The Last of the Firedrakes is the first in a series entitled The Avalonia Chronicles by Farah Oonerbhoy. It follows the adventures of 16-year-old Aurora Darling, who is currently living with the family of her adopted father’s brother. Picked on at school, even by her vicious cousin, she is very unhappy and thinks things can’t get any worse. That is, until she is pulled through a tapestry into a magical land and thrown in a dungeon. But all is not lost. She is rescued by a man known as the Black Wolf and discovers she is heir to the throne of Illiador. Unfortunately, she also finds out that her parents were killed by her aunt Morgana, who is trying to kill her as well.
The Last of the Firedrakes has magic, elves, winged horses, handsome rakes, and several silver-haired mentors for Aurora to follow (but only when she wishes.) There is even a school of magic where Aurora can learn to use her natural talents and makes an enemy she must foil (sound familiar?).
The book is published by Wise Ink, a partnership publisher who did an excellent job on the publishing. The paper and binding are excellent, and there is not the usual rash of typos and grammatical errors often found in self-published novels.
The writing was pretty good and the plot had some merit. The only problem I had was with some lapses of plot connectivity. I found myself looking back once too often to see how something was able to happen as it did. Also, I found Aurora a bit reckless, even for a fantasy book protagonist, taking actions that bordered on stupid. With just a little more writing, I believe the author could have gotten Aurora into the situations she wanted her in without making her appear as such.
Still, if you can overlook Aurora’s naivete, The Last of the Firedrakes can be an entertaining read. Just don’t expect too much.