And yet the Sarah Monette stuff I loathed

Was it Felix? Because, to be fair, Felix can be very, very off-putting to many people. I believe Jane couldn’t finish Melusine because of him.

I didnt note the Kushner comment, but having heard it and read Swordspoint, Fall of the Kings and Priviledge of the Sword, the influence these had on Havemercy become completely obvious.

I liked it. It was a completely new take on dragons, which is unusual these days. The first person POV is fairly unusual as well esp split between 4 diff people. The magic was reasonably believable and what little we saw of the worldbuilding was interesting. I was intrigued by the references to the previous race of people from whom the magic had come, that looked like a storyline with potential.

And yet the Sarah Monette stuff I loathed :)

best examples of how two different first person narratives can sound completely different from one another. Mildmay’s voice is amazing

Exactly. Love Mildmay. I still have The Mirador to read but yes, I love this series. Can’t wait for Corambis.

@Renee: I was thinking about how Hal & Roy’s storyline really does follow a traditional romance arc. The main reason it probably didn’t work for me is because the arc chosen (naive, young thing heals world-weary, disillusioned soldier) is one that very, very rarely works for me at all.

I saw that there is a sequel in the works! I think I might have seen mention in an interview somewhere that one of the narrators is going to be the half-crazy magician who can make illusions.

I agree with you that more of the dragons would have better served the story. It was the “magic fueled metal dragons” in the book description that made me pick it up in the first place.

On the publisher’s site, the author’s have said that a sequel is in the works, focusing on the Ke-Han. I can’t wait!

Thanks for the review.