Jonathan Mayberry may have written one of his 1st fantasy series of his career, but hopefully it's not his last.

His unique perspective on Fantasy is classic, yet refreshing. From his use of common characters throughout Fantasy, but with a new spin.
He plants easter eggs, such as somewhat historically recognizable names, to the, " box of metal and glass that contained human and dog bodies....." 😆.

Characters are fleshed out, magic in this book is cool, and settings, stories & monsters make this book so entertaining.

I highly recommend this book on creativity alone

Kagen Vale is damned. His gods turned their backs on him when he failed to protect the children of the Silver Empress when the Witch King unleashed the Night of the Ravens and killed thousands across the Empire in one night. But Kagen is driven to fight the Witch King, to make him pay for the death of his family and the precious children. War is coming. The nations that formerly made up the Empire are determined to take back their sovereignty and will band with Kagen. Kagen's brothers have traveled to the Winter Wilds, seeking the last dragon on earth, who is being held captive, tortured to obtain her tears and saliva for dark magics. Her dying cries summon horrors beyond imagining. As the Witch King seeks to obtain god-hood for himself, Kagen brings to bear more magics than can be imagined, brings them to a world who refuses to acknowledge the existence of magic. The price that will be paid is beyond knowing. This is one of the best conclusions to a series I have read in a while. All details are wrapped up in a satisfactory manner. Maberry writes an exciting and compulsive reading experience. Highly recommended.

<b>"Tell me" he said when he could trust his voice. "Tell me everything."

"I was drugged... on my night off," he began "And I woke to the sound of my own damnation."</b>

Man what a ride this series has been. The lines above are from 85% of the way through book 3 and are such a great call back to page 1 of book 1, while being a fantastic resetting of the table for the absolute force that is the end of this book.

Kagen The Damned (book 1) starts of with an absolute blistering opening and keeps that same pacing throughout that story. The scope is quite narrow, and I was hoping book 2 would open up to explore much of the larger pantheon and the pantheons interactions with the world itself. Instead book 2 begins delving and expanding on the world itself in ways that make the world feel quite expansive. But I truly don't think I was prepared for how much story was going to be packed into this story! It had so much of what I was hoping would be in book 2, and then created so much destruction in such a short amount of time.

I think my only criticism was that the scope was so large, that pieces felt rushed. I wanted to savor and let the tension build before unleashing absolute carnage across the realm. Is this me wishing these books would have been more than a trilogy... probably. Knowing what we learned in these books, do I now wish we could get prequel stories explaining in more detail some of the things we learned in a short amount of time from this book... well now I feel like I am being redundantly not subtle, but you get my point.

This is my first series from Maberry, though my brother in law has repeatedly urged me to read more of his work. I found some criticism of book 1's language and description of specific acts that occurred in the book fair. That said, I thought The Dragon In Winter really finding a consistent voice and balance between story and "grimdarkness" that made for an enjoyable read.

This will absolutely not be everyone's cup of tea both in the style and the pace. But man do I feel a bit empty as my teacup looks empty now! Great cap to a really fun series and I hope to see more from some of the surviving characters (I don't want to even risk hinting at these for spoilers sake) in some form in the future!!!

Huge thank you to Jonathan Maberry and St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC from NetGalley.

The amazing end to an amazing fantasy trilogy!
That said - the language felt a little stiff and formal to me,

The final volume in the Kagen the Damned series. Kagen must face the Witch-king and stop his ruthless reign and endless destruction. His call to find allies will take him beyond the known world and with the reawakening of magic the gods themselves just might answer.

I love the ending to this trilogy and loved following the adventures of the youngest son of the Poison Rose, Kagen Vale, self-named Kagen the Damned. All plot points are addressed in a more than satisfactory way. Be prepared for a long read, but if you are already invested in this trilogy, the reading time will not be a surprise.

I have been looking forward to this third and final installment in the Kagen the Damned series since I finished book two, and It did not disappoint! I always hate to see a favorite series come to an end, but Mayberry wrapped things up in a satisfying way, giving the reader continued character growth and lovely plot movement right to the end. I can’t wait to see what comes next. (More in the Kagen world, perhaps?!)

Dragon in Winter
Entertaincity is Mayberry super power, I needed to create a word!! To show case his story telling prowess!!

Characters just keep giving, and the plot is spot on like the first two books
The story has its goods and meh parts, but with this being the last book of a trilogy and he landed ok!
I finger this 3.5 stars

Maberry sure can tell a story! This third installment in the Kagen the Damned series is every bit as entertaining as the first two. All of the main characters continue to grow more into who they are as the tale is told. The progression of their development is natural if not always linear.

As to the story itself, it is somber and hilarious, philosophically interesting and irreverent, and always entertaining. This is another book that does not like to be put down. Honestly I could see Netflix doing good things with a story such as this.

Five stars is an easy rating to give for this fantastic book. I seriously could not recommend it more highly! My most sincere thanks to Jonathan Maberry and St. Martin’s Griffin via Netgalley.

Jonathan Maberry does it again in the Kagen the Damned series, I was hooked from the first page and thought the overall story worked well with the other book I read. Jonathan Maberry always does a great job in writing this type of book and made characters that worked with everything that I enjoyed. It had a great plot and continued the story in a way that I wanted.

I received this as an ARC from netgalley.

I've been looking forward to this for a while, and I wasn't disappointed. Inevitably as the 3rd and last book in a series (maybe there'll be others in the same universe) there was a lot going on, some things coming together and a fitting conclusion.

We can never be 100% satisfied with a story wrapping up, but this had a bit of everything, while leaving the door open for more in the future. There were a few unnecessary plot points shoe-horned in that didn't seem to add much, and the final piece seemed a little rushed, but overall a good finish.

I would definitely recommend this series, especially as its not left hanging for years!

Top Notch book 3 blew my expectations out of the water really would love to see this series continue the characters the action the world it's all here if you read book one and two you have to read book three Jonathan Mayberry has created a rich brutal World here
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC for an unbiased and Honest review

Such a great finale for the conflict with the Witch-King. A bit slow paced in the beginning, but there's a lot to do when fighting a evil sorcerer. I've been looking forward to this one and it didn't disappoint. There were several points in the story where I reacted out loud, which was embarrassing because I was at work.

War is coming! War is here! The Witch-king of Hakkia, aided by terrifying dark forces, sits uneasy on his stolen throne. His enemies, led by Kagen the Damned and the Bloody Bastards have found the secrets of ancient magic they hope will defeat him. Strange forces gather on both sides – vast armies of both the living and the dead, devious trickster spirits, strange gods, warrior ghosts, undying vampires, blood plagues that drive people to murderous rage, immortal faeries, and Earth’s last dragon.

Kagen knows that he faces the impossible task of toppling a usurper whose dark magic conquered an empire in a single night. But the Damned fear nothing and there are no limits to what Kagen will do to destroy the Witch-king. With his allies he will tear apart the veils that separate our world from the infinite realms of supernatural magic. The Witch-king will not go down with a fight, and he is willing to drown the western lands in innocent blood to retain his stolen crown. Even if he rules over an empire of dust and blood. His power is growing and soon he will be unstoppable.

But they are not the only forces at work in the world. Magic of all kinds is awakening and who can tell which side they will pick…or if they will pose a new and terrible threat to all! In the frozen North, the last dragon –tortured, captive, dying― cries out in despair. In the inky vastness of the outer dark that cry is heard! And something of incalculable power is coming in answer.

A very fitting conclusion into a criminally underrated series by a seriously underappreciated author. THE DRAGON IN WINTER wraps up all of the plot points and charcer arcs very satisfyingly and I had an absolute blast reading through this final installment. I will for sure read anything that is released by Jonathan Maberry in the future! Strong 4 star read!