Fantasy

Now that the war is over, it is time to right the wrongs of the prior generations and to undo the damage done by the Magi. It is no small task to establish a new society, especially when it is is being built upon the ashes of two old ones, as both former kingdoms still maintain a lot of strong feelings and biases that don't just disappear because the war is over. Kirron hopes to establish a new role for the dragon jousters in a society no longer dominated by war, while Aket-ten complicates his life as she strives for equal female representation amongst the jousters. Old prejudices die hard though as female dragon jousters is not a concept that Tia or Alta would have been willing to embrace. As everyone pours their hearts into finding a way to build something better for the future they quickly come to realize that they may not have the time to do so as there are other threats out there ready to pounce on them while they are in a vulnerable state.

The existence of vampires and demons in Toronto suggests that Blood Price fits into the urban fantasy genre but since it was published in 1991 it predates the tropes associated with that genre. Vicki Nelson was an amazing homicide detective until she started losing her sight so she left the force and got her license as a PI. One night she's at the subway station when an impossible murder takes place. It is part of a series of brutal serial killings that the press call the Vampire Murders even though everyone knows that's impossible. Henry Fitzroy is the bastard son of Henry VIII, a vampire, and romance novelist who wants to stop the killer because he doesn't want to face the modern equivalent of a pitchfork wielding mob. The killer is actually something worse than a vampire, a demon, and it will take Vicki's investigative skills and Henry's supernatural powers to stop it from releasing Hell on Earth.

The Magi have emerged from the shadows and their power is now openly wielded across both Tia and Alta as the war rages on. Any who dare oppose them are swiftly met with retribution and the people of both countries are suffering greatly. Kirron and his new generation of dragon jousters set their focus on building up Sanctuary in the ruins of an old desert city as a safe haven for those in need. With roots on both sides of the war, the main characters all come together to form the leadership of Sanctuary and they choose to welcome people from both Tia and Alta into their midst. It doesn't take long for this policy to stretch their limited resources too thin as their population continues to swell with refugees.  Amidst the challenges of merging these two cultures together, the dragon jousters are pushed to their limits running night time missions to save as many people as possible. Unfortunately they are too few in number to save everyone. Eventually their efforts catch the attention of the Magi and then things take a turn for the worse.

With book 2 the focus of the story shifts to the other side of the war as Kiron, formerly known as Vetch, returns to his homeland and starts to learn about his own people. Born on a farm and captured by the enemy as a child, Kiron has never really experienced Altan society, but he is about to get a crash course. He hopes that his return will help swing the war in the favor of the Altans once he shares all of the secrets that he learned as a dragon-boy in Tia, but he also knows that he is still too young, as is his dragon, to engage in the conflict directly. Not that he would want to at this point either because even though Ari helped him return home, he also issued him a warning: If the two ever meet in battle, Ari will do his duty for Tia. Kiron owes Ari his life and he has no plans to just throw it away by going up against him in battle because Ari is still the best dragon jouster that has ever lived.

Vetch is a Altan serf and the favorite whipping boy of Khefti the fat, his Tian master. Tia and Alta have been at war for generations and a captured serf like Vetch is lower than a slave in Tian society, with less rights to boot. Vetch was born on the land that is now owned by Khefti and that means he has no hope of ever leaving it. He lives his life fueled by hatred of Khefti and his only dreams involve bad things happening to his overweight master. Then one day a Dragon Jouster named Ari comes out of the sky and stops at Khefti's well for a drink of water. This prevents Vetch from fetching the water that Khefti ordered him to get, so of course he receives a beating as punishment. When Ari witnesses this treatment he decides to take Vetch with him and turn him into a dragon-boy as is his right as a member of the King's army. Vetch knows nothing of dragons but he is accustomed to hard work and he intends to do his best even for his new master. Life as the dragon-boy assigned to Kashet, Ari's dragon, is definitely an improvement for Vetch. However, he still feels very alone as the only dragon-boy in the compound who is a serf, and he still harbors a deep resentment of all Tians for killing his father.

The Raven God's vessel, a possessed raven, is dead. According to the agreement between the people of Vastai and the Raven God, their ruler, the Raven's Lease, must now sacrifice himself to empower the Raven while it incubates in a new egg. The Lease's Heir, his son Mawat, returns from his military post at the border to find that his father has vanished without being sacrficied and his uncle claims to be the new Lease. It's supposed to be impossible to usurp the Lease so Mawat is certain something is very rotten in Vastai. Another god, Strength and Patience of the Hills, tells the story of Mawat's revenge intermixed with its own history to Mawat's faithful retainer Eolo. Only Eolo senses the doom descending on Vastai.

Tide Child is a dead ship. Made from the bones of a sea dragon it's bones can no longer absorb the souls of the sacrificed so it was painted black and given a crew of the condemned. The Black Ships are still part of the Hundred Isle's navy but despised by everyone including their crews. The deckchilder of Tide Child prefer to spend their time drunk until the most famous and infamous Shipwife, or captain, of the fleet shows up and duels Joron for his Shipwife's hat. To his astonishment Meas doesn't kill him but instead makes him her second in command. So starts the strange tale of an unjustly condemned murderer and a politically condemned tactician in a world that reveres women that can bear children free of mutation but also sacrifices the first of those children to keep their ships "alive".

Anne Bishop returns to the world of the Others, an alternate Earth where the Terra Indigene were the apex predators long before Humans came along, with Lake Silence and Wild Country. Lake Silence is unrelated to the original series with all new characters in a small Other controlled town about a middle aged woman who finds herself caught between her scuzzy ex-husband and the surprisingly friendly Others. Surprising because they usually prefer to eat humans rather than help them. The Wild Country returns to the towns of Bennet and Prairie Gold and overlaps with the end of the original series. It turns into an old west style showdown with vampires and wolf shifters squaring off against human outlaws determined to take over Bennet. 

The last book ended with a large amount of chaos and now Ayrion finds himself trying to care for those that have been banished by the street rat tribes. These kids have no place else to go and no one to look out for them, so naturally Ayrion attempts to fill the void. But first things first, Ayrion must deal with those who betrayed him and that means the head of the Hurricane tribe needs to go. As a trained assassin, Ayrion has the skills to make someone disappear, even someone as well guarded as a tribe leader. Of course that will only make life harder for everyone as the balance of power amongst the five tribes relies on the fact that an odd number of votes in Guild meetings never results in a tie, but a missing leader means no vote for that tribe and gridlock. When matters can't be decided in the Guild meetings then tribes are essentially free to do as they will and Ayrion's outcasts are going to suffer even more. So once again the responsibility falls on Ayrion to find a solution.

After quite the series of adventures in the first book Ayrion finally arrives in Aramoor and it isn't long before he questions the wisdom of coming. He arrives quite confident about his prospects here, even though he has never been in such a large city with so many people, and he is looking forward to seeing all the wonders it has to offer. The advantages of his training as an Opakan warrior have allowed him to survive some pretty tight spots already but even his skills are no match for an overwhelming number of enemies. Not long after arriving in the city he receives a lesson in the strength of numbers after which he finds himself left for dead and robbed of all his possessions. Not only did he lose all of his money and clothes to a gang of street kids but he also lost his father's warrior ring which is something that can never be replaced.  Welcome to Aramoor!