From memorable characters to mythical creatures, from epic adventures
to world-threatening wars, High Fantasy stories have long stirred readers’
souls with the romance of a forgotten age. Kevin J. Anderson is a respected and
beloved writer of the genre, with roughly 160 titles to his credit. His latest
novel, Spine of the Dragon, promises to delight existing fans, while
winning over those who hold J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, and George R. R.
Martin in high regard.
The novel begins with a kingdom in crisis. King Adan
Starfall of Suderra races from Bannriya Castle, and rides through the streets
of his capital city, to prepare his citizens for an approaching sandstorm.
Beside him rides his wife Penda, a member of nomadic Utauk peoples. After
helping their subjects seek shelter, the royal couple race back to their
castle. The storm howls and beats at the castle walls, tears aside shutters, and
breaks windows. Aided by the servants and his father-in-law Hale Orr, Adan
manages to keep the windblown sand from invading his castle.
When the storm passes, Sandwreths arrive outside the city gates. Although their crumbling statues remain in Bannriya, this ancient race has not been seen for two thousand years. Some consider the Wreths little more than the creations of storytellers, invented to explain the prehistory of the Commonwealth.
But as their Queen Voo walks through Bannriya, and banishes the
sand clogging the city’s streets with a wave of her hand, King Adan Starfall realizes
that Humanity’s former rulers have returned.
Adan’s father Conndur, king of Osterra--and overall leader,
or Konag, of the Commonwealth--faces more pressing concerns, when Isharan
warships attack his coastal town of Mirrabay. Conndur sends his Brava Utho to
mount a defense. With the magic fire a Brava can summon, Utho rallies the
townspeople. But they can do little to fend off the ravages of the godling, a primal
force born of Isharan beliefs, the magic that suffuses the Isharan land, and
the hatred of their priests for the Commonwealth.
Like his brother Conndur, and his nephew Adan, King Kollanan
of Norterra, the final member state of the Commonwealth, faces a new and unexpected
threat. A relaxed and solitary journey to visit his daughter’s family ends in a
confrontation with powerful beings who have frozen the town before its people could
flee. Kollanan survives the encounter, and races back to Fellstaff castle. The Frostwreths
have returned!
Aside from mourning their lost family members, as well as
the other slain townspeople, Adan and Kollanan fear a resumption of the Wreth
wars. Commonwealth lands may not compare with the rich magic teeming in Isharan
soil, capable of summoning the awesome energies of the godlings. But at least
the soil of Osterra, Suderra, and Norterra can grow plants again, and Commonwealth
citizens live more than a hand-to-mouth existence. Sadly, the same cannot be
said of the Furnace, a wasteland filled with deserts, valleys cluttered with
rocks so slick and sharp that a slip-and-fall means death, mystical Wreth ruins,
and soil still lifeless after two millennia of rest.
Konag Conndur hasn’t seen the Wreths. Although he holds his
son and brother in high regard, Adan and Kollanan’s stories seem too fantastic
to be believed. Besides, he’s got the brutal assaults from Ishara to worry
about. His Brava Utho likewise puts little stock in the other kings’ reports.
This seems strange, as Bravas can summon magical fire due to their Wreth-and-Human
heritage. But then, Utho burns with anger at how the Isharans killed his family
in an earlier attack on Mirrabay, during the last war between Ishara and the
Commonwealth. Nor can he forget how the Isharans nearly exterminated his halfbreed
race.
All told, it's a powerhouse opening from a masterclass writer. (And it only gets better from here, folks).
Dragon Dave
Spine of the Dragon, the first volume in the Wake The Dragon series, goes on sale today. Secure a copy quickly, before they all sell out!
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