The Dragon God Saga: The Wood Cutter’s Son by Thomas Wright
The dragons have vanished, and magic is weakening. Wait, this sounds a little familiar. Winters are growing longer, and a northern kingdom is eyeing the fertile lands to its south.
Our hero is Morgan, an auspicious third son of a lumber merchant and, well, that’s enough of a description for now. Having read The Wood Cutter’s son we were left confused. It’s Schroedinger’s book, simultaneously good and bad until you give it a thorough examination. That said, we’ve done our analysis, and we give it a resounding ‘meh.’
First, it suffers from both technical and imaginative shortcomings, from its similarities and borrowings from more popular series to the repetitive and, at times, pedantic writing. This is clearest when reading vivid descriptions of rather mundane happenings. This causes the author to come off as unsure of their writing, causing some passages to feel forceless and banal. As well, the formatting makes reading the book more bothersome than enjoyable, and the end of the book could have been 100 pages earlier, and most readers would have been happier for it.
That said, we finished it for a reason. The characters were compelling enough, and the underlying story was gripping. Morgan is a fun enough guy, even as the third son of a lumber merchant. Let’s talk about that for a moment though. Discerning readers probably noticed a small error in our writing of the title. We did too, but we won’t make a correction the author did not. Woodcutter is one word, not two, and if that doesn’t set your expectations, then you might enjoy The Wood Cutter’s Son.
Recommended, If Only Just
The Wood Cutter’s Son is an epic fantasy that does its job well enough to make our recommended list, though its position is tenuous. If you are a voracious reader looking to tear through a fun, if generic, fantasy story, then you can sate your hunger here. If you’re looking for something a little deeper, it’s better to search elsewhere.
If you want to read The Wood Cutter’s Son, you can find it here.