Song of the Dragon by Tracy Hickman

In Song of the Dragon elves rule the world. The Rhonas Empire are a petty, shallow race who have defeated all of the other races and now kill off their enemies for the sake of getting trinkets and trophies. They enslave and subjugate others through the use of magical devotions, which make their slaves forget all of the horrific things that the elves do to them. Drakis, a human, is the hero of this story. He manages to break free from the elves along with a band that includes a chimera, manticores, a dwarf, and human females. This odd cast of characters are on the run, being hunted by elves. Meanwhile, those in his party and others in the world believe that Drakis is the human that according to legend is supposed to lead their uprising against the elf oppressors.



The novel got off to a slow start. About a third of the way through, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this novel, but as it progressed, I liked it more and more. It was a bit of a slow build, mostly because at the beginning, the narrator in the form of Drakis, who was mostly the viewpoint character, was unreliable because his character had his memories erased. It was only after regaining his memories did the momentum of the story build. I liked the progression of the novel. I also liked the elven character Soen, who was hunting down Drakis’s group. The ending of the novel was satisfying, and I look forward to reading the other books in this trilogy.