Daniel Abraham’s first book in his newest epic fantasy series starts with a mysterious and intriguing prologue that sets up the reader’s expectations that this will not be your typical fantasy novel before moving on to lay a familiar foundation upon which to build. In so doing he creates a sense of heightened expectation that leaves you waiting with bated breath for everything to come tumbling down during the chapters in which he introduces the main characters.
The Dragon’s Path follows similar Abraham novels (including those written with Ty Franck under the name James S.A. Corey) in that each chapter is focused on a particular character’s point of view and throughout the novel various POV characters will cross paths while others give a sense of the scope of the world and bigger events which are taking place. This novel has a very heavy focus on the characters with much of the world building accomplished through their internal and external dialogue and interactions with the world. Daniel Abraham has a passion for economics and this shows through in one of the story threads which involves banking and sets up the world’s economy, something you don’t often see done in genre fiction.
The Dragon’s Path begins by presenting characters in a nonjudgmental light, leaving the reader to wonder who the heroes and villains of the piece will be and soon muddies the waters by revealing layers and complexities to characters, and their motivations, which ensure that the reader will be drawn in to a roller coaster of emotions.
For an opening novel in a series (there are three books currently on the shelves), The Dragon’s Path is heavy on characterization and story, giving the reader a page-turning experience from start to finish.
My rating: 8/10 stars.
