Dagger and Coin, The Dragon’s Path – a Review
Dagger and Coin, The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham is an exceedingly interesting fantasy novel. The blurb on the back of the book, introduces the three main characters: Cithrin, an orphan who becomes a banker; Marcus, who seems to be a hero past his prime; and Gerder, a knight that is more interested in speculative essays than anything else. These are all fine interesting viewpoint characters. All of this creates a very interesting read. What follows is my review of The Dragon’s Path.
Banking
Being called the Dagger and Coin, and having a character tied to banking, there is a fair amount of finances in the story. I first heard it because someone recommended it to me as a fantasy story about banking. Well, banking in the story provides a nice backdrop. It is interesting and it is fun to see talks about taxes and interest rates. All of this serves to immerse us further in the Cithrin’s world. However, the banking does not overstay its welcome. It only pops in now and again making it an interesting backdrop but not a boring or excessive one.
Multiple Points of View
This book is set up to be third-person limited. This means that we are in one person’s head and here only their thoughts. Because of the multiple points of view, we get to focus on one character per chapter. We of course focus on the characters that we hear about on the back of the book. They looked interesting and were partially the reason why I picked up the book. So, it was surprising when I got introduced to a new character, Dawson. He was not a poorly written character he was very well written, but he detracted from what I felt was the main story.
I will say that the multiple points of view seemed to lead to a lack of focus. My favorite parts of the book were the parts about Cithrin or Marcus. This was because they were traveling together. Whenever Marcus had another chapter I didn’t feel as if I was being drawn away from the plot, instead he was enhancing it. It was a different story with Girder and Dawson. Each time I Got to them I was annoyed because it meant that we would move further from the main plot.
This happened even though their points of view affected the plot. I won’t spoil the book, but Dawson and Gerder both have some political power and their leveraging of it affected Marcus and Cithrin. So, even when they did affect the plot it still felt disconnected. I understand that this is the first of a series, but still.
The Characters
Even though the plot can feel disconnected, the characters are really good. Each character goes through a meaningful arc. In fact, despite how alienated he was from the plot, Gerder was still my favorite character. He was a puppet, forced to listen to orders from the higher-ups. It is very well written.
Every character has depth to them. It is a testament to the writing that I was able to connect enough with the other characters to get invested in their main plot. There is also Dawson. Dawson is a terrible person. He’s screaming, conniving, manipulative. But, because of the excellent writing, you end up rooting for him. Even though the book’s plot can be disjointed, the characters more than make up for it.
The Worldbuilding
The world-building is good and provides a very interesting backdrop for the story. Being called The Dragon’s Path, dragons do feature in this first book of the Dagger and Coin series. According to the lore of the world, the Dragons used to rule the continent. They kept the humans bound in slavery. Eventually, the dragons fell into civil war. The Dragons are an important and interesting part of the world that have further repercussions in later books.
There are also different fantasy races in the book. Now, all of these races are races, unlike dwarves and elves. Here the races are types of people and they make the world feel more lived in. It makes the world more interesting and increases the novelty. However, not all of the races are described well. Some have tusks while others are just humans that are smart and grey. Still, fantasy races make the world feel more complete.
Recommendation
The Dagger and Coin, the Dragon’s Path is certainly good. While it isn’t for kids due to …. adult content, it is still a great read and perfect for anyone who wants fantasy books without long and drawn out fight sequences. I’d recommend you read it.
Here is the Amazon link to the Dagger and Coin.
If you are interested in reading some of my fantasy stories, I wrote one that includes a fantasy gunfight called The Fame, The Magic, and another The Useful and Obsolete that tells the competition between magic and technology.
If you have compliments, critique, or just want to start a discussion, feel free to comment below!
