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Drakemaster
What connects an ancient map carved in a cane, a disgraced descendant of Chinggis Khan, and a secret Chinese society?
1257 AD, Kaifeng, China: Dailus, a European bronzecaster taken as a slave by the Mongols, builds mighty siege cannons for the Khan, but discovers there are even more frightening weapons. His fate intersects that of the Mongolian scout who enslaved him desperate to remove the name of ‘traitor’, the last warrior monk of a ruined temple, a Chinese astronomer’s daughter forced to suppress her mind to her beauty, and a dancer whose grace hides deadly skills: allies and opponents in a race across medieval China to locate a clockwork doomsday device. As cities fall and empires are threatened, this legendary device could turn the tide of battle, or burn the world to ash with the power of the stars.
An epic historical fantasy novel from the author of “The King of Next Week”, The Dark Apostle and Bone Guard series.
1257 AD, Kaifeng, China: Dailus, a European bronzecaster taken as a slave by the Mongols, builds mighty siege cannons for the Khan, but discovers there are even more frightening weapons. His fate intersects that of the Mongolian scout who enslaved him desperate to remove the name of ‘traitor’, the last warrior monk of a ruined temple, a Chinese astronomer’s daughter forced to suppress her mind to her beauty, and a dancer whose grace hides deadly skills: allies and opponents in a race across medieval China to locate a clockwork doomsday device. As cities fall and empires are threatened, this legendary device could turn the tide of battle, or burn the world to ash with the power of the stars.
An epic historical fantasy novel from the author of “The King of Next Week”, The Dark Apostle and Bone Guard series.
489 pages, Paperback
Published March 30, 2022
7 people want to read
About the author
E.C. Ambrose
13 books65 followersI passed a peripatetic childhood reading way too many books, and eventually writing my own little stories, either inspired by my life (such as it was) or by whatever I was reading at the time. I thought I would grow up to be an archaeologist which explains why I read The Last Days of Pompeii at the age of nine. I was fortunate to have a few teachers early on who encouraged my literary tendencies—including one who let me stay inside to read during recess.
When I discovered the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval recreation group, I delved more deeply into medieval history, becoming enthralled with the dark castles, bloodsports and social expectations of the period. I nearly went to Fordham University for Medieval Studies, but chose Stanford instead—then withdrew as soon as humanly possible (before I ever started, as a matter of fact).
By this time, my stories accumulated rejection slips faster than the DOW was rising, yet I continued to hope my writing would be the answer. I started work on a first novel during a summer writing workshop, and finally finished it some years later, while depending on the refuge of aspiring writers everywhere: working customer service and living with family.
A second novel, begun with a notebook full of world-building concepts and great ambitions, lies dormant in a file my computer can no longer read. But when I met Elisha Barber, I knew I was on to something. I have to thank a local workshop with Dan Brown (slightly before he became THE Dan Brown) for my approach to the new project.
Now I find that once I start reading history, science, sociology, I discover a dozen different stories hiding in the details. . .
I live quietly in New England with my family, where I have just found the right dog to defend the new apple trees from the local whitetail deer population.
When I discovered the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval recreation group, I delved more deeply into medieval history, becoming enthralled with the dark castles, bloodsports and social expectations of the period. I nearly went to Fordham University for Medieval Studies, but chose Stanford instead—then withdrew as soon as humanly possible (before I ever started, as a matter of fact).
By this time, my stories accumulated rejection slips faster than the DOW was rising, yet I continued to hope my writing would be the answer. I started work on a first novel during a summer writing workshop, and finally finished it some years later, while depending on the refuge of aspiring writers everywhere: working customer service and living with family.
A second novel, begun with a notebook full of world-building concepts and great ambitions, lies dormant in a file my computer can no longer read. But when I met Elisha Barber, I knew I was on to something. I have to thank a local workshop with Dan Brown (slightly before he became THE Dan Brown) for my approach to the new project.
Now I find that once I start reading history, science, sociology, I discover a dozen different stories hiding in the details. . .
I live quietly in New England with my family, where I have just found the right dog to defend the new apple trees from the local whitetail deer population.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 14, 2022
This book was intense. The detail inside was quite a lot of fun and I recommend it for anyone who wants to experience a vivid new culture and world.
January 11, 2023
Rousing and stunning. A story packed with visuals and details, a frightening science, characters who are driven to either help or hinder the destruction of the world.
March 1, 2023
Gorgeous, immersive details and crunchy world building. Ambrose may have stolen a time machine to get the research just right
November 11, 2022
Drakemaster vividly evokes the 13th-century Mongol invasion of China as the backdrop to an epic fantasy adventure. A diverse cast of characters is increasingly thrust together by choice and fate as the stakes are magnified from those of a regional conflict into something truly cosmic in its implications. The story is dense but remains exciting throughout, more so because it's always firmly grounded in a meticulously researched and vividly depicted period setting. Along the way, the author weaves in a multitude of fantasy elements in the form of magical clockwork devices, sorcerous astronomy, supernatural martial arts, and secret societies with hidden forms of technology and magic; each of these elements is likewise drawn from the actual science, faith, and myths of the cultures that employ them, adding a sense of verisimilitude and providing uniquely fresh takes on the standard fantasy tropes. But it's the characters and their own personal journeys that really drew me in. Each comes to question their existing views and must learn to reconcile those views with other philosophies, faiths, and cultures, so that they end up transformed, for better or worse, by their experiences. Sure to please fans of historical fiction and high fantasy alike.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews