Dragon Hunters - Marc Turner

Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Dragon Hunters - Marc Turner

The sequel to When the Heavens Fall features gritty characters, deadly magic, and meddlesome gods

Once a year on Dragon Day the fabled Dragon Gate is raised to let a sea dragon pass from the Southern Wastes into the Sabian Sea. There, it will be hunted by the Storm Lords, a fellowship of powerful water-mages who rule an empire called the Storm Isles. Alas, this year someone forgot to tell the dragon which is the hunter and which the hunted.

Emira Imerle Polivar is coming to the end of her tenure as leader of the Storm Lords. She has no intention of standing down graciously. She instructs an order of priests called the Chameleons to infiltrate a citadel housing the mechanism that controls the Dragon Gate to prevent the gate from being lowered after it has been raised on Dragon Day. Imerle hopes the dozens of dragons thus unleashed on the Sabian Sea will eliminate her rivals while she launches an attack on the Storm Lord capital, Olaire, to secure her grip on power.

But Imerle is not the only one intent on destroying the Storm Lord dynasty. As the Storm Lords assemble in Olaire in answer to a mysterious summons, they become the targets of assassins working for an unknown enemy. When Imerle initiates her coup, that enemy makes use of the chaos created to show its hand.

My thoughts:

When I first started this book I had totally forgot about the whole standalone thing I had heard, and I panicked. But later research showed me that this book yes takes place in the same world, but not in the same location, and not with the same characters. So it was indeed a standalone, and I started to read.

How to explain it then...it takes place during a short period of time. There are many players and conspiracies, all twisted around. I did feel I was thrown in too fast, it did work out, but you know the feeling of suddenly just being there, knowing no one, just following along.

There once was a league ruled by those with magic and the rest paying levies so that the ships could sail without being eaten by dragons. A gate was created and once a year they celebrate with letting a dragon in and killing it.

First we have the ruler, the one with magic, the one pulling strings.

Then there is the good soldier trying to track down whoever is killing folks with magic.

Then there is the priestess sent on a mission to sabotage the great hunt.

The guardian also trying to keep someone alive.

The merchant daughter whose father is loosing power.

All coming together on this Great Hunt. Trying to escape assassins, magic and dragons.

Then all hell breaks loose.

Oh and who are the weird ones? I can't not say more than that...spoilers, but that made me go all whaaat. I wanna know more that. Nothing is said about book 3, but I guess new location, new people, and the world will burn?

So yes some issues with the beginning since the players were just there. But at the end I already wondered about book 3. That is always a good sign.