The Bookwyrm's Review of Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton

 

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Rating: 9.75/10 ★

Synopsis

In his magnificent, heroic adventure fantasy, Dragonslayer, Duncan M. Hamilton debuts the first book in a fast-moving trilogy: a dangerous tale of lost magics, unlikely heroes, and reawakened dragons. 

Once a member of the king's personal guard, Guillot dal Villevauvais spends most days drinking and mourning his wife and child. He’s astonished - and wary - when the Prince Bishop orders him to find and destroy a dragon. He and the Prince Bishop have never exactly been friends, and Gill left the capital in disgrace five years ago. So why him? And, more importantly, how is there a dragon to fight when the beasts were hunted to extinction centuries ago by the ancient Chevaliers of the Silver Circle?  

On the way to the capitol city, Gill rescues Solène, a young barmaid, who is about to be burned as a witch. He believes her innocent...but    soon proves that she has plenty of raw, untrained power, a problem in this land, where magic is forbidden. Yet the Prince Bishop believes magic will be the key to both destroying the dragon and replacing the young, untried king he pretends to serve with a more pliable figurehead.   

Between Gill’s rusty swordsmanship and Solene’s unstable magic, what could go wrong?  

Review

Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton is one of those books I've had on my review radar for a while, and after finishing it, I wish I'd gotten to it sooner. This will very easily be in the running for my top read of 2023. It has so many elements I love in books: flawed protagonists, complex villains, politics and a universe that is still grounded despite having magic and dragons. 

The world building is fantastic throughout. Set in the kingdom of Mirabaya, one of many formed out the remains of a once larger empire, it seems society has fallen quite a bit from it's previous heights. Magic is banned due to a wizards revolt long before, and society has a superstitious fear of it now. The dragons that used to terrorized humanity have been killed off by the Knights of the Silver Circle, who have degenerated to a bunch of drunken womanizers far removed from their heroic past deeds. and the church is splintered throughout the kingdoms, with the top prelate, the Prince Bishop, ignored by the leaders of the church in other kingdoms. It's a society that seems to be sliding backwards, and when  a dragon turns out to be not as dead as was thought, its a society that is ill equipped to handle the threat.

This is where the characters come in. This is an author that creates some incredibly complex characters. Characters that read so true to life, with strengths and weaknesses on full display.  There is no better example of that than the main protagonist,  Guillot dal Villeyauvais, Gil for short. Once the greatest swordsman in the kingdom, a knight of the Silver Circle and one of the King's bodyguards, he is now a disgraced drunk, living in his old family holdings, wasting his life away on drink and rich foods, all while letting his duties as a noble slip to the wayside. There is a reason for this funk, and it is revealed throughout the story, and it's only when he comes into contact with the other protagonist in the story, Solene, that he starts to pull his life back from the abyss.

Solene is a great character as well. A woman on the run after being chased out of her village for witchcraft, she is working as a baker and barmaid in a larger town, keeping her head down, using a bit of magic to make awesome bread. The plan is to open her own bakery, which is derailed when she has to use her magic to defend herself from a drunken patron of the bar. Apparently turning someone into a pig for a few minutes is frowned upon, and she is only saved from burning at the stake when Gil saves her from the mob. This starts her journey as she is taken to the capitol and ends up inducted into a secret order of mage warriors the Prince Bishop has founded to try and bring the benefits of magic to the land, as well as himself. She finds herself growing in  power and responsibility, but finds that all is not as it seems in the order, and has to make decisions on what path her life will take, decisions that could effect the greater world.

The antagonists are excellent as well. The Prince Bishop is a very Cardinal Richelieu type character, a schemer of the highest order who is very much the man behind the throne. Unlike Richelieu, he was a swordsman himself until an incident ruined his ability to fence, an incident Gil played a huge part in, so their enmity is well deserved. His dedication to increasing his own power, and the power of the church is a driving force, as is his willingness to flout tradition in trying to bring magic back. He is very much an ends justify the  means type of individual, and he will stop at nothing to make his goals a reality. 

The truly tragic antagonist is Alpheratz, the last dragon, who has slept for decades while his kind were killed off, only to awaken to find his mate and hatchlings murdered many years ago by the damnable humans, the same humans they once worked with, but who hungered for more: More magic, more land, more treasure, just more, at any cost. His rage is incandescent, and honestly, he is one of the most sympathetic antagonists  I've seen in any book. He is the dragon version of Gerard Butler in Law Abiding Citizen, driven by rage and the injustices done to him. His species has been destroyed, and sometimes, the world just seems to to need to burn, and he's just the dragon to do it. He remembers the Knights of the Silver Circle, and has a special bone to pick with them, and his confrontation with the last of the Knights, Gil, is at times comical and epic, and it's quite obvious only one will survive this clash of the last of their types.

The audio book version is narrated by the talented Simon Vance. A master of using various tones, cadences and accents to differentiate the characters, he really outdoes himself on this one. You can feel the pain in both Gil's and Alpheratz voices as they mourn their lost families, and  he does just a fantastic job emoting throughout. There is real emotional depth in his performance, and you just get engrossed in the story as he tells it. His narrative pacing is some of the best in the business, and he is never droning. He is simply one of the best doing his usual outstanding job.

I think the final conclusion is that this story takes elements of fantasy, such as dragons, a fallen knight, an evil prelate, a misunderstood sorceress, and creates its own special story, turning the tropes on their head. The characters are relatable, even if not necessarily sympathetic, and the story flows smoothly from beginning to end. The mix of tragedy, comedy, betrayal and adventure is sure to find fans in the fantasy genre, but I think has broader appeal as well for fans of just a good story. I give this book my highest recommendation.