Rise of Dresca takes place in a world where there is a struggle for independence and a powerful invasion leads to the collision of a nation. This book had me hooked from the first page itself. The first fifty pages reminded me of one of my favorite scenes of Harry Potter, where Harry is stuck in the chamber of secrets fighting a deadly creature to save himself.
Drascar can’t seem to catch himself a break. There is always someone or something trying to kill him, as a reader this is the kind of plotline that I love. The story is told in the third person pov following multiple characters in a sort of military alliance, for lack of a better word. We follow Drascar (later called Vald by his friends), Sevora, Seth, and others as we get deeper into this world.
The world-building is amazing. There are magical creatures like Dragons, and magical caves used to trap people. There are alliances as stated above but I didn’t see any deep bonds or relationships between the characters which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you consider the plot, it sort of makes sense why they didn’t trust each other a lot. But as someone who loves found family tropes in books I won’t mind seeing some real friendships formed among our characters. This is based on the theme of visions where you see the future (or past?) and revenge. It’s a chase against time to stop another invasion, to prevent the corrupt from getting the power and revenge.
I liked Drascar, since the beginning when he was struggling so much to survive, I connected to his character, and even though the story splits because of the narration he is still in the center of it all. There is still so much left for us to discover as the story moves forward, Drascar or Vald is likely going to be my favorite at the end. I also liked Seth, he has a better role in the second half of the book after certain things happen, but I did like him. Initially, he looked like another arrogant leader commanding people left and right, not caring about their emotions but his chapters prove you wrong. From all characters I only had a snag with Sevora due to her impulsiveness at times, so I am excited to see where Tim Mckay’s character go from here.
The author provided little background knowledge about characters and their stories on this part of the series, something that would have aid the book further, and allowed new readers to settle in more easily.
If we talk about the ending without spoiling much, it’s worth it with a smooth and soft cliffhanger that won’t leave you too anxious while waiting for the next book on the series.
Rise of Dresca has everything I love in fantasy, dragons, good characters, and a good plotline. Some books get you craving for more and Rise of Dresca is the perfect start to a series and will leave you just like that.
Cover score: 9.0/10
Book score: 8.4/10
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Listen to the podcast review of Rise of Dresca || Read Tim McKay’s interview about Rise of Dresca
This review was made by Akansha
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