Bershad stands apart from the world, the most legendary dragonslayer in history, both revered and reviled.

Once, he was Lord Silas Bershad, but after a disastrous failure on the battlefield he was stripped of his titles and sentenced to one violent, perilous hunt after another. Now he lives only to stalk dragons, slaughter them, collect their precious oil, and head back into the treacherous wilds once more. For years, death was his only chance to escape. But that is about to change.

The king who sentenced Bershad to his fate has just given him an unprecedented chance at redemption. Kill a foreign emperor and walk free forever.

The journey will take him across dragon-infested mountains, through a seedy criminal underworld, and into a forbidden city guarded by deadly technology.

But the links of fate bind us all.

I think no matter how hard you try, you always go into a particular book with some expectations. Mine are set to FULL BLAST like 99% of the time, because starting a book you’re not excited about is a shitty feeling. But, anyway, yeah.

Blood of an Exile is a book that, on the surface, sounds like it’s going to be a fun-filled & badass fantasy romp. And it is those things, to be sure. But goddamn, it’s so much more than that. I think this is a case where the combination of the cover (which I fucking adore) and the synopsis don’t necessarily paint the clearest picture of what the book is really all about.

This is book that’s steeped in both history & politics, a book that’s deeply character driven, and perhaps most surprisingly, a book with concepts like environmentalism and animal rights at its core. In short, Blood of an Exile is a much more nuanced & richly detailed book than I was expecting, and honestly it just fucking blew me away. This is an absolutely phenomenal debut novel by Brian Naslund, and a great start to a unique new series! I get the feeling The Dragons of Terra is going to become a series with a very dedicated fan base!

Silas Bershad, stripped of his lordship, has been sentenced to die. Well, not exactly. But he’s been exiled & made a dragonslayer. Most dragonslayers manage to kill just a few dragons (if that) before being killed themselves. But not Bershad. He just keeps slaying dragons (more than 60) & stubbornly/drunkenly staying alive. His chance at freedom comes unexpectedly, and at a high price: the king who exiled Bershad now wants to hire him to kill an emperor.

Also, the king’s daughter has been kidnapped. Annnnd the king’s other daughter, Ashlyn, is Bershad’s former lover.

So, there’s a lot going on here and I’m trying to actively work at making my reviews less & less focused on plot. Bershad puts together a crew (actually, Ashlyn does), and off he goes to kill an emperor & save a princess.

But as I said, this book is a lot more than what it appears to be on the surface. We learn that Bershad is not some barbaric dragon-murdering cartoon character. In fact, he’s incredibly thoughtful and cares a great deal for these creatures. It’s one of the things that binds him to Ashlyn. She spends her days studying these animals, not just because she’s fascinated with them, but because she wants to truly understand their role in the world.

Basically, if you are into dragons, this book is so far up your street. There’s a lot about different species & their habits and behaviors. It’s nerdy as hell, and absolutely fucking delightful.

There’s so much in Blood of an Exile that I loved: some seafaring adventure, bone-jarring action scenes, political treachery, DRAGONS, the crew-of-misfits-on-an-adventure trope, romance, DRAGONS, an actual whole island of badass women assassins (the so-called widows of Papyria…omg, Vera is such a fucking radical & stabby character), and, and, and….and DRAGONS!!!

I feel pretty confident Blood of an Exile is gonna land on my list of favorites I’ve read in 2020, and I’m eagerly counting the days (and months) until book two, Sorcery of a Queen, is released. I’ve definitely got some hopes/theories about that one, for sure! In the meantime, I’m gonna scream about Blood of an Exile from the rooftops & hope everyone adds this to their TBR!