Book Review – The Dragon Society
Author: Lawrence Watt-Evans
Publisher: DAW
Binding: Paperback MassMarket
Publication Date: 2003
I had first picked up Lawrence Watt-Evans’s Dragon Weather, the first book in the three book Obsidian Chronicles, on a mere whim. I thought the cover proved interesting and that the story, a man living his life solely for revenge, would make a great vacation read; and I was right. Dragon Weather did a number of things right, but mostly, it kept me wanting to know more. A few months later I bought book two, The Dragon Society, and book three, Dragon Venom, at the same time—now that’s the power of a great story.
The Dragon Society picks up exactly where the first book stopped; Arlian and his closest companion Black are returning to Manfort after putting an end to Lord Enziet, also known as Lord Dragon—the same man that had Arlian’s village destroyed by dragons when he was a kid. Lord Dragon had then enslaved Arlian and ruined his life, but Arlian proved victorious in the end. Now, in The Dragon Society, Arlian still had more revenge to fulfill. When Arlian learns of the secret knowledge of a fellow Society member, he puts his plan into action to kill all the dragonhearts alive and the dragons. But no man had ever been known to kill a dragon—could Arlian truly succeed?
Being the second book in a trilogy, The Dragon Society falls suspect to the infamous “middle book syndrome.” It’s not a standalone story; Watt-Evans is constantly repeating information that we—the reader—already learned in the first book. It got very repetitious and annoying; even though Arlian’s list of who he wants dead is pretty long and complicated, I felt like Watt-Evans was “dumbing” the story down. The series is labeled epic fantasy for a reason; the readers will be prepared for a lot of events, plotlines, subplots, characters, and so forth. They do not need to be reminded every twenty pages that Arlian is going to kill the dragons, the dragonhearts, the men who mistreated his friends and the miners from when Arlian was a slave.
That said, I enjoyed the book for what it offered. Arlian grew as a character and learned a lot of new information about dragons in this story, but the ending was left a bit foggy. Surely Watt-Evans is planning something monstrous in the third book which is fine for readers of the series. No one, and I mean no one, can pick this book up and just read it from page one; there’s too much back-story involved.
One thing I can truly appreciate of Watt-Evans’s writing is his descriptions when it comes to the dragons of his story—he makes them seem so real. Here is an example:
The beast was dropping, wings spread; it flapped, and dust and smoke swirled around Arlian and the machine, half-blinding him. The wind from a second flap almost knocked Arlian off his feet.
Unfortunately, like the title of the book implies, this story is about the humans of the Dragon Society, so there is little interaction with the big dragons in this one, though the ending is exciting and gripping. By the end of the book, Arlian is a lot closer to completing his revengefest, learning enough in book two to prepare for the final battle.
Lawrence Watt-Evans is a wonderful writer who pays close attention to all the finite details of his stories; unfortunately this story retold them too many times to be healthy. I’m a fan of the story simple because Dragon Weather was so amazing, and in order to get to Dragon Venom, I had to tackle this one. Decent read, but like I wrote before, only for those truly interested.
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