The Dragons of Dorcastle (The Pillars of Reality #1) by Jack Campbell

What are you going to do when everything you've been thought appears to be a lie?

★★★★☆ 3,5 the second book is gonna be so awesome stars for this intriguing piece of work

I received a free copy from Netgally in exchange for an honest review.


Alain, a boy from the Mages Guild is on his first contract protecting a caravan when they are ambushed by heavily armed men. He manages to escape with a girl from the Mechanics Guild, Mari. Something like that is unheard of. The Mages and the Mechanics Guild loath one another and tell their apprentices only negative things about the other Guild. While trying to make it alive into the next city Mari and Alain discover that maybe not everything they have been taught about each other is the truth.

Although they managed to escape whoever attacked the caravane the danger isn't over yet and they meet again under dire circumstances. The two young Guild members develop a tentative friendship and together they discover that something is very wrong with how things are.

The clash of the two different wolrd view of Mari and Alain, the slow building relationship, the step by step unraveling of the truth. I really enjoyed those things. The plot is interesting and promising so far and I'm excited to read the second book of the trilogy. The fantasy world is interesting and I really like the sort of steampunk touch the Mechanics Guild has.

Now, you may wonder why my rating is only three and a half stars if I enjoyed it. Well, that was mostly because I felt it at times really repetitive, especially when it was Mari's POV. I can understand that it takes a while to get over prejudices, but that was nontheless the feeling I got and it was near impossible to ignore all those scenes. It got to the point of being really annoying, like "Yeah, girl, I know that you said it for the like 30th time already, I get it".