Storm of Wings by Chris Bunch

This is the first Chris Bunch book I've read but it won't be the last. I'm not usually a big "Sword and Sorcery" fan but I picked this one up even though I was expecting to yawn and roll my eyes through the standard formula that I have come to expect of this genre. I was delighted to be proven wrong!

Mr Bunch is neither Tolkein nor Tolstoy but he has written a cracking good yarn that is much more credible than most. He has very obviously studied the early days aviation and of aviation warfare and has tied this research very neatly into his novel. His descriptions of warfare on land are good and are in line with historical medieval warfare. By adding dragon "dogfights" etc he has created a kind of "Royal Flying Corp at Agincourt" scenario which I find quite fascinating.

Magic is used but not excessively, too often magic takes over a book and it seems that wizards should be left to get on with fighting between themselves while the mere humans might as well go home and get on with their lives. Mr Bunch, in my opinion, has the balance just about right.

I'll be combing my local bookshop for more of Mr Bunch's work in the near future, those book tokens that have been sitting in my wallet since last Christmas have his name written on them!