. It's a pretty standard medieval-esque world filled with standard fantasy critters. The magical system was slightly off the beaten track, with the Dark Mage (technically a sorcerer) gaining his power by working with demons. The Elves (Alvalah) are all albinos, but besides that, they're the standard forest-dwelling, nature-loving, vegetarians. There's a tiny bit of politics, but it's forgotten about nineteen sentences after it gets brought up.

The formatting and proofing is okay. (I've got a Kindle edition.) It's not great. In my copy random squares pop up in the text. Why? I have no idea. It doesn't look like some sort of bad translation of a non-standard character. It's not every page, or even every chapter, but it is often enough to make an impression. The proofing needed help, too. Mostly punctuation issues, the sort of thing that if you're into the story you don't notice, but if you're already dragging through it, sticks out big time.

The writing is (Are you sensing a theme, yet?) okay. It's competent. I'll forgive a lot for gloriously sparkling snark infested dialog, and that just wasn't there. And I'm always happy to see beautiful word choice, and that wasn't there, either. Once again, it's not bad, there's nothing terribly wrong with any of this. But there was nothing about the writing that made me want to keep turning pages, either.

On a story edit side, I'd say the Quest For Good to Save Us plot line could have used some more urgency. We're told the Great Evil will be showing up in sixty years. Which isn't precisely the sort of timeline that makes readers want to go ripping through the pages to see if the good guys save the day in the nick of time. We get some more urgency toward the end, which helps, but it would have been nice to see that all the way through the novel.

There's a nice almost twist at the end. Alert readers probably know it's coming from about the 80% mark, but the characters are genuinely surprised. Actually the end is the best bit of the book, but slogging through 200 pages to get to the decent twenty pages didn't thrill me. And I'll admit that I'm still a bit fuzzy on what precisely happened in the end. Not that I can't tell you what happened in a blow by blow sort of way. I'm fuzzy on what precisely one of the characters thought he was doing at the end and why.

So, all in all, it's okay. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. I know fantasy readers come in many, many flavors, and this is a story that will appeal to some of them. Just not me.½

Wow! I was lucky enough to be given a copy of this book by the author and am so pleased to be able to say I loved it. I was drawn into the adventure from the opening pages. What's not to like! There's magic, elves, sorcerers and demons woven into a magical tale about a fight against evil. I thought this had all been done before but Burrows has created his own world and people and I thoroughly enjoyed the read. I highly recommend Drachar's Demons. I just wish I was as eloquent as the author as my words do not do justice to his book.

I really wanted to like this and give it a good rating. The story is solid and compelling, but due to poor execution/presentation, I couldn't go on after page 146. The author has talent and good ideas, but one of the hazards of self-publishing is not working with an editor, and one was sorely needed here. There are an abundance of typos, sound-alike words used in the wrong place, and even plot holes which an editor would have helped resolve. After a while, this just became annoying and I put the book down for other things. I may some day go back to see how the story ended (at least part 1) but for now, I just have too many books demanding attention. I hope the writer will keep striving though, because he clearly has a solid grasp of fantasy and is learning his craft.

Overall I liked this book. I got the bind up book of all three. I thought it was a long book But, I also thought it needed to be a longer book to get all the information in the book.

Thanks for giving me this book in a giveaway and for having the giveaways.

(Disclosure: I got this book for free.)
When a book comes as the first of three, and has a map at the beginning with little mountains and forests in it, you know that it's in the shadow of another famous trilogy.

It's a quest story, with two characters who meet up, are joined by a third who starts the quest, and then they are later joined by a fourth. There is only one narrative thread, so it's on a lot smaller scale than the famous trilogy. The storytelling is good and the characters are interesting. Sometimes I found what they did puzzling, and their motivation wasn't always clear.

However I found the ending quite confusing. Also, it doesn't really come to a conclusion, it just pauses ready to resume in the next volume. I'm not that eager to read the next book, though if I came across it in a library I might out of curiosity.½

My initial reaction on receiving this book was that I hoped that the story was better than the artwork on the cover. With respect to Philip McDonnell, the artwork does not do the book justice and I suspect does not help to sell the book. Sorry, I hate being negative but the front cover is so important.
Gladly the story was better than the artwork. It is basically a quest by three main characters, Kaplyn, Lars and Vastra for an illusive "something" that was left behind by the Eldric after a serious war. They are later joined by Lomas after entering a forest and falling foul of its protective forces.
The story has all the elements of a "tolkienesk" story, but David Burrows has achieved this without just churning out a copy. It is well written, the characters are good, the whole fantasy world is well built and it managed to keep me glued to it so I finished it in one sitting.
There are only two complaints. Firstly, the object of their quest was not spelled out clearly in this first book (or I missed it in my eagerness to read it) and secondly, it does not stand by itself as a complete book. The end of this book suddenly appeared as if chopped off in mid sentence and without having the second and third books to hand I suspect I shall have forgotten the finer detail by the time I lay my hands on the next two books. If the others are like this I would recommend reading them as one - much as I would with Lord of the Rings.
All round a great read and I would recommend this to everyone who enjoys fantasy, now I need to find books 2 and 3, or better still a complete volume of all three. (Lost half a star for ending mid breath.......)½

The trio who were on a journey together in book one of the Prophecy of the Kings trilogy are now split apart, as one of the members betrays the others. Fortunately, a new member of the group was picked up late in the game in the last book, so the one bad seed is replaced with an excellent addition to the crew, Lomar, an albino with some magical abilities. However, due to the treachery that ended the last volume, the group finds that they have been frozen in time - when they awake it is sixty years later, their loved ones have died, and the world as they know it looks very different. No longer an overall peaceful place, allies are at war and an old enemy threatens to make the most of the disunity.

Quote: "the battle to defeat Drachar was long ago and is now nothing more than a memory. The people want to believe Drachar was destroyed, never to return. My concern though is that Drachar was only defeated because of the Eldric and their Narlassar sorcery."

This book has none of the slow start that I complained about with the first volume. It picks up immediately with the heroes in danger, suffering a bizarre fate. Once they realize the consequences of their betrayal, they have to put the pieces together and figure out how to move forward. I thought this was the most fast moving book of the trilogy, and the one I could least put down.½

Prince Kaplyn grows bored of castle life and decides to venture beyond the walls of his privileged life. He has a big family - making him ninth in line to the throne - and longs to seek adventure, test his bravery and cunning. After a brief interlude where he meets a companion, Lars, who is shipwrecked far from home, the perfect opportunity presents itself: a quest. A man named Vastra, whose motives are questionable, hires Lars and Kaplyn to go to an abandoned city built by the legendary Eldric, a people of great magical ability who abandoned the world after helping defeat an evil enemy hundreds of years previously. First Vastra, a sorcerer himself, must raise the ruins of the city, revealing it in its splendor and beauty. The discoveries made there begin the journey of the three to find the Eldric and enlist their aid once more.

Quote: "True, the Krell tribes had been defeated years ago, fleeing to the remotest regions of the land, but there were still supposed sightings, and even rumors of attacks."

Although I did enjoy this book overall, I thought it got off to too slow of a start. The set up to the quest itself was too prolonged, and I didn't find myself really reading on eagerly until we got to that portion of the book. The characters are strong, with those to root for and against. There was a definite mythology, with a whole alternate world created. I was interested in seeing the outcome of the story, particularly the ending of book one which had me running to the second volume.

This was a great book. I was able to follow the story line very well throughout the three books and the transition was very well written. I loved the main characters and also liked how the viewpoint shifted through many different characters. I thought it was well thought out and well written and would recommend it to all fantasy lovers out there.

I very much enjoyed the book and will probably reread it. I did feel it was too short - like a very long story scrambled together in bits and bobs really. There isn't much continuity or enough detail, I felt. I do want to know what happens in the other books now. I think the book needed a lot more editing, really - but it still shows a lot of creativity and promise. I look forward to seeing what else this author comes up with.

When I first got this book in the mail, as a part of the early reviewers, my jaw dropped. It is huge! I was so bummed because I knew that this was the kind of book with 5 page descriptions of a valley and endless droll over how important the sunset is.
I was so wrong! What a great read. Great flow, great characters, and magic! It wasn't overly descriptive at all....it left some things to my imagination, which I love. A fantasy lover's dream. Bravo! I am looking forward to the next books!

The Prophecy of the Kings is a great fantasy trilogy. It is centered on Kaplyn, a distant heir to the throne who leaves home in search of adventure to alleviate his boredom. He meets up with Lars and Vastra and quickly discover that their is more adventures to be had.

This trilogy has a wonderful flow that keeps the reader moving easily from one book to the other. It pulls you into the characters and the scenery and you, as the reader, feel vested in the outcome. It is a traditonal fantasy series with dragons and magic and stuff, so if that is your style of read, this will be a book you will enjoy.

Wanting to escape the tedium of the royal life, Kaplyn leaves the castle for the thrill of adventure. He finds it and more.
In a distant land, bound and facing death for defending himself, Lars finds life to be nearing an end. Until fate brings Kaplyn.
Hungry for power, and searching for the map to what he thinks will bring it, Vastra is scouting for a couple of able bodied men to help him recover the map. This is when he discovers Lars and Kaplyn. That is only the beginning of an intriguing trilogy.
This story revolves around a prophecy that signals the return of an evil defeated long ago, but I didn't really catch on until the beginning of the second book. There are also three worlds weaved into the mix those of demons, dragons, and men.
The first book starts off a little slow but push through it. Around the time when these three men meet it begins to pick up and at the end of the first book, you find yourself grabbing the next book.
This is a fantasy trilogy with magic, demons, dragons, and war. If you are offended by any of those four, I don't recommend these books. To every one else, this trilogy is great read with a ton of back stories marvelously woven into it.½

This was a good book. Three companions start a journey to find a magical pendant and along the way become integral parts of a prophecy that could mean the end of the world as they know it. There is a constant change in scenery as they travel around their world gaining allies, seeking knowledge, and fighting battles. The characters are likeable, especially Lomar and Kaplan, and I couldn’t predict the story as it unfolded. There is no swearing or sexual content. This would be a great book for middle /high school age readers.

I received this book through an author giveaway on librarything.com. I can be a little critical when it comes to “quest” fantasy because I’ve read a decent amount of it. This trilogy was on the upper end of the spectrum. Burrow’s characters and world were well described and created. I wish there could have been some more character growth, outside of Vastra. It didn’t really have the intensity of the best novels of this type. Despite this, it deserves a read.

Fantastic fantasy series! This series has everything a fantasy lover like me wants out of a story. It had me constantly turning the pages to find out what happens next! Very exciting and gripping in every aspect of the word. I recommend this series to all fantasy lovers, I know you'll love it as much as I do!

The Prophecy of the Kings trilogy is a fantastic epic. David Burrows creates a vibrant and compelling world which captivates his readers. Kaplyn, a prince of Allund, travels to escape the boredom of being the ninth in line for the throne of Allund. He stumples upon outlaws who plan to kill a stranger named Lars and comes to his aid against his better judgement. Together the pair, set off to compete in the Pendrat games and come across a wizard named Vastra whom asks for their assistance retrieving a pendant from an ancient city. From here Kaplyn and Lars' destiny is set and before long they have set into motion a five hundred year old prophesy that holds the fate of their world in the balance.

The first book started a little slow but quickly grabs a hold of the reader. Burrows develops his characters well and by the end of the first book you feel compelled to keep reading to find out the outcome of the tribulations the characters must go through. The second and third books are equally engaging and the pace quickens with every page. I truly enjoyed this novel and would recommend to all fantasy fiction fans.

The Prophecy of Kings trilogy is an epic tale of bravery, discovery, intense battles, and oh, of course, Dragons, Dwarves, Demons, and ugly creatures called Krell! Sparked with a flare of Lord of the Rings..yet singed with its own unique vibe, The Prophecy of Kings takes you on a long, dangerous journey With Kaplyn, prince of Allund. Through dangerous lands, and even into unknown worlds, Kaplyn and his good friends (whom he meets along the way) make their way through dark encounters to fight against the horrible prophecy that is said will pass. The Prophecy of Kings.

I must say that I was excited to receive this book. After reading the first chapter on Burrow's website, I was, to say the least, very interested. I always love a good fantasy, and this novel, judging by the first chapter, appeared to be my cup of tea. Luckily, what appeared was not deceiving. The Prophecy of Kings was for the most part, all that I expected.

While the writing is good, and the battle scenes are excellent, the true highlight of these novels for me, were the characters. Each were distinct and interesting. While it did take me a bit of time to absorb their personalities, once I did, I deeply cared for the outcome of their lives. Kaplyn, whom was the main character, was very likable, and Vastra, a wizard with a secret, was compelling all the way through. There was also a decent amount of character development, which is something I always enjoy. For me, if the characters aren't interesting, the writing will never truly grab me.

With that said..I do have a few critiques.

The first novel of The Prophecy of Kings was a bit slow going in, and for about half a book, I had a hard time connecting with the characters. However, midway through it really picked up, and I became more and more engaged. The farm scene with the pack of possessed wolves had me entranced by it's vivid detail and harsh intensity. From there on the novel really had and me, and the ending, which came with a bang, was both unexpected AND stunning. By the time I read the final page, I knew I had to continue and jump right into the next book. I couldn't bear not knowing what would happen next.

The second novel started off MUCH better than the last. It jumped straight into the story, and started off with a new character, Tumarl, who at first glance seemed incredibly unstable, bordering on schizophrenic. Unfortunately, his character doesn't quite reach the level of interesting I thought it could have. None-the-less, he becomes another likable character. I also have to say, it truly seemed as though Burrows became much more confident with this novel -- as if he came in to his own. The writing, the plot, the action..it's all very well integrated. My only real complaint was that the middle was so climatic..I ended up feeling as if it reached its boiling point a bit soon – making the ending feel just a tad bit underwhelming. Despite this, this was a great read!

The third, I have to say, was the best. This novel has it all..intensity, betrayal, fierce battles, Demons, Krell, Dragons, Dwarves..loss..everything. I was grabbed by this one, and was never let go. This was truly the best out of the three, and kept me completely engaged from the beginning to the end. It was a great conclusion to a very entertaining trilogy.

All in all, The Prophecy of Kings is a worthy fantasy Trilogy. While it did have some rough edges, and there were times where it seemed to drag..the overall plot was good, and the characters were both compelling and enjoyable. From Dragons to Demons, to giant flying birds that can carry human-beings.. this had everything you'd expect and more from a good, action-packed fantasy. From novel to novel I felt great improvement and progression in the both writing and character development. I can only imagine what Burrows will come up with, and accomplish next. If you're a fan of epic battles, and vast journeys through unique worlds, I'd suggest reading The Prophecy of Kings.

I received a copy of the full The Prophecy of the Kings Trilogy from the LibraryThing Member Giveaways program. I do enjoy this type of fiction and I thought that the first book may lead to me purchasing the other two, but the author was generous enough to send out a copy that had all three books in it.

I really enjoyed the story and found that the books were very easy to ready and very enjoyable. The story truly follows Kaplyn, a price of Allund, through his adventures after he leaves home to find adventure away from the restrictions of the Court. He meets up with many characters that follow him through the remainder of all three books. I felt that these characters all brought something to the story while still not making the story so complex that it was hard to follow. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre of book.

Legacy of the Eldric is book 1 in The Prophesy of the Kings trilogy. It offers all you would expect from a fantasy tale, with various lands and races, prophecies, creatures, demons and socery. For me, however, the strength of this book is in the writing, which is descriptive yet not over-done, plus the characters.

Each of the main characters are well written, and individual - most are likeable, whereas Vastra has just the right amount of threat surrounding him. They all represent well their own races, with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Obviously this isn’t going to have the depth found in a tale such as Lord of the Rings, but that does help to make it a highly readable book. I would recommend for those who have an interest in entering the world of fantasy, and I look forward to reading the remainder of the trilogy in time.

Mystical tale filled with fantastic action scenes, dragons, 3 princes, wizards, astral travelling, demons and tree spiders! Burrows has written an amazing epic fantasy that will have you glued to the pages. The author is a fan of LOTR and his trilogy is in a similar vein, yet is filled with original ideas that are unique to Burrows. This amazing trology is a must read for all fans of fantasy lands and epic battle scenes.

Final part of a terrific fantasy trilogy. Filled with dragons and mystical aspects. This final part is jam packed with battle scenes and had me on the edge of my seat. I loved every page of all 3 books and highly recommend this trilogy to fantasy fans.