The Dragon's Path

Pros: political intrigue, unique races, good worldbuilding, interesting story

Cons: it doesn't get the full 5 stars because while I liked the characters, I didn't quite feel for them

War is coming to the free city of Vanai. But the people aren't worried. Every few years the Kings of Antea throw their weight around before leaving the city to its own devices again. Still, the branch of the Medean bank doesn't want the whole of its holdings to potentially fall to the invading army, so the bank's ward, Cithrin, is disguised as a boy and set to carting the gems, silks and other precious items to the branch in Carse.

The caravan's guards are ‘drafted' into the army, so their captain must find a new team, or he, too, will find himself fighting. He convinces a group of actors that their fortunes are better off outside the city.

Meanwhile, marching towards Vanai is Geder Palliako, butt of his fellow nobles' jokes and admirer of essays about the fall of the Dragon Empire. He's unaware that he's about to become the pawn of powerful men.

And back home in Antea's capital, Dawson tries to keep the farmers from gaining a council and weed out his political rivals, whose actions are becoming more and more treasonous. If only the king would listen to him and grow a backbone.

This book has so many good things going for it. The writing is solid - enough background and description to give a sense of place and time but not enough to become boring. Fantastic worldbuilding - with geographical diversity, history and a unique set of races sure to please readers of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt fans. I especially liked how people from one place knew next to nothing about other areas of their world, and relied on hearsay and stories for what they did know. And unlike Col Buchanan's Farlander, where the conflict is strictly along regional and national lines, here there's also (unfortunately) realistic racism among the 13 varieties of humans.

The protagonists are all interesting and make decisions that are often surprising though entirely in character. The only reason it didn't get a 5 star rating is because I never went that last step towards feeling what the characters feel. I didn't rage with Dawson or despair with Cithrin.

The political intrigue isn't as brutal as that in The Adamantine Palace (by Stephen Deas), but the players are much more likeable here and what intrigue there is, is well played.

I expect to see this book up for awards and on many ‘best of' lists for 2011

This is a typical example of the kind of book I despise. Well written, medieval fantasy BUT incredibly boring. I find Game of Thrones, which I didn't love, to be the very minimum a book of this kind must be. You want to write an “ordinary” story, talking about trivial events in day to day life, with many protagonists, an pacing so slow it seems the plot is inexistent, be good at it. Stephen King, GRRM, Anne Rice. All good examples.

The book starts with a prologue (sigh), following the same formula: the most interesting part of the book, completely unreleted to the following chapters.

The first chapter is about one of these protagonists, Marcus. He is an ex soldier, trying to avoid being enlisted in an army he didn't care for. So he is trying to convince a theater company to disguise themselves as soldiers, in order no to be attacked in the forest by bandits, and leave the city as a caravan.

The next chapters introduce the next protagonist, aaaand I've seen where this is going. All characters, no story. So I stopped.

Read 1:07/17:19 7%

Not exactly different, but a slightly unusual twist on the high fantasy model. Characters are rich and full-bodied, and their behaviour is consistent with what they have done before, even when it is unexpected. A slow buildup, as Daniel Abraham creates an atmosphere and a civilisation that is defined well enough for future books in the series and goes in a different direction than might be expected. I'm looking forward to the next entry in the Dagger and Coin series.