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Dragon Age #0.5
Dawn of Dragons
Dawn of Dragons is a prequel to the Bitterwood Trilogy, telling the story of the first dragon, Morningstar, as he escapes from captivity in the final days of the Human Age. With civilization in turmoil following the rise of Atlantis, Morningstar teams up with an undead veterinarian and a shotgun toting nun as he seeks his path of ultimate freedom. His adventures lead him to a face to face confrontation with Hezekiah, the immortal prophet first seen in Bitterwood, and Jazz, the mysterious Goddess from Dragonforge and Dragonseed. Dawn of Dragons is a must read for any fan of the Bitterwood Trilogy.
262 pages, Paperback
First published April 6, 2013
About the author
James Maxey
101 books191 followersI've been an avid reader since I first picked up a book. Luckily, I was within biking distance of three different libraries growing up. I was a skinny kid. If only I had maintained that link between biking and reading, I might be a skinny adult.
I'm also a writer. I wrote my first book as a kid, an adventure about pirates and ghosts. When I was a teenager, I used to write superhero adventures. Then I went to college and was steered toward writing "literature." It took me several years to shake that off, and today I write the sort of books I devoured by the shelf when I was sixteen, fast-paced fantasy, SF, and superhero adventures, which I use to explore deeper questions about life. My goal is to always be thought-provoking and always be fun.
I've had short stories in about a dozen anthologies and magazines. My novels to date are:
Nobody Gets the Girl
The Dragon Age trilogy
Bitterwood
Dragonforge
Dragonseed
Burn Baby Burn
The Dragon Apocalypse
Greatshadow (January 2012) -- A team of superpowered adventurers are recruited by the Church of the Book to extinguish the primal dragon of fire, Greatshadow.
Hush (July 2012) -- An effort to complete a quest for a fallen friend, the warrior woman Infidel stumbles onto a plot to kill Glorious, the primal dragon of the sun, and plunge the world into permanent cold and darkness, the elemental domain of the dragon Hush.
Witchbreaker (January 2013) -- A young witch named Sorrow has lost control of her magic after tapping into the spirit of Rott, the primal dragon of decay. Her desperate quest to save what remains of her humanity leads to an uneasy alliance with an amnesiatic warrior who might be the legendary champion of the church known as the Witchbreaker. But can there combined powers prevail when they trigger the wrath of Tempest, the primal dragon of storms?
I'm also a writer. I wrote my first book as a kid, an adventure about pirates and ghosts. When I was a teenager, I used to write superhero adventures. Then I went to college and was steered toward writing "literature." It took me several years to shake that off, and today I write the sort of books I devoured by the shelf when I was sixteen, fast-paced fantasy, SF, and superhero adventures, which I use to explore deeper questions about life. My goal is to always be thought-provoking and always be fun.
I've had short stories in about a dozen anthologies and magazines. My novels to date are:
Nobody Gets the Girl
The Dragon Age trilogy
Bitterwood
Dragonforge
Dragonseed
Burn Baby Burn
The Dragon Apocalypse
Greatshadow (January 2012) -- A team of superpowered adventurers are recruited by the Church of the Book to extinguish the primal dragon of fire, Greatshadow.
Hush (July 2012) -- An effort to complete a quest for a fallen friend, the warrior woman Infidel stumbles onto a plot to kill Glorious, the primal dragon of the sun, and plunge the world into permanent cold and darkness, the elemental domain of the dragon Hush.
Witchbreaker (January 2013) -- A young witch named Sorrow has lost control of her magic after tapping into the spirit of Rott, the primal dragon of decay. Her desperate quest to save what remains of her humanity leads to an uneasy alliance with an amnesiatic warrior who might be the legendary champion of the church known as the Witchbreaker. But can there combined powers prevail when they trigger the wrath of Tempest, the primal dragon of storms?
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 10, 2026
It was good...
As a prequel, this does a good job of setting things up for the main trilogy (and this should be read last). I really did not like any of the characters. None were really good people. And while we were introduced to dragons, the book title is deceiving. The dragon has a very small role in this. Jazz is just a very bad person who coincidentally is super smart and super selfish. Atlantis - not sure if it is good or bad. It just is.
As a prequel, this does a good job of setting things up for the main trilogy (and this should be read last). I really did not like any of the characters. None were really good people. And while we were introduced to dragons, the book title is deceiving. The dragon has a very small role in this. Jazz is just a very bad person who coincidentally is super smart and super selfish. Atlantis - not sure if it is good or bad. It just is.
May 8, 2024
I was kind of expecting how the rise of dragons happened as well but we really just get what happens with atlantis. It's left me with way more questions than answers when it comes to world building.
Even after atlantis wipes the world of stuff like gasoline and electricity there's nothing stated to prevent it from happening again. Not all the humans left to atlantis. I don't believe every scientist took the ballot. No books were destroyed or any forms of knowledge really. There is nothing preventing humanity from making an immediate comeback to the status quo unless atlantis itself takes agressive action. Which I guess that could be inferred.
One thing that kind of bothered me with the whole series is this thought that humans need conflict and pain and suffering inorder to be human which is a really barbaric notion. Couple that with the heavy christian imagery and faith based arguments leads me to believe that despite the negative christian connotations that the series is ultimately pro christianity.
One other thing to note is the use of a horrible stereotype were all gay men are hypersexual. It was the only part of Pure's character that felt really unsettling. It made me well aware that this was written by a straight dude that probably has never known a gay person. Other than that though pure is written pretty well and was one of my favorite characters.
Even after atlantis wipes the world of stuff like gasoline and electricity there's nothing stated to prevent it from happening again. Not all the humans left to atlantis. I don't believe every scientist took the ballot. No books were destroyed or any forms of knowledge really. There is nothing preventing humanity from making an immediate comeback to the status quo unless atlantis itself takes agressive action. Which I guess that could be inferred.
One thing that kind of bothered me with the whole series is this thought that humans need conflict and pain and suffering inorder to be human which is a really barbaric notion. Couple that with the heavy christian imagery and faith based arguments leads me to believe that despite the negative christian connotations that the series is ultimately pro christianity.
One other thing to note is the use of a horrible stereotype were all gay men are hypersexual. It was the only part of Pure's character that felt really unsettling. It made me well aware that this was written by a straight dude that probably has never known a gay person. Other than that though pure is written pretty well and was one of my favorite characters.
May 31, 2018
I've tried to think of something good to say about this prequel book, but alas, nothing comes to mind. There was no character in the story I didn't want to die. Unfortunately there were some survivors; mores the pity.
The gist of the story is the lead in to the Bitterwood series, which is the arrival of Atlantis. Now, the legendary city is something that has always held my interest, but the way this was done left me shaking my head.
I wasted my time reading this one; I hope no friend of mine does the same.
The gist of the story is the lead in to the Bitterwood series, which is the arrival of Atlantis. Now, the legendary city is something that has always held my interest, but the way this was done left me shaking my head.
I wasted my time reading this one; I hope no friend of mine does the same.
October 31, 2025
I'm not one to give out 1-star ratings. I usually end up giving dragon stories 4-5 stars. But this was definitely the worst book I've read in a long time.
The title and summary are very misleading. Morningstar gets practically no time in the story and plays little to no role in the plot till the very end (which is terribly anti-climatic and disappointing).
The characters often contradict their own values for nothing other than to further the plot.
The characters are not likeable. With nearly all of them being textbook psychopaths. Some characters are as shallow as a puddle, while others are god-tier knowledgeable to the point of spamming deus ex machinas all over the place.
The entire "Atlantis Rising" plotline feels like it should be a separate, and unrelated book series as it has absolutely nothing to do with the Dragons vs Humans dynamic. It just feels really cheesy and out of place. Not to mention that it takes up WAYYYY too much of the story in this book. What feels like 90% of the plot of this book is just about Atlantis Rising. Which, when compared to the literal title "Dawn of Dragons" or the summary talking about Morningstar, it's very disappointing. Not to mention that the Atlantis Rising plot feels like a deus ex machina itself to set up the "human civilization got wiped out" premise that makes up the rest of the series. But worse still, the way in which Atlantis Rising takes out human civilization doesn't make sense because it's a one-off event that humanity easily could've recovered from and thus is a major plot hole.
Worse still, while so many things are sacrificed for the sake of the plot, the plot itself is poorly-written and full of holes. There are several instances both within just this book, as well as between this and Bitterwood where the dates do not match up at all and certain things get flat out retconned.
The book is also incredibly preachy and nihilistic. With the "humans ruined everything" narrative repeatedly getting shoved down the reader's throat.
The book is also very unpleasant to read. Everything in it feels miserable and hopeless, and there is no redeeming dialogue, or genuinely funny, or uplifting moments. It makes you feel terrible when you read it. Yes it is a prequel to a post-apocalyptic story. So the premise is dark. But that doesn't mean the dialogue, characters, or story shouldn't focus on the positive side of things or make the reader feel good while reading it.
The story also seems to be oddly descriptive of things like fecal matter and gore. Which feels really out of place because normally one would expect descriptions to add to the plot or setting. But in this book these descriptions are usually despite the setting/gravity of the situation already having been made abundantly clear.
The book is also both too short, and too wasteful with too much filler. In my experience, a good prequel really ought to have +500 pages to it in order to properly flesh things out. This barely has half that. But worse still, even with that extremely limited page length, the plot strangles itself in a number of places and has you follow the life of some random human that adds nothing of value, no new information, and does not further the plot. And the book does it often enough that I found myself getting frustrated and just skipping paragraphs to try to get back to the actual story. And it's not like those characters were foreshadowing or hinting at something. They weren't. It really just felt like a filler TV episode in some parts.
Overall, the premise is stellar. But the story itself needs a lot of work.
The title and summary are very misleading. Morningstar gets practically no time in the story and plays little to no role in the plot till the very end (which is terribly anti-climatic and disappointing).
The characters often contradict their own values for nothing other than to further the plot.
The characters are not likeable. With nearly all of them being textbook psychopaths. Some characters are as shallow as a puddle, while others are god-tier knowledgeable to the point of spamming deus ex machinas all over the place.
The entire "Atlantis Rising" plotline feels like it should be a separate, and unrelated book series as it has absolutely nothing to do with the Dragons vs Humans dynamic. It just feels really cheesy and out of place. Not to mention that it takes up WAYYYY too much of the story in this book. What feels like 90% of the plot of this book is just about Atlantis Rising. Which, when compared to the literal title "Dawn of Dragons" or the summary talking about Morningstar, it's very disappointing. Not to mention that the Atlantis Rising plot feels like a deus ex machina itself to set up the "human civilization got wiped out" premise that makes up the rest of the series. But worse still, the way in which Atlantis Rising takes out human civilization doesn't make sense because it's a one-off event that humanity easily could've recovered from and thus is a major plot hole.
Worse still, while so many things are sacrificed for the sake of the plot, the plot itself is poorly-written and full of holes. There are several instances both within just this book, as well as between this and Bitterwood where the dates do not match up at all and certain things get flat out retconned.
The book is also incredibly preachy and nihilistic. With the "humans ruined everything" narrative repeatedly getting shoved down the reader's throat.
The book is also very unpleasant to read. Everything in it feels miserable and hopeless, and there is no redeeming dialogue, or genuinely funny, or uplifting moments. It makes you feel terrible when you read it. Yes it is a prequel to a post-apocalyptic story. So the premise is dark. But that doesn't mean the dialogue, characters, or story shouldn't focus on the positive side of things or make the reader feel good while reading it.
The story also seems to be oddly descriptive of things like fecal matter and gore. Which feels really out of place because normally one would expect descriptions to add to the plot or setting. But in this book these descriptions are usually despite the setting/gravity of the situation already having been made abundantly clear.
The book is also both too short, and too wasteful with too much filler. In my experience, a good prequel really ought to have +500 pages to it in order to properly flesh things out. This barely has half that. But worse still, even with that extremely limited page length, the plot strangles itself in a number of places and has you follow the life of some random human that adds nothing of value, no new information, and does not further the plot. And the book does it often enough that I found myself getting frustrated and just skipping paragraphs to try to get back to the actual story. And it's not like those characters were foreshadowing or hinting at something. They weren't. It really just felt like a filler TV episode in some parts.
Overall, the premise is stellar. But the story itself needs a lot of work.
March 3, 2026
The End & The Beginning
The last book in the Bitterwood Series gives the reader a story filled with the beginnings of the series. In keeping with the first 3 books, you find very interesting plot twists with surprises at every turn. Once again, I had problems putting this book down. James Maxey is an author worth following.
The last book in the Bitterwood Series gives the reader a story filled with the beginnings of the series. In keeping with the first 3 books, you find very interesting plot twists with surprises at every turn. Once again, I had problems putting this book down. James Maxey is an author worth following.
November 18, 2025
Very enjoyable, must be read after the main books although it is a prequel, otherwise it will spoil the others.
I like sci-fi more than fantasy, so really appreciated the explanation for how the world in the other books came to be.
I like sci-fi more than fantasy, so really appreciated the explanation for how the world in the other books came to be.
December 16, 2016
I was a little disappointed in a somewhat sloppy edit of this book... I found quite a few missing words.
But the fact that I still read it in less than a full day should be a testament to how much I enjoy James Maxey's stories!
I loved how this story went WAY more in depth into the technology side of the Bitterwood universe. It was a very fun read!
I can't wait to devour the Dragon Apocolypse series now.
But the fact that I still read it in less than a full day should be a testament to how much I enjoy James Maxey's stories!
I loved how this story went WAY more in depth into the technology side of the Bitterwood universe. It was a very fun read!
I can't wait to devour the Dragon Apocolypse series now.
October 13, 2014
Absolutely brilliant - in all the previous books we got snippets of this whole other world of human nanotechnology and super advanced machines, and with this novel we can delve into it, and see the connecting threads to the dragon world we come to love!
March 10, 2016
Obvious first novel, tons of concepts, not great character development, and the story went all over the place. One redeeming factor was it did introduce the origin of several characters found in the Bitterwood series.
December 3, 2014
Interesting expansion on the backstory for the series, although Jazz was insufferable. >_<
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews