Dragon Blood, Patricia Briggs
liked it, but not as much as the first book, which is usually not the case for me, since the most recently read one tends to be fresher in my mind. the first book was told almost entirely in the perspective of ward, whereas in this one he disappears for 3 or 4 chapters and we get the story from tisala instead, who i found not very appealing for whatever reason--actually, to me she was a bit underdeveloped as a character, but it can't be helped. the "love" between ward and tisala is a bit underdeveloped too--we saw her for maybe 2 scenes in the first book, and by the end of this book they were supposedly in love. maybe she just didn't make much of an impression on me? i'm not entirely sure what it was, but regardless, i liked this book anyway because come on, it's patricia briggs. the storyline was tightly woven and it seems that she makes the most exaggerated fantastical events entirely believable, so that the reader can actually almost fathom it happening in the real world. a rare skill in a fantasy author, i personally believe.
the tamerlain plays a very significant role in this, but i actually wanted her in here a bit more. i understand that ward doesn't like the presence of that specific god, but the god played a significant part in his survival; working the tamerlain somehow into the conclusion might've been more satisfying? also, the ending left me wanting, because ward gets played down as not quite that much of a hero when he did all the work. kellen also pissed the crap out of me, i wanted to strangle him throughout most of the scenes he's in. the conclusion was most definitely anticlimactic also; the fact that hurogs are descended from dragons get stressed so much throughout this, i kept waiting for ward, the first mage-born in the royal family in a long time, so acquire the ability to transform into one himself. that also plays into my complaint of how ward gets toned down as a hero big time, and.. well, i kept expecting more.
regardless, i also kept marvelling at how big a cast of characters ms. briggs manages to keep introducing and keeping in specific chapters, and that i never got confused over who was who. the individual names were distinctive enough, maybe? or there was something about how she kept tabs on everyone that made it much easier. whatever it is, i don't see that in many other authors either. anything else with this big a cast would usually have me slamming the book shut and waiting enough time for me to absorb the info before continuing, which may be a couple of days to a couple of weeks. anyway.
at one point she actually has tisala mention that she feels like she's stepped into someone else's story--that was very satisfying. at another she mentions ward seeing a dragon other than oreg, and at that point i think she hammered some point home--it wasn't that there was no more magic, it was that no one had the ability to see magic anymore. i think it was an indirect way to say something about people today in general. hurog has an odd semblance to scotland in general, and tallven to england maybe? the theory she builds is that maybe people really did used to see dragons, and as oreg has said, no one sees a dragon unless the dragon wants to be seen. i found that to be such an interesting philosophy to develop within a work of fantasy, i don't know why. i guess i've never considered it?
guess i'll proceed to read all of her other stuff too. at this rate i might as well, every single one i've read from her leaves me wanting more. a definite rarity in my case.
