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Dragon Venom | Rating | |
| A | |||
| Lawrence Watt-Evans | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| The Obsidian Chronicles | Dragon Weather, The Dragon Society, Dragon Venom | ||
It has been an eventful fourteen years since Arlian slew a dragon in the middle of Manfort. The duke is supporting his quest to rid the world of the foul beasts, giving him troops and the title of Warlord. With their aid Arlian has killed scores of dragons. But not all the changes are for the better. Much of the Dragon Society has decided to ally with the dragons that they will one day become, rather than the humans they were born from. A low-grade civil war is simmering in the Lands of Man, and assassination attempts against Arlian are not uncommon. And there are other results to killing beings of such concentrated magic, as well, for with each dragon's death the wild magic of the world pushes further into the Lands of Man.
It was somewhat of a surprise to find such a large interim between books, but upon further thought it made a good deal of sense. Why bother showing the first dragon lair invaded, or any since? Starting the book with the latest one was quite clever, I think. It let the story open with a very interesting scene while not requiring a fast-forwarding of events, either by skipping years in the text or having events develop more rapidly.
The story does suffer a little in the middle, between when Arlian learns of the consequences of his campaign and when he starts trying to create a solution. For nearly a hundred fifty pages he dines with certain people, talks with certain others, and visits various locations on the border in hopes of learning what might be done. Although it was never actually boring, I can't help but feel that some of it was unneccesary.
The rest of the book is perfectly fine, though. Better than fine, in fact, for the moral quandries return in a new shape. Arlian's experiments are of a sort that will leave a lot of readers squirming. Yet clearly he is on the right track. Is the solution really worth the cost?
This is an excellent conclusion to the series. It is almost essential that the first two be already read, though; so much detail depends on them. For those who have read them, this will wrap things up most satisfactorily.
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