Snippet: The Dragon Keeper, by Robin Hobb

 

Too much time has passed since the powerful dragon Tintaglia helped the people of the Trader cities stave off an invasion of their enemies. The Traders have forgotten their promises, weary of the labor and expense of tending earthbound dragons who were hatched weak and deformed by a river turned toxic. If neglected, the creatures will rampage--or die--so it is decreed that they must move farther upriver toward Kelsingra, the mythical homeland whose location is locked deep within the dragons' uncertain ancestral memories.
Thymara, an unschooled forest girl, and Alise, wife of an unloving and wealthy Trader, are among the disparate group entrusted with escorting the dragons to their new home. And on an extraordinary odyssey with no promise of return, many lessons will be learned--as dragons and tenders alike experience hardships, betrayals . . . and joys beyond their wildest imaginings.

“Reality is often unkind to legends.”

Robin Hobb's The Dragon Keeper is the first book in a quadrilogy from a mistress of fantasy novels and certainly not the best entry point to her renowned Elderlings series, but The Rain Wild Chronicles quadrilogy is the one where she writes a happy gay couple and does it well. Now, if you want pain and heartbreak in your achillean couple, and you don't mind a tragic ending, I can't recommend her Farseer trilogy, the following Tawny Man trilogy, and the final Fitz and the Fool trilogy enough, but this one is definitely safer. This multi-PoV quadrilogy follows some characters - amongst which is Sedric, a pampered secretary who is trapped in a violent relationship with his employer - as they are chosen to bond with and guide weak newborn dragons in a world where dragons were thought to be exctinct. It's not strictly necessary to have read the rest of the Elderlings series to enjoy this quadrilogy.

✨ 4 stars

Snippet: Ash, by Malinda Lo

 

In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.
The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Their friendship, as delicate as a new bloom, reawakens Ash's capacity for love--and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

This isn't the fairy tale you think it is. Malinda Lo's Ash is a lovely retelling of Cinderella that veers half-way through towards a different, exciting direction. But it's also a story about grief, and the romantic relationship is put a bit on the background. The book's pacing is quite slow, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. I have a big soft spot for this book, one of the first explicitly queer books I've ever read.

✨ 4 stars