Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In a departure from her best-selling Bone Season series (starting with The Bone Season, 2013), Shannon's spellbinding standalone historical fantasy draws from the legend of George and the dragon and the courts of the sixteenth century. A thousand years ago, a world-destroying dragon known as the Nameless One and his allies were banished by a knight of House Berethnet, never to return as long as the Berethnet queens rule in the western realm of Inys, the seat of an antidragon religion. But the current queen lacks an heir, and her court is divided. Evil dragons are appearing once more throughout the world, even as their good counterparts in the east wane in strength. Through four narrators Ead, a member of the secret sisterhood of mages known as the Priory of the Orange Tree; Arteloth, an Inysh nobleman; Niclays, a disgraced alchemist; and Tané, a dragon rider of Seiiki Shannon deftly explores the divides between religion, custom, and territory. This extraordinary saga includes heroism, romance, friendship, pirates, plague, diplomacy, and, of course, dragons. A well-drawn feminist fantasy with broad appeal for fans of the epic and readers of Zen Cho, Naomi Novik, and V. E. Schwab. Highly recommended.--Anna Mickelsen Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Shannon (The Bone Season) satisfyingly fills this massive standalone epic fantasy with court intrigue, travel through dangerous lands, fantastical religions, blood, love, and rhetoric. Ead, undercover as a lady-in-waiting in a court analogous to that of Elizabethan England, must protect the queen from lurking assassins; the queen, Sabran IX, theoretically belongs to a magical bloodline whose existence binds the huge and abominable dragon, the Nameless One, at the bottom of the ocean. Half a world away, young TanAc, the rider and companion of a more benevolent sort of dragon, breaks her country's strict ban on allowing seafarers through its borders. This sets in motion a chain of events that reveals that Sabran's ancestry may not be the true source of the Nameless One's bindings, and that tests all three women profoundly in their attempts to keep humankind safe from the beast. Unfortunately, so much time and effort are expended on setting up the world and the principal conflicts that the denouement gets rather short shrift. The difference in tempo is very noticeable and hampers (although it does not destroy) the emotional effectiveness of an otherwise well-planned and well-executed ending. Nonetheless, this is a very capable epic fantasy. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
After 1,000 years of peace, whispers that "the Nameless One will return" ignite the spark that sets the world order aflame.No, the Nameless One is not a new nickname for Voldemort. Here, evil takes the shape of fire-breathing dragonsbeasts that feed off chaos and imbalanceset on destroying humankind. The leader of these creatures, the Nameless One, has been trapped in the Abyss for ages after having been severely wounded by the sword Ascalon wielded by Galian Berethnet. These events brought about the current order: Virtudom, the kingdom set up by Berethnet, is a pious society that considers all dragons evil. In the East, dragons are worshiped as godsbut not the fire-breathing type. These dragons channel the power of water and are said to be born of stars. They forge a connection with humans by taking riders. In the South, an entirely different way of thinking exists. There, a society of female mages called the Priory worships the Mother. They don't believe that the Berethnet line, continued by generations of queens, is the sacred key to keeping the Nameless One at bay. This means he could returnand soon. "Do you not see? It is a cycle." The one thing uniting all corners of the world is fear. Representatives of each belief systemQueen Sabran the Ninth of Virtudom, hopeful dragon rider Tan of the East, and Ead Duryan, mage of the Priory from the Southare linked by the common goal of keeping the Nameless One trapped at any cost. This world of female warriors and leaders feels natural, and while there is a "chosen one" aspect to the tale, it's far from the main point. Shannon's depth of imagination and worldbuilding are impressive, as this 800-pager is filled not only with legend, but also with satisfying twists that turn legend on its head. Shannon isn't new to this game of complex storytelling. Her Bone Season novels (The Song Rising, 2017, etc.) navigate a multilayered society of clairvoyants. Here, Shannon chooses a more traditional view of magic, where light fights against dark, earth against sky, and fire against water. Through these classic pairings, an entirely fresh and addicting tale is born. Shannon may favor detailed explication over keeping a steady pace, but the epic converging of plotlines at the end is enough to forgive.A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
