Synopsis
I’ll trade ya a story for a drink.
It’s a story about a handsome son of a gun and his trusty dragon, Bean, on the hunt for the notorious train robber, Talon. In a land shaped by dragons, magic, and bullets, Dale Hartwell is just trying to make a living hunting down bandits and bounties while searching for his kidnapped parents. When the hunt for Talon takes him to the Melted Lands, Dale finds that he’s bitten off more than he can chew. He comes face to face with ancient dragons, old magic, and a new lead on his missing family. If he fails this job, not only will he lose his chance to find his parents, he might lose his life. In a showdown with a common enemy, unlikely allies will have to take to the skies, fighting tooth and talon for their lives and the future of the Melted Lands.
Review:
Sometimes, when I read a book I can’t help but think of the phrase “truth in advertising,” and that feels like a particularly apt description of Wild Skies, which is the opening novella of the Yeehaw Dragons series. Rarely has the title of a series so perfectly captured the feeling of its debut story. When talking about this story with friends and family, I found myself defaulting to calling it “Yeehaw Dragons” instead of Wild Skies.
The story follows bounty hunter Dale Hartwell, a confident and brash young man who’s looking for a big score, which he thinks he’ll find by tracking down the most dangerous bandit of them all, a mysterious train robber named Talon. Everyone he knows cautions him against it, but he sets off anyway.
That decision turns out to be a life-changing one, although to say more wades quickly into what I’d consider spoiler territory, so I’ll hold back.
Wild skies is a fast-paced, fun, fantasy adventure novella. K.E. Andrews is an instant-buy author for me after reading her SPFBO 9 Finalist-winning Hills of Heather and Bone, and although Wild Skies is a completely different experience, much of what defines her work is still present here. The writing is excellent and the story is full of heart. The story accomplishes an incredible amount of world building in very few words, and both the magic systems and the dragons are unique and interesting.
If the novella suffers at all, it’s probably due to the length. The story moves fast and covers a lot of ground quickly, and there were certainly times where I felt like I wanted to stop and catch my breath. The story ends in a good place, but it’s also very clear that it’s the opening salvo in what I hope will become a much longer series.
At the end of the day, I had an enormous amount of fun within these pages. Andrews dials the western aspects of the story all the way to 11 in this one, and with the impressive world-building and well-realized characters, there’s a lot to sink your teeth into. If you hear “Yeehaw Dragons” and think that this is a book for you, then you’re almost certainly right.
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