L. W. Greenwood

Embers in the Wind, Fire of Life Series by LW Greenwood an early readers’ review:

My apology to the author—in the middle of this read my family ran into health issues that caused me to quit in the middle. I returned to it after several others have commented, but my feelings run along similar lines.
I really like the concept and I think that the author was able to convey the loneliness of the main human character by the prolonged isolation she held him to; however, as a reader, I felt lonely too. I liked the way he interacted with the dragons, but I wanted conversations & ideas that were more than what was presented. His sleeplessness became dreary—maybe to convey depression—but again, it wore on me as I read. When additional human characters were introduced, I was excited, but soon they felt incomplete too (perhaps just setting anticipation for thereat of the series). The motivations behind their actions were superficial. The “bad guys” were not frightening—they were just in opposition. The idea that they represented the force of death should have been overwhelming and the battle scene was pretty strong—but it was such a small part of this story; more time was given to history of previous wars and that was needed as background information, but it overshadowed the drama of the present story.
I think there is a good story here, but it needs to be strengthened and polished.… (mer)

The description sounded amazing! The story of a boy and his dragons. And although it has so much potential, I was a little disappointed.

The book held a lot of similarities to Eragon - magic swords for riders, bonded dragons and riders (although the egg doesn't rely on a specific person to hatch in this case), the long lifespans of riders, the dragon dying with their rider and the rider often not lasting long (yes, it does get ore complicated in Eragon but this is what is shared in the first book). Some of these ay be relatively common tropes, but there is something familiar in how they are presented in approached, even if the books themselves aren't the same. Although it's been several years since I've read Eragon I found myself thinking "so Eragon?" several times throughout this book.

Keeping on the it reminded me of Eragon train of thought, one of the most common criticisms I've seen of that book is that it needed a better edit. I felt the same way about this book. The author did cut it down a bit after some of the first reviews, but I feel like there is more to be done. I don't really have a problem with the length because I tend to really enjoy world building in books and like learning about how things work. But the dialogue is a little frustrating at times. While the book itself is not marketed as being for young readers, I often found the dialogue to be a little simplistic and stilted (as it often is in books for younger readers - this isn't a problem of course due to how brains develop). Some of the voices were also a little underdefined which made it more difficult to connect with certain characters. There were also one or two minor inconsistencies. For example, Jacob tells Jocelyn that he has never met a dragon with a non-nature name. Yet one of his is called Jasper (although he does go by Jocko Jacob knows what his "real" name is). (so many J names in this book!). (Yes, it's technically a cultivated variety of a flower but although the setting of the world is not completely nailed down, this doesn't feel like something that would exist in this world, and at the very least not something Jacob would be aware of even if it did). The sharpness of his knife when it comes to hunting vs butchering his kills towards the start also comes to mind.

I enjoyed the start of the book most. I found my mind started wandering a bit around the 50-60% mark but I was interested enough in the world to keep going. It picked up a bit towards the end, but I think I missed something in between because I don't think it hit like it should have. I think a bit of tightening of the middle portion could have helped the experience (as much as I said I enjoy world building). The author has lovely ideas and has such great potential. I wish them the best of luck for writing and editing in the future!… (mer)