The Bookaholic Cat

The Dragons of Dorcastle is the first book in the The Pillars of Reality series by Jack Campbell. Narrated by MacLeod Andrews.

The blurb more than explains what this book is about, so I won’t delve more into it. 

I was very excited about listening to this audiobook, I had heard great things about Jack Campbell’s books and I thought this was my chance. Sadly, my high expectations were not met. Maybe if I wouldn’t have expected much from it I would have liked it more. 

My biggest problem was that everything was too easy and too perfectly “there” to work in the characters favor. From the way they meet, to the circumstances that bring them together, to them “falling in love” and finally, to them solving the mystery of the dragons of Dorcastle.

Mari is a good heroine, but at the same time she is a bit frustrating. She is smart, but headstrong and suffers from episodes of teenager angst.

Alain is my favorite of the two, maybe because he is the one that grows the most. There is an obvious change from the Alain from first chapters, to the one at the end and I liked seeing him change. 

The romance, if I can call it that, was a big disappointment because there was zero chemistry between the characters. I would have believed in a friendship between them, but not a romance; maybe a romance could have blossom in future books, but involving them romantically in this installment was premature and completely unrealistic.

The story is interesting enough and it is what kept me listening. I liked the idea of the two enemy guilds and I liked the idea about the prophecy. I only wish the world building would have been better developed. 

Even though I had some problems with The Dragons of Dorcastle I would like to continue with the series. I want to know what Campbell has in store for Mari and Alain in future books.

MacLeod Andrews does a really good job with the male voices, but sadly his female voices weren’t that strong. In couple of instances it was difficult to discern who was who, because his voices sounded very similar and in another instance, I wasn’t sure if one character was male or female, it was female. Apart from that, Andrews does a good job interpreting the story. His narration was another factor that kept me listening.