The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas

Posted: 02 December 2009 by Tyson Mauermann in Labels: , ,
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The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas








ISBN 13: 9780575083745 
ISBN 10: 0575083743


The Adamantine Palace lies at the centre of an empire that grew out of ashes. Once dragons ruled the world and man was little more than prey. Then a way of subduing the dragons alchemicly was discovered and now the dragons are bred to be little more than mounts for knights and highly valued tokens in the diplomatic power-players that underpin the rule of the competing aristocratic houses. The Empire has grown fat. And now one man wants it for himself. A man prepared to poison the king just as he has poisoned his own father. A man prepared to murder his lover and bed her daughter. A man fit to be king? But uknown to him there are flames on the way. A single dragon has gone missing. And even one dragon on the loose, unsubdued, returned to its full intelligence, its full fury, could spell disaster for the Empire. But because of the actions of one unscrupulous mercenary the rivals for the throne could soon be facing hundreds of dragons.


It has been a very long time since I have read a book with a lot of dragons, nearly 14 years to be exact when I first laid eyes on Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's The Dragonlance Chronicles. Three books that still hold a lot of great memories for me. Since then I have moved on to other ideas and plots in fantasy.  So, With those great memories in the back of my mind I set out to read Stephen Deas' latest novel. 


First off let me just say, I really like the cover of this book. It is simple. It has a old feel to it and then has a very bold and colorful dragon on the cover. It works for me and I am glad I have it in my collection. The next thing that I liked in the book was the entire premise. It seems in most fantasy novels you get dragons that are either pure forces of evil that are the bane of man who enjoy tearing humans asunder or wise sages that live in peace and harmony with the other races of the world. Both of which can be an enjoyable world but, Deas has used both of these themes and it works.  Man has found a way to subdue the dragons that have wrecked havok on them by using an elixir.  When a rare white dragon gets away from its human handlers the effects of potion wear off we have a dragon that is not happy to say the least. While the dragon keeps a few humans around for the purpose of intelligence gathering, the dragon has difficulty keeping its emotions in check. This concept works for me, if you were under sedation for 10 years you wouldn't always be content or full of rage. The dragon in Deas' world is an impressive weapon but, underlying the dragon's wrath Deas shows that there is also a highly intelligent being underneath that is being suppressed with the elixer.


There are a few grievances that I have with the book: the world building is sporadic, we are told of many lands and kingdoms but, are only shown a few of them and told very little of the others. A few of the minor characters are rather bland and cardboard. While these would be considered huge issues in some novels they are very minor. They don't detract from the book and I have a feeling that some of the kingdoms will become very prominent in the books to come. 


In the end, it is a great book and well worth the read. The book has sparked a bit of an interest in dragons from me so you will probably see more dragon books in the near future. the book isn't available in the US yet, Deas' website states that it will be published in February 2010 but is available from my favorite book seller bookdepository.com. Again free shipping on any book. So now you have no excuse not to get this book and read it for yourself.

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