And now, Evan Winter has revealed that he’s signed a deal with Orbit to produce two more books after that “to complete the series,” which is called The Burning. The whole thing feels very fresh and exciting.Īnyway, the follow-up to The Rage of Dragons, The Fires of Vengeance, comes out on November 10. The Rage of Dragons is set in a world inspired by African history and folklore, which opens the door to all kinds of fascinating influences and reference points largely unexplored by traditional epic fantasy stories. From The Lord of the Rings on, a ton of epic fantasy has a heavy medieval English influence, which is great who doesn’t like knights and castles and stuff? But again, it’s refreshing to get a change of pace. I also love that The Rage of Dragons takes fantasy lovers somewhere different from where we’re used to. I love A Song of Ice and Fire and everything, but it’s refreshing to read a fantasy book with a plot that moves along so briskly, all without sacrificing the detail important to building any fantasy world. The Rage of Dragons is sharply observed, full of rich characters, and is paced like it’s late for the theater. The book was originally self-published, but it wasn’t long before Orbit picked it up, and it’s easy to see why.

For my money, one of the best epic fantasy books to come out in the last few years is Evan Winter’s The Rage of Dragons.

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter