And so it ends (sort of).

Much like the previous books, it’s an adventure to somewhere new and far off, this time deep into the mountains (once again) of totally-not-the-Himalayas!

My name carried a certain aura by then, and my support had become a meaningful asset. After all, was I not the renowned Lady Trent, the woman who had won the Battle of Keonga? Had I not marched on Point Miriam with an army of my own when the Ikwunde invaded Bayembe? Had I not unlocked the secrets of the Draconean language, undeciphered since that empire’s fall? The answer to all these things, of course, was no. The popular narrative of my life has always outshone the reality by rather a lot. But I was aware of that radiance, and felt obliged to use it when and where I could.

We have all the political issues of previous books, this time mostly focused around not-UK and not-China (and not-Tibet?) and trying to find a safe pass through the mountains.

We do get more than a touch of science, of course, digging a bit more into how dragons specialize (first really touched upon in the last book) and my own personal favorite: digging more into linguistics and the Draconean language. It’s a good thing that Suhail came back (plus some 😄) in the previous book.

In the history of scientific discovery, it is my opinion that insufficient credit has been given to the behaviour of the humble yak.

Other than that, it’s hard to review this book without getting into some fairly major spoilers. Let’s just say–it’s worth it!

If my own first speech had been akin to a yak standing up on its hind legs and saying hello, now the yak was leading a worship service.

Quite the good book!

I’m a bit bummed that Lady Trent is done with these five books, but it appears there’s another following generations along, and given some of the events herein… I’m curious how in the world that is going to work.

Onward!