Book Log 17/2009 - Dragon's Blood
Feb. 19th, 2009 10:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaceyPatricia Briggs: Dragon Blood
2003
This is the follow up to Dragon Bones, set four years later. Ward is now twenty-three and rebuilding Hurog keep after the devastation caused in the final confrontation with the invading Vorsag in Dragon Bones. He’s seeking the quiet life after his brief spell as a hero and he’s comfortable in his lordship. All the family suspicions from the previous book have been ironed out and his uncle and cousins support him wholeheartedly. But Ward’s position as ‘Hurogmeten’ still has not been officially ratified by the High King, the tyrannical Jakoven. For four years Jakoven has left Ward alone, but that’s about to change.
Tisala, an old friend from the Oranstone conflict, escapes Jakoven’s torturers and flees to Hurog, starting a cascade of events that lead to Ward joining the rebellion against the High King in an attempt to protect Hurog and all the Hurog bloodline. We found out in the last book that Hurog means dragon, but in this book we discover that it’s literal for the violet-eyed Hurogs are descended from dragons and have dragon’s blood in their veins. And it’s dragon’s blood that Jakoven and his wizards need to wake the most deadly weapon of all time, Farsonsbane.
Everyone knows that Ward's slow wittedness was an act developed to survive his violent father, but there's still a King's Writ issued against him, though it's been dormant for four years. Moving against Hurog, the King demands Ward present himself for examination. Ward plays a dangerous game of politics with Jakoven. Surviving a week of magical and physical torture in Jakoven’s ‘asylum’ designed to break him (reduce him to being an actual imbecile before his hearing) he finally proves his competence before the High King’s court and secures Hurog legally, but there’s rebellion afoot and soon Ward is forced to take sides.
There are some nice character complications written in shades of grey (for minor characters as well as major ones) and Ward develops further as the hero, not only by fighting, but by astute planning and policy, throwing his weight behind Jakoven’s younger brother, Kellen. This time the admiration he had for Tisala in the first book, barely explored, comes to the fore and though the romance is not central to the plot it’s a nice thread running through. Ward and his faithful band of friends and family, including Oreg, Tisala, Axiel and Tosten, once more have to fight to save themselves and Hurog, but this time they have to save the kingdom as well.
As in Dragon Bones there’s a curious mixture of first person (Ward) and third person viewpoints which I’m still not comfortable with, but as before it doesn’t spoil the story. Patricia Briggs writes a tasty traditional fantasy with non-traditional characters and plot twists.
2003
This is the follow up to Dragon Bones, set four years later. Ward is now twenty-three and rebuilding Hurog keep after the devastation caused in the final confrontation with the invading Vorsag in Dragon Bones. He’s seeking the quiet life after his brief spell as a hero and he’s comfortable in his lordship. All the family suspicions from the previous book have been ironed out and his uncle and cousins support him wholeheartedly. But Ward’s position as ‘Hurogmeten’ still has not been officially ratified by the High King, the tyrannical Jakoven. For four years Jakoven has left Ward alone, but that’s about to change.
Tisala, an old friend from the Oranstone conflict, escapes Jakoven’s torturers and flees to Hurog, starting a cascade of events that lead to Ward joining the rebellion against the High King in an attempt to protect Hurog and all the Hurog bloodline. We found out in the last book that Hurog means dragon, but in this book we discover that it’s literal for the violet-eyed Hurogs are descended from dragons and have dragon’s blood in their veins. And it’s dragon’s blood that Jakoven and his wizards need to wake the most deadly weapon of all time, Farsonsbane.
Everyone knows that Ward's slow wittedness was an act developed to survive his violent father, but there's still a King's Writ issued against him, though it's been dormant for four years. Moving against Hurog, the King demands Ward present himself for examination. Ward plays a dangerous game of politics with Jakoven. Surviving a week of magical and physical torture in Jakoven’s ‘asylum’ designed to break him (reduce him to being an actual imbecile before his hearing) he finally proves his competence before the High King’s court and secures Hurog legally, but there’s rebellion afoot and soon Ward is forced to take sides.
There are some nice character complications written in shades of grey (for minor characters as well as major ones) and Ward develops further as the hero, not only by fighting, but by astute planning and policy, throwing his weight behind Jakoven’s younger brother, Kellen. This time the admiration he had for Tisala in the first book, barely explored, comes to the fore and though the romance is not central to the plot it’s a nice thread running through. Ward and his faithful band of friends and family, including Oreg, Tisala, Axiel and Tosten, once more have to fight to save themselves and Hurog, but this time they have to save the kingdom as well.
As in Dragon Bones there’s a curious mixture of first person (Ward) and third person viewpoints which I’m still not comfortable with, but as before it doesn’t spoil the story. Patricia Briggs writes a tasty traditional fantasy with non-traditional characters and plot twists.
