Blood of an Exile (Dragons of Terra Series #1)

by Brian Naslund

Overview

2019 Amazon.com Best Books of the Year

2019 Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year

First in the Dragons of Terra series, Brian Naslund's Blood of an Exile is a fast-paced adventure perfect for comic readers and fans of heroic fantasy

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.

Dragons of Terra Series

Blood of an Exile

Sorcery of a Queen

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250309648
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/06/2019
Series:	Dragons of Terra Series , #1
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	414,612
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Brian Naslund is an American fantasy author based in Boulder, CO. He grew up in Maryland and studied English at Skidmore College in New York. Brian first started writing about dragons to escape the crushing boredom of his incredibly long bus commute. When he's not writing, he’s usually griping about video games on Twitter, hiking with his dog, Lola, or whitewater kayaking in the mountains. The last activity makes his mother very nervous. You can connect with him at briannaslund.com.

Editorial Reviews

06/10/2019

Naslund’s debut wraps action, a mystery, and the environment into an impressively tight knot of classic fantasy. The ironically nicknamed “Flawless” Silas Bershad was a lord until forced exile turned him into a dragonslayer. But when he doesn’t die as expected—due to a strange ability to heal—Ashlyn, the princess he once loved, and King Hertzog, who exiled him, make a dubious offer: they’ll let him return home in exchange for rescuing Ashlyn’s kidnapped sister, Kira, and assassinating an emperor who plans to slaughter nearly all the remaining dragons. Naslund’s prose in the scenes with Bershad, his faithful companion, Rowan, and his donkey Alfonso is as intentionally rough-hewn as Bershad himself, a distinctive counterpart to Ashlyn’s ornate language as she narrates her own engrossing fight against treason and environmental devastation. Amid the story’s ecological concerns, the landscape presents as many dangers and opportunities for Bershad and his companions as the human characters do. This opener makes a solid start for what readers will hope is an expansive series. Agent: Caitlin Blasdell, Liza Dawson Assoc. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Part Game of Thrones, part superhero epic, Blood of an Exile is a cinematic fantasy whirlwind" —Sebastien de Castell

“A page-turning, action-packed tale full of memorable characters, set within a world full of dragons . . . It doesn't get much cooler than this" —John Gwynne

"Exciting, epic and wonderfully told, full of subtle humour and laugh laugh-out-loud lines" — Angus Watson

"A fast, fun fantasy full of dragons and traitors, humor and bloody action." —Django Wexler

"A page-turning, edge-of-your-seat read that breathes new (fiery) life into dragon mythology." —Kirkus

"Bershad is both cantankerously funny and endearingly human." —Library Journal

From the Publisher

★ 2019-05-27
Naslund's stellar debut novel—and first installment in his Dragons of Terra saga—revolves around an exciting new fantasy hero who, exiled and essentially sentenced to death as a dragonslayer, is finding it increasingly difficult to die.

Silas Bershad, aka the Flawless Bershad, is a legend throughout the kingdoms of Terra. Accused by the king of Almira of committing horrific crimes and ritualistically tattooed as an outcast thereafter, Bershad has wandered the countryside with his sidekick, Rowan, and his trusty donkey hunting dragons for the last 14 years. While most sentenced to dragonslaying die battling their first beast, Bershad has killed 66 dragons and has become an unkillable folk hero of sorts. His miserable nomadic existence changes, however, when he agrees—at the behest of Ashlyn, the king's daughter and his former lover,—to embark on a perilous mission: to sail across the sea to the enemy nation of Balaria to rescue the king's other daughter, Kira, who has been kidnapped, and assassinate the emperor. But although the journey is filled with constant peril, Bershad begins to finally understand himself and his place in the world. Discoveries abound, particularly concerning his body's strange penchant for healing seemingly deadly wounds. Featuring a multiple point-of-view narrative that includes a rich diversity of characters—Bershad, Princess Ashlyn, an assassin named Garret, an apprentice alchemist named Jolan, among others—many aspects of this story are noteworthy. The worldbuilding, for example, is simply extraordinary. The dichotomy between the primitive realm of Almira and the technologically advanced kingdom of Balaria is striking, and the author's focus on dragons and their deep, almost mystical connection to the world's balance and well-being give the story a profound undertone. The characters are well developed and original, and the bombshell revelations at novel's end are immensely satisfying. A few predictable subplots notwithstanding, Naslund succeeds in creating a page-turning, edge-of-your-seat read that breathes new (fiery) life into dragon mythology.

Top-notch adventure fantasy—a stand-up-and-applaud debut.

Kirkus Reviews