The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham (Book #1 of The Dagger and the Coin Series)
Introduction
The Dragon’s Path is the first book in the Dagger and the Coin series. Marcus Wester, Geder Palliako, and Dawson Kalliam follow the path of the dagger, the path of violence. Cithrin Bel Surcour follows the path of the coin, the path of currency. Their stories converge on the Kingdom of Antea and the free city of Vanai. Which of them will follow the Dragon’s Path?
Summary
The novel has four point – of – view characters.
Captain Marcus Wester hires guards for a caravan leaving the town of Vanai to go west. His past has scarred him inside.
Sir Geder Palliako serves in the army of the King of Antea, which is hunting down a pretender to the throne at Vanai. Geder would rather read his books than be a soldier.
Cithrin Bel Surcour is a ward of the Medean Bank at their Vanai branch. She is young and tasked with smuggling out the branch’s wealth before the Antean soldiers attack Vanai.
Dawson Kalliam is the Baron of Osterling Fells, a subject and friend of King Simeon of Antea. He fought a duel with Baron Feldin Maas. They are on opposite sides at court and disagree on how the attack on Vanai should go.
During the time of the Dragons, they created the thirteen races of man. Most of the main characters are FirstBlood, who are closest to pure humans. Cithrin is half Cinnae. Cinnae are pale with wide heads. Marcus Wester’s first lieutenant is Yardam, who is Tralgu. Tralgu has hound-like ears. Timzinae have black chitinous skin. Yemmu has tusks and a thick, waddling gait. Jasuru has scales for skin. The Drowned have sorrowful black eyes. There are six other races.
Recommendation
The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham is a great start to the Dagger and the Coin series. It’s the first book in an epic fantasy series, but this series is about finance as much as it is about violence. I’m looking forward to reading all the rest of the novels in the series. The relationship between Marcus and Cithrin reminded me of two other relationships. The relationships are between Geralt and Ciri from the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, and between Joel and Ellie from the video game The Last of Us. Geder had an interesting viewpoint and changed much during the story. Dawson’s viewpoint was the weakest in the novel.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11072907-the-dragon-s-path
In The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham, the magic of the andat protected Otah Machi’s country. The best Galt general took away their andat. Maati wants to bring back the andat, while Otah wants to make peace with Galt. Will Maati or Otah win, or will the Khaiem cities be destroyed?
In An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham, the magic of the andat protects Otah Machi’s country. The best Galt general learns how to take away their andat. Will Otah Machi defeat the Galts, or will they destroy him and all the cities of Khaiem?
In A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham, the Khai Machi is dying, and his sons must fight to the death to follow him. His youngest son, Otah, was in exile and presumed dead. Otah still wants to remain hidden, but the conflict draws him in. If he doesn’t win, the Galts will sack his city.
In A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham, the poet-magician Heshai must keep control of the magical creature Seedless, or the Summer Cities will fall to the Empire of Galt.