Synopsis:
Never forget the truth of who you are.
An orphan, now knowing her trueborn name, shuns the destiny of the blood coursing her veins. Returning to her training, her reputation grows with each codex, but her path to Eminence slowly shackles her.
A drake, burdened by the loss of his ward, can think of none more unworthy than he to bear the holy horns of a wardkeeper. Hounded by his failure, he clings to fleeting ideals, hoping he can repay the gods’ faith.
A princeps, saddled by grief, drowns his sorrow at the bottom of a mug. Hounded by the specter of his dead beloved, he shrinks from his princely duties, only to be thrust into the role of a leader.
A captain, a fearless, dashing, and egoless legend, remains as confident and committed to enhancing her renown, but her tale may end abruptly when she takes on her most damnable contract to date.
But old nemeses return. Age-old plans rekindle as a daemon horde marches on the Golden Throne of Kalderim while a blooddrake hunts another seal in the City of Sin. Split and broken by their failings, each must rise, but one thing remains true: blood rules all.
Review:
With high stakes, lots of action, and a Final Fantasy sort of feel, Lady Drakeslayer was a fun continuation of the series.
While Ashe is still the main focus of the story, as the Godsblood (a sort of “chosen” one), some of my favorite characters from the first book got their own POV chapters this time around. At the beginning of the story, Ashe is still trying to forge her own path and trying to ignore what she’s destined for, which is no different than her outlook from book 1. Try as she might though, she can’t escape her fate.
Lojen, the drakken wardkeeper, was back again, though we didn’t get to see him quite as much as book 1. I really like Lojen’s character; he has a lot of wisdom to share, even though he often doubts himself internally. And when it comes to battle… There are very few characters as badass as Lojen is. I hope we’ll get more of that in the future.
But I think the most entertaining POV we got was that of Neenah LeFleur. She’s a ship captain and smuggler (also a thief, though she’d never admit it), and the funniest character of the lot. She also wins the award for most creative string of swearing that was laugh-out-loud hilarious. She’s another character I hope we’ll get to see more of.
I really enjoyed this book, but it does feature a particular element I’m not very fond of—especially when it occurs more than once (in this case, it was three times.) One could argue that, based on this world’s lore, it can be explained away just fine, and very popular authors have done similar things in their books (I’m looking at you, Mr. Kristoff.) But it’s something I personally don’t enjoy. (I’m trying my best to avoid spoilers, but if you know, you know.)
Aside from that, I had a great time with this book and I plan to continue reading the series. I love the characters and the world, and I’d like to see more of both one day (hopefully soon.)
Leave a Reply