Dragon Bones --by Patricia Briggs

Fiction / fantasy

304 pages

5 stars

Yes, it's another book about dragons. But, oh what dragons! These are dragons like you've not met before, and they are wonderfully, marvelously created by a master storyteller.

Ward Hurog is smart enough to survive, and protect his younger siblings, from a father who wants to see them dead. Ward is, to all outward appearances, a simpleton, due to the beatings by his father. And he is the heir to the old Hurog keep, and the curse that goes along with it.

When his father dies in a hunting accident, and Ward becomes Lord Hurog, he is yet too young (and simple, don't forget that) to take over the duties, so his uncle steps in to act as regent. Only the old ghost who only shows himself to Ward, Wards mute sister who is an easy target for the ruffians because she cannot speak in her defense, and Ward knows about the dragon bones in the dungeon. For that matter, only they know about the dungeon. But there are old stories out there about the bones, and when a war is fought to gain Hurog Keep, and the bones, Ward must do the unthinkable to save not only the Keep, but the Kingdom. For whoever has the bones, has a great and terrible power.

Briggs is a master at weaving stories with both bright and dark threads, perfectly balanced, into a tapestry one does not soon forget. When I finish a book, I want to feel better for having read it, for having lived in a different time and place, than when I picked the book up and began reading. Patricia Briggs meets that criterion for me, every single time, and this book is no exception.