Customer Reviews

Dragon in Chains

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Dark days have come to the Empire. The young Emperor and his controlling Empress mother had to flee the Hidden City with the loyalist army, chased by a larger army of the general who hopes to depose and kill him. He is making his way to the island of Taishu to make a last stand. Taishu is the source of Jade, containing powers that are for the Emperor alone, and is a key to holding the Empire.

Yu Shan is a young man from one of the Jade-mining clans living in the mountains of the island. With the coming of the Emperor, the clans seek to skip the middle man, the powerful Jademasters, by sending Yu Shan with an large and rare piece of jade to make a gift of it personally to the Emperor. He is unaware of how much his close proximity to the jade will change him.

Han is a boy apprentice-scribe who, with his master, unfortunately run into a group of thieves and pirates. He is taken aboard their ship and forced to fight for his life and becomes their slave. He also begins to hear the dragon in his head.

The Monks are responsible for keeping the dragon living under the waves of the straight between Taishu and the mainland quiet and bound in chains. All the locals know this, but everyone from beyond, the Emperor and the enemy armies chasing him, and the Pirates, view talk of the chained dragon as pure fantasy. So the pirate and his men attack the monks and kill them, seeking to rob the monastery. Now the Dragon is awakening and her chains are loose, and if something isn't done, she will be free.

These characters, along with a number of women, a mother fleeing the battling armies with her family, a bold fighter and thief, a wise fisher-girl, and the daughter of a medical man, also feature in the tale and intertwine with the various plot-lines.

The alternate China setting seems rich and detailed, the magic of the dragon and the jade fits well with the culture, and the various characters give varied and interesting viewpoints on the Empire and the action that is occurring. Some of the events are quite dark, with the barbarity of warfare and criminals and a society with harsh punishments.

This looks to be the first of an interesting series, with strong and intriguing characters, subtle magic, battles and assassins and traitorous plots... and the threat of a dragon that can raise tidal waves even when chained.

This gorgeously written book is the first part of a new fantasy trilogy which draws on medieval China for its inspiration. It's an alternate universe China, of course, and one of the ways in which it's alternate is that magic is real, if largely subtle. Subtle enough that some characters do not realise that the magic is there. Even the dragon of the title is a background menace in this first book, thought of as myth by the people who don't live in her territory, although she's a key part of one of the main plot threads.

That's plot threads, plural. One of the joys of the book is that there are multiple plot threads, skillfully balanced by a writer who knows how to use them to create a complex story with several distinctive characters. All of these threads converge on Taishu, a remote island on the edge of empire. On the physical edge, at least. Taishu may seem remote and insignificant to most, but it is the source of the jade that underpins the power of the Jade Throne and the Emperor who sits on it. He who holds Taishu holds the empire, in a very real sense, and Taishu is about to become the centre of more than one conflict.

These could all easily become a cliched story, but here they are in the hands of a master storyteller. Fox weaves them together to make a multi-layered story where subtle clues are laid well in advance, creating an "oh, of course!" as the hints finally slot together to make the full picture. It's no surprise that this works so well, as "Daniel Fox" is the pseudonym of an award-winning writer with a depth of experience in both crime fiction and fantasy. The world he has created is strongly grounded in reality, but has magic added, and the consequences of that are woven into the world he shows, rather than the magic being thrown in with no thought for how it might affect things. This world and its characters are described in beautiful and beautifully controlled prose. The result is a richly detailed fantasy that explores new ground rather than treading well-worn paths.

Dragon in Chains is quite definitely the first part of a single story, but there is enough plot, and intermediate resolution of various plot threads, to make the book a satisfying read in its own right rather than merely a cliffhanger designed to get you to keep buying the series. This is a complex and enticing dark fantasy that is well worth the wait for the next part.

From first page to last, reading `Dragon in Chains' you know you are in the hands of a gifted storyteller. The story has a wonderful quality of old-fashioned adventure: flight and fight, peril and escape, great courage in unexpected places--and really, never a dull moment. The cast of characters is colourful and distinctive, ranging across all walks of life from slave to Emperor, old man to young girl, and pretty much everything in between.

My knowledge of Chinese history and culture is pretty thin, but I was instantly drawn in to a vivid sense of place and time, involved in the characters' often dramatic change in fortunes in a war-torn land. The author doesn't flinch from describing brutality, violence and degradation at its worst, but even the most shocking of this is never gratuitous, handled with sensitivity and compassion.

I was particularly impressed with the way the magical elements were at once understated yet utterly essential to the story. This is a tale that has the integrity of a jewel: it may be complex, but it is not a collection of parts thrown together for effect, but a shining whole. And the writing? Exquisite.

I'm looking forward to much more from Daniel Fox.

Told from the point of view of several people, including Han, the scribes boy enslaved by a pirate and spelled to hold a dragon chained below the ocean, Mei Feng, a fisher girl turned emperor's friend and concubine, and Yu Shan, a jade miner with powers granted by special jade properties, this is a marvelous tale. An emperor in exile, a populace brutalized by war, a pirate who was once someone else,a ll roiling about a medieval China that never was, but should have been.

A nice eastern take on fantasy with many of the power players in future books being set up now. Dragon in Chains is the first book I've read by the author and does a solid job of providing a wide array of characters with various motivations and a caste system that has similarities to standard European rankings but is unique in and of itself. Well worth a look if you're seeking 'Oriental Styel' fantasy tales.

I read the first 80 pages of Dragon in Chains before deciding it wasn't worth reading any further. In that time, although the world was interesting and there was a lot of atmosphere, I failed to really warm to any of the characters. I couldn't visualize them, and I didn't much care for their conflicts. I felt like they were just there to fulfill a role.

I was sorry I didn't like this book more, because I expected to. Maybe others will enjoy it more than I did.

A young emperor has fled his country to the island where jade is mined, a mineral that gives him strength. He has his generals, his army, his mother...and a rebel army across the water. Beneath the water is a dragon, chained below by the monks on the island known as the Forge, monks who must maintain the chains to keep the dragon from rising. On the water is an old fisherman and his granddaughter, a young woman who has drawn the attention of the emperor. And also on the water is a dangerous pirate, who has slaughtered the monks the keep the dragon chained. Will the dragon be freed?

This book is exciting and magical and contains surprises. The characters pull you into their lives and make you care what happens in their world. I highly recommend it.

The book was interesting but every few chapters new characters were introduced. I found it somewhat difficult to keep everyone separate. The characters seem to be well thought out, but it is obvious the author was setting up his sequels. I have bought the second book and am hoping for a little more depth in the characters and the plot. I felt like I was skimming the surface.

The pirates of the ship Shalla led by Captain Li Ton kill Master Doshu the scribe and take prisoner his young apprentice-servant Han. Another pirate raiding party brings a boy Yerli they captured from his master a fake magician they killed. Li needs a new cabin boy, but only wants one child who will obey once he loses a finger or two. He asks the candidates what skills they possess. Han says he can read; Li explains he is not needed as he is the only one allowed to read. Yerli says he can see the future; Li insists only he chooses the future. Li forces a dual between the boys with the winner having a job and the loser a swim. Instead Yerli shows Han what he sees before leaping into the sea; Han becomes contaminated with magic even as he is the new cabin slave.

On Taishu Island, the exiled young Emperor Chien is in hiding when a local brings him a magical jade. Meanwhile Li and his crew kill monks who kept an ancient sea dragon chained just off the island; Han takes over the burden of keeping the monster contained. Their adventures have just begun.

This is a terrific medieval fantasy that captures the essence of Chinese mythology. The story line is fast-paced as Han ends up in one misadventure after another while serving a brutal pirate captain. Fast-paced from the onset, the opening adage sums up the saga: "When dragons bleed, they bleed in gold. When they weep, they weep in jade". Humans want both so they need dragons to bleed and weep. Fans who relish something different in their quest fantasy will appreciate DRAGONS IN CHAINS as pirates, monks, mages, and two boys make for a stirring Chinese historical fantasy.

Harriet Klausner