Dragon in Chains
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Product Description
Product Description
From award-winning author Daniel Fox comes a ravishingly written epic of revolution and romance set in a world where magic is found in stone and in water, in dragons and in men–and in the chains that bind them.
Deposed by a vicious usurper, a young emperor flees with his court to the small island of Taishu. There, with a dwindling army, a manipulative mother, and a resentful population–and his only friend a local fishergirl he takes as a concubine–he prepares for his last stand.
In the mountains of Taishu, a young miner finds a huge piece of jade, the potent mineral whose ingestion can gift the emperor with superhuman attributes. Setting out to deliver the stone to the embattled emperor, Yu Shan finds himself changing into something more than human, something forbidden.
Meanwhile, a great dragon lies beneath the strait that separates Taishu from the mainland, bound by chains that must be constantly renewed by the magic of a community of monks. When the monks are slaughtered by a willful pirate captain, a maimed slave assumes the terrible burden of keeping the dragon subdued. If he should fail, if she should rise free, the result will be slaughter on an unimaginable scale.
Now the prisoner beneath the sea and the men and women above it will shatter old bonds of loyalty and love and forge a common destiny from the ruins of an empire.
Deposed by a vicious usurper, a young emperor flees with his court to the small island of Taishu. There, with a dwindling army, a manipulative mother, and a resentful population–and his only friend a local fishergirl he takes as a concubine–he prepares for his last stand.
In the mountains of Taishu, a young miner finds a huge piece of jade, the potent mineral whose ingestion can gift the emperor with superhuman attributes. Setting out to deliver the stone to the embattled emperor, Yu Shan finds himself changing into something more than human, something forbidden.
Meanwhile, a great dragon lies beneath the strait that separates Taishu from the mainland, bound by chains that must be constantly renewed by the magic of a community of monks. When the monks are slaughtered by a willful pirate captain, a maimed slave assumes the terrible burden of keeping the dragon subdued. If he should fail, if she should rise free, the result will be slaughter on an unimaginable scale.
Now the prisoner beneath the sea and the men and women above it will shatter old bonds of loyalty and love and forge a common destiny from the ruins of an empire.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
richly detailed fantasy that explores new ground,
This review is from: Dragon in Chains (Paperback)
This gorgeously written book is the first part of a new fantasy trilogy which draws on medieval China for its inspiration. It's an alternate universe China, of course, and one of the ways in which it's alternate is that magic is real, if largely subtle. Subtle enough that some characters do not realise that the magic is there. Even the dragon of the title is a background menace in this first book, thought of as myth by the people who don't live in her territory, although she's a key part of one of the main plot threads.
That's plot threads, plural. One of the joys of the book is that there are multiple plot threads, skillfully balanced by a writer who knows how to use them to create a complex story with several distinctive characters. All of these threads converge on Taishu, a remote island on the edge of empire. On the physical edge, at least. Taishu may seem remote and insignificant to most, but it is the source of the jade that underpins the power of the Jade Throne and the Emperor who sits on it. He who holds Taishu holds the empire, in a very real sense, and Taishu is about to become the centre of more than one conflict. These could all easily become a cliched story, but here they are in the hands of a master storyteller. Fox weaves them together to make a multi-layered story where subtle clues are laid well in advance, creating an "oh, of course!" as the hints finally slot together to make the full picture. It's no surprise that this works so well, as "Daniel Fox" is the pseudonym of an award-winning writer with a depth of experience in both crime fiction and fantasy. The world he has created is strongly grounded in reality, but has magic added, and the consequences of that are woven into the world he shows, rather than the magic being thrown in with no thought for how it might affect things. This world and its characters are described in beautiful and beautifully controlled prose. The result is a richly detailed fantasy that explores new ground rather than treading well-worn paths. Dragon in Chains is quite definitely the first part of a single story, but there is enough plot, and intermediate resolution of various plot threads, to make the book a satisfying read in its own right rather than merely a cliffhanger designed to get you to keep buying the series. This is a complex and enticing dark fantasy that is well worth the wait for the next part
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A master storyteller at work,
By
This review is from: Dragon in Chains (Paperback)
From first page to last, reading `Dragon in Chains' you know you are in the hands of a gifted storyteller. The story has a wonderful quality of old-fashioned adventure: flight and fight, peril and escape, great courage in unexpected places--and really, never a dull moment. The cast of characters is colourful and distinctive, ranging across all walks of life from slave to Emperor, old man to young girl, and pretty much everything in between.
My knowledge of Chinese history and culture is pretty thin, but I was instantly drawn in to a vivid sense of place and time, involved in the characters' often dramatic change in fortunes in a war-torn land. The author doesn't flinch from describing brutality, violence and degradation at its worst, but even the most shocking of this is never gratuitous, handled with sensitivity and compassion. I was particularly impressed with the way the magical elements were at once understated yet utterly essential to the story. This is a tale that has the integrity of a jewel: it may be complex, but it is not a collection of parts thrown together for effect, but a shining whole. And the writing? Exquisite. I'm looking forward to much more from Daniel Fox.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining story, well-written, a bit gory,
By Longtime reader (England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dragon in Chains (Paperback)
This is a story woven together from several different points of view and it works well. The writing is entertaining and vivid, although I found the numerous descriptions of cruel actions to be a little gratuitous (in that aspect at least, I found the writing reminded me somehow of Ricardo Pinto's 'The Chosen'). I did find it a little hard to get into initially, partly the effect of the multiple POVs, I expect.
It will be interesting to see how the trilogy develops.
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