On the run after the death of the Emperor and the slaughter of her fellow Dragoneyes, Eona is caught in the middle of a rebellion, both figurehead and target. Only one man can teach her how to use her new powers in time to save the empire: Lord Ido, the disgraced Dragoneye who engineered his fellows’ downfall, currently held captive by the wicked false Emperor Sethon. In an epic struggle for survival, Eona must rescue her enemy, master her abilities, and unlock a centuries-old mystery involving her own ancestor. This fascinating sequel to Eon combines Chinese myth, wuxia action, magic, romance, and gender issues, producing a densely-packed, richly-told story.
Archive for category Dragons
For many years, it’s been the custom for the princesses of Ardendale to be locked up in a tower on their fourteenth birthday, guarded by a dragon. Whoever kills the dragon gets to marry the princess and become the next king. Strange as it seems, this Dragon Treaty has kept peace between humans and dragons for generations. However, when the time comes for untraditionally-minded Princess Ivy to take up residence in the tower, she actually runs away … with her dragon guardian acting as companion on her quest to track down her long-missing fairy godmother. It’s the only way to foil the evil plans of the wicked Prince Romil of Glacia, as well as the only way for Ivy to determine her own fate and prevent her new dragon friend from a horrible death. All they have to do now is survive a trip filled with giant spiders, hungry trolls, haunted swamps, and cranky dragons.
This story of a girl and her dragon is sure to remind some readers of other stories told along the same lines, from Patricia Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles to Jessica Day George’s Dragon Slippers, but it’s still a rather charming, fast-paced, enjoyable story in its own right. It’s easy to cheer for a princess who takes control of her own destiny, a decidedly nonstandard dragon, and all the other subtly twisted fairy tale trappings in attendance here, and it makes for a fun read.
Ever since she was drawn into the world of the Old Races, supernatural creatures dwelling in secret alongside humanity, lawyer Margrit Knight has risked life and limb for them. Time and again, she’s gone up against immensely powerful beings, negotiating and making deals, putting her reputation, career, and very life on the line. Along the way, she’s fallen in love with the noble, tormented gargoyle Alban Korund, giving her heart to him even though their relationship defies sanity and logic. She’s dealt with the dragon crime lord Janx, and the vampire businessman Eliseo Daisani, two bitter rivals locked together in eternal competition. She’s negotiated with the selkies, defied the djinn, haggled with the urban vigilante Grace O’Malley, and placed herself right in the middle of a war brewing between the five races, overturning ancient laws and challenging their oldest customs. And now everything is coming to a head, with plans put in motion and tensions at their highest. The djinn seek vengeance for the death of one of their own, the selkies seek power over the criminal underworld, Janx and Daisani continue their never-ending feud, and the gargoyles gather to decide, once and for all, the fate of Alban Korund, guilty of breaking their most sacred laws. But not for anything is Margrit Knight, called Grit, now known as the Negotiator.
As Margrit fights for the life of her beloved Alban, she also has to keep her mortal friends and loved ones safe. As the last days of her job with Legal Aid dwindle, she both anticipates and dreads her new employment with Daisani. With favors owed and debts to be paid, she’s placed in a number of unenviable positions, forced to work both with and against Janx, Daisani, the selkies, the djinn, the gargoyles, and her ex-boyfriend. Allegiances shift and mysteries abound, secrets are revealed, and promises broken. In the middle as always, Margrit Knight is both catalyst and fulcrum, upon which the fates of five races and their presence in New York rest.
C.E. Murphy wraps up the Negotiator trilogy with Hands of Flame, a roller coaster of a ride that starts off strong and rockets right to the end. There’s a lot going on, with numerous factions all vying for domination, each one with its own agenda and set of alliances, and it’s fascinating to watch the give and take as they make deals and allow concessions, usually with Margrit manipulating or influencing things along the way. It’s a fairly complex, intense storyline, and Murphy does an excellent job of keeping all the balls in the air. Every time you think one thing is wrapped up, something else explodes, making it hard to put the book down, as the five different races and a few unaffiliated extras all collide in new and interesting ways. In the process, quite a few things brought up in the first two books are addressed, explained, and elaborated upon, with a few more mysteries introduced for good measure.
I’d be lax if I didn’t touch upon Margrit. She’s a feisty, gutsy heroine, wholly capable of taking care of herself and more than ready to go up against forces greater than herself if need be. With metaphorical balls of steel, she tackles tricky negotiations between dragons, vampires, djinn, selkies, gargoyles and more without batting an eyelash, never letting them see her sweat. Watching her work is a treat, and an exercise in amazement, especially since she has this habit of surviving every encounter . . . or almost always, anyway. She gets extra points for being a non-Caucasian heroine, without being a token, stereotype, or pointed example.
Janx and Daisani may be one of my favorite pairs of mortal enemies/distinguished competition to cross my desk in years. They’re both immensely dangerous in their respective ways, honorable, cunning, unrelenting, and personable, able to work from behind a veneer of civility. Call them bad guys if you will, but the two of them, either separate or together, have a hell of a dynamic going on, and steal the show whenever they’re onscreen. Murphy adeptly avoids humanizing them too much, and no one’s ever going to mistake Daisani for the watered-down brooding Byronic wannabes that populate so many vampire romances. Murphy’s take on the secretive supernatural races is appealing and fascinating, and I’m actually a little disappointed that this is the last we’ll see of the Old Races for the time being.
There’s a lot to enjoy about this book. The plot is strong and fast-paced, the descriptions are evocative and powerful (especially during the scenes when Margrit is exploring the shared memories of the gargoyles, a major plot point), and the characters are fun to watch in action. Overall, this has been an excellent trilogy, and Hands of Flame is a more than worthy wrap-up to the story, easily one of Murphy’s best works to date. This makes for great urban fantasy. And despite it being part of Harlequin’s Luna imprint, there’s very little romance to be found, save in the form of Margrit’s ongoing love affair with Alban, which sees a few bumps and snags this time around, but nothing insurmountable. In fact, I’d have to say that with their romance pretty much settled in previous books, Murphy felt safe to put it on the back burner while she attacked the greater needs of the overall plot, which is fine by me. There’s enough happening as it is that we don’t need further emotional conflict between the romantic leads. The end result is one hell of a high-octane conclusion to the trilogy, making for a series that’s well worth reading. Tired of cookie-cutter treatments of vampires and werewolves? Here’s a breath of fresh air.
“We are here to tell you that there is strength in numbers, and that a balance has changed.”
With those words, a long-lost faction of the Old Races, those supernatural creatures which have lived among us for the length of recorded history, comes out of hiding, thus throwing the careful balance of the remaining Old Races into chaos and confusion. Not that things had been entirely peaceful before. Ever since the gargoyle, Alban Korund, revealed himself to human lawyer Margrit Knight, things have been spiraling out of control, slowly but surely. Margrit, nicknamed “Grit” for her tenacity and boldness, quickly became deeply embroiled in the strange affairs of the Old Races of New York City: the dragons and djinn, gargoyles and selkies and vampires. Now she’s known as a human who can negotiate with the representatives of the various races, unafraid and unwavering in her attempts to serve a greater good. She’s faced down the dragon crimelord, Janx. She’s stymied and opposed the vampire businessmen, Eliseo Daisani. She’s earned the goodwill of the selkies, romanced a gargoyle, and even stared down an angry djinn. Not exactly what she’s used to in her daily life as a lawyer for Legal Aid, that’s for sure.
But Margrit’s presence has set things in motion. She owes Janx several favors, and the dragon is aiming to collect, even as Daisani works things with an eye towards obtaining her services as a new personal assistant, a job which even Margrit understands to have more than its share of risks. The dragon and the vampire, rivals at best and enemies whenever the winds are right, at once again at war with one another, their pawns and human tools dying as casualties, and despite her best efforts, Margrit can’t help but get caught in the middle. And that’s when other factions make their presence known. Now, the representatives of the Old Races must gather for the first time in centuries, and Margrit Knight, a mere human, albeit one of unusual boldness and cunning, has a chance to alter their destinies forever. But what will it cost her? And how will all of this affect her love life, caught as she is between the safety and normalcy of a human cop on the one hand, and the exotic freedom of a gargoyle on the other? As things erupt in violence and fire, Margrit’s life will change forever.
House of Cards, the second in Murphy’s Negotiator trilogy, continues the fascinating story of the influence one mortal can make in a society of supernatural creatures. I’ll say it now: Murphy’s Walker Papers series, about an urban shaman, was very good. This series is nothing short of great. Her supernatural characters carry off a very nice blend of alien amorality and human fallibility, managing to exist beyond and above the laws of mortals without being completely removed from the day to day realities. Janx and Daisani in particular are complex, multi-dimensional, and unpredictable, pulling off their parts with confidence, dry humor, and just enough understated menace to make them believable as both allies and antagonists. One gets the impression that they’re amused by Margrit’s bravery and boldness (like if a kitten showed its fangs), and pleasantly surprised by her efforts to manipulate their own customs and personalities to get her way. Even immortals, it seems, can be jolted out of complacency.
This isn’t to make light of the parts played by the other characters. Alban, the exiled gargoyle who inadvertently brought Margrit into this mess, makes some hard decisions of his own, changing and growing as a result of his time spent with the feisty lawyer, while the resident djinn, Malik, shows his hidden depths as plans unfold and things get messy. The only one who really seems to suffer is Margrit’s occasional boyfriend, Tony, who mostly exists to stomp around, toss out coplike pronouncements of “If you’re dirty, you’re going down with the rest of them,” and sulking about the status of their relationship. It’s hard to find much to like about him under the circumstances, which is a shame.
The plot itself is fast-paced and always moving forward, and even though this is the second book in a trilogy, it doesn’t suffer from the middle-book syndrome, at least not so one would notice. Plenty happens, as the entire balance of the Old Races is upset and rules are changed. Characters live and die, alliances are made and broken, and a vicious power struggle leaves the status quo rather different from before, all leading to a conclusion that leave readers wanting more. I really did get a feeling of Big Things Happening, as events unfolded and the words I quoted at the start of this review were spoken. Murphy’s got a knack for suggesting Big Things Happening without resorting to pyrotechnics, just as her most dangerous characters manage to pull off the majority of their best tricks without pulling out their respective supernatural abilities. Daisani is a vampire who doesn’t need to drink blood on screen in order to convey a sense of age and power, and Janx exudes dragonlike qualities without breathing fire and flapping wings all the time, and yet you never forget, for all their playful demeanors, that they’re frighteningly capable and genuinely dangerous. Murphy understands when less is more, and it works quite well in this series.
I’ve read a lot of urban fantasy, or paranormal romance, or mixtures of both, and this series stands out quite nicely for several reasons. It utilizes nonstandard fantasy races such as the gargoyles and djinn, it has a heavy focus on the complex web of political and personal negotiations and entanglements, and it relies on plot over romance to keep things moving along. The engine that keeps the story going is one of checks and balances between the major characters, while the romantic aspect is a subtle undercurrent that keeps the engine lubricated, if that makes sense. At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed House of Cards, and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the third in the series.
Griffen “Grifter” McCandles, occasional con artist and ace poker player, has just gotten the surprise of a lifetime. After graduating from college, he went to his uncle, looking for a job. Instead of a job, his uncle revealed a fistful of secrets. The first? That Griffen, like his uncle, and like his deceased parents, is a dragon, and he’s about to start coming into his true powers and potential. And unfortunately, due to his heritage, just about everyone involved in the complex game of dragon power and politics is going to want to subert him to their side, or kill him. And when it becomes clear that someone’s actually hired an infamous dragonslaying hitman named The George to take care of things, Griffen takes his little sister (also a dragon in the making) and takes the advice of an old friend, heading south to hole up in New Orleans.
There, Griffen joins a band of local dragon-blooded gamblers and criminals, making new friends and new enemies as he comes into his own power, and his destiny as a figure to be reckoned with. For it’s only natural for a dragon to seek out power and influence, and it seems Griffen’s one of the most powerful dragons (potentially) in the city. Now Griffen and his sister Valerie, and their assorted allies, have to work together as people come out of the woodwork to get a look at the new player in the game. From local police to Homeland Security, rival gangs to rival dragons, voodoo ghosts to people who can control animals, everyone’s coming to the table, and poor Griffen’s still learning the rules, and his own capabilities. To survive, he’ll need some dependable friends, and a whole lot of gamblers’ luck.
In the dedication to this book, which is billed as the first in a new series, Asprin states that it represents a radical departure from his usual style and subject matter, and that’s true. I primarily know him for his Phule’s Company and M.Y.T.H. Inc books, both of which are more comedic fare. Dragon’s Wild is a lot more straightforward urban fantasy, complete with the semi-standard trappings of a secret race of supernatural beings dwelling amongst, and influencing, normal people. But Asprin pulls it off with skill and style, delivering a thoroughly satisfying, energetic story that begs for continuation. In fact, it’s actually one of the best things I’ve ever read from him, in terms of entertainment and atmospheric value. Is it perfect? Probably not, but then again, perfection is a hard thing to gauge. Is it fun? Oh yes.
One of the strongest aspects of this book is the setting. Asprin writes with such glowing fondness and love for New Orleans’ French Quarter that it’s easy to envision the place. He captures the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes with enough passion that I’m tempted to book a flight for the locale as soon as possible, and in doing so, makes the setting an absolutely fundamental part of the story.
Griffen by himself comes off a little too good to be true. For someone described as a con artist and poker player, he seems to be an ideal hero: polite to his elders, respectful to his opponents, well-spoken and capable and always just a little baffled by the circumstances surrounding him. He’s likeable, sympathetic, possessed of acceptable morals (i.e. gambling good, drugs bad) and people flock to his banner, and rarely does he show any unacceptable vices. I know, it’s strange to complain about someone being too good, but that’s his biggest character flaw. Of course, as protagonists go, he’s a great deal of fun to follow. The chemistry he shares with his sister is delightful, the two of them making a great team whenever the chips are against them. As for the other assorted characters, Asprin has populated the book with a host of memorable individuals, a motley crew of somewhat sugar-coated gamblers, miscreants, and ne’er-do-wells who look out for one another like family. Asprin’s injected the setting and its inhabitants with a kind of happy fuzzy feeling, where people are bad, but even the bad guys (for the most part) have their good qualities, much as if Daman Runyan had been whispering in his ear part of the time.
The secret world of dragons and other supernatural beings is fairly well explained in this book, and we get to see a good portion of how things work, with plenty of potential left to be explored later on. I certainly enjoyed the tastes we got, from the explanation of how dragon powers work, to how they fit into the social structure, and how they relate to the other supernatural elements in the world. There’s a lot going on around the fringes, and New Orleans seems to be a great place for it all to blend together and overlap.
The plot is fairly linear, moving forward at a fast pace in a somewhat episodic manner as Griffen explores his powers, expands his knowledge, and settles into his new life as a dragon, all while trying to figure out how to stay alive.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and will be eagerly looking forward to the next in the series. Asprin’s clearly in his element with this new series.
(Reviewer’s note: After writing the initial text of this review, I actually had a chance to visit the French Quarter, and eat in some of the places mentioned in this book. Asprin doesn’t disappoint in his descriptions. And the burgers at Yo Mamma’s are to die for.)
Rationally, Margrit Knight knows that jogging after dark — after midnight, no less — in Central Park isn’t a good idea. Irrationally, she does it anyway, eager for the clarity of mind and feeling of freedom it gives her to defy fate like this. When she’s interrupted one evening by a strange, pale man, she takes it all in stride, dismissing him as a mostly harmless crank. That is, until he turns up on the news the next day as a murder suspect. Now the man, who introduces himself as Alban, is stalking Margrit, intent upon obtaining her help in her capacity as a lawyer, albeit one working for Legal Aid. He claims he’s innocent, and strangely enough, Margrit’s inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.
But the more Margrit is exposed to Alban’s world, the more she’s drawn into an old, strange game. One where gargoyles soar through the air and take on human form at will. One where dragons and djinn, vampires and selkies are all real and living in secret among us. One where her on-again, off-again cop boyfriend Tony thinks Margrit’s in league with the killer. One where if Margrit can’t pit some very dangerous people against one another, people will keep dying. For a mere mortal, Margrit Knight is about to become one heck of a player among the Old Races. If she doesn’t get herself killed, first.
Heart of Stone is the start of a brand-new series from C.E. Murphy, already known for her other Luna series, the Walker Papers. And so far, it’s shaping up to be just as good, if not better than her previous works. The heroine, Margrit, is a curious mix of recklessness and practicality, the sort of woman equally at ease running in Central Park after dark and instinctively defending herself against surprise attacks, and the sort of woman who takes on the most hopeless of cases, right before bearding the most powerful men in the city in their own dens. One character claims she’s got metaphorical balls to do what she dares, and I agree with, and applaud her audacity. Here’s a character who will go far out of sheer nerve and chutzpah, as long as she doesn’t make a fatal mistake. From businessmen to crime lords, cops to squatters, Margrit can handle them all.
Tony, the occasional boyfriend, comes off as your average cop: harried, well-intentioned, but dedicated to upholding the law. Unfortunately, while he’s somewhat sympathetic, he has a certain streak that makes him seem like a real jerk, reminiscent of Michael Celluci, from Tanya Huff’s Blood Books. The crime lord Janx is more interesting, with his odd blend of vicious practicality and personal honor, which makes his scenes with Margrit play out very nicely. Likewise, the powerful business man, Eliseo Daisani, helps balance things out with his own ruthless attention to detail and willingness to throw money at a problem before taking it to a bloodier level. And of course, you have Alban, the centuries-old gargoyle, the tormented yet noble outcast with his love for humanity and weakness for a certain woman. . . .
Looking back at that, it would seem as though Murphy had populated the supporting cast with stock characters, but that’s hardly fair, or accurate. Tony, Janx, Daisani, Alban, Margrit’s roommates and friends, they’re all interesting and fleshed-out as best they can be given space and plot constraints, and the next two books in the series are bound to expand upon what we already know.
Obviously, the characterization is one of this book’s strong points. The plot itself is well-paced and intriguing, even as it follows several red herrings before getting to the final revelations. I like the idea of a human — a lawyer no less — with the courage and creativity needed to deal with multiple supernatural races as a go-between, negotiator (in fact, the series is called The Negotiator) and investigator, especially since the way Margrit goes about it reminds me of a saying: “It’s amazing what one can do, when one doesn’t know what one can’t do.” Her reactions, after the fact, are appropriate and telling.
I enjoyed the setup of the hidden world of the supernatural Old Races. Murphy gets major points from me for finding supernatural races to explore that haven’t been overused of late, such as selkies and gargoyles. She’s very good at, in this book at least, keeping the dragons and vampires extremely low-key and in the shadows, making them appropriately mysterious and powerful. Just for trying something new, this book scores high with me. That it succeeds, all the better. It’s a breath of fresh air after the plethora of vampire and werewolf books on the shelves today.
Oh, and Murphy also continues the happy trend of the Luna line being just as much about fantasy and plot as it is about romantic entanglements. There’s certainly no happily-ever-after here, just a slowly-simmering, growing attraction between Margrit and Alban (like that’s a surprise to anyone) and the relationship difficulties between Margrit and Tony (again, like that’s a surprise.) You might find this book in the romance section, you might find it in science fiction, but regardless, it’s definitely worth picking up. Once I started reading Heart of Stone, I just couldn’t put it down. I’ll be eagerly anticipating future installments.
You know, it sucks to be a goblin. Small, not all that bright, pretty much condemned to live underground, and nothing but cannon fodder for every Tom, Dick, and Arthur Adventurer that comes questing for treasure and glory. It sucks even more if you happen to be Jig, who’s one of the smallest, most hapless members of said goblin race. He’s scrawny, puny, near-sighted and a target for bullies.
All of this, of course, leads him to being placed on guard duty at exactly the wrong moment on the wrong night, when an all-new group of adventurers comes a’visiting. Before he knows it, Jig’s been captured and forced to serve as a native guide for these people as they journey deep into the tunnels that stretch below Jig’s home, down into the bowels of a magic-carved mountain, in search of the legendary Rod of Creation.
Now Jig has to contend with a pathetic elven thief, a pompous sword-wielding prince and his erratic magic-using brother, and a dwarf priest, as the unlikely group navigates through danger-filled tunnels, defying death on a constant basis. They’ll have to deal with hobgoblins, trolls, bats, spiders, the walking undead, an insane necromancer, and each other. That’s before they even get to the dragon, which reportedly holds the Rod of Creation. Believe it or not, Jig is the one with the most common sense, the best sense of self-preservation, and the one most likely to survive under pressure — especially after he makes a deal with a long-forgotten god who’s willing to take on a goblin as a worshipper. (Sometimes, even a goblin is better than nothing!)
Goblin Quest is definitely not your traditional fantasy. It’s a skewed, hilarious twist on epic quest fantasy, turning things upside down and showing them from the viewpoint of the cannon fodder. All of the usual troops are here: warriors, wizards, dragons, dungeons, quests, goblins, and so on, but nothing is exactly as you’d expect. Sick of those formulaic epic fantasies? Goblin Quest is the exact opposite of them. It reminds me heavily of Eve Forward’s Villains by Necessity, which likewise showed a fantasy quest from an unusual viewpoint. I had a great deal of fun following Jig as he took control of his own destiny, and I look forward to future installments in his story. Goblin Quest is a very welcome breath of fresh air, and a great addition to the comic fantasy genre.
Hidden away on a small island somewhere off the coast of Florida, near Miami, is a deadly, dangerous secret. The island is called Caya DelaSangre, the Blood Key, and for over four centuries it has been the home of a unique family, the DelaSangres. Now reduced to a mere two, father and son, they are not normal people. Rather, they are dragons, shapeshifters who soar the skies, hunt humans to satisfy their predatory cravings, and manipulate the lives of mortals out of necessity and whim. Once they were pirates; now they are business tycoons, running powerful companies from afar and owning more than anyone realizes.
Dom Henri DelaSangre grows ancient and weak, and his son, Peter, chafes at the thought of losing his last relative to time and lethargy. Peter, young by dragon standards, is also reckless, foolish, and more intrigued with human ways than is particularly wise. He knows less of his people’s ways than he should. And it’s all about to come crashing in upon him.
A scent on the wind. A natural instinct coming to life for the first time. The knowledge that he is not alone, that out there somewhere is a female dragon just come to maturity. A chance killing of a random waitress. The treacherous plottings of a trusted underling. The vengeance of a grief-stricken brother. The headlong discovery of entire aspects of dragon life that had long eluded him. It’ll all come together, and Peter’s life will be changed drastically.
It’s love and lust at first sight, when he meets and fights for Elizabeth Blood. And once he wins her, they’re destined to be together for the rest of their lives. He’ll teach her what he knows of human life, and she’ll reawaken all of his primal draconian instincts. Powerful, elemental, erotic and seductive, she’s everything he’s ever desired, encouraging him to give in to his dragon nature with frightening results. Peter will grow careless in her love, and in doing so, he’ll invite disaster close at hand.
Vengeance and love will collide, and not everyone will survive the tragic, inevitable results. Peter’s family, such a sure and beautiful thing, will be threatened the most, and for all of his power and might, he may not be able to save those he cares for above all.
The Dragon DelaSangre is a powerful, passionate, gripping tale that brings dragons into the modern era, granting them all the mystery, eroticism, and danger of vampires and werewolves. Alan F. Troop assuredly makes his mark on the field with this, his debut novel. If he can keep it up, he’ll be an author worth keeping an eye on in the future. Just when you think dragons are overdone and nothing new can be said about them, this book comes along to challenge that notion and put it in its place. Don’t ignore this one.
What can one boy’s oath for vengeance do to change the world? And how far will he go to see his oath fulfilled? That’s one of the driving themes behind Lawrence Watt-Evan’s fantastic new series the Obsidian Chronicles, the second book of which has just been released.
It all starts with Dragon Weather, that hot, oppressive time when the air itself seems to stifle, temperatures rise, tempers flare, and the dragons venture forth from their lairs to rain fiery destruction upon the lands of Men. Once, they ruled the world, reptilian tyrants of unimaginable might, darkness and fire made flesh. Nothing could kill them. Nothing could stop them. Mankind fought back, but to little avail until a truce of sorts was reached. For seven hundred years, the dragons have slumbered beneath the mountains, coming out only sporadically for their own reasons. So long as they restrained themselves to destroying a village every few decades, and left the rest of the lands of Men alone, all was well.
That is, until they destroy the mountain village of Obsidian, leaving behind one survivor, a young man named Arlian. And in that attack, he is changed forever. Swallowing a mixture of blood and dragon venom, he’s imbued with their power, becoming one of the rare immortals known as dragonhearts. He will live forever, immune to poisons and intensely charismatic. He will rule the world from secrecy with the other dragonhearts. But that’s years in the future. For now, he’s still but a boy, orphaned and subsequently sold into slavery, condemned to a life in the mines.
He swears vengeance. Against the dragons which destroyed his home, slaughtered his family, shattered his life. Against the men who looted his ravaged home. Against the cruel overseer of the mine. Against the mine’s owner. Against the cold man with the scarred face who rescued him from the ruins of Obsidian and sold him into slavery. Arlian will live for no reasons other than revenge and justice.
Escaping the mines after seven long years, he makes his way into the world, finding safety and refuge in the House of Carnal Society, a whorehouse run by rich and powerful lords. When he discovers the true nature of what goes on their, and who has part-ownership in it, his world is again shattered. The House destroyed, the women who befriended him scattered or killed, Arlian adds six more names to his growing list of those destined for his vengeance.
Gifted with the power of the dragonheart but still not realizing it, he becomes immensely successful, ultimately getting enough money and power to reinvent himself as the eccentric, flamboyant, and deadly Lord Obsidian. With his faithful aide, steward, and boyguard Black at his side, he enters the treacherous world of the Dragon Society, those dragonhearts who seek the companionship of their own kind. One small problem, though. He’s sworn to kill five of them for the parts they’ve played in his life. And Arlian, now Obsidian, will stop at nothing. He’ll duel in the streets, shatter the Society from the inside, and pursue men across the world to see his oaths fulfilled. He’ll make friends, but many more enemies, and risk his life again and again to rescue the women he’s lost, and see them avenged with a certain single-mindedness that convinces many he’s mad.
Ultimately, Arlian will pursue the deadliest of them, the ancient sorcerer known as Lord Enziet, or Lord Dragon, right into the heart of the dragons’ territory. He’ll learn what awful secrets Enziet has held for seven centuries. He’ll discover the two most dangerous things in the world: how dragons are created, and how they might be killed. Information the dragons will go to war over, information that could destroy seven hundred years of semi-peace. But Arlian will see justice done.
In Dragon Society, Arlian returns to the great city of Manfort, having seen his greatest opponent vanquished at last. Another name on his list can be crossed off. Six women from the House of Carnal Society now reside with him, freed from their former masters. He’s become obscenely rich, and he knows things no man alive does. Now he can continue his obsessive quest to rid the world of dragons and their evil once and for all.
However, there’s more to it than that. Enziet, who once opposed Arlian to the death, has left him everything. His centuries of research, his home, his obligations, even his role in dealing with the dragons. Before Arlian can use what he knows, he must put affairs in order, and deal with this legacy. For the dragons are coming, and will again engulf the lands of Men in fire and death and destruction. Only Arlian has the tools to kill them, and the knowledge, and it will tear the Dragon Society apart. Intrigue and politics have nothing on three dozen odd centuries-old men and women who have just been told their immortality has both a price, and a time limit after all. Some will ally themselves with Arlian. Some will oppose him. Some will die horribly.
As Arlian races to get his weapons made, he has to contend with bitter rivals, political maneuvering, the increasing pressures of his station, and the oaths he swore long ago. Will he stay true to himself and die, or betray himself in order to serve the larger good? To what lengths must he go to prove that dragons can, indeed, be killed? The time of dragon weather again draws nearer, the dragons themselves stirring and readying themselves for war. They’ll stop at nothing to destroy Arlian if he doesn’t rally the Duke of Manfort, the surviving members of the Dragon Society, and his other allies in time to dstroy them first. Even if they do succeed, war is still on the horizon….
It’s quite clear at the end of Dragon Society that a third book is on its way, to put a capstone on an epic tale of morality, revenge, justice, ambition, power, and responsibility. Thus far, we’ve been treated to a luxurious, in-depth examination into what drives a man through adversity. Arlian’s growth and evolution from ignorant youth, to embittered and driven young man, to confident warrior, also allows us to see the darker sides of such drive. Innocents suffer and people die as a result of his quest. Though he serves a much larger good, the questions constantly arise. Can he do it? Should he do it? What gives him the right to do these things? Why should anyone else go with him? Why sacrifice centuries of experience and life for something that -might- happen? Who will help rule the lands of Men if he destroys the secret society that has been pulling the strings for so long? Should he abandon his quest and bury his knowledge, if it’ll keep the dragons in their caves? Is he truly mad with his obsessions? What will people do for immortality? He faces all these and more.
This exploration of right and wrong, good and selfishness, justice and vengeance, plays out against a fascinating backdrop where magic is genuinely disturbing, and dragons are ancient, conniving engies of pure destruction with nary a known weakness. They’re not familiar, they’re not friendly, they’re deadly and shadowy, so that when they do make their appearances, it’s with all the power and terrifying might possible.
In short, Lawrence Watt-Evans has a winner here, and if the third volume in the series is as good as the first two, it’ll be one of the best classical fantasy stories in quite some time. It’s intense, but well-paced, complex without confusing, and entertaining without sacrificing its introspective nature. I highly recommend Dragon Weather and Dragon Society. If anything, they’re even better than his Ethshar series
In the ten years since a magical portal opened up in Cleveland, disgorging elves, dragons, mages, and other refugees from a world of fantasy and magic, reporter Kline Maxwell has steadfastedly avoided the “fuzzy gnome” beat, preferring his comfortable and familiar routine covering City Hall. But when fifteen tons of dragon goes into a nosedive, crashlanding with fatal and messy results in the Cuyahoga River, Maxwell is inexplicably assigned to the story. Never one to let a story go unreported, he tackles the subject with grudging interest. For it turns out that this wasn’t just any old dragon, this was Aloeus, first of his kind to cross the Portal and since then irrevocably tied into the doings of man and myth alike.
What could kill a dragon? And more importantly, was someone behind it, and if so, why? Maxwell knows this isn’t an ordinary or easily-explained event. And the further he digs, the more his suspicions are borne out by the reactions he gets. A very ugly and complex picture begins to emerge. Aloeus was indeed murdered, and everyone seems to be involved. The person or persons named Faust. The FBI. The CIA. The Threat Assessment Office. The Cleveland Port Authority. The Mayor. The police, including the predominantly-elven Special Paranormal Unit. The underground mage known as Bone Daddy. Aloeus’ lawyers. Leo Baldassare, go-between and agent for Aloeus and the Portal’s inhabitants. Whoever’s been sending Maxwell cryptic Shakespearian quotes by cell phone. The gargoyle following him. In fact, about the only people not in on this, it seems, are Maxwell and his estranged wife and daughter.
What started as a simple story mushrooms into a conspiracy of terrifying complexity, with Maxwell dragged head-first into the thick of things. Everyone wants to know how much he knows, and they aren’t always gentle about it. Are the cops corrupt, or is the true threat coming from the Mayor’s office? Is the conspiracy one to overthrow the government, or to conquer the world beyond the Portal? Just who or what is Faust, and why does saying that name cause such a bad reaction from all who hear it? Time and again, Maxwell will think he has the answers, only to be set further afield by the introduction of a new element. In a conspiracy where everyone has their own agenda, and a world is at stake, anything is possible.
Maxwell will uncover the truth, but at what cost?
The Dragons of the Cuyahoga is a fastpaced, highly complex story about ambition, greed, magic, and the need to discover the truth of the matter. Maxwell’s an ordinary human caught up in a game of politics and dragons, but ironically, he’s the only one removed enough to puzzle out the many different factors which make this story so unpredictable. The setting is a recognizable Cleveland, with the sort of authentic feel only one familiar with the city can truly convey, but made more fantastical and more dangerous by the addition of immortal, inhuman beings. In this regards, it bears some resemblance to Laurell K. Hamilton or Jim Butcher’s works, but don’t be fooled. Swann has created a setting uniquely his. You can add Cleveland to the list of cities infested by magic, for better or for worse, just like Chicago, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Newford.
This was a fun read, and not being able to guess the “whodunit” until very late in the story made it all the more enjoyable for me. If you like your fantasy or urban fantasy with that extra edge, and a heavy dose of complex murder mystery, this is one to look for. As well, Swann is an author I’ll keep my eye on, in the hopes he’ll return to this setting.