A fantasy adventure of the best kind: dragons, knights, and magic!
What happens centuries after dragons have become a myth and the knights that fought them have descended into debauchery?
This book brilliantly answers that by having the last disgraced knight come back into the fray against a dragon that's been woken from a long sleep by some greedy idiots.
Guillot dal Villevauvais is the perfect flawed hero. The last knight of a dragon-hunting order long fallen into uselessness and debauchery, he's trying to drown his many pains in alcohol and not doing a good job of it. And the Prince Bishop is a power-hungry, Machiavelian noble that makes a wonderful counterpart/villain for him. That they're surrounded by fully developed characters that keep surprising you and adding depth to the story is the icing on the cake.
And the dragon! Let's not forget the dragon. I spent the vast majority of the book firmly on the dragon's side. He wakes up to find that his race has been pretty much annihilated and that the humans appear to have no remorse in the matter. I love how Hamilton always makes it clear that he's not nearly the villain of the story even as he's doing some pretty despicable things. You understand that he's in pain and that he doesn't know how to get over it.
Great twists and turns abound and Hamilton really makes you fall into the story and empathize with all the characters. Every character's got their own motivation and every action is shown with a cause and consequence. Really great writing all around.
This book brilliantly answers that by having the last disgraced knight come back into the fray against a dragon that's been woken from a long sleep by some greedy idiots.
Guillot dal Villevauvais is the perfect flawed hero. The last knight of a dragon-hunting order long fallen into uselessness and debauchery, he's trying to drown his many pains in alcohol and not doing a good job of it. And the Prince Bishop is a power-hungry, Machiavelian noble that makes a wonderful counterpart/villain for him. That they're surrounded by fully developed characters that keep surprising you and adding depth to the story is the icing on the cake.
And the dragon! Let's not forget the dragon. I spent the vast majority of the book firmly on the dragon's side. He wakes up to find that his race has been pretty much annihilated and that the humans appear to have no remorse in the matter. I love how Hamilton always makes it clear that he's not nearly the villain of the story even as he's doing some pretty despicable things. You understand that he's in pain and that he doesn't know how to get over it.
Great twists and turns abound and Hamilton really makes you fall into the story and empathize with all the characters. Every character's got their own motivation and every action is shown with a cause and consequence. Really great writing all around.