Draconis Memoria – Book 2

“Money is best thought of as a shared delusion. An unspoken fraudulent compact between the rich and the poor ascribing value to worthless tokens in return for the illusion of societal security.“

So what’s the book about?

The White Dragon has awakened – and with it the horror that is coming over the people. Desperate now, Lizanne Lethridge, Mandinorian secret agent, and Claydon Torcreek, former street thief and member of the Arradsian Inland Expedition, try to find a way to successfully defy the White Dragon as it raises a vast army of dragons and spoiled ones.  Lizanne sets out on the trail of the mad tinkerer, hoping to find an invention that can stop and destroy the White Dragon and his army. Clay sets off after his vision of a mysterious place after drinking the White Dragon’s blood. But this place turns out not to be actual help, but much more of a nightmare. But will these expeditions be crowned with success or will Clay and Lizanne only be ridden further into disaster?

These aspects attracted me the most while reading.

• The Corvantine prison town of Scorazin, is the worst place in the entire empire and also the most exciting. Lizanne goes to this city to track down the master trumpeter. And this place is not only about finding him, but much more. This idea of keeping an entire town as a prison was exciting to read. Because this town actually takes care of itself, like any other independent town, so there are also workers and a kind of government here. There are also many different clans within the city that fight each other. It seemed as if this city was not a prison at all, but just like any other city. All the actions that happened in this part were very captivating and the individual characters that you get to know here also played their part.
• You live through two completely different storylines here, but they somehow fit together. Clay and Lizanne are pursuing the same goal, but each in his own way. The emotional adventures are also completely different and each takes you into a different world.  So new “worlds” and continents are discovered with the characters, which were not yet described in the first volume, or only briefly. So you could go on a voyage of discovery yourself and discover the world further with the characters. In addition, more mysterious things happen that the reader and Clay don’t always understand, so you are constantly wondering how everything works and how it all comes together. Also new characters were introduced, which gave the new worlds even more depth.  Nevertheless, it was a coherent story that directly followed on from the first part.
• In this volume you also finally learn more about the Spoiled. Since they have many secrets and are very mysterious creatures in the first volume, some, but not all, is revealed here. We finally know why they exist and how they behave. Fortunately, a Spoiled give us an insight into their world. You learn about their thoughts, but you also learn a little more about the White Dragon, while we are not completely certain about his goals.
• In this way, the characters are no longer shackled by the given structures, but behave and develop much more freely. The new characters are also understandable and empathetic people/or not people 😉 who behave in a comprehensible way. And they also make the story more exciting, because you learn more about the world through them. But they don’t remain stagnant in their development, but also evolve again and have their own goals and interests. Lizanne in particular was able to convince me in this volume, as she does not give up her own principles but goes her own way. Even if she has to suffer losses because of it. And I must also emphasise here how well Anthony Ryan can write female characters. Especially these seem like authentic strong women and Lizanne is not the only strong female character.

Let the fight begin: First Book vs Second Book.

The second volume of the trilogy picks up directly from the events of the predecessor. Here, too, questions that arose in the first part are answered fluently. Especially questions about the origin of the dragons, the emergence of the sage and his goals are answered here. You also get an insight into the empire, which is presented in a much more multifaceted way than in the first part, so that you can also discover the people and the existing structure. For the second part does everything that the first volume already did very well only better. The individual storylines are so gripping that you can’t put the book down. The second volume was also even better to read because you know and understand your beloved characters from the first volume better and can therefore also understand their actions better.

So what are my final thoughts about it?

A breathtaking book that was able to maintain suspense throughout the 638 pages with numerous twists and turns, dazzling characters and a multi-faceted world in which things get messy. Only the political intrigues are clearly pushed into the background, so that the reader is offered less political entanglements and more action and fighting. So this passage seemed quite short and unimportant, although it was of central importance. Together, all the storylines again make for a very exciting mixture of espionage, adventure and fantasy. Wild battles against dragons, exciting battles on land and at sea, again new unexpected bonds are formed or others are broken. The author’s great writing style makes it very easy to imagine the story and also to convey the feelings and thoughts of the individual characters, so I can’t wait to read the final volume of the trilogy. Especially in view of the fact that the ending is such an enormous cliffhanger that you absolutely have to read on.

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