I Read Books: Blood Of Dragons

 

Blood Of Dragons

At the end of City Of Dragons, the barge Tarman was being pursued up the Rain Wild River by traders hoping to find the route to Kelsingra, the abandoned ancient city of the Elderlings where the dragons and their keepers had settled. The agents of the Duke of Chalced seize both the pursuing boats, as well as other hostages, a suicidal frenzy to their actions as their families are being held hostage.

In Chalced the Duke finds himself revived by the blood of Selden, a dragon-touched Elderling. He places Selden under the care of his daughter, who he has promised in marriage to his chancellor, though she has ambitions of her own. Yet he still wants dragon parts, which he is sure will revive him, even as Selden weakens.

In Kelsingra the keepers are learning more about the city, and how it was built to attract and support dragons. And how their own entanglements with dragons is changing them, changing the dragons too, though not as much. Some of the keepers, especially Rapskal, have been using the memory stones to learn about the past lives of Elderlings. There’s a secret to the city, of Silver, a magic liquid metal. And only by immersing themselves in past selves can they find it. Without it the dragons cannot thrive, and so the humans, the new Elderlings, cannot survive. Yet by living someone else’s life, they run risks of losing themselves, and changing.

Dragons are proud, wilful, powerful creatures. In this new world change is inevitable, as the dragons do not want to compromise. They are the lords of three realms, the sea, the sky and the land. They do not dispute with humans, they dominate them. Yet Tintaglia’s wound is slowly killing her, unless she makes it to Kelsingra. War between humans and dragons would be deadly for both.

Read This: Completing the Rain Wild Chronicles, illustrating a world being transformed by dragons
Don’t Read This: All the dangling plot threads are dealt with fairly straightforwardly