BOOK REVIEW | CITY IN THE DRAGON’S EYE | JORDAN LOYAL SHORT

 City In The Dragon’s Eye by Jordan Loyal Short

Viktor’s magic is turning him into a dragon. And it’s not pretty.

To save his friends from a deadly ambush, Viktor drew too deeply on the power of the Dragon Well, and now a magical tumor has begun to change him, one scale at a time.

Viktor sets off on a quest for a cure that will lead him to a remote sanitarium. Here, he will uncover a mad doctor’s strange experiments, a very stubborn dwarf, and rumors of an ancient mirror that may hold the key to Viktor’s very survival.

As a secret society of dragon fanatics closes in, Viktor must choose between the power his transformation offers, and the hope of finding a cure.

City in The Dragon’s eye is the new Gaslamp fantasy from Jordan Loyal Short, author of The Dreadbound Oath Trilogy. It tells the story of three main characters, Victor, Devin and Izola

Viktor is a former soldier of the war between Jarlsbeck and Rumavia. On the day of the armistice between the two combatants he notices that he has a magical tumor on his arm as a result of him using the magic that he draws from ‘the well’, a source of magic. Devin is a fop and a dandy, who as a result of him undertaking some nefarious night time activities finds himself disinherited from his powerful family’s wealth, and finally there is Izola, an academic who as a result of her theories about the land of Jarlsbeck, finds herself debunked from the university.

In the midst of this, the three come together to fight the machinations of the Thule Society who have plans to restore dragons to the land and take power for themselves.

In the City in the Dragon’s Eye, Jordan Loyal Short shows off his versatility by presenting a lighter, more comic fantasy than the previous Dreadbound Oath, which was darker and grittier.

The tone of City in the Dragon’s Eye is much lighter and reads more like a fast paced adventure novel as the three main characters attempt to waylay the plans o the evil Thule Society. You can tell that Jordan Loyal Short had fun with this book and it transfers to the readers, because there is no doubt that this book is fun.

The pace of the book is blistering and there is barely any time to catch a breath before the next cataclysm hits one of the characters in their own separate endeavours. Viktor, who attempts to find a cure for his magical tumour and prevent it from turning him into a dragon, Devin, who is attempting to stop the death of his lover and Izola, who is coming to the university that she works at with a new and revolutionary theory about some former emperor of the land of Jarlsbeck.

The world building is quite interesting and whilst the book is touted as a Gaslamp fantasy, it differs in that the world that Jordan Loyal Short has built seems to be built on a 17th Century Prussian, which is quite original as I don’t think I have encountered a similar kind of society previously.

The book itself is an easy read and flows really well. It does a good job of laying the foundations for the characters and the world and by the end of the book, it leaves you wanting more and wondering how the story will develop.