Blood of an Exile

Brian Naslund

Aug 2019 · Dragons of Terra Book 1 · Sold by Tor Books

About this ebook

2019 Amazon.com Best Books of the Year
2019 Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year

First in the Dragons of Terra series, Brian Naslund's Blood of an Exile is a fast-paced adventure perfect for comic readers and fans of heroic fantasy

Bershad stands apart from the world, the most legendary dragonslayer in history, both revered and reviled.

Once, he was Lord Silas Bershad, but after a disastrous failure on the battlefield he was stripped of his titles and sentenced to one violent, perilous hunt after another. Now he lives only to stalk dragons, slaughter them, collect their precious oil, and head back into the treacherous wilds once more. For years, death was his only chance to escape. But that is about to change.

The king who sentenced Bershad to his fate has just given him an unprecedented chance at redemption. Kill a foreign emperor and walk free forever.

The journey will take him across dragon-infested mountains, through a seedy criminal underworld, and into a forbidden city guarded by deadly technology.

But the links of fate bind us all.

Dragons of Terra Series
Blood of an Exile
Sorcery of a Queen

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

Blood of an Exile – Preview by Brian Naslund Dragons of Terra #1 Being given a preview of book one in a new series that had to do with dragons seemed a good choice for reading. I just wish that it had been the entire book since there is a lot more story to be told than what I read in the first 200 or so pages. I can see this as a multi-book series that will deal with dragons, vampires and a variety of other beings before it ends. Bershad seems to be the main character in the book. He had a run-in with the king and was demoted from lord to dragon killer exile and sent out to kill dragons. With nearly seventy killed he has mixed feelings as it seems he admires the lizard-beasts he has been sent to kill. In the past he had a lover who will become queen and that queen has a part in the story, too. There is his faithful man and donkey that stand by his side and a troop of others that will follow him on the quest-like journey he has been sent on to recover a kidnapped sister of the soon-to-be queen. Mention of an assassin, apprentice alchemist-healer and Vera are just the tip of the iceberg in this story that has a bit of the feel of Game of Thrones but also of other fantasy authors I have read. I have a soft spot for dragons so am not sure I will follow up and read the rest of this book or the series but do believe this will appeal to those who are into this sort of story. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan – Tor/Forge for the ARC – This is my honest review. 5 Stars

A dragonslayer who seems more like a mythical beast than the dragons he fights. Judging from the excerpt I read on the publisher's website, this is going to be a fantastically fun book for fans of the Witcher series, Drizzt books, or the Powder Mage series and I can't wait to read the rest! Dragonslayer Bershad drinks & swears like a sailor while performing heroic feats that no mere human should be capable of. The imagery is richly described to the point where I could actually feel the chainmail and leather touching my skin and hear the crack of bones breaking when the dragon lashed out at its attacker. And just a hint that maybe there's more to the dragons' side of the story than being feared and hunted.

About the author

Brian Naslund is an American fantasy author based in Boulder, CO. He grew up in Maryland and studied English at Skidmore College in New York. Brian first started writing about dragons to escape the crushing boredom of his incredibly long bus commute. When he's not writing, he’s usually griping about video games on Twitter, hiking with his dog, Lola, or whitewater kayaking in the mountains. The last activity makes his mother very nervous. You can connect with him at briannaslund.com.