Aram Raythe has the power to challenge the gods. He just doesn't know it yet.
Aram
thinks he's nothing but a misfit from a small fishing village in a dark
corner of the world. As far as Aram knows, he has nothing, with hardly a
possession to his name other than a desire to make friends and be
accepted by those around him, which is something he's never known. But
Aram is more.
Much, much more.
Unknown to him, Aram bears
within him a gift so old and rare that many people would kill him for
it, and there are others who would twist him to use for their own
sinister purposes. These magics are so potent that Aram earns a place at
an academy for warrior mages training to earn for themselves the
greatest place of honor among the armies of men: dragon riders.
Aram
will have to fight for respect by becoming not just a dragon rider, but
a Champion, the caliber of mage that hasn't existed in the world for
hundreds of years. And the land needs a Champion. Because when a dark
god out of ancient myth arises to threaten the world of magic, it is
Aram the world will turn to in its hour of need.
828 pages
Published December 19, 2020
I want to start off by saying that Dragon Mage surprised me in so many ways, all of them good. And it's rare to find a book which does that, especially a good solid old-fashioned coming-of-age fantasy story like this was. That's one of the points in its favour, I think. Dragon Mage was the start of an adventure that felt very similar to The Eye of the World (book 1 of the Wheel of Time series). You know, that way first books in a series do, with the adventure feeling fresh and new and there are all the wonders and perils of the world to experience, and even if there's danger involved, the story has become bloated or too dark. The characters haven't become so world-weary that their stories start to feel like a jade slog to get through. Dragon Mage captures that start-of-the-adventure feel perfectly, and I love it for that.
The second thing I love it for is that every time I thought I knew where the story was going, it shifted directions, keeping me on my toes the whole time. But it was never something that felt contrived. No plot twists for the sake of plot twists, but a proper tale with characters having multiple developmental arcs within it. First I thought the story was going to be about Aram and Markus being on the run from people who seek to drain Aram of all his magic, but no, then it switches to an uneasy alliance where Aram and Markus are semi-unwilling trainees in a place that would just as soon torture Aram as they would treat him decently. Then it switches again to that all going horribly wrong. Then another switch to another plane of reality, connected to the main world but separate from it, where Aram's quest changes entirely while Markus is still tied down to what he was doing before. And on and on. Just when I thought, "Surely most of the rest of the book will follow this storyline," it would change to something new, keeping the feeling of a new adventure even when there was no action to propel the plot forward. Characters are growing up, years are passing, and I ended the book feeling like everything was fresh throughout. Aram and Markus growing up from young lads to men could have resulted in them presenting world-weary faces to whatever came their way, a stolid stoic attitude of, "Well, guess I have to deal with this problem now."
But none of that happened. And it was incredibly refreshing to read an 800+ page book where it felt new and exciting throughout like that.
Markus and Aram even had occasional times where they fell out, one doing something the other disagreed with that strained their friendship. It wasn't some perfect unbreakable bond between them; neither character is infallible and they can and do make mistakes, lapses in judgment, even things they just felt was the right thing to do even if it was dangerous. Which brings me to another great thing about Dragon Mage: Markus and Aram's friendship was never in question, and they would always have each others' backs when push came to shove, but that didn't mean their relationship was absolutely perfect and nothing could ever come between them. Friendships are complicated. Sometimes the strength of a friendship isn't based on how little two people argue. Sometimes it's based on how willing a person is to stand by you even when they're angry at you. This is another thing that ML Spencer did really well when it came to characterization. Their friendship being strained at times, or even the two of them existing in different worlds, never felt like it was done just to increase tension in the story. I didn't get that feeling here. I got the feeling it was a complicated relationship between two people who, by necessity, had to walk parallel paths that sometimes diverged, but when they met up again, they would still be friends.
More of that in books, please. More representations of healthy friendships. I think we all need that in our lives now and again.
Speaking of representation, that brings me to my final point that I really loved about Dragon Mage. Aram isn't neurotypical. If I had to give it a name, I'd say he's somewhere on the autism spectrum. Some of that was behaviour based on the inherent traits that made him entirely different from Markus, so there was a touch of, "He's autistic because he's really magic," and that can be a harmful presentation, but despite knowing Aram could easily fall into that trope, I don't think it was done with any malice, nor even ignorance about autism. Some of Aram's neurodiverse traits had nothing to do with his connection to magic, after all, so his obsessive nature and tendency to hyperfocus when stressed may have come from his heritage, but him struggling to communicate and understand people, or being really socially awkward? Those are traits commonly connected to neurodiversity, which had nothing to do with Aram's heritage and everything to do with who he was as a person. So if you're looking for a good fantasy novel with neurodiverse representation, Dragon Mage is full of potential!
I want to gush more about the plot and how it had me hooked the whole way through, but I don't think I can do that without inadvertently spoiling anything for those who may read it later, and I don't want to ruin anyone's enjoyment of this novel. I already risked enough by talking about the way the story kept switching up what seemed like the main focus. Just know that I loved the story, loved how it progressed, loved the battle between what's good and what's corrupt, and the differentiation between what is corrupt and what has been corrupted. It's honestly fantastic, and I'm sorry I can't do it true justice here.
If, like me, you love the first books in a series because of how new the adventure feels, and if you love good neurodiverse representation in fantasy, and you're seeking a novel that will keep you engaged through the whole story, all the storms and calms, then I whole-heartedly recommend Dragon Mage. It was a true delight to read, the sort of book that has to be experienced rather than described, and the story will stick with you in the same way that great epic fantasy stories often do. Which, for my part, means that this book is a great epic fantasy, on par with some of the greats. ML Spencer is an author to keep an eye on. Like Aram, like Markus, I think she's going to do some more amazing things.
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