REVIEW: The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood

The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood
Publishing information: Hardback; 512pgs
Publisher: Daw; 3 May 2016
ISBN: 9780756408336
Series: The Evertide #1
Copy: Provided by Publisher
Reviewer: Tyson

Amazon

Synopsis: "The debut novel from the acclaimed illustrator—a high fantasy adventure featuring dragons and deadly politics.

Maia and her family raise dragons for the political war machine. As she comes of age, she anticipates a dragon of her own to add to the stable of breeding parents. Her peaceful life is shattered when the Summer Dragon—one of the rare and mythical High Dragons—makes an appearance in her quiet valley. Political factions vie for control of the implied message, threatening her aspirations, her aerie, her entire way of life.

The bond between dragons and their riders is deep and life-long, and Maia’s desire for a dragon of her own to train, ride, fly, and love drives her to take a risk that puts her life at stake. She is swept into an adventure that pits her against the deathless Horrors, thralls of the enemy, and a faceless creature drawn from her fear. In her fight to preserve everything she knows and loves, she exposes a conspiracy, unearths an ancient civilization, and challenges her understanding of her world—and of herself."

The Summer Dragon has had a lot of hype and I wasn't sure I would be receiving a review copy but a few weeks before it was to be released to the public, I found it in my mail. Todd Lockwood is an acclaimed artist with some of the biggest names adorning his artwork as the cover of their books. This time however, Todd has written his own book feature what he loves the most, Dragons.

Maia and her brother Darian are expecting to receive their own dragons this year to help increase the domesticated dragons that are raised to become part of their country's national defense. A defense that is crumbling as the nation to the north is constantly raiding across the borders and harassing important infrastructure more and more. However, as Brood Day approaches,the day the empire's representative comes to collect the newborn dragons, or qits, Maia and Darian witnesses the Summer Dragon suddenly appear. The massive dragon tends to signify a major change, but for who is the question.

Maia started out as an interesting character, she is strong-willed and a hard worker. However, as the novel continues she becomes quite the Mary Sue, which really started to grate on me. She had the perfect relationship with not only the dragons owned by her family but even gains the trust of a wild dragon that was hellbent on killing all humans. When it comes time to learn to defend herself, she picks it up quickly and surpasses her brother. By the end of the novel there wasn't much left for her to accomplish as she is able to do anything she puts her mind to. The exact opposite can be said for her brother, Darian. He and Maia are more or less on equal footing as the book begins but as Maia grows in stature he diminishes and becomes jealous of Maia's "abilities." Characters need to grow as the book or series moves forward but Darian grows dumber as the book progresses. At one point he comes to terms with Maia's good fortune and then at the end of the book does a 180 and any good will that was written in the character's development is wiped out. It was disappointing.

The world building appears to be just getting started. A lot of it is based on the various aeries that raise dragons. We know that there are several aeries and that they are responsible for raising different types of dragons and that they often trade qits to improve their dragon's traits but as far as why the two kingdoms are at odds with one another, you never really learn anything. Their ideologies are completely different but as a reader you don't know why or what they are. The Summer Dragon takes place only around Maia's stomping ground and by the end of the book we know that we will be moving away from that location and on to something much bigger so perhaps Lockwood can help readers understand the world in which there is so much conflict between the two kingdoms.

The Summer Dragon is a fairly decent debut. However, there are a few clichés that a lot of writers tend to fall for. While they don't necessary hurt the book too much they do weaken it a little bit. With that said, it will be telling to see where he goes from here. If he can give Maia a few difficult challenges that she doesn't just complete through natural and newfound ability and opens up the world to give us a glimpse into what created the strife between kingdoms, he just might have a classic series on his hands.

Overall 7.5/10