Review: Needed more to make me care about the characters
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 30, 2013
Quite a while back, I downloaded this for free.  One problem with so many free books, is that they tend to get buried under all of the other books that get your attention (usually history for me).While on the stationary bike, for the first time in a while - darn surgery, I made a conscious decision to read something from the bottom of the pile.  I found Battle of Black River, a short story  at 363 locations.  It's an interesting story of a dragon king, the betrayal he faces and the hope for the future.  Not remembering anything about the story, it became clear that this was a "prequel" of sorts as a set up for a later series.  Presumably about the child being laid.I think this sort of prequel can work fine, but for me this was too short.  It starts with a betrayal.  I wouldn't start that way, as I don't care about the betrayer, or the betrayed.  Make this a couple thousand locations in length - introduce the characters, let me see them interact, let me care about them, then hit me with the betrayal and the war. As it is, I feel bad for the main characters, but not that emotionally invested.  One of the purposes of this is to get me to want the later series - and this failed for me.  If I had been more emotionally connected, it would have had a better chance of hooking me in.However, it's free as of now, so if you are a fantasy fan, give this a download.