Every so often, my inbox pings with someone asking what The Divided Region compares to.
It’s a valid question.
Given the plethora of stories proliferating the fantasy genre, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the books vying for a space on your Kindle. So questions like this are a good way of filtering out the stuff you’ll enjoy versus the stuff that will make you wish you were a dung beetle.
Needless to say, my response usually centres around:
THE DIVIDED REGION IS LIKE A GAME OF THRONES WITHOUT THE INCEST, DRAGONS, AND DIZZYING POVS.
Of course, this is an oversimplification as readers of the series will testify, but it’s important to address the bull head-on, and for a lot of people, not having multiple POVs and fire-breathing lizards blotching the sky is a big no-no.
Tropes matter.
And while I serve many in my series, there are some noticeable absentees and ‘modifications’. 😉
Case in point:
Sticking with the dragon trope, I knew by not including them that the skies of Estos would feel somewhat barren — even for me.
So what did I do?
Outside of introducing nightravens into the world, I also added a far more menacing beast in One True King (Book #4).
Instead of blowing fire, it unleashes a deafening shriek that carries for miles and stuns prey.
Instead of a colourful hide, its scales are darker than obsidian.
Instead of slitted eyes, its pupils pulse red.
Those nightravens I mentioned?
YEAH, THEY ARE LIKE HATCHLINGS COMPARED TO THESE GUYS.😂
You will first encounter this creature terrorising a remote village in Chapter 7 of One True King, and you will meet them again in Book #5 (which shall remain unnamed until the manuscript is sent off to my proofreader later this week) along with a bunch of other terrifying beasts with teeth and scales to match.
Book 5 was a hell of a lot of fun to write and a pain to edit, but the end result will be a fantasy adventure that has all the grit of GoT and the pace of a thriller.
Until then, you can read all about these ‘dragonless’ dragons in One True King here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/one-true-king
DJJW