I recently finished this second book in the "Dragon Brigade" trilogy, and though I can't talk about the first book, "Shadow Raiders," in as much detail, I will attempt to extol the virtues of the series as opposed to just the second installment.
Without even beginning to talk about the wonderful cast of characters and the crazy cool world that Weis and Krammes have created, I would first like to draw your attention to the cover. I had heard nothing about this series and was simply perusing a book store last year when I came across this book as well as the rest of the series. And as often as I hear "Don't judge a book by its cover," that was exactly what I did. This book just looks epic. You have a dragon, with rider, attacking a flying bat-winged ship manned by demons. Even if I am forced to wait until the end of the book, I want to live through that.
Ok good, That's settled.
What this series offers, in terms of unique concepts, is a world of floating islands. As far as our characters are concerned, the world is a sea of sky. Seven floating continents make up the world. While this could be glossed over, a simple constant for their universe, the relationship between the people and this sea of sky is literally religious and foreboding.
A magic system dependent on sigils, though seemingly typical, is explored not only metaphysically, but rationally and scientifically, in the text. As the series progresses the understanding of magic itself comes into question. Not often is this seen in fantasy stories.
The structure of the novel switches between a number of characters on all sides of the central conflict. This could leave a reader bored when following the trail of a dull character but Weis and Krammes somehow succeed in making each character worthy of the chapters assigned to them. At times the shady, morally ambiguous characters are more interesting than our heroes.
This leads into my only complaint about the novel: the group of heroes don't seem to be the age that Weis and Krammes specify. Though the reason might be that I want the protags to be my age, but I have trouble imaging them as 30 years old.
I am not sure when I will finish this series, and it may not be for a long while as school will be starting relatively shortly, but from the path that the first two books have taken, I am certain I will enjoy the finale.
Verdict: Reccomend
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