DRAGON BLOOD

Two young men come of age in a world on the brink of interspecies war in this fantasy-series starter.

The people of Elysium live in terror of the Draco Sang, ferocious, monstrous half-human, half-beast hybrids from the neighboring country of Skotar, who in turn despise and enslave humans. Armed conflict between the two is all but inevitable. In Elysium, Cal is a 16-year-old gold miner who suffers from constant hunger and a violent temper. His young, devoted mother expects nothing but good things from him, but his grandfather eyes him with suspicion, which reaffirms Cal’s feeling that they’re keeping secrets from him. Then he’s finally told the truth: He’s one of the dreaded Draco Sang, and he must find a way to control his “emerging desire for power and dominance” or else change into a beast forever. In Skotar, Ferth is a 16-year-old Draco Sang whose inner beast hasn’t come forth yet, and his human face is a sign of dishonor to his powerful warrior father. If Ferth can’t call forth his beast soon, his dad will enslave him, like other humans. As Cal and Ferth struggle with their inner demons and discover the connection between them—“fathered by hate, but mothered by love”—the war builds up to devastating consequences. This engaging fantasy novel takes on the relationship between nature and nurture in a slow-paced, character-driven story about belonging, found families, and what makes one a human, a beast, and/or an enemy. The chapters mostly alternate between the perspectives of Cal and Ferth, effectively showcasing both sides of the conflict as well as skillfully developing both characters’ arcs as they struggle to reconcile their beliefs with their inner beings. Additional odd chapters from Shale, an enslaved human, highlight a different perspective, and her relationship to both Cal and Ferth will likely prove essential to the promising sequel; this entry, however, ends on a fantastic cliffhanger.

An engaging and rewarding kickoff to a promising new series.