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Stephen Deas
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Publisher | Gollancz | ||
ISBN | 978-057508375 | ||
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Reviewer
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Ann
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Synopsis
The Adamantine Palace lies at the centre of an empire that grew out of ashes. Once dragons ruled the world and man was little more than prey. Then a way of subduing the dragons through alchemy was discovered and now the dragons are bred to be mere mounts for knights and highly valued tokens in the diplomatic power-players that underpin the rule of the competing aristocratic houses. The Empire has grown fat. And now one man wants it for himself. A man prepared to poison the king just as he has poisoned his own father. A man prepared to murder his own lover and then bed her daughter. A man fit to be king? But unknown to him there are flames on the way. A single dragon has gone missing. And even one dragon on the loose, unsubdued and returned to its full intelligence, its full fury, could spell disaster for the Empire. But because of the actions of one unscrupulous mercenary the rivals for the throne could soon be facing hundreds of dragons . . . Stephen Deas has written a fast moving and action-fuelled fantasy laced with irony, a razor sharp way with characters, dialogue to die for and dragons to die by.
Review
A different take on dragons, plus political intrigue and bloody assassinations amongst aristocratic houses make this an interesting first novel.
The pace is fast and the writing easy to read with some strong characters and a well described landscape. However I missed having any sympathetic central characters - just as you think that one is all right, he/she goes and does something horrible! The whole lot are all apparently viscous, sly and completely without conscience.
Then there's the dragons, fire-breathing, huge, used for fighting and as beasts of burden, but they are routinely drugged and when one manages to avoid the medication, it turns out to be as bad, if not worse, than the populace.
Despite having found this book slightly depressing, I shall look out for the next one even if only to find out what happens after the somewhat abrupt end.
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