The Last Dragonlord
The Last Dragonlord trilogy, Book 1
Joanne Bertin
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy
Themes: Dragons, Shapeshifters
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Description
Since their creation by ancient magicks, the Dragonlords, a strange combination of human and dragon souls, have been the peacekeepers of the Five Kingdoms of
humanity. Gifted with the ability to shift between human and dragon forms at will, the immortal weredragons each have a soultwin, a fellow Dragonlord who forms the
other halves of their human/dragon double souls - all except for Linden Rathan. The elders have not sensed the birth of another of their kind in the centuries since
he first Changed. In legends and bard's tales, Linden is known as the Last Dragonlord, the only one without a soultwin, possibly doomed to a near-eternity of
loneliness.
The Dragonlords Linden, Kief, and Tarlna are summoned to settle a dispute sparked by the mysterious - possibly unnatural - death of the Queen of Cassori. As they hear
the testimony and investigate the crime (if crime there be), Linden chances upon a girl who may be his soultwin. Is it possible that there are more fledgling
Dragonlords out there that the elders of his kind have overlooked? Linden is overjoyed at the possibility, the one bright light in his mission. But there was never a
more dangerous time for such a discovery, for the Fraternity of the Blood, a band of humans using black magic to eradicate the Dragonlords' influence over truehuman
affairs, has been revived in the land of Cassori, and they would like nothing better than to discover a weakness in the visiting weredragons. More than just the
throne of a human kingdom rests on the Dragonlords now; the entire Dragonlord race stands to fall to the Fraternity, unless Linden and his companions, both mortal
and immortal, can stop it.
Review
This is a very good story, with a wonderful concept and great characters. The plot moves decently and is fairly unpredictable, for the most part. A few plot devices seemed obvious and unlikely, given the intelligence of the characters, but otherwise the story seemed fairly sound. The dragonlords themselves make an excellent addition to the world of fantasy and the lore of dragons, described in a way that makes them into a nicely realized race. I might have rated it higher had I been able to finish it faster. As it was, various events and projects kept me from it for weeks at a time. Still, this is a wonderful fantasy tale.