Dragon Venom

October 1, 2003
In Watt-Evans s stirring conclusion to his high fantasy Obsidian Chronicles (after Dragon Weather and The Dragon Society), the series rather remote and self-righteous protagonist, Arlian, returns to the walled city of Manfort after 14 years of slaying evil dragons to find the duke of Manfort contending with unruly subjects and disruptions caused by wild magic. Since the duke blames these problems on dragon slaying, Arlian suffers near disgrace and has to defend his work from criticism, not that the duke s displeasure bothers our thick-skinned hero much. No longer allowed to kill dragons, Arlian decides to nose out why the wild magic has spilled into the Lands of Man and stumbles on a more intriguing line of study-dragon venom. Why, and how, does dragon venom turn humans into dragonhearts, and what connection is there between humans, dragons and the long-lost Gods of Man? Watt-Evans tends to overexplain and his dragons lack any redeeming graces, but the swashbuckling story line builds to a twist ending sure to leave the author s fans smiling.