This is the third and final part of the Draykon trilogy. I very much
enjoyed the first two parts, ‘Draykon’ and ‘Lokant’, and this continues
in the same vein, a wonderfully eccentric mixture of unique
world-building, believable characters and an action-packed story. In the
first book, I was very nervous that Llandry, one of the main
characters, a diminutive person with wings, might actually be a fairy.
In fact, I can safely say she is nothing at all like a fairy, and not in
the least twee. During the course of the three books, Llandry
transforms herself from a shy child-like girl who suffers from panic
attacks into a self-reliant and formidable person. And by person, I mean
draykon (more or less a dragon), of course.
The setting for the
story is one of the most inventive I’ve ever encountered. I’m not going
to attempt to describe it, but it’s a truly magical array of places,
populated with some bizarre creatures and plants. Some of the animal
life is, not unexpectedly, tending to the fearsome and toothy kind of
monster, but there are also some charming little beasties. I love the
way the upper and lower realms change dramatically in moments, so that
the landscape is constantly roiling and flowing unpredictably. This book
explains a great deal of why this happens. I love, too, that some parts
are in constant daylight and some in constant night light, kept that
way magically. That’s a really ingenious and (possibly) unique approach
to world-building.
The plot continues without a pause from where
book 2 left off. The draykoni are attacking Llandry's home in Glinnery,
and villain Krays is cooking up some vague but evil scheme. There is
high drama and action right from the start as everyone scrambles to find
some way to protect themselves. The humans are trying mechanical
weaponry. Llandry and her fellow friendly draykoni are exploring their
new powers in the hope of finding alternative defences. And Eva and Tren
are - well, this was the point for me where the plot lurched into
implausibility. Eva dreams up a scheme so downright dangerous and with
so little likelihood of success that, honestly, I don't know what she
was thinking. It's not unusual in fantasy for characters to be set some
impossible task, in order to accomplish some worthy outcome, but it's
never very convincing, frankly, and in this case, it's not imposed on
them, they decide to attempt it themselves. So I just had to switch off
the logical part of my brain and go with the flow. This isn't so
difficult, fortunately, since the story rattles along at unstoppable and
unputdownable pace.
The second clunky moment is the transition
from chasing around after villain Krays to haring off to investigate the
mysterious seventh realm, Orlind. Since this is the title of the book,
it’s not unexpected that this turns out to be the key to everything, but
the way the characters are led there by the nose feels a bit contrived.
But it really doesn’t matter. This is the book where everything boils
to its dramatic conclusion, and there’s not a dull moment in it. The
true nature of the Lokants is revealed in all its duplicitous glory, and
the final confrontation is a wondrous explosion of creative magic and
whimsy (believe it or not). I’ve never read a book before which so
successfully blends together powerful magic, dragons, steampunk,
sentient furry insects and multi-coloured mushrooms. It all makes sense,
too. And there’s humour, even at the tensest moments. A thoroughly
enjoyable, fast-paced read, with some memorable characters, absolutely
fizzing with brilliant ideas. Only the slightly not-quite-believable
plot contrivances let it down. A good four stars.
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