The Dragon’s Legacy Is an Operatic Fantasy Experience in the Making
Deborah Wolf’s The Dragon’s Legacy is the promising start to a breathtaking epic fantasy trilogy in the vein of Ken Liu and George R.R. Martin. It is the story of an entire world, and a battle between kingdoms seeking to rule it. Reading it is like watching the works of Wagner and Mozart performed onstage: you connect with the story, it resonates within, its song makes your bones hum like a tuning fork. Make no mistake, this is truly operatic epic fantasy.
The stage is set with such a vast cast of characters, it initially seems a bit daunting initially. But once you realize the scope of the tale Wolf has set out to tell, you’ll realize the sprawl is essential. Most of our time is spent with the Zeeranim, a desert dwelling people, and their Dreamshifter, Hafsa Azeina, and her daughter Sulema, a Zeerani warrior. We eventually follow the pair into the realm of the Dragon King Atualon, where we learn more than a history of the world; we learn the depths Hafsa Azenia will go to in order to protect her daughter. We are given a glimpse of the Sindan empire through the eyes of Jian, a Daechen warrior prince.
Some characters are present throughout, such as Istazi Ani, the Zeerani youthmistress overseeing young girls in training to become warriors. Others we only glimpse in passing, like Char, the Guardian of Eid Kalmut, a sort of sacred burial ground. Ani is seen by many as weak, and quickly written off by those her junior, when she is anything but; she is a survivor and a fighter, and I look forward to seeing more of her story unfold in the coming books. Despite only seeing Char in a few chapters, she is a character I desperately want to learn more about. Wolf masterfully weaves all of these disparate lives into the tapestry of her world.
The depth and breadth of worldbuilding leaps off every page in mellifluous descriptions. Wolf hardly wastes time with a sluggish back-story, opting instead to trust readers to follow along as she drops us into the thick of her sumptuous, immersive world, one where humans bond with fearsome big cats, sorcery lingers in the waking and dream worlds, and weaponized spiders are clad in armor. Yet despite these larger-than-life elements, the beating heart of the narrative are the characters, the small moments and details: Hafsa Azeina’s love of coffee, the billowing tents used during desert travels. This world is rich with detail, sprinkled across every page.
The Dragon’s Legacy is Byzantine-level epic fantasy. Rife with bloodshed, it is never overly dark or gratuitous. It jumps between multiple plots for power, within multiple kingdoms, but the storytelling always remains focused on the characters. There are twists and turns to make your heart catch, moments of fearsome suspense, and scenes of engrossing character conflict. It is very much Act One of a larger whole; Wolf has only begun to explore the secrets of this world. It is but the first act in an operatic masterpiece.
The Dragon’s Legacy is available April 18.