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Bazil Broketail #3
Dragons of War
GOLDEN ELVES FORETOLD RELKIN'S FATE
There is a field in Arneis, a garden of flowers. There Relkin will stand, when all has failed and the dark forcMtave triumphed. And on his shoujders will rest the destiny of the world....
A shadow of war hung over the peaceful land of the Argonath as The Masters prepared to unleash hideous new monstrosities from their dread fortress. The Great witches of Argonath, unable to pierce the magical barriers of the enemy, did not know when or where the evil blow might fall. Only one thing was certain: the Dragon Legions would be crucial to the Empire's survival. Yet for Dragonboy Relkin and the dragon Bazil Broketail, surviving long enough to fight was the problem at hand - especially after an irregular rescue mission saw Relkin up on a murder charge - and the fate of his own world seemed far beyond his control...
There is a field in Arneis, a garden of flowers. There Relkin will stand, when all has failed and the dark forcMtave triumphed. And on his shoujders will rest the destiny of the world....
A shadow of war hung over the peaceful land of the Argonath as The Masters prepared to unleash hideous new monstrosities from their dread fortress. The Great witches of Argonath, unable to pierce the magical barriers of the enemy, did not know when or where the evil blow might fall. Only one thing was certain: the Dragon Legions would be crucial to the Empire's survival. Yet for Dragonboy Relkin and the dragon Bazil Broketail, surviving long enough to fight was the problem at hand - especially after an irregular rescue mission saw Relkin up on a murder charge - and the fate of his own world seemed far beyond his control...
488 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1994
5 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Rowley
50 books95 followersChristopher Rowley is a prolific writer of both science fiction and fantasy novels. He was born in 1948 in Lynn, Massachusetts to an American mother and an English father. Educated for the most part at Brentwood School, Essex, England, he became a London-based journalist in the 1970s. In 1977 he moved to New York City and began work on The War For Eternity, his first science fiction novel. He currently lives in upstate New York.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 30, 2025
More pulpy goodness from Rowley, and more adventures of Baz and his Dragonboy Relkin. While the series has become a bit formulaic by this point, I am still having fun with it. Here, Baz and Relkin start off in the hinterlands in the far west of Argonath, the established colony of the Isles of Cunfshon. By now, we know that the witches in Confshon have been fighting the 'Masters' for centuries; indeed, the leading witches have all lived through it. In the last two books, two major offenses by the Masters were thwarted by the legions of Argonath, with Bazil and Relkin both playing major roles in their defeat.
It seems, however, that the Masters have something new up their sleeves! The great trolls are bred from cows while the imps are bred from captive women (ugh!). The witches are dying to know what the Masters are planning, but unfortunately, their information network has been smashed. So, the Grey Lady and the Queen of Mice decide they must investigate personally. Meanwhile, Relkin and the rest of his fellow soldiers are struggling at the fort located in a reactionary town, one that bans beer, singing and so much else! Dragons like their beer, and they are grumpy!
Well, it turns out the Masters have another massive offensive planned, one utilizing a 'secret weapon'. Will the intrepid Dragonboys and dragons of the famous 109 be able to thwart this invasion as well?
Rowley paces these nicely and I really love the absurdities that crop up. The religious fanatics at the town they start in are hilarious. The 109 also has a new dragonmaster (like a captain to the Dragonboys) how wants everything polished to perfection and Rowley has a lot of fun with that. When the action gets going, it really does, and the battle scenes are super. I just wish ROC had more inspired cover art. 4 battle stars!!
It seems, however, that the Masters have something new up their sleeves! The great trolls are bred from cows while the imps are bred from captive women (ugh!). The witches are dying to know what the Masters are planning, but unfortunately, their information network has been smashed. So, the Grey Lady and the Queen of Mice decide they must investigate personally. Meanwhile, Relkin and the rest of his fellow soldiers are struggling at the fort located in a reactionary town, one that bans beer, singing and so much else! Dragons like their beer, and they are grumpy!
Well, it turns out the Masters have another massive offensive planned, one utilizing a 'secret weapon'. Will the intrepid Dragonboys and dragons of the famous 109 be able to thwart this invasion as well?
Rowley paces these nicely and I really love the absurdities that crop up. The religious fanatics at the town they start in are hilarious. The 109 also has a new dragonmaster (like a captain to the Dragonboys) how wants everything polished to perfection and Rowley has a lot of fun with that. When the action gets going, it really does, and the battle scenes are super. I just wish ROC had more inspired cover art. 4 battle stars!!
May 5, 2015
War......there are no winners, just losers and a lot of dead bodies, For almost two decades or more, I have finally read book 3 of Mr. Rowley's wonderful series, first time I read this, it really set itself apart, for who doesn't love Dragons, I mean THEY are the last line of defense against any hero team be it D&D, Greyhawk, Dragonlance(where the aforementioned creatures are strongest).
In his world, there are two dragon types wyvern or flightless ones and the natural ones or wild dragons, aside from these, this world is almost under the thumb of the Masters of Padmasa and those against them are the legions of the Argonath and their Great Witches......without giving much away, the whole series revolves around Relkin and his battledragon Bazil Broketail......
As i've said this is the 3rd book and there's 4 more.....hopefully it doesn't take me 2 decades or more to finish the whole series
In his world, there are two dragon types wyvern or flightless ones and the natural ones or wild dragons, aside from these, this world is almost under the thumb of the Masters of Padmasa and those against them are the legions of the Argonath and their Great Witches......without giving much away, the whole series revolves around Relkin and his battledragon Bazil Broketail......
As i've said this is the 3rd book and there's 4 more.....hopefully it doesn't take me 2 decades or more to finish the whole series
April 29, 2024
Fantastic work of fiction. A nice thick read as well, but too thick, I imagine. The reader is brought into a fantasy world filled with magicians, dragons, imps, ogres, and the whole lot. A young man who was orphaned, his battle dragon, and great collection of well written characters come together to face a great enemy.
It was a great colorful world to get lost in.
It was a great colorful world to get lost in.
July 24, 2023
Plot 3/5
This is without a doubt intended to be read as more of a "big picture" type of story. Rather than honing in on one particular perspective, the narration constantly switches its point of view, trying to incorporate various plots that are all intertwined around the oncoming war. Now this isn't a bad strategy for a war story. My main issue with the story's structure, however is that the first half of the book reads less like the action-packed war story I was expecting and more like a casual-paced slice of life. While the "spread thin and far" can make for a good war story, for a slice of life it comes off as slow, shallow, and not as interesting as it could've been. The story picks up about half-way through the book once the war actually starts. In fact, the second half almost feels rushed in some places, such as in the first battle which turned into more of a flashback than an intense in-the-moment experience. But getting to those more desirable fast-paced action scenes was a real slog of a read and I think most of that first half could've been cut without the reader losing any context to the plot.
Characters 2/5
This was my least favorite aspect of the book. Now don't get me wrong, I like some of the characters (dragons and the witches), so it's not that I think the characters are necessarily unlikable, so much as that they were flat and one-dimensional. This stems from a couple different issues: the most obvious of which being there's way too many. Too many different perspectives often switching between them with no coherent reason. Too many mentioning of names without context on who they are aside from maybe a title to a point where it gets hard to keep track of who's who a part from the main characters. And even in the case of the main characters I feel like we only grazed the surface rather than getting to dive below the depths. Also, because I enjoy my romance, I have to say that the feeble attempt at adding romance was just flat out terrible in terms of execution. Like a cheesy and kiddish 'hero always gets the girl' situation and I think the story would've been better off without it. It really made me dislike Relkin. Well that in addition to him being some kind of 'chosen one of the prophesy' thing which the story also would've been better off without as it's basically pointing out the fact that Relkin has 'plot armor' just in case it wasn't obvious enough.
Setting 4/5
The setting, on the other hand, I feel is this story's strength. Many of the descriptions of the environment were vivid and detailed enough to captivate my attention. The fantasy world is interesting enough to at least encourage me to finish the book, even though I didn't care much about the shallowness of the characters. I especially liked the lore surrounding the witches and their society. I honestly think they could've had their own stand-alone story as I feel they managed to steal the spotlight from the dragons at times. Though I do think the dragons are interesting, too ... once again I just feel the presentation of them could've been executed better.
Overall 3/5
This was my first Bazil Broketail book (didn't realize it was part of a series when I picked it up) and while I wouldn't say I didn't get any pleasure from reading it, I don't think I'll be actively trying to pick up more of this series. At the same time, if I happen to stumble upon a used copy for a low enough price, I would be willing to read more in the hopes that they are a little more consistent in terms of pacing, structure, and focuses more on the main characters, which is just my personal preference as opposed to the "big and shallow" stories. As it is though I think there's too many obvious issues and annoying cliches that I wouldn't want to recommend this particular book to anyone.
This is without a doubt intended to be read as more of a "big picture" type of story. Rather than honing in on one particular perspective, the narration constantly switches its point of view, trying to incorporate various plots that are all intertwined around the oncoming war. Now this isn't a bad strategy for a war story. My main issue with the story's structure, however is that the first half of the book reads less like the action-packed war story I was expecting and more like a casual-paced slice of life. While the "spread thin and far" can make for a good war story, for a slice of life it comes off as slow, shallow, and not as interesting as it could've been. The story picks up about half-way through the book once the war actually starts. In fact, the second half almost feels rushed in some places, such as in the first battle which turned into more of a flashback than an intense in-the-moment experience. But getting to those more desirable fast-paced action scenes was a real slog of a read and I think most of that first half could've been cut without the reader losing any context to the plot.
Characters 2/5
This was my least favorite aspect of the book. Now don't get me wrong, I like some of the characters (dragons and the witches), so it's not that I think the characters are necessarily unlikable, so much as that they were flat and one-dimensional. This stems from a couple different issues: the most obvious of which being there's way too many. Too many different perspectives often switching between them with no coherent reason. Too many mentioning of names without context on who they are aside from maybe a title to a point where it gets hard to keep track of who's who a part from the main characters. And even in the case of the main characters I feel like we only grazed the surface rather than getting to dive below the depths. Also, because I enjoy my romance, I have to say that the feeble attempt at adding romance was just flat out terrible in terms of execution. Like a cheesy and kiddish 'hero always gets the girl' situation and I think the story would've been better off without it. It really made me dislike Relkin. Well that in addition to him being some kind of 'chosen one of the prophesy' thing which the story also would've been better off without as it's basically pointing out the fact that Relkin has 'plot armor' just in case it wasn't obvious enough.
Setting 4/5
The setting, on the other hand, I feel is this story's strength. Many of the descriptions of the environment were vivid and detailed enough to captivate my attention. The fantasy world is interesting enough to at least encourage me to finish the book, even though I didn't care much about the shallowness of the characters. I especially liked the lore surrounding the witches and their society. I honestly think they could've had their own stand-alone story as I feel they managed to steal the spotlight from the dragons at times. Though I do think the dragons are interesting, too ... once again I just feel the presentation of them could've been executed better.
Overall 3/5
This was my first Bazil Broketail book (didn't realize it was part of a series when I picked it up) and while I wouldn't say I didn't get any pleasure from reading it, I don't think I'll be actively trying to pick up more of this series. At the same time, if I happen to stumble upon a used copy for a low enough price, I would be willing to read more in the hopes that they are a little more consistent in terms of pacing, structure, and focuses more on the main characters, which is just my personal preference as opposed to the "big and shallow" stories. As it is though I think there's too many obvious issues and annoying cliches that I wouldn't want to recommend this particular book to anyone.
August 15, 2025
The bad guys send an army with a new creature (ogres) and there’s a bunch of battles.
This takes a while to get going and about the first third or so seems aimless and pointless but then the war stuff starts and it settles into big fantasy battles. Some of the world building occasionally becomes overbearing and many of the characters are unexplored but there’s lots of death and fighting and an overall good time. Still a bunch of things that don’t make sense but there’s 4 more books to go so there’s lots of time left.
This takes a while to get going and about the first third or so seems aimless and pointless but then the war stuff starts and it settles into big fantasy battles. Some of the world building occasionally becomes overbearing and many of the characters are unexplored but there’s lots of death and fighting and an overall good time. Still a bunch of things that don’t make sense but there’s 4 more books to go so there’s lots of time left.
August 3, 2022
Another solid entry in the series, particularly with introduction of some fresh new and important characters. As always the combat is detailed and all the members of the 109th, not just Baz and Relkin, really begin to endear themselves to you over the course of the book.
June 22, 2018
Better then the last one! More movement of the story, and interesting looks into the antagonists.
January 26, 2010
Despite being about boys riding large armored dragons to war, I read each of these books because they were a lot of fun.
Currently reading
June 19, 2011I love this series. I read it again every few years or so
May 7, 2015
Rowley has done it again. Another amazing book in the Broketail series. Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews