Bradley P. Beaulieu is growing into a modern Epic Fantasy master. He’s completed the requisite fantasy trilogy (The Lays of Anuskaya) and created a sprawling secondary world that could not be contained by his six novels (The Song of the Shattered Sand). With The Dragons of Deepwood Fen he launches The Book of the Holt, a series that sees Brad digging into the most iconic of fantasy creatures (Dragons) with his most “traditional” fantasy series yet.
Lorelei Aurelius is the smartest inquisitor in the mountain city of Ancris. When a mysterious tip leads her to a clandestine meeting between the Church and the hated Red Knives, she uncovers a plot that threatens not only her home but the empire itself.
The trail leads her to Rylan Holbrooke, a notorious thief posing as a dragon singer. Rylan came to Ancris to solve the very same mystery she stumbled onto. Knowing his incarceration could lead to the Red Knives’ achieving their goals, Lorelei makes a fateful decision: she frees him.
Now branded as traitors, the two flee the city on dragonback. In the massive forest known as the Holt, they discover something terrible. The Red Knives are planning to awaken a powerful demigod in the holiest shrine in Ancris, and for some reason the Church is willing to allow it. It forces their return to Ancris, where the unlikely allies must rally the very people who’ve vowed to capture them before it’s too late.
We’ve got two protagonists – inquisitor Lorelei Aurelius and thief Rylan Holbrooke – along with four other secondary characters who form the POV chapters of this Epic Novel. Set in the Holt, it is a sprawling novel with a deep history with a legacy of war, along with a detailed magic system and of course, Dragons. Rylan is the bastard / adopted son of the ruler of the Holt, Marstan. Rylan is a “dragon singer,” able to is able to communicate with and heal Dragons. He is a character who has ties to multiple social circles, he’s got the obvious connections to power in the Holt through his “father.” He also has a connection to the Red Knives, a group of rebels who are seen as militant and anti-authoritarian.
Lorelei is considered one of the best of her group of inquisitors. She stumbles upon a conspiracy that connects the leadership of the Holt, the Red Knives, and maybe even the religious authority in the Holt. Her investigations lead her to Rylan. With the convergence of these characters, there’s a mystery/conspiracy theory, which drives the underlying plot.
One of the other point-of-view characters is a character with villainous tendencies by the name of “The Hissing Man.” He functions as something of the crime lord sitting in the shadows. He’s rather enigmatic, covered in bandages, but is still spoken about in awe by other characters in the novel. Beaulieu imbues his character with a mysterious past that begs to be mined. Perhaps more about him will be revealed in the second book in this series.
With the deep roster of point-of-view characters, it took a little while for me to get assimilated with the story. That’s down largely to the fact that each of the first eight chapters (and prologue) focused on 7 different point-of-view characters. (I hope the finished book has a character list!)` As such, I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters early in the novel. However, once Beaulieu focused more on Rylan and Lorelei, the story got into a very good groove. As more about Rylan’s relationship with his stepfather is revealed, it was difficult for me not to identify with him. As Lorelei was blocked at every turn in her investigations – because she was so damned good! – I found myself identifying more with her, as well. Another element I felt worked quite well was the dialogue between the characters, which also helped to make these characters feel genuine.
I don’t know if it was the smaller font in the ARC I was reading or the pacing in general, but I felt the density of the novel. It isn’t a book that works well in smaller reading spurts, at least for me. Consuming between 50 – 100 pages in a sitting is what worked best for me. A lot happens in this novel, there’s a very deliberate tempo to the novel, which works well to build up some of the more momentous events in the novel. This deliberate pacing also works very well in building the characters of Lorelei and Rylan. As I intimated earlier in the review, the characters come alive as fully-fleshed out, living, and breathing people. On the whole, the novel felt a little bit unbalanced from a pacing perspective for me.
Looking at the sum of the parts of The Dragons of Deepwood Fen is the kind of Epic Fantasy that will appeal to long-time readers of the genre with its traditional elements. Readers who might be a little worn out on Epic Fantasy for some of the inventive twists and modern sensibilities will likely find a good deal to enjoy in the novel. I expect The Dragons of Deepwood Fen will do very well for Mr. Beaulieu.
Hardcover | 487 pages
December 2023 | Published by DAW Books www.quillings.com
Landing page for the book: https://quillings.com/b/6bF3S
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
