King's Dragon by Kate Elliott

 

    

    In my continuing quest to read some classic fantasy from the 1900s, I stumbled upon King's Dragon, the first book in the Crown of Stars series. The first of 7, I believe. It was originally published in 1997, so perhaps it's not TOO classic, but here we are anyway.

    I don't like giving negative reviews. If I finish a book, there was something to like about it. I did struggle through this one, though. I didn't DNF because it was the first book of the year, and I just couldn't abandon hope that quickly. So, all that to say, I wasn't overly impressed.

    We follow two primary points of view: Alain and Liath. Alain is a 16 (I think) year old boy of uncertain parentage who is promised to the church, but finds his way into the service of his local Count. He first becomes a stable boy, then a kennel master, and eventually a Man at Arms, but he takes a VERY circuitous route to get there. The poor kid is kind of a loner, his only real company being Frater Agius, a local priest who spends more time praying than doing much of anything else. 

    Liath is a young woman, perhaps also 16 (it's hard to remember), who's father is instructing her in the ways of Astronomy and Mathematics. When Dad dies, she is sold into slavery. She endures various trials and tribulations on her way to becoming a soldier of sorts. Trigger warning for those who need one: The first half of Liath's story is very tough to read. Physical, mental, and sexual abuse abound. I guess that's a tiny spoiler, so I'm sorry about that, but you should know if you try to avoid such things. Hanna is Liath's only real companion in this book, and she's about as useful as the G in Lasagna.

    I read a few things where this book, and indeed the whole series, was compared to Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorry and Thorn", and to a lesser extent George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire." I can understand the comparisons. King's Dragon is a fairly slow burn that focuses on character. The story is good, don't get me wrong, but it could have been told in half the time. 

    Where Elliott really excels is her world building. I'm not as sure about the geography as I might like to be, but the history and lore of this world is really stunning. It's sort of a parallel Medieval Europe, with a nice take on Christianity. Religion and religious history take up a SIZEABLE word count here. A little is tantalizing, more is perfect. But then Elliott kept going. It becomes almost like a lecture at some points. Now, will that pay off in later books? I certainly hope so, otherwise I've just slogged through 800 some odd pages of religious theory. All I really wanted was swords and magic. There is woefully little of either.

    Please don't misunderstand me: This is a well told tale. The prose is gorgeous, if a little purple, and Kate Elliott's attention to detail is second to none. The character work is quite good. I think my real problem is that I didn't get what I was promised. The 'King's Dragon' in question is only on about 50 pages. That's not much screen time for the title of the damn book. And it's not like it's a big reveal that makes the whole thing worth reading, either. 

    I also take a little issue with Liath's arc. By the end of this book, she's really only moved about 20ft, so to speak. Now, I'm fortunate to say that I don't have much trauma of her sort in my past, so perhaps I'm not the target audience. But her arc in this book felt stunted.

    New year, new format, by the way. I'm not going to keep up on the grading thing. It's too hard for even me to keep track of, and I came up with the damn system. It's back to a simple rating out of 5 stars.  

    All in all, I'll give this one a 2.5/5 stars. I'm intrigued enough to continue the series, but not so much that I'm going to go out and get the next book right now. 

    So that's it. That was my first read of the year. Incidentally, I did not care for the audiobook narrator for this one, so on my longer road trips, I listened to the Andy Serkis narration of "The Fellowship of the Ring." I'm not going to review it, because I can't add anything fresh to the LoTR conversation. But Serkis does a tremendous job, and I highly recommend listening.     

    Well, I hope you'll check back for the next review. I'm reading "The Crimson Campaign," book 2 of the Powder Mage Trilogy by Brian McClellan. Until then, keep reading!