I’m not sure why it took me so long to get to writing this. Something
about the second part of a trilogy just says “repeat yourself, repeat
yourself, plot summary, wait for the third book."
Yet despite that first impression, there’s really a wealth of differences between
Song of the Dragon and
Citadels of the Lost.
It’s still the story of a group of escaped slaves of various races
pursuing an ancient prophecy, hoping that it topples the evil Rhonas
Empire, and it still features the Rhonas Elves as the main antagonists.
Only now there are dragons, and Soen, the Elf hunting Drakis and his
party, is edging his way toward being a protagonist more than an
antagonist. While there was always an element of trust and suspicion
involved, here it’s been promoted to main character status. Even after
the action is all said and done, there’s always the question of who did
what, who betrayed whom or did anybody at all, and why?
Part of this is because of Soen’s promotion to a relatively main
character. While he still doesn’t interact with Drakis’s group, we
follow him along on a quest to find Drakis, as well as being forced into
becoming a fugitive himself. He has little intention for Drakis other
than to turn him in for more prestige and to prevent him rallying
enemies of the elves, but considering he’s joined a group of Drakis’s
supporters (led by a fervent supporter of Drakis’s from the first novel)
and is forced to lead them to victory against the army he’s supposed to
support, while that army is now hunting for him… well, we’ve all seen
story arcs like this. When Drakis and Soen finally meet with drawn
swords, will they be pointed at one another, or at their mutual foes? I
guess that’s for
Blood of the Emperor to tell, isn’t it?
As far as Drakis, Jugar, Urulani, Ethis, Mala, the Lyric, and a few
red shirts’ story goes, they continue on a quest, this time heading back
South to civilization, and learning about the prior relationship
between the humans and the dragons before the arrival of the elves. We
get to deal with dragons who are lying about other dragons betraying
other people, supposedly honored artifacts being passed along as methods
of tracking, a woman that 90% of the party is convinced can never be
trusted again manages to surprise everybody, someone is betrayed twice
by the people they trust the most… you get the pattern. This is a
suspicious novel, and you have to stay on your toes at all times while
reading it if you don’t want to miss it.
As for the execution of this, well, some of the twists can be seen a
mile away, some come out of nowhere, and altogether it can be pretty
exhausting. I wouldn’t call it bad, per se, but it keeps the book from
being a casual read and can really stint the action at times. I’m
reminded of the latter
Lords of the Ring novels, in which the
betrayals and political maneuverings were often nothing more than
distractions from the actual, interesting story.
Beyond the story itself, this is more
The Two Towers than
Empire Strikes Back.
You learn some about the characters and a respectable amount about the
mythology of the world, but ultimately we’re more concerned here with
the voyage and what it means for the future than the past or the
characters. Their traits have essentially been defined, and most if not
all of the characterization we’re faced with here ultimately serves as a
reminder of those traits rather than expounding upon them. Few of the
individuals here trust one another, never mind being entirely open with
one another. Our perspective being limited to the thoughts of the
protagonists being described, the reader is often as in the dark as the
other characters and I can only hope that we are granted exciting
reveals to match the frustration of trying to figure out what’s going
on.
Two questions remain unanswered in this review: is the novel any
good, and do I recommend it? In fact, I already answered those, although
you would have to know my opinions of other classic works to be able to
discern that.
The Empire Strikes Back, I feel, is a
masterpiece that is best viewed in the context of a trilogy but remains a
gripping and emotional story in the hands of any viewer who might
experience it.
The Two Towers, on the other hand, is a valuable
story only in the context of its own trilogy, requiring a sense of the
adventures, the gains and losses that came before it, in order to give
it a sense of scope and the characters their depth.
Like
The Two Towers,
Citadels of the Lost is an
invaluable part of its own story, but without the entire epic, I cannot
on good faith recommend it. Too much would be lost in attempting to view
only the middle chapters of this story. However, to the point that I
have read it, I
do recommend the Annals of Drakis, and in so doing recommend
Citadels of the Lost once you have read
Song of the Dragon.
by Julianna Baggot
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