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The Shadow of Black Wings (The Year of the Dragon, Book 1)
 
 

The Shadow of Black Wings (The Year of the Dragon, Book 1) [Kindle Edition]

James Calbraith
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Product Description

2nd Edition, revised and edited, April 2013

"Fast paced and full of energy"
--Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Shadows of the Apt

"This manuscript is full of highly crafted detail that will make readers shiver at times with fear and delight ... a familiar yet highly original fantasy that is a worthwhile read."
-- Publishers Weekly

"The real-world cultures are incredibly well-researched and truthful, and yet well-balanced with the fantasy elements. An intriguing and impressive series."
-- Ben Galley, author of the Emaneska Series

It is the Sixteenth Year of Queen Victoria. In the powerful empire of Dracaland, Bran, a young dragon rider, joins his father on a military expedition to the mysterious lands of the Orient. In the reclusive Yamato, Sato, a tomboy samurai girl, strives to prove her right to inherit her father's school of western magic. Nagomi, a timid shrine apprentice, is haunted by the visions of dark future she must keep secret even from her best friend.

They don't know it yet, but their paths will cross... And when they do, nothing will ever be the same again.

Welcome to The Shadow of Black Wings, a steam-powered romp across the land of dragons, wizards and samurai. It's big, it's fast, it's been compared to Tolkien in terms of world-building, it has strong female characters and lots of carefully researched detail. You will meet the Royal Marines sailing mighty ironclads and Chinese walking machines; mysterious warlords and crazy inventors; you will discover dark prophecies, family secrets and blood-thirsty demons. And all that in just the first volume!

About the Author

James Calbraith is a 34 year old Poland-born writer, foodie and traveller, currently residing in South London. Growing up in communist Poland on a diet of powdered milk, Lord of the Rings and soviet science-fiction, he had his first story published at the ripe age of eight. After years of bouncing around university faculties, he moved to London in 2007, found a decent IT job and started writing in English. His debut historical fantasy novel, "The Shadow of Black Wings", has reached ABNA semi-finals and was published in July 2012. His volume of short stories, "Transmission", published on Amazon Kindle in June 2012, has reached the tops of Kindle bestseller lists in USA, UK, France, Germany and Italy.

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 1092 KB
  • Print Length: 334 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Flying Squid; 1 edition (28 Jun 2012)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B008FS5RPC
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #140,120 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Dojos and Dragons! 19 July 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Shadow of Black Wings is a brilliant debut novel by James Calbraith, which blends fantasy with alternate history to conjure a Victorian world full of dragons and magic and derring-do. With the vast majority of placenames altered dramatically, it can take a few moments to realise the places being described, but by keeping his story grounded in our (albeit altered) world, Calbraith is able to exploit the mythologies of several cultures for a much more layered and subtle fantasy environment than most authors manage with a completely blank canvas.

If there was one drawback to this exciting story of Bran the young dragon rider's first voyage to the East, it's that it ends on such a powerful cliffhanger. Fast-paced and fun, I can't wait to see how this story develops. Beg, steal or borrow a copy. Or, you know, download it. It's all good.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Books 9 Dec 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Good Read so far interesting concept but can be confusing if read out of sequence could be a bit more discriptive
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4.0 out of 5 stars Steampunk, dragons and magic! 1 April 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an interesting tale of a young lad just fresh out of college and setting out in the world.

Its an alternate Victorian history story with magic and dragons and steampunk technology.

Let's start with the not so good:

- There are some occasions where the wrong words have been used. To be fair to the author, this book is written in English but he's from Poland and there are only a few (probably about half a dozen). It's a minor niggle really but it is one of the things that stopped this being a 5 star review. These sort of mistakes really pull me out of the story... so I had to mention it.

- There is a large break in the tale, or at least that's what it feels like to me, between the time something that occurs to the protagonist and him reappearing in the story. However, and this is the bit I didn't like, I get the impression that the gap between the event and his reappearance is meant to be instantaneous. It feels disjointed to me so I struggled with it for a spell.

- There are so many words to learn. I found myself repeating character and place names - a lot - to get them into my head. And that was every time I saw the words written.

What did I like:

Solid world building. I can relate to the world but I know its not where I am from, even though really it is. I can see where the inspiration for each country, and their associated populace came from.

Great characters that I could visualise every time they were focused upon in the story.

Intriguing take on a magic system with solid mechanics behind it.

Dragons! (that's all I'll say on the matter)

I really enjoyed reading this book and I have already recommended it to friends.
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