Title: King's Dragon
Author: Kate Elliott
Publication Date: February 1, 1998 by DAW Books
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Various
One of my favorite things to do on a vacation road trip is to browse used bookstores for big, thick, chonky, mass market paperbacks from the 80s and 90s, books that never found their way onto my shelves at the time, but which promise a nostalgic return to that era. Sometimes I settle in with one and realize pretty quickly there was a reason we never connected . . . and sometimes I get so lost in one that I simply can't fathom how I missed it at the time.
King's Dragon is definitely one of the latter - so much so that, halfway through the first book, I picked up the other 5 at a used bookstore last weekend. Somehow, my only exposure to Kate Elliott when the series was originally published was through The Golden Key, which I enjoyed, and you'd think the mere association with fantasy queen Melanie Rawn would have put her on my must-read list. For whatever reason it didn't, but I'm quite happy to have missed it then, because it gives me a new series in which to immerse myself now.
This is largely a reimagining of Medieval Europe, clothing familiar people and places in new names and new colors, but Elliott makes enough significant changes to make it her own. For one, the singular God of the Catholic church has been replaced with the duality of Lord and Lady, and the symbolism of the cross with that of the circle. There's one heretical schism within the religion that I lack the understanding to compare to history, but there's another around the role of magic within the church that I loved - because, yes, there's magic in this world, along with mythological beasts and other elf-like/dragon-like races.
Going along with the Lord and Lady aspect, the world here is largely matriarchal, with women holding both secular and religious authority, and even 'commoner' women having influence and authority that would be anachronistic in our world. There are a lot of memorable characters in this, both good and bad, but far more of them are women than men, and that was exciting. Speaking of characters, there are two protagonists within the tale, Alain and Liath, and while both have hidden pasts and secrets, with unusual powers or affinities revealed throughout the book, neither is played as a simple 'chosen one' trope. They have significant character arcs in this first book, but it's clear they're only just claiming their places in the world, with bigger things ahead.
It's been a very long time since I sat down and read back-to-back books in a series, but I've already started on Prince of Dogs, and I can't offer a better recommendation than that.
Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ 1/2
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