Review for "The Shadow of Black Wings"

"The Shadow of Black Wings" is the first novel in James Calbraith's 'The Year of the Dragon' saga.
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The cover features a serious darkhaired slightly effeminate boy. His green eyes are piercing underneath full brows. His lips almost look pursed or curled in contempt. Metallic goggles shine from around his neck. A sword hilt modeled after a dragon emerges from his gauntleted hand. The style of the whole image reminds me of the character art from the Final Fantasy rpg video game series. The title shines in silver metallic letters. A small bar accented with a gear separates the title from the author's name.
The boy from the cover is Bran ap Dylan, a young man of Gwynedd. We meet him while he's still at school learning to become a dragon rider like his father. He's not a popular boy prone to being bullied and keeping to himself as much as possible. Some of his problems seem to stem from the intense loyalty Bran has to his dragon Emrys and consequently Emrys low status on dragon totem pole. Bran is all and all a troubled youth unsure of where he wants his future to take him, of his place in the world, and in his relationship with his father. When Bran stumbles across some hidden artifacts of his long disappeared grandfather, he begins a journey that will lead him halfway across the world, far away from everything and everyone he's ever known into the mysterious and ancient land of Yamato.
*vaguely interesting side note there's a Japanese steak house in my town called Yamato. I love their Chicken teriyaki yum!*

What I liked:

• Bran is easy to identify with and like. I was especially proud of his loyalty to his dragon Emerys
• The imagery throughout the entire book was beautiful.
• The infusion of a magical and mechanical alternate history that overlaps almost seamlessly.

What I disliked:

• The author introduced a few too many characters without really taking the time to flesh them out completely and when some of those characters had similar names I found myself having to flip backwards to try and identify them with certainty. 
• The book is based as a fictional historical. I might have appreciated this a little more if the author had just left the original place names alone. As it was Gwynedd, Seaxe, Yamato, and Qin were fairly easy to match with their originals of Wales, Britain, Japan, and China. But without looking at the map I was completely lost as to the Batvarians, Varyaga and Bharata. I would have naturally thought of Midgard as Norse people given their mythology but that was not the case. 
• Sometimes the descriptions of the mechanics and gearworks were a little too technical and I found myself skimming over them if they took a little long.  
• Exactly how many people know that Sato is a girl. Is it a secret, is it not a secret, which is it?
• There were more than few typos in the book. 
• I'm going to make a few guesses as to the finish of this particular series, I could be way off or not but if I am right major spoilers so you might want to skip this bullet. The man who destroyed the Landon, the man in the crimson cloak, and the man in the cave are all hanryu or Yamato's half dragons. Bran will eventually get a Long type dragon. Nagomi is either related to Bran though his grandfather or will become Bran's love interest. I'm also guessing the Black Raven is Bran's grandfather given that Bran itself is a common name for Ravens in mythology. Like I said this are all just guesses but I can't help but feel that this is what's coming.

Overall "The Shadow of Black Wings" was a highly entertaining and surprisingly informative read. I got my copy on Amazon for free but at the time of this review you can get it for $2.99. And as a solid read its worth it. The other books in the saga so far are "The Warrior's Soul" for $3.99 and "The Islands in the Mist" also for $3.99 with "The Rising Tide" expected to be out sometime in April 2013. You can find out more about the author and his series at his website www.jamescalbraith.com
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Four out of Five smilies
Recommended to the more well-read segment of teens as well as adult fans of epic fantasies.

Synopsis:
"It is the sixteenth year of Queen Victoria’s enlightened rule and the world trembles before the might of her ironclad navy and the dreaded Dragon Corps. The largest ship ever built sails from the Brigstow Harbour on a journey to the mysterious lands of Orient. Its load – a regiment of the Royal Marines and one Bran ap Dylan – freshly graduate in Dracology at the Llambed Academy of Mystic Arts.
In the empire of Yamato, sealed from the rest of the world for the last two centuries, a wizard’s daughter Sato witnesses her father joining an anti-government conspiracy. Her friend Nagomi, training to be a priestess, is haunted by dark visions that she must keep secret. Neither of them is aware that a change is coming to Yamato… on the wings of a dragon.
A detailed and fast-paced historical fantasy based around the turbulent opening of Japan to the West in the middle of the 19th century, “The Shadow of the Black Wings” is the first volume in “The Year of the Dragon” saga."