Dragon in Chains (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: jade road, wonder stone, jade carver, Old Yen, Mei Feng, Suo Lung (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Fox captures the foggy mysteries of feudal China in exquisite style with this rich fantasy series opener. Pirate captain Li Ton needs a new ship's boy, having worn out the old one, so he captures apprentice scribe Han, who becomes infected with magic in a duel. When Li Ton kills the monks who forge links to the chain binding an ancient undersea dragon, he and Han are caught up in a multilayered tale of supernatural creatures, a deposed emperor on the run and jade that grants extraordinary powers. Fox's concisely elegant style mirrors the light brush strokes and deep colors of ancient Chinese paintings, finely balancing detail, emotion and action. Where many Western authors try and fail to capture the nuances of Chinese culture and mythology, this melodious tale quietly succeeds. (Feb.)
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Product Description

From award-winning author Daniel Fox comes a ravishingly written epic of revolution and romance set in a world where magic is found in stone and in water, in dragons and in men–and in the chains that bind them.

Deposed by a vicious usurper, a young emperor flees with his court to the small island of Taishu. There, with a dwindling army, a manipulative mother, and a resentful population–and his only friend a local fishergirl he takes as a concubine–he prepares for his last stand.

In the mountains of Taishu, a young miner finds a huge piece of jade, the potent mineral whose ingestion can gift the emperor with superhuman attributes. Setting out to deliver the stone to the embattled emperor, Yu Shan finds himself changing into something more than human, something forbidden.

Meanwhile, a great dragon lies beneath the strait that separates Taishu from the mainland, bound by chains that must be constantly renewed by the magic of a community of monks. When the monks are slaughtered by a willful pirate captain, a maimed slave assumes the terrible burden of keeping the dragon subdued. If he should fail, if she should rise free, the result will be slaughter on an unimaginable scale.

Now the prisoner beneath the sea and the men and women above it will shatter old bonds of loyalty and love and forge a common destiny from the ruins of an empire.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; First Edition edition (January 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345503058
• ISBN-13: 978-0345503053
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #271,972 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars richly detailed fantasy that explores new ground, January 27, 2009

By	Jules Jones "sf and romance author" - See all my reviews

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.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superb entertainment from a gifted storyteller, January 31, 2009

By	Ms. P. Sullivan (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars An Emperor fleeing for his life, Jade with mysterious powers, an ancient Dragon threatening to wreak havoc---, September 21, 2009

By	A. Lee (L.A., CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.