It's the sequel to Dragon Thief, with our special guest star, Meleya "Not As Cool As Asher" I-don't-think-these-people-have-last-names of Misthaven!
(Look, it's not that Meleya isn't a compelling main character. She is. It's just that Asher, who's also the protagonist of the first book in the series, is really good, and she kind of pales in comparison. Asher's cameos are the best part of this book, at least in my opinion.)
I really appreciate how different this universe is from just Standard Medieval Europe Setting #3587. The magic system is unique and fleshed out, all the standard animals are replaced with dragon versions, like half the plants are replaced with things like spineapple and fire maple and cindercone pine... I could go on, but I think I've made my point. Also, they have pizza (or "Cheesy Tomato Flatbread"), which is a rare example of a Renamed Concept Rule break that actually works.
There's a bit in this where Meleya, who by the way is a portal mage, uses a portal to stop herself from falling to her death. Said idea is fine and clever, except that the way in which she does it feels unrealistic to me, because I've played both Portal games multiple times and have those games' portal physics ingrained in my imagination.
In this book, we get our first look at the series' real bad guys: the Grey Ones, some evil demon things who can possess people and make them immune to silver. (Silver blocks magic in this setting.) There's also the Surgeon, who can take people's magic and put it into other people. I mean, the Mage Hunters are also bad guys, but they're not the main bad guys anymore.
Were this a videogame, I'd rate it: T for fantasy violence.
4 stars.
(Endnote: For clarification, Meleya is a guard who rides a dragon, not a person who guards dragons or a guard who is a dragon.)
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