The Rage of Dragons is an epic, bloody, captivating bit of fantasy.

We’re following Tau, who lives in a society that has been crafted exclusively around war – they’ve been in endless battles for hundreds of years against an enemy who vastly outnumber them. Those with Noble bloodlines are considered better fighters, and Gifted women have magic to bulk up warriors, disarm opponents, and even call down dragons.

Tau is painfully average, considered a Lesser and dreading leaving his first love to fight as a pawn for years. But everything changes when he witnesses a murder. He sets himself on a path to revenge, a path to become the best fighter of all time, a path that takes away his humanity. He’ll do whatever it takes to kill the three men who took away everything from him.

Tau is a formidable main character. He’s impulsive and overflowing with rage, and he struggles to see the bigger picture. It’s fascinating to live inside his head (and we do get brief chapters from other POVs) and easy to lean into his dream of vengeance. 

While the story had some predictable arcs - like Tau overcoming a whole lot of limits – I appreciated that it wasn’t exactly a ‘chosen one’ sort of narrative. Tau comes up against enemies he cannot face. He isn’t magically or conveniently saved from ruin. He’s exceptional, but he worked very hard to get there and all of his actions and sacrifices have consequences. The cost he pays to shift the boundaries of his world is devastatingly high. 

This book has to contain some of the BEST action and fight sequences I’ve ever read. Winter leans into the swordplay and gore and emotions that come alongside battle, and each moment was so engaging. I was really impressed, especially because I don’t always love long fight scenes. But here? I was hungry for more. 

Winter was raised in Zambia and says that it was the inspiration for the secondary world of The Rage of Dragons – we don’t get to experience a ton of the world or its nature because the characters are so focused on survival, but I loved the morsels of the land we did see. 

It’s a story of survival and revenge, of love and family, of hierarchy and xenophobia and injustice. It’s a story about cycles of violence and oppression, and how it feels to be stuck in that system and unable to imagine a way out. It’s a story about struggling to be moral within a society that makes goodness close to impossible.

It’s really good. And I’m ready for book two.

CW: death (parent/child), war, violence, gore, murder, grief, classism, body horror, colonization, xenophobia, fire, genocide, racism, rape, torture, self harm, panic attacks, excrement, vomit, sexual content

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